July, 2011:

When we really started planning this summer’s journey a few months ago we had developed a firm goal of sailing around Vancouver Island. In the past, when Michael and I sailed as a couple, our destinations were our main priority. We set out to reach a certain place and got used to sailing our boats with each other as we went along.

This time around, we’d only been underway a handful of days when we quickly realized that our hierarchy of priorities for the next six weeks or so, our shakedown period, was no longer topped by our destination but a very different set of priorities:

1. Getting used to sailing for long periods and managing the boat while taking care of our two young children
2. Testing Wondertime’s systems, getting the boat organized and ready for offshore sailing
3. Getting used to living together 24/7 in our small space with limited resources (i.e. water, power, internet and cell phones)
4. Visiting with friends and family along the way
5. Finally, visiting some really cool northwest places before we point our bow south

Early on, we wondered if our plan to go around Vancouver Island was too ambitious. Would we just feel rushed? Would the girls get tired of being on the go day after day? (Would I?) Would we get tired of motoring mile after mile? Would we not get the chance to really have enough time as we wanted exploring our favorite places? It’s approximately 800 miles around the island and in order to reach Barkley Sound and be ready to head south by Labor Day (when we are picking up our extra crew) there would be little time for dilly dallying.

We tossed our options around, trying to figure out how to mesh our personal cruising style (spending more time in fewer places), our limitations (being able to travel only a few hours each day at this point with our restless little ones) with our dream of circumnavigating Vancouver Island. Even at Sucia Island we still were on the fence. Could we do it? We set up a general route with how many days we’d like to spend at each stop. We thought about what we really wanted to see but haven’t yet (the west coast of the island). One option was simply to head out the Strait of Juan de Fuca directly for Barkley Sound and spend a month exploring that enormous area as well as Tofino and Hot Springs Cove just north of there.

We spent three full days kicking around Sucia Island. The girls absolutely loved it there. Woods to run through, sandy beaches to dig our toes in, amazing sandstone sculptures to marvel at and climb on: the perfect island playground. Yesterday, we motored through glassy seas across the border to Canada and checked in at Sidney, B.C. Here we are enjoying Wondertime’s first foreign port, visiting with dear friends we met on our way to Mexico nine years ago and installing the shiny new mast tangs we finally found at a rigging shop here.

We’ll stay until our boat jobs are done, some fresh food is aboard, and the wind stops howling in from the west end of the straits. Then we’ll head west to Barkley Sound for six weeks of Northwest cruising paradise.

When we motored north from La Conner out of the Swinomish Channel the following day we had planned on an easy 9 mile trip to a cozy anchorage on Saddlebag Island near Anacortes. It was a windy day, with local forecasts for up to 20 knots or so. We were traveling through protected waters though and weren’t too concerned.

It was a long, breezy slog out of the Swinomish; because the channel was so narrow we chose to motor through it so we could stay in the center of the channel. Once we were clear of the final set of markers and into the deeper water of Padilla Bay we pulled out the staysail and scooted along on the last two miles to Saddlebag.

We were disappointed when we arrived at our expected anchorage however. The anchorage was tiny and looked quite shallow. It also was not very well protected from the SW winds blowing. It only took us a minute to decide to continue on. We scoured our guidebook for another anchorage. Our choices in the area were very limited: either backtrack to Anacortes or continue on to Lummi Island where Inati Bay looked promising. We decided to press northwards.

Luckily the SW wind, while strong and gusty, made for a fantastic sail with our staysail and mizzen up. The gloom had even cleared up and the sun was shining upon us as we sailed on. We were very pleased with Wondertime’s easy, balanced motion even in heavier winds.

Two hours later we finally reached Inati Bay. The steep hillsides of Lummi Island were sending williwaws down into the anchorage that we were disappointed to see already crowded with other boats. We found a spot along the north side of the pretty bay where we could tuck in and dropped our Rocna into 35 feet of water. After letting the chain out we reversed as usual to set the hook; instead of grabbing onto the bottom as expected the hook just kept dragging and dragging; since we were now heading backwards out of the bay we had no choice but to crank all 120′ of chain up with our manual windlass. It took more effort than usual to get the anchor up and with it came a bit of line so we assume it had become fouled on something. With the wind still howling down the hillsides it was no easy feat to keep the boat in position; the rock cliffs were much too near for our liking as well as other anchored boats. We knew it was not a good situation and decided quickly to ditch Inati and head further north still. Our next destination was to be Sucia Island so that is where we pointed our bow. It was nearly 2000 by this time however so we were not especially thrilled with continuing on.

The wind continued to howl as we motorsailed up Hale Passage. We were comfortable on board though: I cooked chili below while Holly was tucked into her carseat in the cockpit and Leah had decided to take a (rare!) nap in her bunk below. We hoped the crazy gusts were just the effect of the land but as we rounded the top of Lummi Island we were greeted by 25-30 knots and accompanying wind waves from the southwest. We motorsailed on, trying to reach Sucia before nightfall.

I tucked Holly into her bed too and told the girls it was going to be a little bumpy for a while. They weren’t concerned at all and thought it was great fun to bounce around in their forward bunks while we pounded onward. We only had seven miles to go to Sucia though and even with the wind and seas made about 4 knots as we splashed and bounced through the wind-streaked waves and watched the sun set.

Finally, at 2230 we reached Echo Bay at Sucia Island. The wide open, protected anchorage had ample room and only a handful of other boats. We dropped our hook right smack in the middle in the last few minutes of dusk and all was still at last.

We have been here at Sucia for two idyllic days now and are contemplating a third. It’s sunny and calm. We’ve hiked the easy woodland trails onshore, played in the sand, dipped our toes in the chilly water, marveled at all the sandstone sculptures on shore, napped, read, explored by dinghy, eaten breakfast, lunch, and dinner in the sunny cockpit. It’s what we came this way for.

The past three days have truly been a visit to cruising bootcamp. We’ve had it all: pea soup fog, dodging ships, calms, sun, clouds, breezy conditions, tricky navigation in narrow shallow channels, dicey anchorages, nearly fouling our anchor, salt water drenching, beating against wind and seas, anchoring in the dark, goodbyes to old friends and hellos to new ones.

After our quick visit to Blakely Harbor (and of course Blakely Rock), we had a quick easy sail over to Shilshole. Our friends from Lea Scotia (www.leascotia.com) met us there and kindly taxied us all over town for a few items we needed to get at Fisheries, West Marine and Fred Meyer. We enjoyed one last fish & chips dinner at the Lockspot then spent the evening aboard Wondertime going over our Vancouver Island charts with our friends, as they have circled the island multiple times previously.

The next day we were off to Kingston where we enjoyed a fantastic fireworks show from Grandpa’s back deck. It was a bittersweet visit, a difficult see-you-later to him and other family members who live in that area.

Wednesday morning we woke early, poked our heads out the hatch and were none too thrilled to discover a thick white fog had blanketed the sound overnight. Not to be deterred, we decided it was a good chance to test out our AIS system and new (to us) radar. Oh boy, is AIS a treat! We easily tracked the few ships that were in the lanes and crossed the sound without trouble.

Except for the open porthole above Holly’s bunk. After a 900 foot long cargo ship had passed, we started crossing the now open shipping lanes. We bounced over the ship’s huge wake and a wave of water was thrown into the anchor well. “You’d better go check the girls’ cabin!” Michael exclaimed. “I think their portholes are open!” When I got to their cabin, I found Holly sitting up in bed with water dripping down her hair. Seawater was still pouring in the little open porthole above her bunk and I quickly shut it and ran for some towels to dry her, her bed and her stuffed animals off. What a way to wake up!

The rest of the trip up to the Swinomish channel was fairly uneventful thankfully. We had a chance to sail a bit while we made our way up Saratoga passage between Camano and Whidbey Islands. The wind was extremely shifty so it was frustrating sailing but we did get to try out multiple sail combinations.

It was fairly low tide once we reached the Swinomish; Michael was white-knuckling the wheel as we entered the narrow, super shallow channel. With only 8 feet of water under the keel we were sweating keeping the boat right in the middle. Of course about a half-mile in we saw a tug ahead pulling a load of logs; we were able to sneak by on his port side and continue on to La Conner without incident.

We tied up to the guest dock at this adorable waterfront town and were greeted right away by our new friends Steven K. Roberts and Kirsten Hansen (www.microship.com). We’d met Steve last year at the Swantown boatyard when he had his beautiful Amazon 44, Nomadness, hauled out and kept in touch via Facebook. It was so wonderful to get to know this fascinating couple in person again. Steve is the first true technomad: he biked across the U.S. back in the late 80s on a fully computerized, HAM equipped recumbent bicycle he built and has launched countless technomadic engineering projects since. We spent a special evening getting to know these two new friends, sharing our similar philosophies and learning about all the entrepreneurial ventures they have underway. Very inspiring!

“You can have freedom, or you can have security but you can’t have both.” -Steven K. Roberts