More Pirate Girl Adventures Neah Bay to La Push

Blake and Pirate plotting the next course. Don't trust her Blake, she always has a plan! Plundering the cookies!! What are you up to Pirate Girl?

She has made her move and has managed to jump ship!!

I think Pirate girl has stolen the local bus...

Oh no!! Pirate girl took the bus to the Bar!!

Now we know what she needed the cookies for; something to bet with!! What are you planning next you scallywag!!

Remembrance Day

I wanted to be sure to write something on this day as I usually spend a portion of it with my mother and I am missing our tradition of watching the services in Ottawa and sneaking glances at each other to see who has started to cry first. My phone call to her was the next best thing...

Let's raise a glass to my father; I am proud to be the daughter of a veteran for without his (and many other's) courage we would be in a very different world today. He was an amazing role model for me and gave me the encouragement that I needed to be an independant, adventurous woman able to take on this sea-farin' journey. Thanks Dad.

This past weekend Blake and I went over to an area of Grays Harbour called Ocean Shores. We attended a Jazz Festival which included eight bands all of whom played everything from "Won't you come Bill Baily" to "When the Saints come marching in". The music was very good and the bands came from Chicago, St Louis, Seattle and Aberdeen. People were dressed up in the styles of the 20's and 30's and there was plenty of dancing. We attended a gospel-style performance (without the preacher) Sunday morning. The name of the group was Black Swan and the female vocalist could hit all the notes!! We enjoyed ourselves very much.

Blake headed out this morning to Bellingham to pick up his son Josh. Josh has offered to help us get the boat further south, hopefully as far as San Franscisco. With the confused seas, the steering is tiring and we do not have wind vane steering and our auto pilot can't handle the sea state. According to the weather forecasts we have been looking at, the conditions won't be as unsettled off the California coast and so the watches should be less challenging and Blake and I will go it alone. Anyhow, for the next couple of daysthere is a break in the systems, and we may leave here tonight or first thing tomorrow morning. Depending on how it is going and what the forecast says, we will go as far as we can without coming to land to make up for some of the days holed up for weather. We'll keep you posted!!

Hold out for weather they say, well they are right.

Well it is my turn to write something, Hello friends and Family, We have learned that opinions are like as- h--es and most people have one and want to share it, we are making our way to Mexico and will be there when the weather lets us. We are 5 days travel to San Francisco and 72 hours if we decide to go off shore and B line it 24 hours a day. We will decide when the weather breaks what is the safest for boat and crew to go south. kim went home and will be back to work after seeing our newborn niece in Prince George (Nora ) Janna's new baby.

Thank you Kim for all of the help and fun that we had in the last 4 weeks, We love you.

We picked up a new weather program that is put out by XM and Serious Radio called XM WX and it has been very helpful in making the right decisions on safe travel.
I spent an hour with the US Coast Guard in Lapush to learn about the shallow and deep bars that are in front of all of the shelter points from Lapush and San franscisco bay, After San Fran the Trades will be with us and we will be able to set some canvas and turn up the music. That is where I will be able to really relax and start to holiday. Almost every locker in the Nordic is full of new parts, hardware, sinks, stainless counters, radios, lures, ropes and the list goes on of stuff bought when i had money and no time to complete all of the finishing touch's on the Nordic. Now with the weather delays we are getting to all of the small things that needed to be done. In the last two weeks I actully found myself sitting doing nothing at all. The Nordic is in fine shape and will pack us many miles in safety. We have met a lot of people and have heard some very interesting stories of Ocean travel and cool places. We plan on being on the Nordic until April of 2010 at least and will be back in Canada for xmas with family. We have no plans to race anywhere and take chances on getting beat up by mother nature, we make the best of each day and I think of friends and Family throughout the days. We would like to offer the Nordic V to anyone that would like to come and enjoy her with us wherever we are, Contact us on the Blog or My cell #250 202 0102 will be on until we get to Mexico. We are presently in Grays Harbour 40 miles north of the Columbia river and will be out of here as soon as we can. If anyone is into deck hand for part of the trip we have room and welcome you. I have been talked into trying a pair of "SWEAT PANTS " well you don"t want to know what I think of sweat pants, the name grosses me out but I have them and will try them out, so watch for a picture of the "Sweat" pant.

We hope all of you are well,

Till next time Cheers

Heading to Grays Harbour from La Push Tatoosh Island

Heading around the corner on our way to La Push

Kim's illness is worse than we thought!!

Riverside Cafe Neah Bay

Captain Blake plotting our course

Little bit of party time with some other cruisers

Kim and I at the Tribal Center Neah Bay

Don and Wendy

Fun with shadows!!

More neah bay pics oct 09

Hardroc Beach Neah Bay
This many birds on shore, sure sign the weather is not nice out on the ocean!!

more beach....

Kim at Neah Bay

Winna, winna, chicken dinna!!

Pictures from Neah Bay

Kim proud of her new heaving line
more knot tying...

A minor sewing job

Ginger snap cookies; I think they will become a staple!!

Customs lady; very nice and she checked us in without any issue and returned with our cruising papers within a half an hour. Great service!!

Neah Bay

Well folks, it has been a day or two (okay 10) since I last posted, but we have not had any access to internet. Let me tell you how it has been going.....

We have not had great weather and were held over in Neah Bay for three days. The winds were all SE and 25 plus knots with swells as high as our house. Well maybe not that high, but too nasty for our team!! Blake ventured into Port Angeles by bus to purchase some parts for the running lights and some charts we were missing. Nothing too important, just the whole west coast of Washington!! We were sure we had them on board, but we discovered we just had Oregon, California, and Mexico.

Neah Bay is a small Native Reservation on the northwest corner of continental U.S. A. We were there long enough to be invited to weddings, Xmas, whale hunting expeditions (just kidding) and baby showers. All good fun though, and we had a good time. The local store sells everything a person would need, and the groceries were not too expensive. We sussed out the best wood fired pizza(actually there was only one, ) and the best latte (alright, only one of those too!!)

We left Neah Bay with a small window of weather to get us down to La Push, the next village down the coast. It is even smaller than Neah Bay, but we hoped to overnight there, and leave from La Push and head to Gray's Harbour near Aberdeen, Washington the next day. The winds are still SE but only blowing 5 - 15 knots with a 4-6 foot westerly swell.

Well.....

It turned out that the winds were more like 15 - 20 and the swells were 8 -10 feet. Which isn't so bad if the wind is blowing in the right direction. Or if we wanted to go to Japan. Which is starting to look like a good idea considering the wind direction. Both Kim and I became sea sick with all the rolling and if either of us went below we were toast!!. Anyhow, we went about 30 miles off shore and it was better, but the damage was done. Shouldn't had cheeseburgers for breakfast!! Actually, we didn't, but Blake did and he was pretty smug with his "I feel great, wish I had eaten two!" Grrr..

We landed La Push at about 6:30, were boarded by the Coast Guard to check our paperwork, our life jackets, our gun supply (don't reach for them, just point to them) and our head. Yep, that all they needed to see because we are a Canadian vessel, and that is all the Coast Guard checks. "What ya totin, son?" and does that toilet flush?

Once all that was done, we went ashore to check this little town we had stumbled upon. (Easy everyone, we planned it, there was no stumbling) The "Riverside Cafe" was open and we had some dinner. Funny thing about sea sickness, as soon your brain stops rolling around like the compass on the binnacle, you feel okay and then you are hungry. Very odd indeed.

Turned out that La Push was our home for the next three days as well due to rougher seas and those nasty SE winds that seem determined to have us all buying real estate and settling down for the winter.

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