1117 miles on the Ellie K in August. Thanks for your interest. Life is full and wonderful, Becky and I are moving into a new home, I am back to sea next week, just in time for the move. I am a blessed man. Thanks to God and all of you that I can call friends.

The Ellie K is running strong, still turning heads and evolving. It is a little different not living onboard and now living in Portland, but life is good and there are many chapters left for that boat.

Thanks to my Lover and First Mate Becky, for your planning and provisioning and for your attempt in learning your knots and for having the finders and first line always ready. I cherish You.

Thanks to my farmer friends Deb and Jim for giving us a wonderful week and the honor of showing us that you can relax in our presence.

Thanks to Cassie for being a wonderful Step Sister and Daughter and for bringing Ellie safely up to Echo Bay. It was a wonderful two weeks with you.

Thanks to my wonderful daughter Ellie for your humor and flexibility and for moving to the lower cabin every morning while I made coffee.

I needed to say how wonderful of a time I was having and how great of a mate I have found in Becky. She is having a great time and loves being on the boat and has learnt all the task needed to get us to the dock and continues to feed us nicely.

Alas we need to get south and I need to start figuring out how to retrace our steps south. Whatever decision we make, our what stops we make it will be all good.

Giving thanks for a boat that is running good and a boat full of woman I love.

By Becky – After a couple very long days of watching tide tables and weather conditions we have made it through the many rapids that even on slack tide toss our boat around in 45 degree swings.  We are now resting in Port Harvey.  It is a funky little outpost marina off of Johnston Strait and a welcome rest from the wind and waves.  We had planned on stopping in Port Neville but decided the weather was good and we had to take advantage of that to get a bit further to where we will pick up our daughters.  We will rest here for the day fishing, crabbing and shrimping before the final push to Lagoon Cove.  As we get farther north the wind and water are getting colder and the landscape gets a bit more rugged. Beautiful!

I did a bit of a reality check this morning….. I have not looked in a mirror for a few days but Paul has not complained about my looks so it must be acceptable.  While we are eating very well, my clothes still fit so I think my weight must be ok.  Paul does chuckle on occasion as I try to contain my hair in the wind and he did comment on a large red welt on my face from a bug bite.  I am pretty much covered in them; some itch like crazy and some are not so bad.  I do have swollen toes on one foot… I am not really sure why but probably from bug bites.

We take advantage of opportunities that arise such as getting some fresh herbs from a garden planter on a boat next to us….picking some fresh veggies from a garden at a marina, buying fresh shrimp from a fishing boat at a dock or even some freshly baked bread. This morning we are having freshly baked cinnamon rolls with our lattes as we listen to eagles.  It is not a bad way to live!  Thank you so much Terry and Kelly for allowing me the time off so I can enjoy this adventure.

By Paul – Port Harvey, and our entrance into The Broughtons. So nice to get here, even though we blasted through Desolation Sound and the middle of Vancouver Island and its tidal narrows.  Pushing hard to be able to stop and relax; and ensuring that we are waiting for Ellie and Kassia when they arrive. Enjoyed a visit last night with the proprietors of the Marina, George and Gail and their daughter Christine. I sometimes can’t believe how well the boat is performing; steady on, our John Deere engine, loving to be driven. We approach the 400-mile mark and just over 90 gallons of fuel consumed. Becky is awesome and has mastered the line and finder handling. She is keeping us fed, the refrigerator full and is helpful in reading about the passages ahead. She is managing her motion sickness with ease, the 20 knot head wind in Johnstone Straights yesterday didn’t phase her any.

Vanilla latte and soft boiled eggs, 1030 and we are still lounging around, Becky is picking up the book I finished last night, my agenda today is to get the crab pot in the water and perhaps shave the two day growth off of my face.

Debbie

By Becky:  We are currently in Powell River scooting North in what will be long days to make sure we get to Lagoon Cove by the time our daughters arrive.  Debbie and Jim caught a ride to the floatplane on a large catamaran and we are missing their company.  After they left a 150’ sailboat of the ‘rich and famous’ tied up at the dock next to us.  It was pretty funny watching the attention it drew.  Every eye was on it and it boggled my mind as well as most of the others in the bay.   It also killed all access to any Internet access we had been enjoying…. I am not sure why but something about its electronics.

We are picking up a shrimp trap and a fishing pole and will see how our foraging skills are this year.   The day started out with ‘fresh’ seas (that means hang on!)  The sun is now burning through and we are hoping to continue with our amazing weather.   I am keeping an eye on the emails from work (thank you Monica and Michele) but it all seems so far away from the amazing adventure I am on.

We continue to eat extremely well and Paul and I are feeling very blessed.

The days have been wonderful, the boat is behaving nicely, we have hit the tides perfectly and the food is good.

Yesterday, after a night at anchor beside Russell Island, we went for a hike around the Island and visited the homestead of the Hawaiian settlers brought there by the Hudson Bay Company for laboring in the fur trade. Apparently there were hundreds of Hawaiians around Salt Spring Island.

After the hike we tied up in Fulford Harbor for a walk and bus ride into Ganges. Becky bought some Oysters

and roasted them on the Grill yesterday afternoon as we motored through Dodd Narrows. We hit the rapids perfectly and continued onto Newcastle Park in Nanaimo and picked up a mooring. It was a wonderful evening and we watched the planes take off, a sailing race as we ate and after dinner took a sunset hike around the park.

So it’s a pulled pork wrap, keeping the Hawaiian theme going, for breakfast and a trip to the nautical book store and across the Straits of Georgia and into the fiords and Princes Louisa later today

Monday Paul was up at daybreak to set sail for Seattle area.  Becky didnt quite make daybreak but shortly thereafter.  In the afternoon we met Paul’s friend Bob who drove us around for the last few items after we stowed the gear to make room for Jim and Deb to get to their bunk without climbing over several bags of gear.  Deb and Jim arrived after dark and relaxed on the deck watching stars.  We were up at 6:00 with anticipation to begin the adventure North.  We are dodging ferries, barges, huge sailboats and misc other boats as well as logs in the water.  It is overcast but pleasant as the sun is trying to break through.

Most of all I want to welcome Scott Wilson as a new partner. Scott is spending the first part of the summer on the Ellie K taking her up to Alaska and is planning on handing over the boat to me in Juneau on the first of August. He is a good writer, so hopefully he will bless us with some updates.

Godspeed  to Scott, his family and friends and may your trip north be good to you and our boat, Ellie K.

Paul

Telegraph Cove, no wind and a day for Alert Bay, Johnstone Straight and possibly some whales. Two days from Sullivan Bay and having Jim and Alicia here has been a nice change. The weather has been good and having two other people tie up and set the anchor has eased some of the work for Becky and I. Turnbull Cove, a few hours from Sullivan Bay got Jim and Alicia introduced to the boat and left us enough time to put the Dingy and Kayaks in the water and Jim and I broke out the crab pots, while Becky and Alicia took off in the Kayaks. Jim and I were pretty excited, and loving the view and reconnecting, blasting off in the dingy….. Our departure was cut short when I ran over the bow line. I thought that I had hit something. It was so tight that I couldn’t lift the engine to free it. Jim and I were laughing, the seasoned sailors that we are, humbled and having fun. We had a great dinner of barbequed chicken, salad and some beans.

In the morning tried to go through Hopetown Passage. I should have taken a clue from the kelp in the pass; I did, because I stopped and coasted with the tide through. I was doing less than 2 knots when I ran aground. Yep, planted the boat. Alicia and Becky were  on the bow and I was stuck. Fortunately, when they came back to the stern I was able to back off. OUCH….. Fortunately it wasn’t noisy and the boat didn’t lurch or heel, but I should have posted the look out earlier. I said a prayer of thanks as the boat slid off and then did a u-turn. Managed to stay in deep water the rest of the day as we stopped by Echo Bay and visited with Yvonne Maximchuck and Billy Proctor. I was delighted because I recognized Yvonne, from her picture in Billy’s book and had been interested in her artwork.  Also Billy Proctor remembered my boat from two years ago when he toured it, his museum is such an interesting place.

By Becky – tonight is my last night.  It has been a fantastic adventure of a lifetime.  We are in Shoal Bay where there is a music fest going on.  There are about 30 boats tied to each other and we all brought pizza makings to share.  They were baked in a stone, wood fueled oven out on a deck in a beautiful bay.  We have been visiting with some of the folks we have met in different ports along the way and making new friends with others.  It is a great night; fish are jumping next to the boat.  We are tied to Spirit of Balto again and they have put a large plastic rat on the line we used to tie to their boat.  I love those guys!!

It would seem that four people on a small boat would be a crowd but we have been having a great time with Jim and Alicia.  They are warm-hearted people that feel like family.  We have gone to some great isolated bays and small, friendly marinas;  have seen bears, eagles, whales porpoises, dolphins, and deer along with amazing, awesome scenery.  It is hard to go back to home and work but I hope I will return here someday.   It is truly a magical place!  God has blessed us on the entire trip.  We have had weather and waves in our favor for most of the trip even when we had to go in Johnstone Straits.  Even the small amount of bad weather and waves were manageable.  They just added to the adventure of the trip. I am a bit sad to leave, but am soooooo happy to have been here for the last three weeks that I have to thank God for the amazing trip.  I will treasure the pictures that will trigger memories of the places we have been, the things we have seen and the people we have met.