Memorial Day Princess Louisa Cruise

El and Bill · Posted: Fri May 25, 2007 9:00 am Post subject:

Great price on your dinghy -- they are good craft -- we run white water rivers in them (leaving for the upper Colorado for a run in our Sevylors in a few days) -- sure lucky not to have had that other whatchamacallit delivered -- now you don't have to worry about where to hang the dinghy engine -- just take those little easily-stored oars and have a great time paddling quietly around the bay up there by the Chatterbox.
Enjoy your trip. We hope to be up that way before long, visiting with you guys and hearing the tales.

Pat Anderson · Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 2:47 pm Post subject:

OK, with apologies to Wild Blue, the "Cruising Adventure of Daydream," Friday, May 25, 2007, through Monday, May 28, 2007! Not being retired, that is how we have to do it!

The destination was Princess Louisa Inlet, at the end of Jervis Inlet, some 115 NM from Blaine, WA, where we launch. Princess Louisa is about cliffs and waterfalls, here is what has to be the main attraction, Chatterbox Falls, on a bit of a gray and misty day - does not hurt the experience one bit! I only wish I could attach sound!

This cruise, like last summer's Alaska cruise, started from the boat launch at the Blaine Harbor Marina.

On the trip up the water was sloppy but we had following seas, at least we were not banging head-on into the waves. About 20 miles out from Smuggler Cove, the engine started stalling out at higher RPMs, made it to Secret Cove, where John, the owner of Buccaneer Marina, replaced the fuel filter. Side bar - the fuel filter, we assumed, got regularly replaced at each 100 hour service. This one looked like it had never been replaced. Into Smuggler Cove, got anchored up, and to shore for Baxter duty! Like they say, there are two kinds of boaters - those who cruise with a dog and those who don't! It definitely forces you to get off the boat and explore - he has to sniff until he finds exactly the right spot!

We weighed anchor in time to depart Smuggler Cove shortly after 6:00 a.m., planning to arrive at Malibu Rapids at slack - maybe we need not have worried, but why tempt fate? Breakfast on the way, cereal, milk and bananas sure taste better on board, and not much smells better than the aroma of coffee! Wild Blue always has blue skies (and dolphins!), we had gray skies, but it is still pretty impressive heading up Jervis Inlet!

We got tied up, there were only six other boats there, lots of room for more. Lunch on the dock, and a toast!

And over to the falls for the obligatory "prove we were there" pix! Austin I think really enjoyed this, and as predicted, he did not touch his 96 pounds of homework he brought along! And I was actually happier to be there than I seem to appear here!

The next day, a leisurely breakfast on board at the dock, real hot food, corned beef hash and fried eggs, since we only had to get to Malibu Rapids by 10:30 a.m. to catch another slack. Then back down Jervis Inlet at trawler speed, fueled at Egmont (yikes, $5.80 a gallon!!), and down to Garden Bay at Pender Harbour. We had some debate about where to go, Patty thought Buccaneer Bay on Thormanby Island might be a good place to anchor, but it just looked too unprotected, so Garden Bay it was. There is a nice little provincial park there which was just right for Baxter duty!

Out of Garden Bay in the a.m., smooth water back to Point Roberts to clear customs, over to Blaine to retrieve, on to Birch Bay to flush the engines and wash off the salt plus sundowners on the deck and dinner, and finally the drive back to Fall City - the last day was a long one! Did we enjoy it? Absolutely! Would we do it again? Not so sure about that one...these long distances (245 NM total) in a short time frame, and the price of fuel, may cause us to reassess plans a bit, at least when we are on a timetable that precludes us from cruising at trawler speeds most of the time. But this was a great trip!

C-Change · Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 3:28 pm Post subject:

Pat:

Sounds like a great cruise! Great pictures. Hopefully Stacy and I are -in- for next year.

Dave from King Marine is coming out to the boat tomorrow to measure for the new camperback. Hope we get a chance to catch up with you and Patty before Bellingham.

Jan & Stacy
C-Change

El and Bill · Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 6:01 pm Post subject:

Your pictures are great! So glad the trip went well and thanks for sharing with all of us.

sportner · Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 6:27 pm Post subject:

Pat, Looks like you had a wonderful trip and quality time with the family in your boat. Enjoyed your photos and narative, thankyou.

Pat Anderson · Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 7:46 pm Post subject:

I have edited the main post a number of times, you might want to go back and see what was added later in the day!

Ron on Meander · Posted: Wed May 30, 2007 11:38 am Post subject:

Pat, Patty and Austin
Glad you had a good trip. Sorry I couldn't get away to join you for part of it.