News from "Rikki-tikki-tavi,"
31 July 2006
Fury Cove, Fitz Hugh Sound
Of the 212 days that have so far slipped away this year, Rikki-tikki-tavi traveled on sixty-eight of those days, spent forty-one of the nights tied to a dock, with the remainder side-tied at anchor to Juniata, with whom we began buddy-boating at the end of March. Rikki-tikki has covered 1145 nautical miles, with many more miles remaining to slide beneath his hulls before we are back in the USA.
Our season of cruising the Central Coast of British Columbia must be
cut a bit short. Rikki-tikki-tavi has been accepted to be a part of
the 30th Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival! The Festival runs
September 8-10, so we will be heading back to Washington over the
last three weeks of August. It is an honor to join the ranks of the
many beautiful wooden boats that have participated in the Festival.
We are thrilled and looking forward to the event with great
anticipation.
After the Festival, we will find a safe place for Rikki-tikki while
we go back to Sacramento to see Nina's first grandchild. A beautiful
boy, Merritt Maui, was born June 25 to Michael and Samantha Bailey.
It has been difficult to be without communication for such long
periods while cruising the farther reaches of BC, but we have been
able to see photos of the baby on the internet and spoken to the new
parents on Skype from Ocean Falls and from Shearwater, where we found
that these two remote outposts recently began providing wireless
internet access.
We have found that cruising brings new challenges each day. Be it
unpredictable weather, navigational problems and hazards, finding
comfortable anchorages, or the hours required daily to hunt for food,
prepare food, clean up after food, store food– the tasks necessary
to keep the boat running well and ourselves content are innumerable.
We find new interests taking the place of old. We are discovering
what works for us and what doesn't. Above all, we are learning and
enjoying life aboard Rikki-tikki-tavi.
We find time to kayak the shorelines at low tide, discovering new
creatures that we've never seen before. Clark fishes and sets traps
for prawn and crab. He has caught more fish than we can eat so we
release most of them. He brought a beautiful 33.5", 18# Chinook
salmon back from fishing in the dinghy off Hakai Passage. We've found
new and delicious ways to prepare all the wonderful seafood and have
experimented with harvesting and eating seaweed. Bull kelp makes
delicious chutney for our fish and the blades of winged kelp, which
can only be found in areas with very fast moving water at a very low
tide, is tasty fried. The rib in the center tastes like shitake
mushrooms in soups and stir-fry.
The interesting people we've met on other boats are always one of the
best parts of cruising. Everyone has a great story to tell and the
vessels they inhabit are all so very different. Living on water seems
to attract those who enjoy solitude and wildness, relish the
challenges of being self-sufficient in remote areas, and find reward
in successfully handling the natural forces of weather and the ocean.
We feel like such newcomers to the community but we look forward to
experiencing at least a small number of the places these wonderful
folks have travelled in their boats.
Our travels so far this year have been inspiring, enlightening,
tranquil, breathtaking, sometimes daunting and demanding– we are
living Rikki-tikki-tavi's Adventures. The task of transcribing our
experiences has become more taxing to us than all the other
challenges we face each day. So, for now, we beg your understanding
as we send this missive merely listing our Ports of Call. We promise
more details of Rikki-tikki's adventures as soon as we have some
long, uninterrupted time to write them down. Meanwhile, we are on the
move nearly every day and are entwined in the adventure itself.
Ports of Call January 1, 2006 to July 31, 2006
January 1-21 Montague Harbour, Galiano Island, BC
Montague Harbour Marina
January 21-23 Winter Cove, Saturna Island, BC
10.93 NM
January 23 Return to USA across Boundary Pass
20.37 NM
January 23-February 6 Friday Harbor, San Juan Island, WA
Anchorage, Hong Kong Basin & 4 nights at marina.
February 6 Mystery Bay
37.6 NM, cross Strait of Juan de Fuca
February 7-March 26 Port Ludlow Inner Harbor
19.6 NM
March 27 Port Madison
22.69 NM
March 28-29 Poulsbo
9.03 NM
March 30-April 2 Port Madison
9.01 NM
April 3 Eagle Harbor
10.07 NM, dock behind "Bacchanal"
April 4 Gig Harbor
27.77 NM, city dock
April 5-6 Penrose Point State Park, Mayo Cove
16.08 NM
April 7-9 Olympia, Swantown Marina
21.54 NM
April 9-11 Jarrell Cove
19.23 NM
April 12 Filucy Bay
16.74 NM
April 13-14 Horsehead Bay, Carr Inlet
8.15 NM
April 15-16 Gig Harbor
16.39 NM, city dock
April 17 Port Madison
26.74 NM
April 18-19 Port Ludlow Inner Harbor
23.7 NM
April 20-23 La Conner
43.38 NM, through Deception Pass, city dock
April 24-25 Friday Harbor, San Juan Island
30.42 NM, Hong Kong Basin barge
April 26 Tsehum Harbour, Vancouver Island, British Columbia
19.83 NM, enter Canada
April 27-29 Tod Inlet, Vancouver Island
13.82 NM
April 30-May 1 Pirates Cove, De Courcy Island
35.81 NM
May 2-3 Silva Bay, Gabriola Island
5.18 NM, through Gabriola Pass Rapids
May 4-8 Smuggler Cove, Sechelt Peninsula
28.98 NM, cross Strait of Georgia
May 9 Green Bay w/stop at Madeira Park, Pender Harbour
17.79 NM
May 10-15 Princess Louisa Inlet Marine Park, dock & mooring
39.19 NM, Happy 2nd Birthday, Rikki-tikki-tavi!
May 16-17 Harmony Islands
35.29 NM
May 18-19 Ballet Bay
12.36 NM
May 20-24 Drew Harbour, Quadra Island
49.49 NM, via Strait of Georgia, cruise around Mitlenatch Island
May 25-28 Octopus Islands
14.02 NM, through Surge Narrows Rapids
May 29-30 Handfield Bay, Cameleon Harbour, Sonora Island
17.17 NM, through Okisollo Channel
May 31 Beaver Inlet
24.75 NM, through Green Point Rapids
June 1 Port Harvey
40.05 NM, through Whirlpool Rapids
June 2 Lagoon Cove
13.08 NM, through Chatham Channel & The Blow Hole, dock
June 3-4 Potts Lagoon
8.8 NM
June 5-6 Beware Cove
5.39 NM
June 7 Dead Point Cove
1.82 NM
June 8-9 Crease Island Cove
4.04 NM
June 10-11 Waddington Bay
11.7 NM
June 12 Echo Bay
6.53 NM, dock
June 13-14 Laura Cove
5.53 NM
June 15-16 Lady Boot Cove
10.05 NM
June 17-18 Port McNeill
23.66 NM, marina
June 19 Blunden Harbour
25.46 NM, Queen Charlotte Strait
June 20-22 Fury Cove, Fitz Hugh Sound
49.42 NM, around Cape Caution
June 23 Philip Inlet, Fitz Hugh Sound
9.08 NM
June 24 Kwakume Inlet, Fitz Hugh Sound
13.41 NM
June 25-27 Codville Lagoon, Fitz Hugh Sound
24.21 NM
June 28-29 Ocean Falls
22.03 NM, dock
June 30-July 1 Forit Bay, Gunboat Passage
14.44 NM
July 2-3 Gunboat Lagoon Cove
4.03 NM
July 4-5 Discovery Cove, Troup Passage
11.34 NM
July 6-8 Nash Passage Cove, Spiller Channel
21.26 NM, through Troup Narrows & Bullock Channel
July 9-13 Morehouse Bay, Chatfield Island, Return Passage
17.77 NM
July 14-15 Shearwater & Whisky Cove, Denny Island
14.26 NM
July 16 The Hunter Group, Lama Passage to Hunter Channel
8.5 NM
July 17 Cultus Bay, Cultus Sound
11.16 NM
July 18-19 McNaughton Group, Queens Sound
7.38 NM
July 20 Kayak Cove, Queens Sound, Hunter Island
2.66 NM
July 21-22 Spitfire Channel, West Cove
6.03 NM
July 22 Hurricane Island, 1-boat nook on south end
4.54 NM
July 23-24 Watt Bay, "Domestic Tranquility" cove, Hunter Island
6.46 NM
July 25-27 Lewall Inlet, Stirling Island
9.54 NM, Clark caught 33.5" Chinook in Hakai Passage
July 28 Pruth Bay, Calvert Island
9.98 NM
July 29 Kwakume Inlet, Fitz Hugh Sound
11.11 NM
July 30-31 Green Island Anchorage, Illahie Inlet, Fitz Hugh Sound
6.89 NM
Harmony Islands, Jervis Inlet
Our best to you all,
Clark & Nina
