Salt Spring Island 9.30.09

We got on the road around 9am or so and headed South on Hwy 19 down Vancouver Island to the town of Crawfton where we jumped on a ferry over to Vesuvius, on Salt Spring Island. What a spectacular drive! The scenery is amazing – the leaves on the Alder trees are turning a beautiful shade of orang’ish brown, the pinecones on the hemlocks are turning brown’ish orange, the tips of the cedar trees are turning red, the huge leaves on the maple trees are turning yellow-orange-brown and beginning to fall….not to mention all of the shrubs & berry bushes beginning to turn colors as well. It’s definitely autumn in B.C. and is incredibly beautiful. We stopped to find a couple geocaches on our way and were treated with a huge lake, sandy beaches, & incredible vistas. The two lane highway winds over & around, up & down, and each turn rewards you with another breathtaking view. This s a place I would love to spend a couple weeks camping, bike riding, and relaxing. Next time!

I’ve said it before and I’m sure I’ll say it again, but we ‘crossed over’ into a different country which means several changes! Kilometers instead of miles, Canadian currency instead of American, liters instead of gallons, Celsius instead of Fahrenheit…at least the language is the same, well, with only few ‘eh’s’ and a different accent. Haha!

We just missed the ferry that left Crawfton when we arrived but the ferry is every 30 minutes so we didn’t have to wait long. We purchased our tickets which were about $43 CDN and caught the 4:30 ferry over to Salt Spring Island. The ferry was a double-ender ferry with no real room for passenger waiting areas so most everyone stayed in their car.



The trip over was quick, only about 20 minutes or so. We arrived in Vesuvius and we were meeting our good friends Joe & Deb in Fulford, about an hour or so drive around the island.



Joe & Deb are our dear friends that we spent most of last year cruising with. We met them in Mazatlan and they came into Stone Island anchorage just a day past us arriving and we sailed down the coast together. They have a similar lifestyle, they cruise Mexico in the winter and work during the summer and their job is running the Fulford Marina on Salt Spring Island. What a life! :-) We knew we were coming to see them at the end of their time working, but it happened that we were coming on their last day of work! So of course we had to celebrate! Woohoo! We made it to the marina around 6pm or so and proceeded to get reacquainted and talk all about our summers. And the celebratory beers flowed as well… We went to dinner at the Fulford Inn & pub and we all enjoyed the special…a personal pizza….and beers. It was so great to see them and catch up.

We popped the top of the camper and slept in the parking lot of the marina, right alongside them in their camper that is provided to them. That made it incredibly helpful getting home at night!



The next morning we met with them for breakfast and more chatting and then we jumped into their truck and went touring the island. We drove up to Mount Maxwell lookout which has an amazing panoramic view of the islands.



There was a bit of breeze in the air and a bit cloudy but it was a spectacular spot – you could see for miles and miles and as Deb put it "it was as if you could take a walk on the clouds." Just below us was an anchorage with amazingly clear turquoise water that reminded me a lot of Catalina Harbor.



Salt Spring Island is an artsy community which makes it a lot of fun looking through the boutique stores in town. There were lots of goodies and the stores were jam packed with stuff I would have loved to have. Too bad I live on a boat! We went to downtown Ganges where we enjoyed a nice lunch by the fire at a restaurant overlooking the harbor. Joe & Deb explained that the school kids come to the island from many of the surrounding islands and so they have to take a water taxi home! They had three boats loading up to take the kids home. Jeez, I wouldn’t want to miss the boat! That’s a long, cold swim back home… ;-) We went back to the marina and partied with them both until it was time for bed.

The next morning was another day just like the day before….wake up, go over to Joe & Deb’s (did I mention they had a heater in their camper?!), breakfast, and more touring of the island! This time we went to Ruckle Provincial Park, a great park area right on the water.



We hiked the trails, checked out some local wildlife (this is a leopard slug),



scoured the beach for beach glass, and just took in the amazing views. This area is incredible.



We decided we had spent enough time off the water – time to check out the area by boat! We went back to the Marina where Joe & Deb had a small boat that they were permitted to use and the four of us jumped aboard and took off.



A friend of Joe & Deb’s, Catherine, the post mistress, met us at the dock and away we went!



We just toured the area, often stopping the engine and just drifting. All the while chatting away and eating the wonderful munchies that Deb brought for us – pate, artesian bread, cheese, Canadian bacon, yum! We got back to the marina just around dark and proceeded to chat the evening away! Oh how we’ve missed Joe & Deb. Seeing them only makes us miss them and Mexico and our boat and all of our cruising friends even more! But it’s great to see & visit with them in a different place, in the layers & layers of clothes! We can’t wait to see them again and are so grateful that they could take some time to spend with us!

Cheers!
Rene

Port Hardy, Vancouver Island 9.29.09

Yesterday morning we jumped on another ferry and sailed down from Prince Rupert to Port Hardy through the inside passage. It was a long day…we were on board at 5:30am and didn’t arrive in Port Hardy until 10:30pm. But what a spectacular ride! This ferry is part of BC Ferries and was named the M/V Northern Expedition. It was a very new boat – only about 4 months old - so it was incredibly nice. Riding the ferry is similar to riding a train….you get to see the world go by, meet new people, and you’re so ready to get off of it when it’s over! The scenery was spectacular.



Everywhere you looked there were dense tree covered islands, spectacular panoramic views, and every once in a while, some wildlife would appear! We drove onto the ferry along with about 30 other vehicles, took an armload of ‘must have’s’ while on the ferry – books, munchies, guide books, & of course, a blanket! We found a lovely couple from Canada to sit next to in comfy reclining chairs that faced the windows. And we sat….and watched the amazing scenery go by.



The sun came up over the mountains and made for spectacular photos. The sun peeked out on and off during the day and luckily, we were on the side of the boat that it poured in on, warming us up nicely.

We saw some pods of whales, eagles, several lighthouses, old mining towns, and a channel we passed through with incredibly steep cliffs with the trees growing right on top! It was incredible.



By the end of the evening, we were ready to get off the ferry.



We unloaded and then drove up to a cruising friend of ours’ house, I.V.



We met Pamela and I.V. this past cruising season and immediately clicked. We enjoyed each other’s company in the few times we could get together as they were often in different ports than we were, but we always liked hooking up with them. It so happens that Pamela had already gone down to Mazatlan to begin getting her boat ready for this year’s cruising season but I.V. was still home so we lucked out and was able to stay with him for two days. We arrived late Monday night and left on Wednesday.

Tuesday morning we awoke with a start! The door to the room we were staying in opened and Michael asked ‘Can I help you?’! It was the cleaning lady…just coming in to strip the sheets! Haha… She was incredibly apologetic and we just laughed. We got up and around, walked on the beach a little, and drove into town to meet I.V. out at the Quarterdeck Restaurant for lunch. After lunch he took us on a tour of the town, showing us all of the highlights as well as a land development project he’s working on.

The town is very cute, only about 10 blocks long and about that wide! It only has about 5,000 people in it. They have some beautifully carved wooden ‘Welcome to Port Hardy’ signs in two places in town.



The temperature was in the 50’s, brisk but not too cold. It rained a very little bit and cleared back up. I.V.’s house is a beautiful place situated right across the street from the ocean in Port Hardy. It was a spectacular home but I have to tell you the best part – aside from a shower with never-ending hot water, a real bed, plenty of places to sit, a gorgeous deck, etc. – they had heated floor tiles in the kitchen! Yep, it was pure heaven – no more cold tootsies! That is definitely going in my next home!

That evening we made dinner for I.V. and he pulled out a fantastic bottle of wine for us all to enjoy. We chatted and chatted and before we knew it, it was almost midnight! Time flies when you’re having fun and we found we just had too much to talk about. It was great to catch up and know we will be seeing him again this season!

Tomorrow we’re off to Salt Spring Island, to visit yet another cruising couple, Joe & Deb, who we spent a great deal of time with last season. We can’t wait!

More to follow…
Rene

On the road (water) again! 9.27.09

The title says it all, well almost. :-) After all the craziness of the past three weeks, it was just as crazy getting everything packed up and ready to leave. We left several things here since we’ll be back next year – clothes, computer stuff, things we’ve purchased specifically for the job, etc. But everything else is stuffed in the van. We're not doing wheelies....yet.... :-)

We had a wonderful dinner last night at the Moose lodge with a couple of the Duck captains – Captain Don, Captain Larry, & Captain Sean – as well as their significant others which was nice. After working all summer beside them, it was great to socialize and talk about the craziness of the summer! Captain Don is on the same ferry as we are – the 5:30am departure to Prince Rupert, Canada – so we both decided instead of getting up at 1am to get everything loaded up & get in line, we would just sleep in our vehicles in line at the ferry terminal. We got in line early – around 6pm. And at 4am….



well, the photo really says it all….we were the only 2 vehicles in the lot. Captain Don has a cabover on his truck and we popped our top. It was COLD!! Inside wasn’t too bad but in the morning it was only about 42 degrees outside – brrr!! We boarded the ferry, the Taku on the Alaska Marine Highway System, headed to Prince Rupert, Canada.

It’s an overcast day, not incredibly picturesque, but still beautiful. There are islands on both sides of the boat, lighthouses everywhere, we’ve seen whales, Dahl porpoises as well as Pacific porpoises, and other boats, of course. Tugs pulling barges, other ferries, fishing boats, you name it.

Here are a couple videos of the whales off the bow of the ferry this morning...







Luckily the seas are pretty mellow and it’s been a nice ride.

Once in Prince Rupert we had something amazing happen to us....we were not stopped by customs & border patrol! We nearly had a heart attack when we were told 'Welcome to Canada'! Those of you who have followed our travels know we get stopped, checked, & searched at every border. It felt good to be waved on in. :-) We found a campground, got all checked in and went for lunch at our favorite place in town, an eatery called 'Charlies' that is located inside the Coast Prince Rupert hotel. We have eaten there a couple times and have found the food to be amazing at a very reasonable price.

Back at the campground we got the van ready for proper camping, pulled out all of the essentials, watched as two white tail deer ate the grass around the campsites, found a wi-fi signal to check e-mails, updated our position report, & updated the blogs! It will be an early night as we were up at 3am for our ferry ride this morning and tomorrow we have to be in line at 5am. We will arrive in Port Hardy, on Vancouver Island tomorrow evening around 10pm or so. I should be able to upload some pics & videos in the next day or so.



Woohoo! We're on our way...
More to follow...
Rene

End of the season 9.26.09

The weather has changed in the past 3 weeks for the wetter & colder, the birds are flying south for the winter, and the bears are beginning to go into hibernation…..it’s time for us to get the heck out of here! Time to head to warmer weather, sunshine, & our own boat!!

Whew! How quickly two weeks flies by when you’re having fun. And it was an interesting couple of weeks, to say the least. We had some big changes at work which ended up with Michael and I jumping in with both feet to help out. While that last sentence sounds so easy, it was quite a learning experience, a bit of a fire drill, and long hours. The past three weeks we’ve both worked between 10-12 hours a day! Wait a minute – we came up here to have FUN!! Haha… On top of that, we had to pack up everything for the ride home, which is also work! I’ve said it before but jeez we’ve accumulated a lot of stuff! Our poor van is squatting in the back again but we’re ready for the month-long trek down to Mexico.

But of course, we made time for lots of fun too. Our company held an ‘End of Season’ party which was too much fun. Anyone and everyone from the docks was invited, there was a ton of food, a bounce house for the kids, a couple of kegs of beer, and even a vodka lune!



What’s a vodka luge you may ask?! It’s a big chunk of ice that has channels carved into it and you wait at the base while a shot is poured from above into the channel.



Yum! Of course it was dangerous too – it was easy to have too much!



There were about 150 people or so who came and went during the evening and there were three bands that played during the evening. We had a great time and enjoyed letting our hair down with everyone we had the pleasure working with that past 6 months, many we won’t see again. That’s one bad part of working in seasonal positions – while some will return for next season, most won’t. I’m just thrilled to have had the chance to meet and get to know them! Of course, as always...more pictures are on the website!

We also had an opportunity to jump on two cruise ships for their end of year parties. Now of course, I’ve been on two cruises in my life – one on the Norwegian Star and the other on a Carnival ship. And yep, you guessed it – those were the two ships that had the end of year parties! It was still a great day and fun time. The first ship of the day was the Norwegian Star. Rebecca, one of the gals who worked for the Ducks, Michael and I all went aboard. We were given guest passes and escorted up to the party by one of the Shore Excursion Managers.



As soon as we arrived, we were given drinks (a rum punch or screwdriver) and munchies. Rebecca had never been aboard a cruise ship so we asked our ShoreEx to take us on a tour of the ship. We went everywhere! We took lots of photos and had a great time touring the ship. Back at the party we met up with the folks we work with on the docks and got to spend some downtime with them before it was time to leave. Later that evening we boarded the Carnival Spirit for another end of year party. This time we went with the owners, John & Jillian, and Bryce, one of the other Hummer drivers. This party was a lot shorter and we weren’t given the grand tour, but we still had some tasty drinks (the blue margaritas were excellent!) and munchies.

It has been an incredible summer, we’ve had a great time, met some wonderful folks, and thoroughly enjoyed being here. In fact….we’re going to come back again next year! Woohoo! We were offered positions similar to those we’ve been performing the past couple weeks and figured ‘why not?’! We love the area, the people we work for and work with, the job….and the fact that we know exactly what we’ll be doing next year. There is definitely enjoyment in knowing we can do whatever we want and when and where we want….BUT….applying for jobs, interviewing, sending resumes, etc all while cruising was a bit of a drag last year. We had to stay near internet access, always on the ready for a job interview, and spent hours and hours researching jobs & places to go. This way we know exactly what we’ll be doing, where we will be doing it, when we have to be there, etc. We can enjoy our winter and won’t have to worry about all the questions – how long will it take us to get there? What do we bring with us? Will we like it? When do we have to put the boat to bed for the winter? We know exactly. So it’s a good thing! We’re pretty excited too! The job we’ll be performing is a bit different from this year. Michael will be the Operations manager – managing employees, dispatching, monitoring ticket sales, and working in the Ketchikan Visitor’s Bureau. I will be the accountant, his assistant, and will be doing Hummer tours or Duck tours when available. It should be fun! So plan your trips NOW! Haha… Come visit us! We’d love to have friends & family up for a visit.

More to follow...
Rene

Jumping Salmon 9.15.09

As promised, here's a video of the salmon jumping up Rainbow falls. There are literally thousands of salmon waiting for their chance to jump the falls. It's quite a spectacle!

21 more days...but who's counting?! 9.6.09

Happy Labor Day everyone!! I hope everyone is having a wonderful and safe weekend. We're close to finishing out the summer season here with only about 21 days remaining before our ferry over to Prince Rupert, B.C. on the 27th. The Hummer tours have been slowing down already but we have had some wonderful clients lately. The Salmon are really jumping at the waterfall, something I hope to show you on a video soon, and the bears are still showing themselves often. If I were to recommend a time to visit Alaska, I would suggest the middle to late August.

I have to tell you....the fishing out here is spectacular. I have never thought of myself as a 'fisherwoman'....but let me tell you, I LOVE getting out there! Now, I have to admit, I'm still a girl....the boys have to bait my hook, bring my fish on board (after I have it reeled up to the surface), and well, filet the fish too...but I still LOVE it!! We went out another time this week with 4 other guys to the same secret spot and limited out at 2 a person again!



John, the owner of the company we work with, called us up and said he'd meet us at 1pm at our boat and along with the other guys coming along, we headed out. We were only out for about 4 hours but the sun was out, the wind was calm, and once we were out in open ocean, the swell calmed down. Halibut fishing is interesting. You bait a hook, hang a heavy weight about 12" above the baited hook, then send the line down until you hit bottom. You kind of 'bob' the weight on the surface a few times and you know when the halibut has chomped the bait as the tip does a little dance when the halibut shakes its head from side to side. When the tip dances, you jerk the pole straight up and REEL!! The funny thing is, when a halibut is hooked, he swims round and round and more than likely, will get tangled in the other lines that are down. So when one person gets one, everyone is worried they'll be tangled. Michael got the prize for the biggest fish caught - a 63lb one!



It was a monster. And when he was reeling it up, it tangled everyone's line....except mine. haha!! We had a great time, again. After all of the fish were processed, bagged, & frozen, we had a little over 100lbs of halibut meat. What a treat!!

We also had a change of scenery this week. The boat we have been staying on, the F/V Rebel, is a commercial fishing vessel that hunts geoduck (pronounced gooey-duck) clams & sea cucumbers, which are hunted in the winter season beginning October 1st. So we were kicked off the boat so the owner can begin getting the boat ready. Luckily, one of the captains left for the season so we moved to the apartment that he was living in. It's a nice sized apartment and has a few items we've missed this summer! An apartment sized refrigerator, an oven, a bed we can both sleep in together, high speed internet, and TV! We're outside of town by about 10 miles or so in a great wooded area.

I'm sure these next few weeks are going to fly by!

Rene

Ahea Kali is safe in Mazatlan 9.1.09

Thank you everyone for your concerns. Our boat, Ahea Kali, is safely tied up in Mazatlan, on the mainland, well away from Hurricane Jimena. We're in touch with fellow cruisers & friends there and they say there is a bit of wind and some rain, but nothing to worry about. We're still watching it closely as we have lots of friends and fellow cruisers who are cruising in the Sea of Cortez and we're keeping them in our prayers!

Rene

An afternoon of Halibut fishing 8.30.09

I've been told that you haven't been fishing in Alaska if you haven't been Halibut fishing. Well we can check that one off the list!



We got a call Sunday morning - 'hey, wanna go fishing this afternoon?' SURE! It has been raining for the past 3 weeks...almost daily and today was the day the weather broke. It was still overcast but NO RAIN! So we jumped on it.



John, the owner of the business we work for, came by in his boat, Moana, and along with us, we had 5 on board: Michael, John, Captain Don, AJ (John's son) and me. We headed out to the South end at a spot we have been swore to secrecy. It took about an hour to get there, but with the super duper new engines on board, it seemed like no time.



We saw lots of commercial fishing boats on our way - fishing for salmon. We also saw whales, about 3-4 of them, and it's always so exciting and amazing to see them.

When we arrived at the spot & dropped anchor, we immediately had 5 poles in the water. It took a bit for our first bite, maybe 15 minutes or so, but after that they came up in droves.





We quickly 'limited out' as we were only allowed 2 halibut per person and caught some large ones! The biggest was about 45 lbs and we had 10 of them. In fact, as our last pole was coming up, there were two on it....which we had to let go as we were over our limit. Bummer!



Oh well, we still had a great day. We even saw some sunshine out there and it got down right warm! AJ was great at hooking up rockfish and even caught a lingcod.



All in all, not a bad day of fishing!



We came back to the marina, cleaned & filleted the fish, and put it inside a large cooler, filled to the brim with fish! The next day we went to the marina and vacuum packed it all. There were probably 35 bags of halibut all together, whew!



It's too bad we can't take any of it with us! Canada has a strict law that no fresh (or frozen) can come into the country so we have to leave it. Oh well! It was fun anyway.

And on the way back to the marina, the clouds & setting sun was giving us quite a show.



It sure is beautiful up here...

More to follow!
Rene