Shore Acres State Park and Botanical Gardens

We took the opportunity to visit the Shore State Park and Botanical Gardens along the Cape Arago Highway.  It was recommended and  WELL WORTH THE VISIT.  The garden is five acres of formal garden including a rose testing plot and a Japanese Lily Pond .... beautiful !!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meeting Jill Fredston and Doug Fesler

We arrived back to the boat to see that Sea Level had been joined on the dock, by another vessel, Companera – a 47’ sailboat skippered by Jill Fredston and Doug Fesler.  

A SUPER interesting couple…. Both ADVENTURERS ( THAT’S an understatement) and  both renowned avalanche experts (among their MANY talents) !! 

Before they got their sailboat, Jill rowed and Doug kayaked all over the world – Seattle to Alaska …. Around the Scandanavian countries …..Labrador to  Greenland … then on to Spitzbergen … ROWING ... !!!!

Jill is a writer and she and Doug have co-authored a couple of award winning books on their rowing and their avalanche experiences”Rowing to Lattitude: Journeys Along the Arctic Edge” and “ Snow Sense: A Guide to Evaluating Snow Avalanche Hazzards” – required reading for the National Ski Patrol .  Doug is also a very talented artist !!  

They have been all over the America’s in Companera ….. down the west coast of both North and South America, around the tip of South America into the Falklands, and up the east side of again, both North and South America !!  Truly an AMAZING couple ….  And very interesting  to spend the evening with !!

They joined us for dinner on Sea Level and totally entertained (and intimidated ) us with their stories.  They have had some pretty spectacular/ frightening  adventures involving nasty weather, sharks swimming under and lifting their kayaks and grizzly bears outside their tent ... thankfully nothing we could much relate to and I'd be happy to keep it that way ....

The technology on Companera is quite basic although it has gotten them all over the world !!  They were quite interested in all the technology that we use on Sea Level … specifically Weather 4D …. so Cam gave them a little tutorial!!

 

SCHEDULES .... this one's for LT !!

Lawrence has always maintained that

"boating schedules are written in sand, at low tide"

so we dedicate this series of photos to him .....
 

 

 

 

and its SO TRUE ....

August 19-23, 2015 - Charleston Marina, Coos Bay

 

We managed to run as far as Coos Bay, Oregon and stayed at the Charleston marina for a few days, until things settle down farther south (which looks like Saturday / Sunday departure).  Until then … exploring Coos Bay is our plan.

Charleston Marina in Coos Bay, is a working, fishing marina filled with fish boats of all shapes, sizes and “vintage”.  Some are beautiful.  Some have seen better days.  But they all go out and haul in fresh salmon, tuna and shellfish …. it’s hard work … We saw a number of fish boats out in the dark when we were en route ... and given the seas we were in, we appreciated how tough it would be to make a living fishing. 

 

 

We have certainly been enjoying the fruits of their labor over the last few days …. Fresh tuna and halibut for dinners !!  Awesome !!

Coos Bay has some very interesting folk … a bit like Duck Dynasty crossed with a ZZ Top Convention.   There are as many shapes, sizes and vintage of BEARDS, as fishing boats !!!

During the day, the docks are filled with families, sitting on their lawn chairs with crab traps and fishing poles out. Kids play … there are no iPads, no hand held video games … they just PLAY…

And at the end of the day, they gather up ALL their extensive paraphernalia and their catch, and head home.

 

  

One of the “fellers” came over when we were tying up and announced “We don’t get many shiny boats in here” …. And although we stick out like a sore thumb, we were made to feel very welcome !!!



 

Some of our neighbors ....

 

 

 

 

 

 To take advantage of NO water restrictions ( and really stand out in the marina !!)

we gave the boat a swish .....

 

 

We rented a car which allowed us to do some exploring of the area and this part of the Oregon Coastline is BEYOND STUNNING ….. The Cape Arago Hwy runs along the coast past Lighthouse Beach, Bastendorff Beach, Sunset Bay and ends at Simpson Reef (ALIVE with seals and sea lions) …. it is MAGNIFICENT. 

 

Brian beautifully captured the panorama ....

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sea Lions cover the rocks at Simpson Reef ....

 

 

 

 Rugged shoreline ....

 

 

Beautiful sandy beaches ....

 



  Life is good ....

 

August 16, 2015 - Departure Day & Overnights ....

The agreed upon plan was to be ready to pull out at our first weather window, starting the weekend of August 15/16.   Sadly, the weather down the coast was not cooperating on Saturday, and we did not want to start out and have to hold up for 7-10 days somewhere … so we opted to wait …. 

However on Sunday morning, surprisingly, a low settled in off the coast of Northern California (Mendicino), giving us our weather window to start out and likely hold up in Brookings, Coos Bay or Crescent City but only for a few days.  We quickly gathered our crew (our son, Brian, and our friend Cam Cleveland), and headed off, hoping that Northern Ranger (with Talbots who were still needing to pick up parts) would be not far behind us.

 

Loading up ....

 

 

and sadly saying good bye to our beautiful Vancouver Harbor.

 

 

Perfect conditions through Active Pass .....

 

 

Our first night was spent at the RVYC Outstation on Salt Spring Island.

 From there we headed to Roche Harbor WA, to clear customs, get our cruising permit (which we were told back in May when Cam checked, we did not need !?! …. go figure !! ) and meet up with Colibri ( Christopher and Diana Dent’s Nordhavn 50 that we circumnavigated Vancouver Island with) . 

 

 

The next morning we headed off down the Strait of Juan de Fuca and out to the Pacific Ocean … for our first “all nighter". 

 

Beautiful sunsets just never get old ....

 

 

 

Driving in the Dark …. It’s going to take some getting used to

Our overnight watch schedules run with 2 people on, changing every 3 hours starting at 9pm.  We run these shifts until 9am and then switch to single operators changing every 2 hours.  This schedule worked well, but driving in the dark TAKES GETTING USED TO.  On top of staring out into total darkness, the seas can be (and were) very “swelly” which slewed the boat around and made moving through the cabin very difficult.  The first night was a bit touch and go … too tired and way too much wave action for my liking …. But by the second night, we had it more or less figured out.

We had been well advised to just SLEEP / REST when off shift to alleviate getting too tired …. Which for a non-napper, takes some discipline.  The tendency is to “carry on” with regular daily activities … but then you feel like you’ve been “hit by a truck” after the first night.  So we followed our watch schedule closely and when we were off shift … we were OFF SHIFT…. and laid down for a sleep.

For those of you who know us (and I assume that is all of you, otherwise, why else would you be reading this ?!?!?!), you will get a chuckle out of our watch schedule ….. YES …. written on a napkin !

…. VERY out of character for the laminating king and queen !!!

 

(Captain Cam and Brian are one shift .... Kim and Cameron Ernest are the other !!)

August 13, 2015 - Let the adventure begin .....

Reflecting over this last year just days before heading off (and one day before Cam’s 61^st birthday) … a year consumed with the planning of this big trip ……  I am thinking back to when the serious planning of this trip began.  We actually were “talking about it” for well over a year, but our commitment to this adventure began with signing up to join the 2015 CUBAR back in early 2014.

Preparation for this trip has been extensive ….. reading about destinations in Mexico, following other’s blogs, signing up and paying for CUBAR (the San Diego to La Paz Rally), putting everything … EVERYTHING … on excel spreadsheets, travel insurance for us and the boat, buying folding bikes for the boat, purchasing a folding, Port-A-Boat and motor for Mexico,  gathering spare parts, figuring out communications for the boat while we are off shore, figuring out entertainment (music / movies etc) for while we are underway,  reorganizing and inventorying “stuff” on the boat, especially the lazarette (storage area) and securing everything for ocean travel, taking weather courses and becoming familiar with the various weather apps and programs so we don’t get caught in some nasty weather (please dear God …), contacting and contracting OMNIBob – a weather router who will help us interpret weather charts, researching remote monitoring systems so we can “watch” the boat, when we leave it down south, making reservations at all the various marinas we will be hitting, both in California, and in Mexico come November, all the provisioning we can do for a trans border trip (no peppers, citrus, tomatoes, avocados, green onions or chicken from Ontario !) so casseroles and quick and easy “heat and eat” meals,  filling fuel tanks  and last but not least …. learning Spanish ( Me llamo Kim …. Mucho gusto …. Dos cervas por favor).  (OK …Really need to work on that Spanish …. )

Beyond her regular maintenance which we did in the spring (hauling, bottom painting, replacing zincs, changing fluids, fuelling up, waxing, polishing, oiling the back deck) SEA LEVEL now has a new transponder, two new sat compass sensors, a new charting system called Coastal Explorer as a back up to our existing chart plotter and all the charts for Mexico.

It has taken a year to plan and execute, but thanks to getting started early and staying on top of things, WE ARE READY TO GO …. And anxious to start this adventure.   Let the adventure begin …..