Misty Fiords

 I did a little trip over to Rudyerd Bay, because I've always wanted to see what is up this one little river, and it was a nice trip.  On the way over I found some Red-Necked Phalaropes...   And also some Orcas, but I was trying to shoot video and didn't get any still pictures.  I passed by this volcanic plug, called New Eddystone Rock.  I pass this all the time with uncruise, but this time I had more time to look and think about what it would be like to climb it.

 I went past Punchbowl Cove, and the cliffs above punchbowl looked down on me with some snow on their brow. 

 As I got towards God's Pocket, I began to see Brown Bears in all the grassy meadows.  This one was a biggie...

 I went for a paddle and found some Common Mergansers

 And then for a short walk amongst the Nootka Lupine.  Unless these are not Nootka Lupine, maybe Abe will comment with a correction here.  The meadows are beginning to flower and full of green and lush leaves.  I wanted to lie down and nap in them, but it was rainy and there were bears all around.

 Like this one.  This bear was eating grass (as they do a lot) and never noticed me arrive, but I still kept my distance.  Its a big difference to be alone with a bear than to have friends along. 

 There was another bear that sauntered out but it retreated again.  The tide was dropping and I took this picture of Layla out at the edge of the tide flat.  It goes from 400 ft deep to about 5 ft deep very quickly and its hard to find the right spot to anchor in where you don't go aground at low tide, but you aren't too deep. 

 I paddled up the river at high tide later on and found this little spotted sandpiper

 Here's another Layla shot.  I set up a tarp as a rain shelter and it works great

 I moved to another location and found some more bears, and a wolverine which ran away before I could get a picture of it, and also some mating river otters. 

I'm back in Ketchikan now and trying to fix all the things that have broken since I started out, and the list seems to keep growing, but I also working it down.  Its a differential equation, actually, it is being added to and depleted from at the same time and at rates that depend on each other...  Since fixing the rudder up, I added some more support for the pulleys that are used to turn the rudder when using the wheel (you can also use a tiller on this one so if the wheel breaks it is a backup).  This was a very difficult job because of the access, but I managed to get it done.  I'm quite happy with it now.  The engine had a few leaks in it and I have patched them up as well, so that feels great, but the inverter, which turns the solar panel power and battery power into 120 volt power that I use to charge my cameras and computer, that has broken.  The heater is also finicky, and it was just working pretty well a few moments ago, but it likes to "pulse" and then go out a lot, so I think I need a new fuel pump for it.  But when it works, the world is so much nicer.
I made a rain collection system for filling the fresh water tank, and filled the ice box with snow from an avalanche chute, so hopefully I can only need to get fuel and food from towns.

North, to Alaska!

I've made it to Ketchikan. It was a great trip north, with lots of sunshine and no rain, and at times, quite hot, but fun and tiring. I'm glad to be stopped now for a little while.

Before I left, I took Mom and David out sailing, and I did a lot of testing the boat out to see how it sailed and anchored and motored. I learned a lot, but I learned more on the trip north, so there is projects to work on still.

 My Crew:

I had some friends from Uncruise join me, Shane

and Ted

And of course me.

As we headed north we passed through Seymore Narrows, and I went through at a pretty high flow time and hit 15.1 knots according to the GPS. That's pretty quick. As we passed through Johnstone Strait we saw an Elephant Seal resting at the surface. I tried to get a look, but it dove before I could get closer. If you click on the picture you can zoom in on the seal. They look so funny.

Crossing Queen Charlotte Sound was good, we had some wind behind us for a while and I ran the spinnaker and also flew the kite for some pictures.

There are lots of very close channels and we saw a black bear pretty close on Princess Royal Island

And some nice lichens in the trees with the sun beaming though...

As we crossed Dixon Entrance, we passed by a lighthouse that I took a picture of from Altair when I passed by 11 years ago. It was good to see it again, and this time with calmer seas.

And our arrival in Ketchikan. Here is the city from the water.

I also hit a log on the way up and wanted to have a look. I hauled out on the "grid" to fix it, and that took about 2 hours, so I cleaned the bottom and put a new "knot meter" propeller in as well. Its a pretty neat system, just uses the tide to expose the bottom of the boat, but most people don't put sailboats on there, so a lot of folks were coming by to ask me how I did it. The grid spacing is not very wide and you need a long enough keel to sit on two beams, and Layla has a long enough keel, but only just. I did a lot of adjusting as the tide was dropping to make sure the keel lined up just right.

I dropped off my crew and now I'll spend a few days here before heading out into the wilderness for a bit.

I bought another sailboat!

 I recently bought a new (to me) boat! Its another Ericson, but this time it is an Ericso 32, instead of a 27. So that's 5 whole feet of extra room, which actually makes a huge difference. I think its about twice the size of my dear little Altair. The outside of the boat is pretty similar to Altair, but larger. It has one jib, on a furler, and one mainsail, on the mast, and then also has a spinnaker that I can put up if I choose. It has wheel steering. The little diesel engine inside is 3 cylinders, and 20 hp, and sounds good when running, but is kind of difficult to start (maybe the glow plugs are bad?).

Inside the boat there is lots of space (at least compared to what I am used to). In the front there is a V berth that is easily big enough for two, and there is a quarter berth in the back under the port side of the cockpit where two could fit, but its large for one. Additional sleeping can be made by dropping the table down and fitting the cushion.

The head is sensible and simple, and also clean.

There are these nice drop down hatches that have storage behind them, and you can set stuff on the hatch temporarily.

It has a propane stove and oven, and pressure hot and cold water, and put in my Orca cooler as a fridge.

Sailing, its similar to Altair in a lot of respects, quick and fairly tender. It heels over and goes! I flew the spinnaker to test it out; it is a big and powerful sail, but also in great shape and with a sock.

The jib is not huge, but a good size for sailing and also for being able to see forward, since it has a higher cut than a bigger sail would. The mainsail is in good shape also.

When I bought the boat there were a few projects to work on, and I'm pleased to say that I've conquered a lot of them already (after one week). I got the diesel heater working, and that is a wonderful thing. I am sitting in the boat and toasty warm, basking in the glorious heat. It might be 80 degrees inside right now! It burns Diesel, so it doesn't need to be plugged in to work, but it makes a bit of fan noise. Speaking of being plugged in, I also installed a solar panel, and am just about ready to add a second, for 200W of solar capacity. I hope that this will keep the batteries happy without having to run the engine ever.

My plan is to anchor in Fairhaven and spend the spring and summer there, or until work starts. If work doesn't start, then maybe I will see if I can take the boat up to Alaska or Canada.   

Return to the Northwest

 On my drive back up the coast, I stopped back in Baja and hiked a few canyons.  One of them, the "Steinbeck" canyon, had some nice pools and hummingbirds...

 And some frogs in the clear water...

 Another view of the Hummer...

 And I managed to meet up with the Safari Endeavor and go out whale watching with them!  They go over to the lagoons where the Gray Whales give birth and then out on small Pangas, and we had a year old one come up and nuzzle the boat.

 It was pretty big, but not as big as a mama whale, but covered in barnacles and pretty nasty. 

 And at one of my camping spots there was a curious pelican and I got a shot of him looking at me from close range.

Of course upon entering the USA and heading north the world got more and more crazy, and so I scampered pretty quick up to Bellingham and will hole up here for a while until I find out what will become of the summer.  I'm sure there will be some sort of adventure.

Mainland Surfing

 I've settled into my winter home, and am about a week away from beginning my northward migration again.  I'm in Mainland Mexico, in Michuacan, and the water is warm (but getting a little cooler every day) and the waves are fun.  Life here seems to stay pretty much the same, year to year; while further north in Puerto Vallarta, hotels and condos are being built and the patches of jungle are getting smaller and smaller, here the changes are smaller and slower. 

There are lots of pigs and chickens in the backyards and along the streets, as well as a herd of goats that are sent through town to pasture, and there are lots of migratory birds in the river.

 Here is a Greater Yellowlegs!  Possibly the same one I've seen up in the small rivers of Southeast Alaska! 

And here are some Black Necked Stilts, who I really enjoy watching.  I got to this place about a month ago, with Lindsey, and we rented a little room to explore and play in the waves from.  After a week we moved to a different one with a view of the river and the waders chasing after the little fish...  Now Lindsey is back in Baja working with the Gray Whales and I'm in a campground along the rivers' edge, and surfing as much as I can before my time is up.

 There are a lot of interesting plants and flowers here, and on one of the hikes I found this mixture of a cucumber and a death pepper.  It looks tasty and devilish at the same time.

 Also there are a lot of this flower in the river (on a small island) and it really shines at sunset.

But what I really came here for was surfing!  

 Here is one that Lindsey took when she was sick of surfing for a little while.  The wave is fun and punchy, but doesn't often barrel.

 On the full moon I delayed getting into the water to try and take some pictures of the moonset and surfers, and took this longer exposure showing the palm trees moving in the wind...

And this shot of the moon over the waves.  I wanted to get one of the moon and a surfer together, but sadly I was a day too late.  I needed to be there the day before the full moon to get the morning surfers with the moon setting behind them, and the proper lighting.  So maybe next year...

 This one of my friend Morgan going for a high cutback.

 And my friend Wes going for a little tube

 Another friend Kreigan on a steep take off.

 When the morning winds blow the offshore is really pretty, and down the beach in the beach break it looks awesome with the sun slanting in at first light. 

 This one is above my level, and about 30 ft from the shore, but it looks really pretty.

Sadly, with surfing, there are some consequences.  I've got a few bumps and bruises and cuts and scars on my legs and arms, and just yesterday, I got one on my head.  It wasn't a huge wave, but when I jumped off, the breaking water threw the board at me and the fin got my head as it went past.  A pretty looking little gash!

 I showed it to Wes and he recommended stitches, but I didn't want to pack up everything and go for a long ways to town.  So I got a second opinion from my campground neighbor, who said I could probably just let it be with some Iodine in it... but then one of their friends who was stopping by (and had a great medical kit) mentioned she had a stitches kit and iodine, and I asked her if she wanted to have a go at it.  Initially she was reluctant, but it being a great learning opportunity, she agreed and we began our surgery! 

 The first stitch hurt a little, and took some time, but the second, third, and fourth were professional and quick.  I think this is the kind of medicine (provided it is a simple cut and no muscles involved) that pretty much anyone can do and they need only the confidence to start, (and the steady hand) and it is mastered quickly.  I kind of wish I could practice this, in my Wilderness First Responder course.  Maybe on a pigs foot, but better on living flesh...

 So here is the aftermath.  much better!  I'll stay out of the water for a few days and therefore take pictures more.  Also, a little while ago it was really windy in the afternoon and I flew the kite to look over the town.  Here is an aerial view of the point and the river and the small town.