New discoveries about Pirate Girl

Pirate girl enjoying a little brewsky at Milestones in Victoria

She has invited the waiter back to the boat

Now she thinks we need a new pepper shaker

Hold on Pirate girl, that place is too fancy for you. You better get back to the boat!!

Well it turns out that Pirate Girl is a bit of a scallywag. She likes to get into a little bit of trouble and does not fear much. She has admitted to us she has an arch enemy, but doesn't say who or what. I think we may have made a mistake letting her come on board.....

Victoria to Port Angeles to Neah Bay

Too much india pale ale Pirate girl should stick to rum

We left Victoria on Oct. 22 to head out to Port Angeles to check into U.S. customs. Part way there I read in one of the books we had that we could check into Neah Bay so we decided to go straight there. Arrived into Neah Bay at 11 pm in a heavy rain storm only to find that we could not check in there and had to go back to Port Angeles. Spent the night in Neah Bay illegally and headed back to Port Angeles in the morning. The weather kicked up pretty good around 3:30 with 30 - 35 knot westerlies and we got tossed around pretty good going into Port Angeles harbour. Arrived into Boat Haven marina at 7 pm and the customs agent met us at the dock. She was a very pleasant woman and we had no problem checking in. She gave us our cruising documents within the hour and we were set to go.

Left Port Angeles the next morning and cruised up to Neah Bay. It was a beautiful sunny day with no sign of the day before's weather. We arrived into Neah Bay at 7pm, enjoyed a nice dinner of roasted root veggies and cabbage flats (like rolls only flat). We walked around Neah Bay a little and looked up the fella that bought our first boat "Secure". He still owns her and fishes her in the summer. He came for a visit and it was nice to talk to him.

We are having an issue with our running lights. Twice now they have heated up burned out. Blake is trying to trouble shoot the problem so we can leave tomorrow and head south. The weather is good for us to go, and we are thinking we may go straight to San Franscisco. We have to solve this electrical issue first; we can't run at night without our navigation lights. More on this later.....

Problem solved, the old wire was shorting out, Blake will run a new wire to the lights and we are off!!

Kim is hoping her motion sickness will help her lose 85 pounds so she can eat nothing but pastries and french fries when we get to San Franscisco!! Nothing like a goal.

The adventures of Pirate Girl

Pirate girl enjoying the sunset by oak bay More lounging by Oak Bay

Pirate Girl has decided she can navigate. Gutsy girl!!

Pirate Girl on her own ship in Ganges harbour. Quite the adventurer!!

Finally, I am in the driver's seat. Aaar...!! Mexico here I (oops) here we come!!

Victoria Inner Harbour October 19

The North Star of Herchel Island, launched 1935, now in Victoria with her crew; the Macdonalds.

Our view coming into Oak Bay

We arrive at Victoria at 8pm October 19 More parliament buildings

more....

Cruising to Victoria from Salt Spring Oct. 19

The fog was thick in the am cruising from Fulford to Ganges Harbor on Salt Spring

Bowline success!!

This crew is ready

Funky cafe on Salt Spring. Great latte!!

More salt spring...

still waiting for the weather

Hi folks

We are in Victoria Harbour (James Bay) waiting for this low to blow through and for the effects of hurricane rick on the swell heights to subside.

We left Ganges harbour on October 19 at 2pm (1400 hours if you like) and arrived at James Bay at 7:40 pm. The tide gave us a nice kick around the point and we were doing 9 knots (no wind) coming across the headlands by Beacon Hill park. We will be leaving today to go over to Port Angeles to check in and then up to Neah Bay tomorrow (Oct. 22) We may have to wait there a few more days as another stronger low is forecast for Friday. We shall see what Mother Nature wants to do.

In spite of the hold up, we are having a good time puttering around Victoria. Bought our Halloween costumes this morning at Value Village and some more fishing lures at Capital Iron. Love that store!!

We have taken on a new crew member. As she likes to remain relatively anonymous, for now I can only refer to her as "pirate girl" We have been having alot of fun with her; watch for pictures and stories about her adventures with us!!

That's it for now, post you later!!

more pics from Ladysmith

Russell helping to install solar panels Blake installing solar panels

Mike on clean up after installing new windows

Kim and Dani on more window and clean up detail!!

October 17

We have wended our way to Ganges Harbour on Saltspring Island. The weather down the coast is not very nice right now, so we decided to come here to wait out the storm. Over the past couple of days, we have done a tremendous amount of work to the boat. We are finally installing all the cool gadgets we have been buying all these years!! Heartfelt thanks to Russell, Dani, Mike, Kim, Kimmy, Josh for all the hard work and laughter to help us get going on this amazing journey. We wouldn't be doing any of this without the support of our family; Amber, Hannah, Kaylen, Cory, Roslyn; we hope you all will join us somewhere along the line!!

Leaving Ladysmith

We left ladysmith on October 15. Headed down to Cowichan Bay to stay overnight and then go to Canoe Cove in Sidney to have the boat hauled out and paint her bottom. Had a nice bon voyage visit with Amber, Corey, Bob, Hannah and Kaylen