Knotty C 2009 Alaska Adventure

Knotty C · Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2009 4:20 am Post subject: Knotty C 2009 Alaska Adventure

Some of you may know that we bought Knotty C specifically so we could travel the Inside Passage from Washington to Alaska. Two years ago we made a partial trip by towing our boat to Prince Rupert and cruising from there to Juneau and back. On that trip we traveled 2400 miles by road and another 900 miles on the water.

From July 18 through August 26 we cruised from Bellingham to Glacier Bay and back again. We also visited Ken in Elfin Cove for a couple days of fishing. We traveled a total of 2300 miles in 38 days all on the water.

During our trip we kept a log of our adventures at http://knottycadventures.blogspot.com/ We took thousands of pictures, which we are wading through and will post soon. We also had the opportunity to visit with Larry and Nancy of Jacari Maru, John and Amy, and Ruth and Joe during our travels.

If anyone is interested in reading our blog posts they are listed chronologically from the bottom up. We have also included a Goggle Map page with our SPOT locations. Zooming in will show more detail of where we were each time we hit the transmitter.

hardee · Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2009 9:14 pm Post subject: following your wake

Don and Dee, Thanks for the post and the new trip to read. I just went through all 213 photos from the 2007 trip and they are great. I am looking forward to getting through the new trip to. Need time to sit and do it in one sitting. (It sticks better that way.) One of these years wa are going to try following your wake.

Harvey
SleepyC

Knotty C · Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2009 12:19 am Post subject:

Thanks, Harvey, I'm glad you enjoyed our pictures from the 2007 trip. That was about all we posted of our trip last time. We had the best intentions of documenting the trip to share on the site, but it just never happened. This time we worked really hard to blog every few days so that we would have the history when we were done.

We took thousands of pictures on this trip. We've looked at some of them along the way, but not all of them yet. At first I was afraid we couldn't match the photos we took on the last trip, but I know we have some great pictures from this one.

I know you will have a fabulous time when you have the opportunity to go one day. We still can't believe that we have had this opportunity to go twice already. It was an awesome trip!

sportner · Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2009 8:41 am Post subject:

Don & Dee,
Welcome home. Toni and I look forward to reading your log and seeing your pictures.

Pat Anderson · Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2009 8:56 am Post subject:

Don and Dee,

Looking forward to checking out your blog! Having done the the Blaine to Ketchikan part, I know a bit of what you saw! Your time frame seems the minimum that anybody should attempt - months instead of weeks would be better!

Pat

B~C · Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2009 10:00 am Post subject:

cool,I can't wait to get home and have some time to properly read your blog....I'm glad to see you two made it home in one piece as it sure blew up around these parts right after you left, the other day we where enjoying 45kt gusts.

I was good to see you two pop in through the gut at E. Cove and a kick in the pants to be able to go fishing...........Don & Dee pulled a fast one on me and snuck in, the boss told me I was going to fish some yachties the next day and to go down to the dock and help tie them up. In floats D & D, what a pleasant surprise

Hunkydory · Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2009 11:49 am Post subject:

Don & Dee

I read your complete blog to Jo-Lee, so we could enjoy it together. Sharing isn't easy or more would do it. Sure liked the combination of the spot, photos and writing. Have been on all the routes you described north of Prince Rupert except for your excursion into Glacier Bay. Was great to see all the sights again through your eyes and that shared feeling of 2ND guessing yourself when the fog gets thicker and the waves bigger and the time constraints your under are pushing you on, especially when the weather forecast can so far off from what you actually confront. Are we ever looking forward to next summer when decisions to hold fast and enjoy the surroundings or push on are decisions to be made but never clouded by time constraints.

Hope you have future plans of returning to the more northern waters. Would be great to cross wakes and share experiences with you there.

Jay

Grumpy · Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2009 11:54 am Post subject:

Don & Dee,
Thanks so much for sharing this wonderful journey. We have not yet made it further than Queen Charlotte straits but the threat of the dragon has already made it clear to us that it will have to be a journey with no time constraints. Your Blog underlines that perfectly.

Next Year......

Merv & Kathy

Knotty C · Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2009 8:40 pm Post subject:

Thanks, Russ and Toni. We sure would have liked to have gotten out to the CR fishing with you this year. Oh well, there is always next year.

Pat - you are soooooo right. Longer would have been much better. There was still a lot we didn't see and some we just skimmed by. But we did have some wonderful experiences that we will always remember--fishing with BC, Glacier Bay, Barnof Warm Springs, visiting with good friends and all the wildlife.

BC - we were listening to the weather behind us and it seemed to be closing in as fast as we were moving. We felt blessed to have been in front of it all.

Jay - We would love to meet up with you there sometime in the future. We talked about your adventures a lot while we were up there. We loved seeing your videos and reading your experiences. We did find that the go/no go decisions were a challenge and did plenty of second guessing along the way.

Merve and Kathy - No time constraints makes for a much nicer journey. We were excited to see your old C-Dory, Kingfisher, along the way.

Hunkydory · Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2009 10:59 pm Post subject:

A thought on time restraints when cruising the kind of areas described by Don and Dee in their blog. Most who have not retired and who must continue to work face the choice of either taking a cruise like Knotty C's Adventure and having to live with the somewhat extra risk or save these types of adventures for after retirement. For us and I think Don and Dee too there never was a decision to be made. Retirement is a dream that might or might not come true. Shoving off from the dock for an adventure that may never come if you wait is reality lived and memories made. Generally as we age our desire and abilities to accomplish these kind of cruises seep away from us leaving only the wish of what might of been. In a little over 7 months that magical retirement date arrives for me, but if we had waited until that date to come to start our boating adventures I seriously doubt they would have happened. The combination of lack of boating experience and shared experiences such as Dee and Don's and others on the Grand Adventure Forum would most likely have caused me to think I was out of my league to try.

So for those of you who are still tied to the dock but really wanting to go take a good appraisal of your abilities and if you think they and your equipment are up to it, I say, go for it before its to late. Then share the experience with the rest of us like Dee and Don to learn from and enjoy. Personally I believe the known risk you face everyday on the highways you drive to be much greater then on one of these cruises.

Jay

Pat Anderson · Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2009 12:02 am Post subject:

Free at last, free at last, great God a-mighty, free at last! SO looking forward to December 31, 2013, for that exact reason! Next summer for you, a bit longer for us!

Sea Wolf · Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2009 12:37 am Post subject: