KJ
El Capitan
* I took this from a journal I kept*of a trip to the San Juan Islands and Victoria in 2000.
It's very long.
* Back in 2000 my son and I trailered our 22ft sailboat Layla from Sacramento CA to
Bellingham WA for about a month of cruising in the San Juan Islands.* We had a fantastic time.*
We sailed (actually motored most of the time) from harbor to cove to marina in no particular order. After a week or so, we left Friday Harbor and motored across Haro Strait (some pretty wild currents, according to Washbournes, it was supposed to be slack) to the marina at Sydney on Vancouver Island. We radioed ahead for a slip but the Harbor Master said they were full.* He asked me how big our boat was and when I told him he said he would let us park right behind this 90ft mega yacht called Sinbad.*
* The Harbor Master said that if anyone asked, we were to say that we were one of Sinbads several play toys that we had just brought over.* The marina was full because it was July 1st* which I have to admit to my ignorance I did not know was Canada Day and there was going to be a lot of partying going on.* My son was so excited because he was going to get his first stamp in his passport. He was really disappointed when the customs gal said we didnt need to get*it stamped.* When she saw the frown on his face she said she would be glad to stamp it for him, which she did, and, gave him a Maple Leaf pin for his jacket.* He was so happy he just smiled for the rest of the day.* I was so impressed with the hospitality that I called my wife that evening and told her all about it. We spent a couple of days in Sydney and really enjoyed the town (city).*
* On July 3rd we motored down to Victoria and got a slip right in front of the Empress Hotel (how grand of a place that was).* I couldnt believe all the float planes that were going in and out of the harbor. They even had runways marked off on the charts for boats to stay out of.* My son thought they were pretty cool.* What a fantastic city Victoria was. Totally laid back and friendly. We went to the Emp* Hotel and they let us use one of their employee facilities to shower and get cleaned up, no charge.* Nice people.* We walked around the city for a while and were really impressed with the harbor walk with all the artists. There was this little girl around 10 yrs old playing a violin like Mozart. Wow!
* There were lots and lots of people just walking around enjoying themselves. They were having some international food fair on the waterfront so we just ate and ate. There were lots of boats in the marina from the US so I figured we would have a big party the next day to celebrate July 4th.*
* You can imagine my surprise and disappointment when I got up the next morning and found all the other US boats gone, the marina was pretty much empty.*When my son came on deck I told him I couldnt figure out what was going on. In less than a minute he says Dad.* What?* I snapped back getting a little annoyed.* They dont celebrate July 4th in Canada, he said.* I had to bite my lip.* Smartbutt I said, trying to keep a straight face. Yeah, right.* Right then and there I knew he was going to make it this world.* That night the two us stood at the end of the dock waving sparklers and drinking hot chocolate.* What a treat!
* The next day we crossed back over the Strait in dead calm on a beautiful sunny morning with the snow-covered Olympic Range behind us in the distance.* We could see the whale watching high speed tourist boat fleet further up the Strait looking for Greys and Orcas without any luck.* We had no other boats around us and other than our little outboard there wasnt much noise.* All of a sudden we hear a loud hissing sound behind us and when we turn around we see two huge whales gliding through the water not more than 30 yards from us.* Wow! I turned the motor off and they seemed to slow down too.* They surfaced quite a few times blowing hard every time. We just stood there totally in awe. Eventually, the whale boats spotted them and came racing down to us, but by the time they got there the whales went deep and were gone.* We started our motor and took off not having to say anything, just thinking about what we just saw.*
* We spent that afternoon in Roche Harbor where we saw a woman on the fly bridge of a really big boat slam the engines into full speed ahead, while she was still tied to the dock.* Apparently she was pissed at her husband and was going to take off with the boat.* The prop wash that she created caused a couple of small boats tied up to the dock behind her to smash into each other, causing some major damage.* When the husband on the dock saw this he screamed at her to turn off the engines which she did. He cast off the lines, jumped on the boat, restarted the engines and got the heck out of there causing quite a bit of wake in the harbor. Boy, that brought us back to reality in a hurry as we scrambled to get out of his way.
Unfortunately for him, he left two of his guests on the dock holding bags of ice, so the authorities were able get his name and address. After we got some fuel and bought some supplies, and treated ourselves to an ice cream, we got the heck out of there ourselves.* Way too crowded.*
* We spent the next few days in Fossil Bay in the pouring rain. We actually found some fossils on the shore, still have them today.*
* We loved every minute of it.** It seemed like every day was an adventure, and I told my son that I would like to go back there again, but the next time we would charter a trawler.***** KJ
Docked in front of the Empress Hotel, Victoria BC* July 4th*2000*
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-- Edited by KJ on Monday 21st of February 2011 04:03:52 AM
It's very long.
* Back in 2000 my son and I trailered our 22ft sailboat Layla from Sacramento CA to
Bellingham WA for about a month of cruising in the San Juan Islands.* We had a fantastic time.*
We sailed (actually motored most of the time) from harbor to cove to marina in no particular order. After a week or so, we left Friday Harbor and motored across Haro Strait (some pretty wild currents, according to Washbournes, it was supposed to be slack) to the marina at Sydney on Vancouver Island. We radioed ahead for a slip but the Harbor Master said they were full.* He asked me how big our boat was and when I told him he said he would let us park right behind this 90ft mega yacht called Sinbad.*
* The Harbor Master said that if anyone asked, we were to say that we were one of Sinbads several play toys that we had just brought over.* The marina was full because it was July 1st* which I have to admit to my ignorance I did not know was Canada Day and there was going to be a lot of partying going on.* My son was so excited because he was going to get his first stamp in his passport. He was really disappointed when the customs gal said we didnt need to get*it stamped.* When she saw the frown on his face she said she would be glad to stamp it for him, which she did, and, gave him a Maple Leaf pin for his jacket.* He was so happy he just smiled for the rest of the day.* I was so impressed with the hospitality that I called my wife that evening and told her all about it. We spent a couple of days in Sydney and really enjoyed the town (city).*
* On July 3rd we motored down to Victoria and got a slip right in front of the Empress Hotel (how grand of a place that was).* I couldnt believe all the float planes that were going in and out of the harbor. They even had runways marked off on the charts for boats to stay out of.* My son thought they were pretty cool.* What a fantastic city Victoria was. Totally laid back and friendly. We went to the Emp* Hotel and they let us use one of their employee facilities to shower and get cleaned up, no charge.* Nice people.* We walked around the city for a while and were really impressed with the harbor walk with all the artists. There was this little girl around 10 yrs old playing a violin like Mozart. Wow!
* There were lots and lots of people just walking around enjoying themselves. They were having some international food fair on the waterfront so we just ate and ate. There were lots of boats in the marina from the US so I figured we would have a big party the next day to celebrate July 4th.*
* You can imagine my surprise and disappointment when I got up the next morning and found all the other US boats gone, the marina was pretty much empty.*When my son came on deck I told him I couldnt figure out what was going on. In less than a minute he says Dad.* What?* I snapped back getting a little annoyed.* They dont celebrate July 4th in Canada, he said.* I had to bite my lip.* Smartbutt I said, trying to keep a straight face. Yeah, right.* Right then and there I knew he was going to make it this world.* That night the two us stood at the end of the dock waving sparklers and drinking hot chocolate.* What a treat!
* The next day we crossed back over the Strait in dead calm on a beautiful sunny morning with the snow-covered Olympic Range behind us in the distance.* We could see the whale watching high speed tourist boat fleet further up the Strait looking for Greys and Orcas without any luck.* We had no other boats around us and other than our little outboard there wasnt much noise.* All of a sudden we hear a loud hissing sound behind us and when we turn around we see two huge whales gliding through the water not more than 30 yards from us.* Wow! I turned the motor off and they seemed to slow down too.* They surfaced quite a few times blowing hard every time. We just stood there totally in awe. Eventually, the whale boats spotted them and came racing down to us, but by the time they got there the whales went deep and were gone.* We started our motor and took off not having to say anything, just thinking about what we just saw.*
* We spent that afternoon in Roche Harbor where we saw a woman on the fly bridge of a really big boat slam the engines into full speed ahead, while she was still tied to the dock.* Apparently she was pissed at her husband and was going to take off with the boat.* The prop wash that she created caused a couple of small boats tied up to the dock behind her to smash into each other, causing some major damage.* When the husband on the dock saw this he screamed at her to turn off the engines which she did. He cast off the lines, jumped on the boat, restarted the engines and got the heck out of there causing quite a bit of wake in the harbor. Boy, that brought us back to reality in a hurry as we scrambled to get out of his way.
Unfortunately for him, he left two of his guests on the dock holding bags of ice, so the authorities were able get his name and address. After we got some fuel and bought some supplies, and treated ourselves to an ice cream, we got the heck out of there ourselves.* Way too crowded.*
* We spent the next few days in Fossil Bay in the pouring rain. We actually found some fossils on the shore, still have them today.*
* We loved every minute of it.** It seemed like every day was an adventure, and I told my son that I would like to go back there again, but the next time we would charter a trawler.***** KJ
Docked in front of the Empress Hotel, Victoria BC* July 4th*2000*
*
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-- Edited by KJ on Monday 21st of February 2011 04:03:52 AM
