The Last Leg

Hi everybody!

Well we're almost there. Ron and I dropped Wally off and had a few short cruising days stopping again in Pender Harbour. I have to put a shout out to David and Richard who own Oak Tree Market in Maderia Park in Pender Harbour. They have the best meats! They are very friendly and the market is clean and has a beautiful selection. You'll probably find Richard behind the meat counter with his butcher apron on. The steaks are amazing and if you're real sweet he may make you up some of his delicious Tuscan Burgers! The warfinger is pretty friendly and will let you tie up for a bit while you make the short walk into town for shopping before dropping the hook in one of the many surrounding bays - we prefer Garden Bay.

We had a exhilarating day sailing across the Strait of Georgia! We left Buccaneer Bay and raised sails in Welcome Passage headed for Plumper Cove Marine Park in Howe Sound. As we neared the Trail Islands, just off Sechelt, we decided to take advantage of the beautiful day and Northwest winds to keep sailing right across the Strait! How glorious! Needless to say, our egos were rightly polished by doing so. As we neared the West side of the Strait, near Gabriola Island, the winds picked up and we had to change tacks to more of a run (We made this decision after a couple waves broke over the beam rail covering my back and Ron's front! Cold.) Which meant our headsail had to come down. I was a little nervous about heading forward to do so. Ron offered to do it, but I was more scared about taking the helm and something happening to him. I felt secure that he could rescue me should something happen - the 'something' being ending up in the water. I gathered the lazy sheet to use as a tie-down once the sail was on deck and headed forward. As I was organizing my plan, a pod of porpi joined us! Talk about taking the edge off. I now had no fear. I told Ron to just ease the tensioned sheet and I'd get the sail down without heading back into the wind - the swells and wind had both picked up and the running and surfing were actually pretty calm. I went about my job, enjoying the porpi leaping, breathing and cruising right at the bow. It seemed that if I slipped they would just give me a lift right back onto the deck, I wouldn't even get wet! The sail came down without a hitch and after it was secure I went back for my camera. I got some wonderful video! They stayed with us till we rounded the Flat Top Islands, at the Southeastern end of Gabriola Island, which was well over an hour! By then we were able to head into the wind without the swells and get the main down. We motored into Silva Bay excited and spent. 4 hours of sailing will do that I guess. We tied up and spent way too much for a nights moorage and didn't even get to the Bitter End Pub! We're guessing they got bought out with this whole Silva Bay Resort thing going on :( And I was hoping to finally get a cool t-shirt! Oh well.

We were sad to see Wally go but also glad to have our space back, real glad! wink;) wink;) We may have our space back on the boat but we've seen more boats these past few days than we have the last month! We finally figured out that not only are we back in a more populated area but it's Thanksgiving weekend for the Canadians! We have a decent little weather window right now and there are a lot of people out and about on their boats for the long weekend. Well, I guess it's a good way to ease back into life in the 'real world'. People are very friendly and excited to hear about our adventures. We met a couple of boats out from Nanimo - Misty Morning (who joined us fighting Gabriola passage a little early) and Island Beet (cute story...co-owners brother and sister. brother, Doug and wife Louise, keep the boat up and close to them on Vancouver Island and sister who's married to a beet farmer in the midwest. There is also a good bit of music beat that runs in the family! Louise is an avid cribbage player and got a kick out of our boat name story).

We wove our way through the Gulf Islands and made the decision to get across to Roche Harbour on San Juan Island. We were running low on propane and have had trouble getting it filled in Canada. Different regulations. So here we are so close to home and yet reluctant to end this wonderful adventure. But we're in cell phone range now and talking with friends and family is hard to put off, much less knowing we could see them within the day and start all these wonderful parties we've been promised! We ran into Scot on SV Jaga out of our homeport of Port Hadlock in Roche Harbour and had a wonderful visit. We spent a very lazy Tuesday walking and exploring the beautiful McMillin Mausoleum, lunch at the Lime Kiln Cafe and another visit from Scot. All of a sudden it's 4pm! Ron and I were done being tied up at the dock and decided to make the short run over to Shaw Island in the San Juans and spend the night on the hook. It was a beautiful evening motor and just after anchoring we enjoyed a soft sunset and a full moonrise over Parks Bay. The next morning we listened to the weather while sipping our coffee and made the decision to make the run across the Strait of Juan de Fuca. We took our time with breakfast waiting for the tides to turn in our favor. We literally got spit out of the San Juans at about 8 knots (nice job baby on timing the currents!). The sun peeked out on a nice gentle day. It's good to be in familiar waters and on our way home.

Ron touched base with Wally and he started the phone tree. We pulled into Point Hudson in Port Townsend and were greeted on the dock by friends with growlers (that's a jug o beer) being passed before the dock lines were made and the engine shut off! What fun! Days flew by with little sleep and a full social calendar. Such good friends we have. On Saturday 18 October we completed our trip with a lovely sail down to Hadlock. Katy joined us on Juichi and John and Sarah followed close on board Mystery. Sarah and I spend the lovely afternoon taking pictures of each others beautiful sailing boats. What a perfect day, way to end our trip. We had a lovely weekend in Hadlock and came back to Point Hudson where Ron and I will be spending the winter. I'll be working at the sail loft and am looking forward to the 5 minute walk commute.

Well, this adventure has come to an end but the crew of Juichi and Mystery have made a pack to be diligent on getting out on a regular basis so hopefully it won't be too long before there is a continuation on the Adventures of Juichi!

Thanks for following!
Alison, Ron and Juichi