Log of the Emily B

Two Days Left

It is D-Day minus two- and things are coming together.  Dean completed the generator project yesterday afternoon and had it humming sweetly when I returned from my last meetings at the University of Washington.  He has put together a photo album of the whole project which you can see by clicking on "Genset Project" on the right hand column here.  Still a few loose ends for him to attend to- getting the ham antenna connected and the fresh water hose out to the cockpit, as well as installing the fish cleaning station. 

Tom has asked about the bimini solar panel array- it is history.  We decided that it was too bulky and took away from the overall appearance and character of the boat. Dean is now working on a Plan B of putting the solar panels on the aft boat deck, but that project will wait until we return from Alaska at the end of the summer.

My list is shrinking, but there is still a lot on my plate.  Banking to do, bills to pay, final provisions to purchase.  The hardest part is finding a place to stow everything.  How do people on small sailboats do it?  We are still on for leaving Sunday, but will spend a couple of days in Puget Sound to work out any kinks in our systems.  Have been saying final good-byes to our friends, although we will be back in August for a month before the big trip south to California and Mexico.

Just in- a new (and better) photo of Stacy and her family:

Ode to Cammy

She's been around the block a few times, as they say, but Cammy has been there for me at a moments notice, always ready to go at the turn of a key.  The best days have been in summer, with the sunroof open, rock and roll on the radio, and a diet Coke in her drink tray.  But she has been equally reliable in the driving sleet and snow, easily floating over Snoqualmie Pass or the Yakima hills.  She is also on a first name basis with the Parking Goddess (although she won't reveal the name).

Now its time to say good-bye to my ride.  Don't need a car when you're a sea gypsy.  Luckily she'll stay in the family.  Laurel will pick her up this summer and take her south to Tucson, where she'll get a chance to exercise her a/c.  1993 was a good year for the Toyota Camry.  She's still got a lot of life in her- less than 100,000 miles and going strong!

Errands and Lists

Dean was off early this morning for several errands to get belts and hoses and other parts for the hydralic system he has installed for our new "get home" engine take-off from the generator.  He has been working 12 hour days on this project- he is almost finished the hydralic plumbing and next will do the electrical.  Each step involves multiple phone calls to suppliers, consultations with experts, and hours of painstaking work.

I've been busy with multiple errands as well.  Yesterday was Cash and Carry, for canned goods, staples, and home supplies as well as a medical pharmacy to fill in holes in our emergency medical supplies and equipment.  We are now ready to treat a small army of wounded (although hopefully we won't need to) as well as most common medical emergencies- with both allopathic and homeopathic meds.  I had fantasies yesterday of turning the back trunk cabin into a floating medical clinic- but we're retired now, right?

Today I need to figure out where to stow everything, check into health and car insurance, get the Skymate satellite weather charts up and running, take winter clothes to the storage locker, and look into satellite radio (this might have to wait until we return from Alaska).  Tomorrow I have research meetings at the U after which I plan the final Costco and possibly Trader Joe's shopping.  Also hope to fit in a final aerobics session at the Y. 

We still plan to take off on Sunday, but it might be only a shake-down cruise in our home waters of Puget Sound for a day or two to make sure all  of the new systems are working before taking off for the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the wilds of BC.  If something needs tweaking, better to do it here where Dean knows all the stores and has his pick-up parked nearby.

Our Itinerary

We plan to leave Seattle May 1st and arrive in Ketchikan around June 1st.  That gives us a month to visit some of our favorite places in British Columbia along the way.  Depending on the tides and weather, we will motor 5-6 hours per day, stopping mostly in anchorages but every now and then at a marina in a town to stock up on fresh produce and dairy, eat at a restaurant, and have a chance to stretch our legs (and those of Xena).

Our route through BC will take us through the Gulf Islands to Nanaimo, then across the Strait of Georgia to the Pender Harbor area.  We will then head north through Desolation Sound and towards Big Bay, where we will begin our traverse of a series of rapids (Yuculta, Dent, Greenpoint, and Whirlpool).  These require exquisite timing to hit them all on the same day. After that, we will go through the Broughton Island group to Port McNeil, where there are excellent provisioning facilities near the marina.

After Port Mc Neil, facilities dwindle and cell phone and internet coverage is nil.  We will cross Queen Charlotte Sound and Cape Caution, which is open to the ocean swells and has to be crossed when the waves are 3 feet or less.  From there through Fitzhugh Sound to Bella Bella.  That is as far as we have been together before, although Dean cruised the route from there to Ketchikan with a friend in 1999.  From Bella Bella the next provisioning stop is Prince Rupert, a thriving fishing town.  From there to Ketchikan is about a day, but involves crossing Dixon Entrance, the other part of our route that is open to the ocean and its swells.

In Ketchikan we will pick up mail and enjoy a few perks of civilization before heading to Petersburg, where we are meeting my Honduran friend, Celinda Villeda, who is a naturalist and environmental activist, on June 10th.  We will cruise with her to Juneau, which she will fly out of on the 20th.  Laurel and Noah are flying in to Juneau on the 25th and we will spend a week with them going to Glacier Bay and back to Juneau.  From there we will wind our way to Sitka, then back to Ketchikan by July 22nd to pick up friends Alice and Dudley from North Carolina for a 3-4 day circumnavigation of Revillagiggado Island (called Revilla by the natives, I am told).

From Ketchikan we will head south again toward home.  We hope to be back by August 20th, so there will be time to enjoy some of the places along the way that we miss on the way up.  Three and a half months sounds like a long time, but with all the areas we will cover, I am sure it will go by quickly. We will be able to post short messages to this site along the way by satellite, with longer missives and photos when we are able to pick up the internet on wi-fi or an internet cafe.

Fueling Up

Fueling up a 50' trawler which holds 1400 gallons of diesel fuel is a twice a year exercise for us.  We were down about 700 gallons and since we were leaving soon for Alaska, took advantage of our trip back from the boatyard to stop at Covich-Williams to top up the tanks. 

Fuel prices being what they are, I called around to see what would be the best option.  Ballard Oil, which we prefer, had a price break at 775 gallons, just a bit more than we needed, while C-W had the price break from 400-1000 gallons.  Since we ran into a piling there last time, we weren't looking forward to it, but all went smoothly. 

What didn't go smoothly, however, was our trip under the Fremont Bridge, which is 32 feet high, according to the charts.  Our tallest antenna is 29 feet so it looked on paper like we would fit.  Not so!  As you can see here, we scraped along the bottom of the bridge, as traffic merrily went by overhead.  Fortunately, no permanent damage was done to the antenna.  Here's another view of the incident:

The rest of our trip was glorious as we enjoyed another beautiful Seattle spring day, transiting Lake Union with a lovely views of the Seattle skyline and the Space Needle, as well as Gasworks Parks.   We were very happy to return to our home slip here at Shilshile Bay Marina after more than two weeks at the boatyard.  Only 1 more week to go before we depart for Alaska.  Lots to do!  See more photos of Fueling Up and the views from Lake Union in the album on the right hand column of this site.

More of Our Family

Here we are with the rest of our immediate family, during a visit to Pasco, Washington last January.  Dean's daughter Stacy is on the far left next to Dean, followed by Stacy's daughter Jordan and son Tyson.  Next you see my daughter Laurel holding Xena the wonder dog and me.  Last but not least is Presley, Stacy's other daughter.  We had a great blended family visit.  I tried to crop out the legs in this photo but no go.

Stacy is just finishing up a two-year program in dental hygiene.  As a single Mom of three kids, we are quite proud of her accomplishments.  She already has a job lined up when she graduates and is currently househunting.  Jordan has just turned 13 and plays soccer.  Her favorite song last year was "Redneck Woman."  Tyson is 7 (the same age as Xena), and loves SpongeBobSquarePants.  Presley is 10 and is one of those people who was born happy and is a wonderful ray of sunshine for everyone.  They are great kids.  Missing from this photo is Stacy's friend Jeremy, who has been an important part of her support system while in school. 

Laurel is getting ready to move to Tucson where she will start a Master's in Public Health Program at University of Arizona in the fall.  We are quite proud of her too- she received a scholarship for the program and told she was at the top of their list.  After working in Honduras for six months on my diarrhea study last year, she is fluent in Spanish.  Her goal is to do health education with Latina women and public health research. 

Here is a photo of Laurel and her main man, Noah, on their sixth anniversary of dating this past March. Noah looks muy guapo in his new suit.  He will accompany Laurel to Tucson where he plans to study education.  He wants to teach science to junior high school students and is also bilingual, having also worked on my Honduras study last year.

One of my favorite family photos is from when Laurel and Noah came to visit us on a boating vacation with Jordan and Presley a couple of summers ago.  As you can see, we are quite blessed to have such a great family and will look forward to visits from all of them in the coming years while we are cruising on Emily B.

"SAIL"EBRATION!

Last night we "sail"ebrated (bad pun intended) the end of one chapter of our life and the beginning of our new adventures with a Jubilacion/BonVoyage party at the home of our dear friends John and Sally Hamel.  It was a wonderful occasion, bringing together friends from various branches of our lives to meet, mingle, and compare land and sea stories.  There was the North End Bookclub/aerobics contingent, the Shilshole Marina group, the Lake Forest Parkites, a few medical types, and various other boating friends from years past.  Virginia Crothers, our sister-in-law, was there to represent our family.

The food was scrumptious and there was plenty to drink.  We were touched by the sincere good wishes we received from our friends and the cards and gifts they gave us.  We did end up with a bottle of mystery wine (see below) with no card to say who it is from.  We are hoping that whoever gave it to us will let us know who you are because we'd like to know the story behind this bottle of wine.

The party was a rite of passage for both of us which has psychologically moved us to a new place.   We have formally said good-bye to our community and now feel more ready to take the next step.  Two weeks from today we plan to depart on our trip north to Alaska.  There's a lot left to do, but we think we can make it.  For more photos of the party, see the album on the right hand side of this page.

A Day at the Boatyard

I finally ventured to the boatyard to see the progress with Emily B.  She is nestled between a NOAH research vessel and Jensen's Motor Boat Company.

The old generator is out and the new one is in.  There is a maze of wires and hoses and tubes coming out of it for which Dean has a master plan that will allow it to run the refrigerator compressor as well as be attached to the shaft of the propeller to be used as a "get home" engine.

After the old generator was taken out:

As you can see, it looks pretty empty.

But.......

Voila!  The new one now sits in the empy space.  For more views of the new generator, check out the photo album on the side. 

It was a beautiful spring day at the University today, which is where the boatyard is located.  Xena (our 7 year old Lhassa Apso who you have seen in the Jubilacion! photo) and I took the opportunity for a leisurely walk along the north side of Lake Union to the Montlake Bridge.

Dean still needs some help at the boatyard with fabrication of a bracket for some of the generator connections which may happen tomorrow.  We hope to get back to Shilshole Marina early next week and into our home slip.  April is slipping by quickly and we are still on track for a May 1st departure for Alaska.

Family Visit

We had a nice visit last Sunday with Dean's son Mark, who lives in Port Orchard, WA with his wife, Jean, and three daughters, Kat (14), Kallie (12), and Chey (3). 

I took fixins' for lasagne and Chocolate Surprise Cake (today is Mark's birthday) and Jean made a great salad and garlic bread.  We played pool, watched videos of old family pictures, played with Legos and a train set, and had a family photo shoot.  Unfortunately, getting a picture where everyone looked good was difficult.  I'll attach an album of the best ones. 

Mark is a computer networking specialist and Jean works in customer service at Albertsons.  Kat is a singer in her church and school choir while Kallie is a naturalist- she has a small snake and a colony of breeding mice for food (the snake eats baby mice).  Chey is a three year old.

Through the Looking Glass

We have been in an alternative universe at the boatyard this week, where "yes" means "maybe" and "maybe" means "no" (kind of like in Honduras).  When trying to determine when work will be done, Tuesday morning meant Wednesday afternoon and today could be anytime in the next week.  In any event, the old generator and engine were removed and the new Westerbeke is sitting in the engine room (thanks to the muscle of three men and a pulley on an A-frame.)  Now Dean has to hook it up and figure out how to attach the refrigerator compressor and the hydralic get-home system.

I finally cried "Uncle!" and retreated to the comfort of Peg and Mark's home where I am comfortably ensconced with wireless internet (not an option at the boatyard), 56 inch TV with HBO, Showtime, etc, a balcony overlooking the Arboretum, and a steam room.  Not to mention a kitchen with all the bells and whistles.  It's a welcome break and I am enjoying it thoroughly.