1. Cruise Ship Passing Us.
2. Pile of Maps and Charts for references
3. Homemade Boat
4. Canadan Coasties looking for someone
5. Antipodes in Browns Bay (just Seymour Narrows)
As we left our readers last night, our hero was chip leader (by far) on the final table. It was about 9:30pm (two hours into the tournament and no immediate end in sight). There had been about 30 players of a crowd that knew each other and now it was boiled down to the final five (four men and one gal). Jim was using a strategy of switching up – alternating between tight and loose play. However; it was past the bedtime of our man – not good. This is a fella that won’t even stay up for fireworks.
The entry sheet had asked for a “player name”. We just put “Jim” and “Lara” but we wanted to write “Carlos” and “Lupe” – our new boating poker names.
Our intrepid adventurer knocked out “Big Jim” first. The table was down to four. He then knocked out Paul. Paul is the father-in-law of “Storm” whom Jim had knocked out earlier in the evening. The table was at the moment down to three players: “Indian Joe”, “Red” and “Shark Eyes” (aka our man Jim). Jim had about $40K (out of $90K in play).
It was 10:30pm and our champ was getting tired – it was two hours past his bedtime, he had had a long day and was going to get up in only about 6 hours.
My adorable, charming man looked over his shoulder at me and with a knowing grin (the kind of confident look that said he could stay for a few more hours and knock them out), he have a slight head nod and a wink and “Shark Eyes Jim” moved “all in”. He lost to Indian Joe (Q-10 suited lost to 6-6). On the very next hand, he went “all in” again and lost the last of his chips to “Red” (A-10 off suit lost to 5-5). In just two hands he went from chip leader to a guy who knows he can now stumble off to bed secure with this third place standing.
All that action and free WiFi – our best night ever!
July 3rd - Departing Nanaimo for Campbell River
Our departure was uneventful (the best kind). Once again we were the first ones out and headed north. The seas were calm so the galley slave (aka Lupe...opps I mean Lara) fired up the stove, pulled out the toaster and made a breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, toast and coffee.
Lara was cleaning up the kitchen when she heard Jim just beatin’ on something with the fly swatter. In jest, she said, “Just how big is that fly”? At which point, he hoisted up the creature by both wings to show her a huge fly or perhaps it was a very ugly small bird. He carted it out the door and dumped it over the side. Dang! We can only imagine the mosquitos that we have heard are a problem up north.
It is really hard to plan each day as there are so many variables.
There is first and foremost the weather. Will the weather be friendly and will we need to alter course for more shelter?
Secondly, there is a desire to go quickly which leads to a desire for the route that will take us most directly north.
Then we must plan for “ditch points” in case the weather gets ugly. We want a route that will offer such opportunity and not just barren, sheer cliffs.
The tidal activities also must be respected for these are “gates” to narrow passages. There are only a couple of times a day that slack tide occurs and passage is possible. Getting there too early or too late means hours of stand off or driving in circles for the next “gate” to open.
We also must plan to end the day with some type of marina or anchorage available when there is still light out and time to get set up for the night. Will the marina have room for a 55’ boat? This holiday week has many areas fully booked weeks ago. We have not anchored yet; instead paying slip prices for the convenience factor.
We use the radio for the weather reports, maps for the over all route planning; several guide books on marina’s and anchorages, the GPS for minute by minute planning and for the tidal charts. If we get in early enough the local pubs are a good place to find the local mariners to gain great insider information.
I read last night that some guy went from Victoria BC to Skagway, Alaska on a Jet Ski! There was a picture of him in a magazine with his butt on the Jet Ski surrounded by gas cans! A floating flambé.
Next Stop Seymour Narrows –
According to our guide book, “Seymour Narrows marks the transition from the busy south coast to the lonely and misty waters ways of northern British Columbia and southeast Alaska. Swift tidal rapids form a gauntlet, a formidable obstacle, as if to warn the traveler of the very different land that lies ahead”.
Seymour Narrows is a famous place. The tidal currents race through the canyon at speeds of up to 16 knots. Safe passage is possible only at slack water and for a brief period about every six hours. Two cruise ships came through southbound and then we jumped in going northbound.
Note: We set our lowest speed record today at 1.1 knots (9 knots through the water) against a flood tide condition at Cape Mudge (you can’t make these names up!) at the entrance to Discovery Passage.
We have been dodging stray logs all day. With our steel boat we are not too concerned (we do want to protect our paint job and we’d hate to suck one down into the prop!) but I think the fiberglass boats would be concerned about real damage to the hull.
We are in Brown’s Bay Marina for the night. It is a very small marina with no one to check in with. The cook from the restaurant offered us the free moorage dock for the night but our boat was too large. We shall leave cash in an envelope and leave at 0400 tomorrow.
Jim is off making friends with our neighbors and Lara is finishing up dinner (baked chicken and boiled mini potatoes). We hope to head out for a nice long walk today. It’s been a long time on our butts today.
Goofy Boat Name of the Day: “Bare–A-Cruda”
The entry sheet had asked for a “player name”. We just put “Jim” and “Lara” but we wanted to write “Carlos” and “Lupe” – our new boating poker names.
Our intrepid adventurer knocked out “Big Jim” first. The table was down to four. He then knocked out Paul. Paul is the father-in-law of “Storm” whom Jim had knocked out earlier in the evening. The table was at the moment down to three players: “Indian Joe”, “Red” and “Shark Eyes” (aka our man Jim). Jim had about $40K (out of $90K in play).
It was 10:30pm and our champ was getting tired – it was two hours past his bedtime, he had had a long day and was going to get up in only about 6 hours.
My adorable, charming man looked over his shoulder at me and with a knowing grin (the kind of confident look that said he could stay for a few more hours and knock them out), he have a slight head nod and a wink and “Shark Eyes Jim” moved “all in”. He lost to Indian Joe (Q-10 suited lost to 6-6). On the very next hand, he went “all in” again and lost the last of his chips to “Red” (A-10 off suit lost to 5-5). In just two hands he went from chip leader to a guy who knows he can now stumble off to bed secure with this third place standing.
All that action and free WiFi – our best night ever!
July 3rd - Departing Nanaimo for Campbell River
Our departure was uneventful (the best kind). Once again we were the first ones out and headed north. The seas were calm so the galley slave (aka Lupe...opps I mean Lara) fired up the stove, pulled out the toaster and made a breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, toast and coffee.
Lara was cleaning up the kitchen when she heard Jim just beatin’ on something with the fly swatter. In jest, she said, “Just how big is that fly”? At which point, he hoisted up the creature by both wings to show her a huge fly or perhaps it was a very ugly small bird. He carted it out the door and dumped it over the side. Dang! We can only imagine the mosquitos that we have heard are a problem up north.
It is really hard to plan each day as there are so many variables.
There is first and foremost the weather. Will the weather be friendly and will we need to alter course for more shelter?
Secondly, there is a desire to go quickly which leads to a desire for the route that will take us most directly north.
Then we must plan for “ditch points” in case the weather gets ugly. We want a route that will offer such opportunity and not just barren, sheer cliffs.
The tidal activities also must be respected for these are “gates” to narrow passages. There are only a couple of times a day that slack tide occurs and passage is possible. Getting there too early or too late means hours of stand off or driving in circles for the next “gate” to open.
We also must plan to end the day with some type of marina or anchorage available when there is still light out and time to get set up for the night. Will the marina have room for a 55’ boat? This holiday week has many areas fully booked weeks ago. We have not anchored yet; instead paying slip prices for the convenience factor.
We use the radio for the weather reports, maps for the over all route planning; several guide books on marina’s and anchorages, the GPS for minute by minute planning and for the tidal charts. If we get in early enough the local pubs are a good place to find the local mariners to gain great insider information.
I read last night that some guy went from Victoria BC to Skagway, Alaska on a Jet Ski! There was a picture of him in a magazine with his butt on the Jet Ski surrounded by gas cans! A floating flambé.
Next Stop Seymour Narrows –
According to our guide book, “Seymour Narrows marks the transition from the busy south coast to the lonely and misty waters ways of northern British Columbia and southeast Alaska. Swift tidal rapids form a gauntlet, a formidable obstacle, as if to warn the traveler of the very different land that lies ahead”.
Seymour Narrows is a famous place. The tidal currents race through the canyon at speeds of up to 16 knots. Safe passage is possible only at slack water and for a brief period about every six hours. Two cruise ships came through southbound and then we jumped in going northbound.
Note: We set our lowest speed record today at 1.1 knots (9 knots through the water) against a flood tide condition at Cape Mudge (you can’t make these names up!) at the entrance to Discovery Passage.
We have been dodging stray logs all day. With our steel boat we are not too concerned (we do want to protect our paint job and we’d hate to suck one down into the prop!) but I think the fiberglass boats would be concerned about real damage to the hull.
We are in Brown’s Bay Marina for the night. It is a very small marina with no one to check in with. The cook from the restaurant offered us the free moorage dock for the night but our boat was too large. We shall leave cash in an envelope and leave at 0400 tomorrow.
Jim is off making friends with our neighbors and Lara is finishing up dinner (baked chicken and boiled mini potatoes). We hope to head out for a nice long walk today. It’s been a long time on our butts today.
Goofy Boat Name of the Day: “Bare–A-Cruda”
2 comments:
Glad to hear you're all right. I thought Card Shark James won the big pot and you two had bought a much larger ship (120'+) and were having it shipped to the Mediterranean! Nice to read your stories. Despite the cold and weird insects, still wish we were joining you sometime... :o(
Did I read that right?? Dad intentionally gave up a $90,000 pot so he could get a couple extra hours of sleep?? Please tell me that was a theoretical $90K and was actually only $9!
-Em
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