We are just coming in to Blunden--near our jumping off point for rounding Cape Caution. Internet access has been very scarce and I've no time to post photos just now. We continue to be fortunate in our weather and in our crabbing and pawning efforts! For those following our progress (Mark), we've been to Shoal Bay, Burial Cove (!), Lagoon Cove, Pott's Lagoon, Waddington Bay, GreenWay Sound, Sullivan Bay, and Turnbull Cove--all in the Broughtons. Just about to weave our way through some tricky rocks, so I'll sign off now.

Today we are in Heriot Bay, where I’ve been wandering with my computer in hand and a wireless mouse in my pocket, looking for a decent signal!  We're here to do laundry, take showers, get ice, fuel, water and beer. We have been in Von Donop inlet (Cortez Island ) with Rich and MaryJane in Morning Star (34’ Perry design cutter) and Jerry and Jan in Jeannie (40‘ Willard); Charlie and Sara in Allie Rose (Erikson 38’) will be joining us tomorrow.   Once we leave Desolation Sound, it will be all new territory for Kurt and me.  We start with a series of four rapids, one of which, Yuculta, runs at 10 knots (our top speed is 7 knots).  Naturally, we will be carefully planning to hit all of these at slack water.

We’ve already spent four days here in Desolation Sound.  It is delightfully empty.  We’ve stayed in Melanie Cove with one other boat, hundreds of violet-tinted moon jellies (I think), a Common Merganser and his three wives, a small flock of Sea Scoters and one other sailboat.  In Roscoe bay, Jeannie and Millie were the only two boats.  These are anchorages that, in the high season, might have upwards of 60 boats!  The nearby mountains have lots of snow and are stunning when the sun comes out.

We’ve not yet started our fishing, but Jerry has, and we had a wonderful dinner of fresh kelp greenling (a white fish like cod) and prawns a couple of nights ago.  Kurt is getting ready to test out our gear--we stocked up on the cheap cat food we were told made good shrimp bait…we’ll see!   I'll try to post some Desolation Sound pictures soon; this connection is a little too slow for uploading.

Happy Easter, everyone.  We are in beautiful Nanaimo; moving out to the Newcastle Island park for the afternoon and evening.  We'll cross the Straits of Georgia tomorrow and head to Westview, if the weather forecast remains stable.

Temperatures:   We’ve had mostly sunny days in the mid-60’s, although cold in the shade.  Here I am, enjoying a sunny (but still a bit chilly) afternoon on the beach at Montague Harbour.

Most mornings the outside temperature has been in the 34 -36°F range; the boat interior: 44°.  Running the furnace for about an hour gradually increases the interior temp into the low sixties.  We use our drying “cupboards” to preheat clothes before we dress.  This reminds me to mention …Becky’s Second Law of Marine Heads:  Changes in the ambient air temperature do not affect the marine head toilet seat, which remains equal to or below 35° F.  

Here is one of our inventions in actual use.  This is the hose from one of the drying cupboards deployed in the companionway...directly to the blanketed lap of the Captain. (What?  You think this looks odd?).

Okay foodies, you asked, so here are some of the meals we’ve consumed so far:

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with chanterelle mushrooms (mushrooms sauteed and frozen last fall)
Breakfast: Homemade granola with yogurt
Lunch: Tomato soup and toasted brie cheese sandwiches (on a rainy, windy, motoring day)
Lunch: Cheese, crackers, and apple slices
Dinner: Ratatouille over orzo pasta with green salad
Dinner: Hoisin pork (leftover & frozen) over brown rice with an Asian cucumber salad
Dinner: Homemade turkey meatloaf sandwiches and Tante’s (Becky’s Aunt) wonderful transparent apple sauce ( an evening when we had to travel through our normal dinner time)

Of course, it will be hard to keep this up once all the good frozen items from home are gone (soon!) and fresh provisions become harder to obtain (in a few weeks). 

April 4

We left the dock as planned on April 1, although we waited out the gale (!) and left at 2:30 p.m.  Went in to Tacoma to fuel up and then motored to Dockton, on Maury island, in time for an evening walk. 

Had a sunny, calm, motor up Colvos passage on Monday.  The only marine traffic in sight was a very large, dun-colored sea lion, cruising south.  We docked at Blake island and took the lovely, but very muddy, perimeter trail (about 4 miles). 

On Tuesday, we had a long (8.5 hour), soggy, motor sail up the inside of Whidbey Island to Cornet bay.  Our investment in foul weather gear seems to be paying off since we stayed reasonably dry and warm.  We’re still experimenting with under layers.  Here I am in my highly flattering outfit!  If this were a close up, you could see my salt encrusted, fogged up, eye glasses...

We spent much of our time below making hot soup and sandwiches, and drying gloves, hats, and towels in the clever little drying bins Kurt built.  The drying bins work well, but we woke this morning to a boat filled with condensation--too many wet things!  I'm reorganizing gear and wiping down the cabin sole while we wait for the second slack at Deception pass to take advantage of the more favorable afternoon currents. We should be at Stuart Island this evening.