Victoria and Home

We had a wonderful time in Victoria, sight seeing and visinting with friends. This was definately a highlight of our trip. Marg, Jocelyn & Jenny went for High Tea at the Empress Hotel, which was excellent and a must do. Expensive? yes, but still a must at least once!

Our friends showed us around town and took us to their favorite ice cream haunt - The Beacon Hill Drive-in, Yummmm!

Victoria was so much fun and we would highly recommend moorage at the Government Dock in front of the Empress. After all the solitude of the North Island, the hustle and bustle of the boardwalk was a nice change. We shopped at the vendors booths on the boardwalk, watched the juggler and of course the world famous Ferry Ballet! We could enjoy the musicians all from our boat, we will definately return!

After three days in Victoria, we cast off for the final days of our adventure.

We visited Saltspring Island for one night, then onto Maple Bay for one night before heading up to Dunsmuir Island at an anchorage just outside of Ladysmith to relax for the last 2 days of our trip. This anchorage was beautiful, quiet and warm. The kids finally got to swim again, the first time since Desolation Sound! Jay rigged up a rope swing and we all enjoyed just sitting put!

And so, with a great sail from Dunsmuire, across the strait to Vancouver, we end our shake down cruise around Vancouver Island.

South to Sooke & on to Victoria

We departed Bamfield in the dark at 0500. We were accompanied by numerous fishermen all seeking the biggest catch for the day! It's a long trip to Sooke and the sea swells are 8' with small waves and little wind. The crew is a little worse for wear!

As we turned to head into the Strait of Juan de Fuca, we were surprised buy a big humpack whale that surfaced about 50' off our starboard bow and then breached right beside us! It was awesome!

The much anticipated wind in Juan de Fuca never accumulated, in fact we had to motor almost the whole way on the glass calm water, huh!

We arrived in Sooke around 1930 and tied to the government dock for the night - cheapest moorage of the whole trip! Did a little blackberry picking and made some blackberry syrup for pancakes in the morning - yum!

We thought we'd wait for the fog to clear before departing, but that never happened so we left anyway. It was tough enough staying on the range coming into sooke, it was even harder when we couldn't see anything for the fog - thank goodness for the chart plotter! The fog off Sooke was unbelievable! less than 1/8 th mile visibility - yay for radar once again! The fog finally broke just after we passed Race Rocks and we enjoyed the sun and clear skies as we entered Victoria.

We thought we would have a tough time finding moorage in Victoria, but such was not the case, there was, in fact, plenty and we were fortunate to tie to the government dock right in front of the Empress! What a fun place to be! Lots of people and lots of activity. Here's a picture of Jay BBQing dinner on the back deck.

Barkley Sound

Sunset at Joes Bay, Broken Group, Barkley Sound
Jocelyn, Marg & Jenny at Bamfield

Jenny & Jocelyn swimming in the waterfall Jay watches as the girls hike up the falls

The South West Coast

We moved on to Tofino after Hot Springs Cove. We made the entire trip in thick fog. As we entered the harbour, we couldn't even see the huge coast guard boat anchored 1/8th of a mile away - good thing for radar again! The entrance is kind of tricky, you really need to mind the markers and if that's not challenge enough, it seems that every fisherman has a couple dozen crab traps down making things even more interesting!

The docks were all full, so, after much deliberation we decided to raft next to a similarly sized sailboat tied to the government dock. The crew of Genesis (from Calgary) proved to be great neighbours.

We spent three nights at Tofino catching up on school work, banking, email, groceries and of course....laundry ugh!

The hustle and bustle of Tofino proved to be a welcomed change to the solitude of the North Island anchorages. Of course, all us girls loved the shopping! Finally some shops to buy gifts!
We had some great fish & chips and an excellent coffee - all at a premium price mind you!

After paying our $2 to pressurize the hoses on the dock, we filled up our water tanks then departed the next day for Uclulet. We thought the entrance to Tofino was interesting, Uclulet is even more so. We consulted the sailing directions so we could dance around the many rocks and reefs surrounding the entry.

There was no room in the boat basin at Uclulet, so we tied to the 52 step dock which was quite quiet. 52 steps up and about a mile walk through town allowed us to see all we wanted to see, so we departed the next morning for Lucky Creek.

We arrived at Lucky Creek a little before high tide, which is the optimal time to take the dinghy up. Jenny and Diesel kept a sharp lookout for logs, as the waterway is very shallow in spots. We tied the dinghy to a big rock at the bottom of the creek and climbed up to a beautiful fairytail like waterfall, with crystal clear water!

We were a little worried about Diesel swimming in the rushing water, so Marg and Diesel hung out at the base while Jay, Jocelyn & Jenny hiked to the upper falls and enjoyed a nice cool (non-salty) swim! We were lucky to have Lucky Creek all to ourselves we would say it's a must stop for anyone visiting Barkley sound.

Moving on

After enjoying a great day at Tahsis, we were ready to move out and around Estevan. We stopped at Santa Gertrudis for the night, and fished a bit in the morning. We had a great sail then tucked into Hot Springs Cove for the night.

Pets are not allowed on the board walk at Hot Springs Cove so we had to leave Diesel on the boat - he didn't care too much for that! The walk is 1.2 km each way and both the walk and the springs were a big highlight for us all.

The boardwalk has several that boaters have carved their boat names into, it's very cool. There are lots of stairs and a couple of nice view points.

We left Blind Harbour and headed up Johnstone Strait towards Telegraph Cove, it was not a very windy day, so we motored the whole way except for about an hour or so when we stopped to watch the orca's off of Robsons Bight. It was excellent!

When we were in Telegraph Cove we were able to visit the whale museum which was of particular interest to Jocelyn.

We left Telegraph and moved on to Port McNeill where we stocked up, did some schoolwork and internet banking. We took a day and took the ferry over to Sointula on Malcolm Island. It is an old finnish settlement.

We left Port McNeill and headed straight for Bull Harbour at the top of the Island, on the way we were visited by a group of dolphins which, to our delight, rode our bow wave for a short time!

We wound up spending two nights at Bull Harbour while we waited for the weather to improve. We walked over to Roller Bay where we enjoyed the big crashing waves. On the walk there, Diesel saw fit to roll in the first of many dead frogs on the road-YUCK! On the way back, we found a live frog which Diesel and Jenny both really enjoyed!

We are now on the West Coast of Vancouver Island after a successful cross over the Nahwitti Bar and past Cape Scott, in the fog no less! Put our radar and chart plotter to good use! We have visited many beautiful anchorages the first of which was Sea Otter Cove, pretty but had very shallow and tricky entry. This was just an overnight stop for us before continuing south into Quatsino Sound where we anchored in North Harbour for the night. When we left North Harbour we decided to fish for a couple of hours, a successful couple I might add! We had four bites, but landed the biggest fish of the lot. Here's a picture of Jay and the prize catch!

After leaving Quatsino, we sailed into Klashkish Basin, just North of Brooks Peninsula. We spent two nights in a small basin where the kids braved the 17 degree water, only for a few seconds mind you! Good thing we blew up all the toys for that day of swimming :) The entry into Klaskish Basin is very narrow. After leaving Kalshkish Basin, we enjoyed the best sail of our trip thus far, around Brooks Peninsula. We anchored for the night in Columbia Cove just at the entry of Nasparti Inlet. In the morning we took the dinghy around to the 4th shed beach for a little beach combing, but had a little fun beaching the dinghy in the surf! We were having a good time until a big black bear came and spoiled our fun. Oh well! We were too busy high tailing it out of there that we forgot to snap a picture.

We headed out from Columbia Cove down to the Bunsby's where we had hoped to spot some sea otters, but came up empty handed in that department. We did, however, get a good look at another bear!

We left the Bunsbys for Winter Harbour for water and provisions, but the supplies were very limited, so instead of staying, we moved on to Zeballos, another very old mining town and the end of Esperanza Inlet. We spent two nights there and got caught up on laundry which sadly follows you on holidays :( After Zeballos, we visited Esperanza which is a camp, on the way to Tahsis which is where we are now. We are at the Westview Marina, and the people here are so nice! We even got to have a Mexican Dinner out! What a treat!

July 2006

We Departed Vancouver on Monday July 10th at 0800. Skies were cloudy and seas choppy, much to the dismay of Marg & Jocelyn.

>We arrived in Pender Harbour at 0915 after sailing wing on wing most of the way from Secret Cove to Pender Harbour. We spent a nice evening at the clubs outstation there then departed at 0915 on July 11th for Lund.

>We arrived at Lund at 1700 but we had a rainy night and morning. The girls had a chance to work on their Spanish and we were able to do a little laundry as well. There is a great bakery in Lund and we enjoyed cinnamon buns and lattes.


> We departed Lund at 1115 on July 14th and headed for Squirrel Cove. The winds were strong and we found ourselves making 8.8 kn at one point!

>We spent a still and quiet night at Squirrel cove before departing at 1115 to head over to Laura Cove in Desolation Sound. Since Laura Cove was full, we moved over to Prideaux Haven where we anchored for three days. It was sunny and warm and the kids swam and tubed and we feasted on over 70 fresh prawns!

>We departed Prideaux Haven on July 16th under cloudy skies and headed up to Blind Channel which is where we are now. This is a really pretty spot with an excellent shore facility.

>This morning, Jay and Jenny went fishing and Jenny is proud to show off her first salmon catch! Thanks to Jenny, we all enjoyed a fantastic salmon dinner YUM!

We are teaching the kids to play Canasta and they've caught on very quickly and are anxious to play tonight.

Tomorrow we are getting up early to make the 11 hour trip to Telegraph Harbour where we'll spend the night and next morning. We hope to visit the whale museaum and, if we're lucky, we'll see some whales on our way there!

May Long Weekend at Gabriola Is.

We spent this May long weekend at Silva Bay on Gabriola Island. After an uneventful and windless crossing, we enjoyed two days of sunshine and a day of rain.

We decided to take a dinghy ride over to Degnen Bay to explore the sandstone galleries there. Here is a picture of the kids and Diesel sitting up in the stone, accessible only by boat.

We were able to make radio contact with Ron on 80 meters from Silva Bay, and both Jocelyn and Jenny spent about 30 minutes on the radio talking with Ron's daughter about anything and everything (girls are never at a loss for words!). Jocelyn has been bitten by the radio bug and now wants to get her own call sign, so maybe she'll start working on that this summer as well.

Our dinghy davits should be arriving soon and we are really looking forward to the convenience of lifting the dinghy out of the water each night and not having to tow it while sailing.

We are planning a 5 week circumnavigation of Vancouver Island this summer as part of our shake down prior to our big trip in 2007. We intend to do at least one overnighter once we are on the West Coast of VI which will give us all a taste of the offshore seas and 24 hour watch. The kids will also be taking Planning 10 while we are away this summer, which will give them a taste of homeschooling while on the boat and will also lighten their academic load while we are in the tropics.

SSB Radio Installation

SSB Radio Installation

We had our Radio Operators class aboard last week to inspect and test the installation of our Icom 802 radio. Jay went up the mast to inspect and seal the antenna connection and our class inspected and tested the foil and cable installation. After a little troubleshooting we were able to make contact with a net.

The SSB radio will allow us to have daily contact home while we are at sea and will provide a way for us to send and receive text emails and weather information as well as a way for you to contact us in the event of an emergency. It is a very important piece of equipment aboard Malachi.

The other boats around us cause a lot of interference with our radio, so we will have to practice away from the club. We are looking forward to practicing speaking on the radio as well as listening, which can be quite challenging at times.

NOTE: It it not advisable to take a flash photo of an electrician while he is working :) Sorry Ron!

African Choir

African Guests
We had the pleasure of hosting two Ugandan girls who sing in a Christian choir. As you can see, the kids had a wonderful time! The children stayed with us for two nights following a concert at our childrens school. If you ever have the opportunity to hear the African Children's Choir perform, we would highly recommend it, you will be richly blessed! These are children who have lost either one or both of their parents as a result of poverty or AIDS, they perform throughout the US and Canada for 15 months then return home with a full educational scholarship. These beautiful and talented young people go on to become their countries doctors, teachers, pilots and pastors. It is truly a wonderful organization. You can visit their website at www.africanchildrenschoir.com

Vessel:
Malachi is a 48' cutter which arrived in Seattle, from the Tayana factory in Taiwan, in January 2005. She is a center cockpit, 3 stateroom model. She is pictured here in the Spring of 2005 just off Eakins Point before we had the canvas work done and the name applied.

All sails are roller reefed. We have chosen Leisurefurl in-boom reefing for the main sail and Profurlers for the Jib and Staysail. We really enjoy the ease of the reefing systems. This winter we had an autopilot installed and let me tell you, Otto is our new favorite crew member!






Diesel really enjoys spending lots of time with his family!

Welcome to our Blog,

Our vessel, Malachi, Tayana 48 cc, and crew are preparing for a two year offshore voyage beginning in July 2007. We will depart Vancouver and coastal hop down to Mexico and then cross over to the Marquesas and then continue South to New Zealand before heading home via the Cook Islands and Hawaii.

Please visit our site often, I will try to keep this blog current with all of the preparations both vessel and crew are undergoing.

Radio:
Both Jay and Marg just completed a Ham radio course and are now certified Ham/Morse operators. VA7JGC and VA7MEC respectively. We are looking forward to taking an operating course next month.

We are in the process of installing our SSB radio (Icom 802), which has proven to be a rather tricky job. We need to make sure we have proper grounding and spent all day Sunday fishing copper foil, over, under and through what seems like everywhere! The backstay will be insulated this week and we should be operational in the near future.

Jay recently installed heat to the cockpit which we completely enjoyed a couple of weeks ago during the snow (in March? Yikes!).

There are many jobs on the list, which seems to get long again the minute we knock off a few of the items - oh well, that's boating for you