Nanaimo was wet but it had its rewards. protection from the wind and prawns and shrimp! We saw a small window in the weatherfor wind and made a dash across the Queen Charlotte Straits to Secret Cove. We were grateful to only see 23 knots. By the afternoon the reports were seeing a solid 30 knots. We have found in this area when it says 15 knots it really is 20 knots.

Today was great day. We left Shilshole Bay Marina yesterday and went to a beautiful anchorage near Bellingham called Deep Water Cove. While underway we made lunch and a cappucino, so civilized. The anchorage was silent and beautiful. We had an amazing view of Mt. Baker. Such a reward after week and a half at the dock just fixing things in the cold and/or rain. We woke up this AM to 70º and sunshine and still a great view. Now I remember why we wanted to do this trip.
We had planned to go into Bellingham today to pick up the new filters for our watermaker since we knew we had a 50/50 chance of them working and we will need water. But just for giggles, we decided to fire up the watermaker with the old filters, to test the water. After about an hour after we started her, we had great water! The first samples were horrible, yellow and 6400 on the TDS meter (total dissolved solids). The final sample read 200 and smelled and tased great, So now we don't even need those new filters.
We have moved on to Montague Harbour which is a beautiful large anchorage. This is where we checked into Canada. It was finally warm enough and sunny enough to sit outside and enjoy the views.
Tomorrow we are off to Nanaimo where we will hunker down and ride out the next big rain storm and then move on Monday.

Well the Kingfisher Odyssey is back! After a long hiatus we are headed North into British Columbia. We hope to make to Haida Gwaii aka Queen Charlotte Islands. here a few pics from the time that has lapsed.

We splashed the boat with everything but the radar pole and the bimini up. What a relief to get KF back into the water. On Friday AM our friend Jamie came by with two brand new 60' lines to go thru the Hiram Chittendon Locks. Thank you Jamie! Going thru the lock is the way you exit the fresh water of Lake Union and Salmon Bay to enter the Puget Sound. If you are lucky, you go in the small lock and the bollards you tie off to are on a floating wall so the line stays the same length while the water rises or drops. On a the less lucky day you get the big lock. That means you give the eye end of your long lines to the lock attendant so they can put it on the on bollards that are on top of the concrete walls. As the water rises or drops anywhere from 16 to 45 feet based on tides you pay out or pull in the line as the water level changes. If your lines are not long enough you can get your self into a bit of a mess. Fortunately, Jerry got the little lock. Jamie and another friend Molly (line handler extraordinaire) went with Jerry as I was was on logistics that day moving cars. Jerry was saying he just watched Molly, If she was good with it all, he was!

I met them at the Shilshole Bay Marina and then the work began. After getting the radar post and bimini back together I realized something. After being at RYC on C dock and now on another C dock, I realized what C stands for...chatty! As soon as we started working on deck we met all kinds of very friendly people. Nice to know that we have some new friends who will keep an eye on Kingfisher for the time she is there.

Next the hard part comes, cleaning her up inside and out. This is a big job after trucking and stowing everything inside. We want her ready to go when we are ready to head out.

Literally! Kingfisher had her 2nd safe, uneventful truck ride to the Pacific Northwest. We were watching weather since last April looking for a weather window to sail her up but the few times the window appeared either crew wasn't available or we had long term plans. Both Jerry and I realized the clock was ticking and we didn't want to miss another season in the Northwest on Kingfisher. So we bit the bullet and decided to truck her in the winter so we could have her ready to sail in the springtime.

We were quite surprised to find the cost of trucking had almost doubled in the last 3 years but we were determined to make it happen. As a result we decided to pack and unpack her ourself. Besides wrapping everything and stowing it in the boat his included fully winterizing her in the event the trucker gets stopped because of snow or ice. Winterizing means emptying all the water out of the boat and replacing it with antifreeze (propylene glycol). Easy enough to add, a lot slower to flush out. We haven't packed up a boat ourselves since 1997 and it is amazing how much work it is! We couldn't have gotten this done without Rolfe's help.

Once she arrived we spent the better part of 8 days putting her back together. We stayed in a great little VRBO. Unfortunately the hot water in the shower was acting up and no matter how hard everyone tried they couldn't figure out the problem. We were so lucky to have close friends living nearby who kept inviting us over for showers and hot tubbing. This made it all doable.

The first 2 days in WA were a shock to our systems. The weather was in the high 30s, low 40s and we just couldn't get ourselves started as the work ahead of us was daunting and it was cold. Fortunately our friend Brad was there pushing us on and it really helped us get a jump on things. Moving inside the boat was difficult as everything we own that is boat related was in there, what a mess.

When the day came to put the mast back into the boat we were actually ready and watched the crane lift it up and put it in without incident. Phew, another big hurdle behind us. Now all we need to do is get her back in the water.