Eliana

#66 Kauai Reconnaissance

Fri, 18 May 2012 00:00:00 GMT

We want to move Eliana to Kauai in June. It’s not far, about 100 nautical miles, but our preferred Kauai base anchorage is on the north shore at Hanalei Bay. To prepare for the trip, we thought it would be a good idea to go there for a couple of days to check things out.

Our nephew Kyle and his wife Stephanie were already vacationing on the big island with plans to spend a few days on Kauai, so this looked like the perfect opportunity. We worked out a plan to have them join us for an overnight on Eliana anchored off Makua and in exchange we would go with them to Kauai for a look around.

I had no idea how incredible Kauai, the Garden Isle really is. I’ll be able to report a lot more in depth once we get Eliana there, but for now I would like to whet your appetite by simply sharing a few pictures from our two day activities with Kyle and Stephanie. Click to enlarge.

Hiking the Na Pali coastline.

Kalalau Trail. One of the most beautiful, and top 10 dangerous hikes in the world.

Hiking up the Hanakapi'ai River. Two miles up this river brought us to the 160' Hanakapi'ai Falls. It was difficult, but worth it.

Kyle and Stephanie at a park in Hanalei

Beautiful Hanalei Valley. The bay where we intend to anchor is in the distance.

Hiking toward Wailua Falls with a guide.

On the way, we saw this overgrowth of Morning Glory. It's prolific with over 300 inches of rain per year.

Wailua Falls. Waterfalls are so hard to photograph.

Makua
You may recall we spotted Makua Bay while hiking to Ka’ena Point a couple weeks ago. Looked like a nice spot, out of the way and almost nobody there. Since Kyle and Stephanie were on Oahu for one night, we thought having them aboard was the perfect reason to go up there. The weather looked perfect with a 10 to 15 knot breeze and ocean swells less than 6 feet. Here are some photos...

I often question the fly bridge, but today it was all worth it. Man was it gorgeous.

Stephanie up front. Just that kind of day.

Coming up on Makua Valley.

Sunset on Kyle's camera. It's one of the new Sony's and does a beautiful job.

Then back to Ko Olina for brunch.

The Lost Anchor
My projects don’t always go as planned. In fact, this one went horribly wrong. I'll tell the whole story so you'll have maximum sympathy for me.

Much like Mexico’s west coast, most Hawaiian anchorages are exposed to ocean swell. We have found if Eliana is oriented bow or stern toward the swell, it is barely noticeable. If, however, our beam is facing the swell it causes an uncomfortable roll. Unfortunately, in most normal conditions, when wind is less than 20 knots, we tend to weather vane slowly. That is, she slowly turns to port and then starboard crossing through just about every orientation to the swell.

Now flopper stoppers help immensely. We’ve gotten good at putting them out and will always put them out in Hawaii regardless. But I decided to experiment with a strategically placed anchor off the stern which would still allow some normal rotation around the main anchor, but arrest the lazy turn before she goes beam on. Trade winds are directionally consistent here, so if the concept works anywhere, it would be here.

I purchased a 21 pound Fortress anchor, 12‘ of 3/8” chain and 250‘ of nylon rode to conduct this experiment. Then came time to test the theory. We decided to try it off Kahe Point in about 40’ of water. We set the main anchor with the bow directly in the wind. We backed into the swell paying out 400’ of anchor chain in front. At that point, we set the Fortress off the stern, then retrieved chain forward again until we had about 200’ forward and 200’ abaft, loosely tied. There we set, eager to see how she worked.

Here’s the good news. The stern anchor worked like a charm. Before Eliana could turn beam to the swell, the stern anchor “caught” the stern and started the rotation the other way. She still weather vaned normally, but just not as far. And it was easy to set. Debbie and I were high fiving at what a great discovery we had made and decided to just stay the night. Our celebration was premature.

Suddenly, just as the sun was setting, the wind shifted 70 degrees and increased to a steady 35 knots. I was taken completely by surprise. How could this be happening? For a couple minutes, I thought it would switch back and calm down given it was getting dark. But, no, it kept going. I shifted my attention to the stern anchor. The nylon line was groaning with strain and I did not have a marker buoy attached to it. Didn’t matter, there was no time to rig one now. I had to release it into the water while we rode out a gale force wind from the northeast.

The next morning we returned to Ko Olina and immediately got Sweet Charlotte rigged for diving. I was certain I could find the anchor, but day after day, dive after dive, tank after tank, the search area kept growing to no avail.

I was near giving up, when it occurred to me the anchor may have drug some before I released it. While diving, I noticed that what looked like a sand bottom was really only about 1” of sand on a flat plane of rock. Might hold on a rock irregularity, but when pulled hard may release and slide. So I plotted a possible new target position based on wind direction, the heading I remember at the time of the release, and the angle off the stern the line was going.

Then I solicited the help of Michael Cornell, our dear friend on the dock whom I've mentioned before in this journal to help search. He brought out his dingy and hookah to help scan the bottom in my newly theorized target area. Sure enough, we found the anchor and all the rode. It was beat up, but Fortress has a lifetime warranty and is replacing the flukes at no charge.

Lessons? Just a few. The stern anchor works great, but requires close tending if there is any chance the wind may change dramatically. I wouldn’t leave one tied without being there. Second, leave plenty of bitter end to release slack should the wind change. The more slack, the greater wind change we can manage. Third, tie a marker buoy on the line. It’s a good idea anyway to keep other boaters from snagging. Best of all, it allows us to release the line if needed, then quickly retrieve it again.

Preparing the Fortress anchor on Eliana's swim step.

Debbie paying out rode on the stern while I take chain in forward.

Rigging stays on the rode to keep it from fouling in the swim step stanchions.

Stern tie working normally.

Preparing SC for search and rescue.

Me preparing to dive on a 'new' target area after a week of failed searching.

Michael Cornell (in the water) and I finally retrieving the lost anchor.

Before Closing
Recently, I realized one of my cameras needed cleaning. So for the benefit of you photographers, I made the discovery that Canon has a service office right in Waikiki!! Now that’s perfect. They are so courteous and helpful.

What a luxury. A nearby service office!

I continue to be amazed and humbled at the number of people who have registered to get Eliana's Journal. We are most appreciative to have you along. It means a great deal to us to read the comments you post on our website at the end of each journal entry. You can click on the link below to go directly there. If you have questions, please post those too and I’ll try to answer them as quickly as possible.

Rick Heiniger
N7617 Eliana
Lying: Ko Olina Marina
Mileage: 11,250 Nautical Miles
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#65 Island Time

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Eliana and her crew are preparing for a summer of boating in Hawaii. It’s the best time of year because there are so many more anchorage opportunities, especially on the windward sides. Our interest about all things nearby is rising. Noticeably, the old familiar itch to move on hasn’t hit us yet despite the positive reinforcement we get from sailors passing through. One such traveler said, “If you think this is heaven, prepare to be blown away if you keep going.”

I never really knew for sure what “Island Time” meant, but now maybe it’s beginning to make sense. It doesn’t mean idle time. We get up early and go to bed tired. Rather than planning, planning, planning our next move, though, we’re possibly finding a more spontaneous curiosity with our surroundings.

Ka’ena Point
The extreme northwest corner of O’ahu is the remote Ka’ena Point. The Waianae mountains taper down to the water making it difficult to get to the point by any other means than hiking or helicopter. We chose hiking the 5.2 mile path along the rocky shoreline. This was the original route of the sugar cane train originating in Hale’iwa and ending in Honolulu for processing. Today, the only remains of the railroad is some of the original bedding and ties.

The point is unusual because it separates the windward side of the island with waves coming from Alaska while just on the other side is the leeward side with waves arriving from New Zealand. Geologically, the rugged, volcanic landscape yields to a flat sandy area perfect for nesting Newell Shearwaters. These beautiful sea birds live and feed far out at sea only coming ashore to reproduce in sandy ground burrows. While Shearwaters can be found around the globe, the Newell's are indigenous only to Hawaii with the greatest population nesting on Kauai. Their populations have declined possibly due to predators on the nests. The Newell Shearwater is on the endangered species classification. We tried hard not to disturb them too much. I hope you enjoy some pictures I took. Remember to click on any photo you would like to enlarge.

Yokohama bay in the foreground. Makua bay and valley in the distance. Makua is an awesome anchorage with a beautiful beach and untouched landscape to wake up to. As you can see, nobody is anchored there. Eliana will be soon.

This path weaves between the rocky shoreline and mountain.

Old rail ties. All that's left of this section of the "Sugar Cane Train". As you can see, the sea erosion is cutting into what was the original path.

Nesting Newell Shearwater chick.

Mama Shearwater is keeping a watchful eye on us while we investigate her nest.

USS Missouri
The “Mighty Mo” was launched in 1944 near the end of World War II. She was the largest and last battleship ever built. The symbolism is fitting in that the floating battleship upon whose massive teak deck the Japanese surrender was signed is resting right beside the sunken Arizona that symbolizes the start of the war. The Missouri is in excellent condition having been brought back into service for a brief time in the 80’s. She was rearmed with Tomahawk missiles at that time. Finally, she lies magnificently on Ford Island for public viewing. When we got home, we had to break the news to Eliana there was another boat nearby with a Missouri hailing port!

The business end of the USS Missouri. She could hurl 2,700 pound shells 23 miles.

Looking the other way, you see the Arizona memorial off her bow.

The Tomahawk missle command center was installed during the 1980's recommissioning. The center itself is now designated an historical landmark.

Wish I had room to put pictures of all the fascinating aspects of the ship. This one shows part of the main galley.

USS Bowfin
Another fascinating bit of history from the Pacific war is the USS Bowfin. Launched in 1942 right after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Bowfin was nicknamed the “Pearl Harbor Avenger”. She is diesel powered, tiny by today’s standards, but sank 44 ships when America needed it most. It’s humbling to see how 80 or so submarine mariners lived and worked underwater in the middle of nowhere.

The forward torpedo tubes. There were similar tubes on the stern. Believe it or not, torpedo's were pushed into the tube using a rope block and tackle.

Two large diesel engines kept large battery banks charged for underwater operations.

I thought the captain's cabin was modest, but compared to seamen's bunks, it is very spacious. Notice the two dials at the foot of his bed. Heading and depth appear to be the two most important things for him to see the moment he wakes up!

The dive control center was very sophisticated for it's time. Every single hull opening had an associated electric green light to indicate it was closed and ready for dive.

It's amazing this tiny galley prepared meals around the clock for 80 seamen.

Battle of Nu’uanu
Speaking of battles, the view from Nu’uanu Pali Lookout is gorgeous with Kaneohe Bay in the distance. It’s hard to imagine this is the site of the bloody battle in 1795 that gave King Kamehameha control of O’ahu. Kamehameha’s forces arrived on the beaches of Waikiki and drove the O’ahu army all the way up into the mountains to this point. With no place to go, over 400 warriors were driven off the 1000 foot cliff to their deaths.

This was the last major battle as it persuaded the kingdom of Kaua’i to surrender thus, for the first time putting all the islands of Hawaii together under one rule. King Kamehameha finally achieved his goal of uniting and organizing the various Polynesian cultures together.

The spectacular view from Pali Lookout to distant Kaneohe Bay.

A painting depicting the battle of Nu'uanu Pali.

No, you don't want to get pushed off the edge.

Before Signing Off
Meanwhile all is peaceful at home, aboard Eliana. The nearby leeward coast is an excellent place for keeping her exercised with good anchorages, snorkeling and diving. We wash her every week or so using our own water. The bottom gets cleaned every 60 days when we check the zincs and through-hulls to make sure they are clean.

Eliana's quiet little back yard abode on G-dock.

Hawaii's state flower, the Hibiscus from nearby garden.

Thank you for reading Eliana’s Journal. If you would like to post a question or comment, please follow the link below to our web site. We wish you and yours all the best.

Rick Heiniger
N7617 Eliana
Lying: Ko Olina Marina, Kapolei, HI
Mileage: 11,198 Nautical Miles

#64 Springtime in O'ahu

Sat, 17 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Crazy to say, but the season is definitely changing. Winter is giving way to spring providing an occasional taste of how predictably glorious summer boating will be in Hawaii. Debbie and I have been busy with guests and some travel commitments, but are now ready to get back at it. Our goal is to explore the whole state, land and sea. After spending some time cruising around this island, I’m convinced Eliana is perfectly suited for Hawaiian waters and anchorages. I’m working through a couple modifications to our routine which I’ll report on later. In the meantime, I hope you’ll enjoy a few of our day trips on land! Remember to click on photos you want to enlarge. Several are hard to see the detail unless you do.

Meet Hale'iwa. I named her after the town, pronounced "Holly Eva", or just Holly for short. She has been a welcome, permanent addition to Eliana's bridge. I've noticed she is happily agreeable to everything I say!

The small town of Nanakuli in the distance.

Hale’iwa
Wintertime on the North Shore is beautiful and spectacular. Winter waves can be gargantuan. It’s a surfer’s paradise unless the wind is also blowing hard, then it gets too dangerous. A narrow two lane highway follows the pristine coastline all the way around. Other than a couple of isolated developments, the North Shore is still rural and beautiful.

As we drove northeast up state route 99, Kamehameha Highway, we crossed the fertile O’ahu central plateau. Then as we crested a slight rise from high elevation, a view emerged of blue sea to infinity and what appears to be a frothing white band separating water from land. Soon we arrived in historic Hale’iwa. “Hale” means house in the Hawaiian language and “iwa means Frigatebird. Don’t ask, it’s a long story.

Hale’iwa is nestled at the intersection of Anahulu River and Waialua Bay. The original hotel is long gone, but the town is quaint with B & B’s, restaurants and a few friendly residents. The landmark to look for is the Rainbow Bridge which crosses the Anahulu River.

Hale'iwa Joe's is situated right at the small harbor and serves some of the best fish around.

The famous double arch "Rainbow Bridge" crossing the Anahulu River.

Some big waves, too messy to surf or swim due to wind.

The beaches were closed.

Diamond Head
Overlooking Waikiki is Diamond Head mountain. We love to hike, and Diamond Head boasts the most visitors each year due to it’s proximity to the tourist district. We went up just to say we did it and came away more impressed than we expected. We arrived by car through a tunnel leading to the volcano’s crater where the hike begins.

Diamond Head was the last active volcano of O’ahu, most think about 100,000 years ago. It’s only about a mile up the trail, with the summit at 761’ over the ocean and Waikiki.

The bonus for me was the artillery batteries built into the volcano rim. Apparently these were put in about 1910 for defense of Honolulu Harbor. There are a total of 5 bunker levels making up the total fire control station. They are almost invisible when viewed from the ground, but artillery would have excellent range. You have to hike through a 225’ tunnel, then up 99 steps before entering the service tunnel on the lowest of the five bunkers. Very interesting.

The view of Honolulu from the rim of Diamond Head.

Artillery bunkers were almost invisible from a distance, but offered a clear shot across the leeward shore of O'ahu.

Diamond Head lighthouse is the main navigational aid approaching Honolulu. Just beyond the reef we saw Humpback whales cavorting in the water.

Manoa Falls
I may have already mentioned O’ahu’s annual rainfall ranges from less than 10” / year on the Southwest side of the island, up to 280” / year in the Ko’olau mountain range on the eastern side. It’s no surprise that just north of the desert like Diamond Head is the lush Manoa Valley. Within 10 minutes of driving, we were amazed at the change in climate from arid to rainforest.

Centered in the beautiful Manoa valley is the University of Hawaii’s flagship Manoa campus. The town is also well known for its marketplace and farmers market since much of it is richly vegetated and has a history of sugar cane, coffee and produce of all kinds.

The head of the valley is defined by Manoa Stream which begins at the 160’ Manoa Falls. I thought it would be interesting to hike up the trail to the falls, maybe a mile and a half in. Wow, the rainforest was beautiful and appropriately was raining the whole time. I got back with muddy shoes, but invigorated.

U of H, Manoa Campus.

The trailhead going up to Manoa Falls.

The trail is very muddy from rain.

The 160' Manoa Falls at the head of the valley.

Aloha Stadium Swap Meet
Every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday, Aloha Stadium puts on a swap meet completely encircling the stadium. It’s unbelievable, really. Venders line two sides of a track that seems to go on forever. These are the best deals in Hawaii on everything from Ukelele’s to Kava Root. The facility works perfectly because it has all the stadium parking adjacent, and restrooms just inside the stadium doors. Weather’s almost always nice!

Beautiful Aloha Stadium

Prospect trying out a Ukelele.

Woven wind chimes hand made entirely of shells. They were pretty neat.

Hawaiian fabrics. Debbie liked this one to make a table cloth.

Before Signing Off
We would like to thank you for following our blog. If you have questions or comments, I encourage you to follow the links below directly to our web site to post. I try to answer all questions and appreciate having your comments permanently attached.

Rick Heiniger
N7617 Eliana
Lying: Ko Olina Marina, Kapolei, HI
Mileage: 11,198 Nautical Miles

#63 Waikiki

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

One of Oahu’s modern myths is that Waikiki and Oahu are synonymous. Nothing could be further from the truth. Oahu is mostly rural and a land of contrast, densely packed with interesting choices. Little by little, we hope to begin peeling the onion. We’ve got our work cut out for us! But then, sparkling on the southern shore with the island landscape as a backdrop is Waikiki tucked neatly at the foot of Diamond Head. There, within Ala Wai Harbor lies the Waikiki Yacht Club.

We decided to spend a weekend at the club docks with Eliana and our friends from Kansas, Jeff and Tonya Poe. One of the best things about Hawaii cruising is one can move from place to place quickly, even in a boat! The trip from Ko Olina to Waikiki was under 3 hours. Even with winter swell coming in from the north, the trip was comfortable.

Fortunately, Don and Sharry Stabbert were already berthed at the WYC with their beautiful 75’ Northern Marine, STARR. So the combination of good folks and good boats in a beautiful place made for a very special time.

Waikiki Yacht Club was founded in 1944. Imagine that. Just three years after Pearl Harbor, the war in the Pacific was drawing to a close. A small group of sailors decided to begin refurbishing older boats and once again take advantage of the wonderful Hawaiian waters to promote yacht racing. Still active today, WYC views itself as the premier yacht club of the Pacific.

Ala Wai Harbor, Waikiki

An early photo of the same spot.

Debbie and Tonya enroute

Eliana berthed at Waikiki Yacht Club

STARR next door.

Blessing Of The Fleet
Every year, the club sets aside a day in February for the annual Blessing of the Fleet! The celebration is an all day affair with dozens of boats dressed up in all their colors. At noon the lines are thrown off and a procession forms to go out to sea where the Chaplain blesses each boat as it passes.

Eliana’s crew decided to join Stabberts on their boat. It was, as usual, a gorgeous day. STARR was blessed along with the rest of the fleet. The formality of the blessing was indeed moving and meaningful. I made a short movie of the procession out and the return back. Unfortunately, with the excitement during the actual blessing I missed the most important part. Oh well.

Getting lined up

Blessing Of The Fleet

Pearl Harbor
Being in Hawaii, it’s easy to get caught up in World War II history, especially the Pacific front. There is a lot to do in that regard, but the USS Arizona Memorial is absolutely a must. The visitors center contains a wonderful museum you can visit with or without the audio tour headphones. Then prior to boarding the boat across the harbor, they show a movie reliving December 7, 1941 as historically accurate as possible. The trip out and visit of the actual Memorial is well done and touching. I have already visited three times and still look forward to going again.

An amazing map of the Pacific painted on the concrete at the visitors center.

Looking out over the east loch of Pearl Harbor toward Ford Island. You can see the USS Missouri and the USS Arizona Memorial through the trees.

The boats that take you over to the memorial are operated by the US Navy.

USS Missouri open to the public to tour.

The Arizona Memorial

Shoptalk
It seems as though we’re always learning something new. For this entry, I thought back just in the past few days and came up with three revelations. My more experienced colleagues already know this stuff, but for me it’s a victory each time some nagging problem is solved. Here’s a picture summary...

We learned in Mexico to keep our spring lines super tight at all times, especially when there is surge coming into the marina. By doing that we eliminate a lot of the fore/aft boat movement which, in turn, keeps the bow and stern lines from total havoc. The only downside is it can begin to chafe the two springs which are crossed together. My solution is to tie the two together with a ball bunge. No more chafing.

OK, here's where I have to retract an earlier statement. I had reported that in waxing the easiest method we found was to apply and remove the wax by hand. Well, I was wrong. I decided to reevaluate the orbital buffer and found that using it to apply the wax at least DOUBLED the speed of the job and probably increases the quality of the work. Use a soft sponge pad and set the speed dial to "3". Always route the cord from above rather than below. Apply the wax in two directions overlapping 50% at all times. This system takes ALL the work out of buffing. No more elbow grease just to scrub off the excess wax.

The engine room bilge has seawater in it at all times due to the dripping of the shaft packing. This isn't normally a problem, but the water was developing an odor and turning black after only a week or two. I had to scrub and clean the bilge with bilge soap all the time. I found an easy solution. By putting a couple tablespoons of household hydrogen peroxide in the water after cleaning, the water stays perfectly clear and without odor.

In Closing
I can’t say it enough. Hawaii promises to be much more than we ever expected from a cruising standpoint. It’s a rich environment with dozens of diverse destinations not far away. The weather is beautiful year around. The water is warm enough to swim. Abundant sea life. So much to do, we’ll never do it all and probably won’t try.

Surprisingly, Hawaii is ranked 48th out of 50 states for number of boats per capita. That’s right, even Kansas has more boats per person. That means the island waters are pristine and uncrowded. We’re now absolutely certain we’ve got the right boat in the right place to keep us busy for awhile.

Thanks to our friends Jeff and Tonya for all their hard work aboard Eliana.

And most of all thanks to our faithful readers.

Rick Heiniger
N7617 Eliana
Lying: Ko Olina Marina, Kapolei, HI
Mileage: 11,174 Miles

#62 Ko Olina

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

First impressions are often predictably accurate. Tell tale clues, one at a time until suddenly a conclusive thought emerges. As Debbie and I visited recently, it hit me... "People here are generally happy." Probably not much to analyze . Smiles and neighborliness. A climate conducive to living outdoors and a front porch mentality. Maybe when we're happy, we imagine everyone else is too.

The Waianae mountain range parallels the coast. It blesses the whole area with calm, clear ocean waters coupled with a near perfect, 80 degree climate year around. For centuries, this stretch of coast was reserved for Hawaii’s royal families for vacationing. It has always been rural but with abundant produce, great fishing, and plenty of room for goats, pigs and chickens. Originally, the territory from Pearl Harbor all the way along the coast to the summit of Mount Ka’ala was called Ko Olina. Not surprisingly, Ko Olina from the Hawaiian language means “Place Of Joy”.

Today, Ko Olina is the name of the development that contains our marina. It’s an easy drive from Honolulu, east up the H1 until just after the freeway ends. Nearby is the non-touristy Kapolei, a clean town with almost anything one might need without going into the city.

Ko Olina itself is built around four spectacular lagoons connected by a continuous walking path and park environment. Each lagoon is unique in some way, but all similarly have massive beach areas with zero entry swimming. Immediately behind the beaches are zoysia grass and trees. Spotted along the way are public use bathrooms, beach showers and water fountains. I would say, round trip on the path is 3 - 4 miles.

Immediately inland from the lagoons are a series of properties including Marriott's beautiful Ihilani hotel and Disney’s brand new resort, Aulani. These are backdropped with a gorgeous golf course. It may sound crowded, but it’s not. The design is relaxed with amenities enjoyed by locals as well as visitors.

One interesting attraction of Ko Olina are the weddings. We’ve heard on average there is a wedding every 15 minutes. Chapels dot the way along the water front. Photographers and white limousines everywhere. I’ll admit, this would be a sweet place to have a wedding. Having seen a few, this way of doing it seems relaxed and everyone seems to be having a good time.

Sunset on Lagoon #4

Lagoon #3

Girls playing.

Walking path

Sunday Afternoon

New Year's Fireworks. Absolutely spectacular display shot simultaneously from all four lagoons. This photo was taken from Eliana.

Mother and daughter.

Lagoons protected by breakwater rocks.

One of several wedding chapels.

Ho hum. Another sunset.

Ko Olina Marina
That brings us to Eliana’s berth at the marina which is situated just behind lagoon #4. Chuck and Suzanne Krause team up to co-manage the facility keeping it in top notch condition. The surroundings are garden like. As Suzanne says, we wake up to the sound of birds singing rather than horns honking. Speaking of birds, we are shocked there are no gulls, herons or pelicans in the marina. The only birds around are land based species. The docks stay super clean.

Speaking of neighborhoods, there are approximately 25 live-aboard locals in the marina. Our dock neighbors have been awesome. Slowly, we’re learning the local ways and means on about any topic. Most of all, we're getting more local knowledge about Hawaiian cruising than you'll get in 100 cruise guides.

Home Sweet Home

Chuck and Suzanne, harbormaster team.

Harbor Setting

Friend, dock-mate, long time resident Michael Cornell

One of hundreds of species of beautiful birds. I think this one is a red crested Cardinal.

Before Signing Off
Eliana is in excellent condition. No problems I can think of to report. It's wax time again, so we're enjoying the project as a good excuse tospend more time outside. Debbie is really enjoying the local farmer's market in Kapolei early each Sunday morning. Nothing else exciting.

We love Hawaii so far. While here, we plan to visit each island over the next year or so. We’ll use Ko Olina as our home base in between. As we discover new things, we’ll do our best to keep you posted.

Rick Heiniger
N7617 Eliana
Lying: Ko Olina, Hawaii
Mileage: 11,127 Miles

#61 Time Is Slowly Fleeting (2)

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Land Ho! Oh, what a feeling. The shape of Molokai is forming beyond a cloud just beside the setting sun. Suddenly, the few tiny spots on the chart are now real land, lighthouses blinking, the sky glow of Oahu back lights a perfect outline of terra firma. A warm breeze in the middle of the night feels good. Debbie is sitting with me in the pilot house. “Good idea, huh?” We’re not even there yet, but I must admit it was.

The passage is complete. Eliana is tied securely at slip address K-91 in KoOlina, 2,363 miles from Ensenada. The trip took 12 days including Thanksgiving. Our average speed was 8.1 knots. There were 289 hourly logs with 64 noted as Heavy or Very Heavy sea. Eliana along with all hands arrived healthy, happy and safe.

First sight of land after 12 days. Molokai dead ahead. Click to enlarge.

The fly specks on the chart are suddenly large.

A trip like this allows one time to ponder the big questions of life. After #60, Debbie remarked “Isn’t ‘Time Slowly Fleeting’ an oxymoron?”. She does that to me all the time. You know, using words I have to look up. Anyway, it is a contradiction, but the reason I liked the song is because it reveals a paradox. One that could be said of a long boat passage ... or life itself. How ironic to wish time could pass more quickly, then suddenly, ready or not, it’s over.

While Time Is Slowly Fleeting by Anael is the theme song for our trip because it ties in so well with this topic. In the last post, I shared a 4 minute video (now extended to 5.5 minutes) using the song as background music. Here are the lyrics I hope you’ll take time to read...

While Time is Slowly Fleeting
Long since begun, nurtured years of dreaming?
And faith has spun an altered sense of reason
As long as it's leading you, the mind will hunt the vision?
But time is slowly fleeting, it's fleeting from you?
And what can you do?

Define the sun: for each a different meaning
And who to judge the light redeeming?
That warms us each contrarily?
Mine has shown me another state?
One that fosters precision?
But time is slowly fleeting?
So tell me, what will you do?

She can't take what you have?
She'll chase you and dare you to dance?
But your fate's in your hands?
In your unsparing will to surpass?
Your path is sacred and drives the fear away?
So if time is slowly fleeting, know it's HIS way

Well now's the hour for dreaming?
Time to seek my newest Eden
I drift beyond to greet her?In a kingdom only we share
It's always wonderful inside of me?
To find the soul's been waiting?
And while time is slowly fleeting?
There's still so much here to do

©2005 Nurtured Spontaneity Publishing

At the end I have provided a link to the updated, 5.5 minute version of the video. It pairs the full length song by Anael with images from our trip start to finish. I hope you will watch it again, this time with the lyrics in mind!

As a bonus, I have attached the complete version of Linda’s Daily Journal. In it, she interestingly relates the experience through her own eyes. I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

Now for the details...

Ship’s Log
Each hour, at the top of the hour, a logbook entry is automatically started which marks the time, position, speed, heading and so forth. To that, the watch keeper can add notes including, but not limited to such things as throttle setting, sea state and water temperature.

One of the most important automatic items is the distance-made-good during the hour. I transfer the number to a spreadsheet so we can later analyze the data. On this trip, I wanted to better understand the relationship between engine RPM and speed. I also wanted to confirm my own suspicion that sea state affected hourly fuel consumption more than I previously assumed.

To get the RPM analysis, we never changed throttle setting except at the top of the hour. That way we could associate a particular RPM with the distance for that hour. For the first couple of days, we changed RPM every hour assuming average conditions would be similar for all RPM’s. As the pattern developed, we noted distance was markedly higher at 1500 than at 1400 without a large fuel penalty. Higher RPM’s such as 1600 and 1700 yielded very little in speed, but burned significantly more fuel. So for the remainder of the trip, we used 1500 as our standard RPM.

Then, the sea state question. To do that, I made up four distinct sea state levels based on how the vessel responded rather than on wave size, shape, direction or period. It made it easier for any of us to assign a sea state level each hour as follows:

1 - Light: Waves cause very little pitch, heading or speed fluctuation.
2 - Moderate: Waves cause mild pitching and/or heading variation, but no speed changes, no pounding, no spray over the rail.
3 - Heavy: Waves impact the hull forcefully and produce spray above the rail. Speed fluctuates up to 1 knot. One hand rule in effect on board.
4 - Very Heavy: Significant wave impact capable of blue water above the rail, producing speed fluctuations of 1 knot or more. Two hand rule in effect on board.

Each hour the watch keeper picked one of the above four to represent the previous hour. It was remarkably easy to agree which level should be assigned. We adhered strictly to the description above.

In addition, we took an daily inventory of fuel to compare fuel burn with the average sea state for that day. After 12 days of data, we measured the effect on fuel consumption and the results were dramatic. Our average fuel consumption was 9.58 gallons per hour when running in Light to Moderate sea. Outstanding! But when running in Heavy to Very Heavy conditions, our fuel burn averaged 13.69 gallons per hour. We found that high fuel burn occurred regardless of which direction the heavy sea was coming, the direction we were hitting it (or it hitting us) or what RPM we tried to run.

This is important information because it proves we can’t plan fuel consumption without knowing sea conditions ahead of time. That said, when planning long passages, we now have a benchmark to calculate from if we can at least estimate how much time will be spent in each of the four conditions.

The hourly spreadsheet.

Waves pounding the hull consistently causing spray over the rail constituted Heavy sea condition.

Thanksgiving
We wanted to make Thanksgiving normal as possible. We were blessed with beautiful skies and moderate sea. If ever there were there were a Thanksgiving to be thankful, this ranks right up there. Something about being in the middle of the ocean made our thankfulness even more meaningful! We set 2:00 PM as dinner time and enjoyed a delicious meal prepared by our three girls. We did miss football! Oh well, next year.

They brined the turkey breast. It was awesome. A little bit was left over to make turkey soup.

Thanks was given and we celebrated the gift of being OK in the middle of nowhere.

Weather
The weather threw us one curve ball after another. The only thing we knew for certain was that each day’s forecast would be different from the day before. Finally, I decided it made no sense to outguess it, but rather make a straight course to our destination and take what comes.

Because we were recording sea state each hour, I can definitively say that we had 122 hours of 1 - Light; 104 hours of 2 - Moderate; 45 hours of 3 - Heavy; and 19 hours of 4 - Very Heavy conditions. The worst came in the last three days. It was interesting to see how Eliana handled it. The waves towered higher than I’ve ever seen before. To estimate wave height, I sight it from the wheelhouse, a height off the water (~20 feet) and add my estimate of the wave portion above the horizon. There is no doubt in my mind we had several instances of combined waves in the 30’ range for several hours. They approached us from various angles on our starboard beam. Eliana rode up and down like an elevator with a decent ride most of the time.

Occasionally the shape of the wave would throw her off and we would have a brief roll. Anything on the counters or tables unsecured would crash to the floor. The Trac stabilizers have always done a magnificent job of preventing most of the roll, but believe me, these waves were so large and moved so fast it was virtually impossible to prevent all of it. We also took two or three significant blue water hits to our salon windows. I was so thankful for the storm plates we put on in San Diego.

Not to give you the wrong impression, we also had many days of good weather. One in particular was absolutely glorious so a lot of time was spent out back in the cockpit.

It's hard to do the huge waves justice in a picture. From a 20' high eye level, they still towered way above us. Click to enlarge.

Another one. These push up way above the horizon. Click to enlarge.

Sunsets were always glorious.

A perfect afternoon on the patio.

Random Notes
We decided to set ship time to Hawaii on November 25 at 12 noon. Linda offered to make the watch accommodation by lengthening hers to five hours. Otherwise watch schedules remained the same.

Wish we would have known we could have had a flying fish smorgasbord. We threw off dozens of them during the trip. Don’t ask, I have no idea why they jump in but they do.

One day, Peter put two lures out the back and within a couple hours hit two Mahi Mahi. He thought it was a male and female. I don’t know, but I do know we had fresh fish that night and it was good.

Mechanically, we were very lucky. Only one slightly problematic issue. The controller board on one of the generators went bad which prevented it from running. Nothing wrong with the generator itself, just an erroneous fault message that wouldn’t go away. We ended up running the 40KW the whole way and it never missed a beat. Based on our fuel tracking, it must have been extremely efficient. Better than I thought it would be. Anyway, I was glad we had a third generator to back it up.

As the sea and water temperatures rose, we ended up running the air conditioning most of the way. It was good to have the doors and windows closed when the weather kicked up.

Two Mahi Mahi Peter caught.

Before Closing
You may recall from Linda’s Daily Journal that she got sea sick in the first days of the trip. I’m happy to report she was a regular old salt by the end of it. I’m no expert on seasickness, but one thing I’ve noticed is that a strong will usually figures something out. We were thankful Linda was a trooper and hung in there.

As promised, here is the link to While Time Is Slowly Fleeting, the 5.5 minute version of our official Hawaii Passage video.

Also, don’t miss Linda’s Daily Journal.

We would like to thank you for your interest in Eliana's Journal and for your warm comments and best wishes. The crew of Eliana wish you and yours a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Rick Heiniger
N7617 Eliana
Lying: Ko Olina, Hawaii
Total Mileage: 11,127 Miles

#60 Time Is Slowly Fleeting

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Imagine the pioneer in a covered wagon moving slowly across the continent to California. His family and all their possessions move little faster than a walking pace. No sign of civilization, roads, buildings or people along the way. The path he takes is of his own choosing. Always present in his mind is the raw fact that they’re on their own.

From San Diego, the distance is greater to Hawaii than to Maine. The Pacific, at 64.1 million square miles covers about a third of the earth’s surface. It’s larger than all the earth’s land mass combined with enough left over to fit in another Africa. At it’s deepest, the Mariana Trench is over 35,000 feet deep. A boat in the Pacific is nothing but a tiny micron of matter. There will be no signs of civilization. No gas stations, hotels or people for that matter.

I don’t mean to compare what we’re doing with the faith and courage of the pioneers. On the other hand, setting out to cross 2,400 miles of the Pacific feels eerily different from what I imagined five minutes before we decided to do it. Let’s see ... what might go wrong. Well, there’s Mother Nature for example. Hmmm, she holds all four aces so we can’t assume a winning hand. Murphy’s Law? Of course, but we’ll do the best we can and pray for the rest. Just like our pioneer forefathers, we won’t be the first ones to look upward for assurance.

Sunset over the Pacific. (NASA) - Click to enlarge.

Debbie brought up the idea of going to Hawaii on Sunday morning. We made the final decision on Tuesday and left Wednesday, eight days later. This entry is about getting ready to go, and the first few days at sea. I have included a four minute video at the end entitled “While Time Is Slowly Fleeting” about our first days at sea. As a bonus, I’m including Linda’s Daily Journal. It’s about life aboard Eliana from her perspective as a crew member. It’s very interesting and has a lot more pictures than what I’m providing. I encourage you to open it for a good read.

Eight Days of Preparation
Because of the distance, we thought it was important to learn a bit more about Hawaii because it’s now our thought this will be an extended stay, probably several months. It’s too far not to stay while. We found Ko Olina Marina to be clean, well managed and moderately priced. Hawaii doesn’t have predatory taxation on visiting boats so we’re safe on that point. It allows us to set up our home in the heart of the 50th state and gives us plenty of time to choose the right season to explore different parts of the islands with Eliana. We have all the current charts.

I contacted our insurance carrier, Pantaenius America and sure enough required an addendum to our policy to cover us while in Hawaii and including the transit both ways.

Next is crew. We were able to quickly assemble a pick-up team of five that has incidentally turned out to be a good combination. Peter and Paige St Phillip are boat dock friends from Dana Point. They are both experienced at sea, in excellent health and fortunately were able to work this into their schedule on short notice. Debbie’s sister Linda also accepted our request to help with watches. Another duty of hers is to write the daily journal from her perspective. She teamed up with Peter to have him take pictures. Debbie and I knew the chemistry would be good but are finding this is a nice ratio. The three women, two men combination seems to work, although would have loved to have Linda’s husband Bill with us. Good food and a happy household goes a long way to making a pleasant trip.

As you might suspect, I shopped fuel and found prices $1.25 cheaper in Ensenada, MX, just 60 miles south of San Diego. That meant we had to check in and out of Mexico at the same time, fill up with fuel and be on our way. The exercise cost us a day, but was well worth it.

I updated all the run-times on equipment with hour meters and checked near term ‘future’ preventative maintenance to do anything I could in advance. Checked spare parts inventory. One never knows for sure, but I thought we were in pretty good shape.

Valley Power visited to inspect the main engine and adjusted valve lash and injector heights. Afterwards, we completed a sea-trial to verify the engine was purring like a kitten.

I was suspicious that one of our water makers was not working up to par so Village Marine came down and sure enough there was a slightly defective membrane that needed replacement.

All safety and emergency gear was double checked and organized. I realized we had never practiced putting out the sea anchor. For that matter, I didn’t actually want do it for real because we would just have to clean it back up and repack it. I did think it might be a good idea to do a dress rehearsal, lining up all the parts stored in a single locker within the confines of the Portuguese bridge. We then connected all the parts as they would be used and rehearsing the procedure for launching it. The sea anchor consists of a 28’ under water parachute with a combination of tow harness and line totaling 730’.

We also installed storm plates on the salon windows. All the other windows and hatches are storm proof, but the large plate glass windows have enough extra area, they need protection. Since they are a little awkward to mount, I thought it would be a good idea to put them on before we leave and not worry about it.

To be safe, we installed an additional covering on the upper aft deck settee which not only protects the settee, but that’s where our emergency gear, ditch bags, etc. are stored adjacent to two 6-man Switlik life rafts.

Debbie and Linda did a magnificent job of provisioning. The pantry, freezer and refrigerator were all full. They laughed because the last trip they made was ONLY done because there was just a wee bit of space left.

The Eliana Crew L to R: Debbie, Linda, Paige, me and Peter

Protective plexiglass storm plates were installed on the salon windows.

The sea anchor is stored in this locker with all components in order, ready to go.

Conducted the monthly test on the EPIRB in case we need search and rescue.

A cover was made for the upper aft deck settee which is where much of our emergency gear is stowed.

Getting Underway
Initially the forecast looked favorable for the entire trip hence the haste to get moving. I like using the .grb weather files that download to MaxSea. They are usually pretty reliable especially in the short term. I also use passageweather.com. For such a long trip, I consulted with Bob Jones from Ocean Marine. With all the best planning possible, we finally defaulted to a direct route via great circle navigation. It’s the absolute shortest distance so unless weather pushed us off, there would be no reason to divert from it. The alternative would have been a rhumb line on a constant heading all the way to Hawaii which would have built in a southward bend.

As luck would have it, one day into the trip the forecast abruptly changed and a series of fronts were forming that threatened to push south of our route. Looked like the rhumb line route might have been a better choice. We knew it wouldn’t be comfortable, so I immediately diverted southward to a 230 heading hoping to be south of 25N latitude by Sunday when the first front was predicted to pass. The cautious move gave me some peace of mind and the weather did develop with 15’ to 20’ sea (mostly swell) in 25 - 30 knot wind. Turned out not terribly uncomfortable, so we decided to continue with slightly more confidence directly to Honolulu. Now we reassess each successive front 2 to 3 days in advance to see if any other correction might be necessary.

Eliana at the fuel dock in Ensenada.

The great circle route vs. the rhumb line route. The GCR (top) appears curved, but on a globe is straight. The rhumb line appears straight, but on a globe curves to the south. Interestingly, the GCR requires slight periodic heading changes to achieve a straight line, whereas the rhumb line is one constant heading all the way.

Meals have been spectacular thanks to having three great cooks aboard.

And so has the scenery.

Peter washing off salt from two days of bad weather.

Before Closing
As I write this, we are at 135W longitude, nearly half way to Hawaii. All is fine aboard Eliana and with her crew. I am planning to debrief our readers after we arrive. Then I will report any problems we have had, speed and fuel performance, plus anything else noteworthy.

Please don’t forget to watch the 4 minute video “While Time Is Slowly Fleeting”. I named it after the song I used for background by Anael who I think is great.

The other bonus is the first six days of Linda’s Daily Journal. She has been sending this to her close friends by email each day, but I have assembled them all in one document for your enjoyment.

In the meantime, the crew of Eliana wishes you a very Happy Thanksgiving! Be sure to leave your comments and questions at our web site by clicking the link below. Feel free to track our progress using "Track Eliana"

Rick Heiniger
N7617 Eliana
Underway: Position 26.1N 135.1W
Miles so far: 1,055
Miles to go: 1,330
Total Mileage: 9,805
Track Eliana

#59 Full Moon

Sun, 13 Nov 2011 00:00:00 GMT

It must be a full moon. Autumn in San Francisco ... Halloween in Dana Point. We have much to talk about, but first I would like to announce we have changed our travel plan, diverting to Hawaii instead of continuing to Mexico. More on that later. Let’s catch up first...

San Francisco
As we began preparations to move Eliana to Dana Point, we decided to put on our tourist hats. The weather couldn’t have been nicer and we knew life was about to get more hectic so we took a break. Here are a few photos of our time in San Francisco.

Cheese counter at the ferry terminal. Good thing I don't walk by here on my way home from work every day!

The iconic Trans America building.

Cell Block C, Alcatraz

Chinatown. Did you know Chow Mien was invented here, not China?

We had to buy something. Debbie purchased this beautiful pillow case.

SF to Dana Point with Roger & Rich
Tim Juan is President of the Ta Shing factory in Taiwan where Eliana was built. Some months ago he called, offering the services of two engineers to come aboard for a thorough vessel inspection and to help us crew during a live passage. I jumped at the chance and thought this would be the perfect opportunity since San Francisco is a reasonable connection from Taiwan, then likewise the return would be from Los Angeles.

Roger and Rich came with a gift of Pineapple Moon Cakes. Tim sent them along knowing I love them. These are traditional during the Chinese Moon Festival but you can get them any time. With only two days to get ready for departure, Debbie prepared a delicious meal of pork chops, rice and veggies. For desert we celebrated their arrival by toasting a sip of 1986 d’Yquem which went perfectly together with the Pineapple Moon Cakes that were incidentally formed in the shape of the Taiwan Island. Strangely enough, we toasted to a full moon with moon cakes!

It was interesting to see Eliana through their eyes. They already knew every square inch having spent months building her layer by layer. This was, however, their first opportunity to enjoy the finished product as a functioning home. Roger remarked that his biggest surprise were the various sounds. He knows the systems and what they do. He just couldn’t get over the subtle clicking, whirring and gurgling sounds that soon become familiar.

The trip to Dana Point was flawless. It took slightly more than 50 hours nonstop, an easy trip but still comforting to see our old familiar spot there. Garrett Severen, our project manager greeted us at the dock.

Roger, Rich, Debbie and I

Our little celebration. Sorry we forgot to take a picture of the moon cake before we ate it! The wrapper will have to do.

Full Moon rising over San Francisco Bay

Rich checking bolt tightness on an exhaust flange.

Roger took copious notes in his book. I was amazed. It was page after page. Every detail was meticulously recorded.

Important Guests
As expected, our activity level in Dana Point shot way up. We had the honor of receiving Tim Juan and Jessica from the Ta Shing factory to visit Eliana. They were traveling on their way home from the Ft. Lauderdale boat show. Dan Streech, President of Nordhavn, was also back in town so was able to join us. Jeff Leischman stopped by for a long visit. It was a unique and memorable experience to have all these remarkable folks together at once.

As luck would have it, we also had the opportunity to meet Kristin and Reinhard, a wonderful couple from Munich (currently living in Mallorca). They are building a Nordhavn 76, so we were fortunate to spend time with them, too. Kristin brought her parents, Matthias and Renate who were a lot of fun. Together we talked boats, boating and boat design endlessly. It was fun to put lines on paper again and dream of better ways to do things.

While we had the folks from Ta Shing, Nordhavn, Kristin and Reinhard there, we decided to take Eliana for a sea trial. Nothing like a boat ride to get everyone smiling and having a good time!

Tim Juan, Jessica and I

Visiting with Dan Streech while under way.

Arriving. Dan, Matthias, Reinhard and me on the bridge. Renate and Kristin on the foredeck. Garrett on the dock.

Kristin and Garrett having fun.

Halloween
You may recall a post I did on July 4, 2010. We were in Dana Point then too, and I decided nobody celebrates Independence Day better than Dana Pointianites. Well, I now believe the same is true for Halloween. We laughed and laughed at the costumes going by. Here are a couple pictures...

Must be something in the water at Dana Point. They definitely know how to have a good time.

Definitely a full moon thing. I think this guy gets the blue ribbon.

Hawaii
Here’s the scoop on Hawaii. We were visiting with friends a few days ago and they were telling all the things they loved about Hawaii. I knew it got Debbie thinking but she didn’t say anything until the next morning; “So what do you think about Hawaii?” I knew right then any argument was hopeless. We were definitely going. Before the day was over we had arranged berthing at Ko Olina Marina and started to prepare for the 2,300 mile trip.

Getting ready for something like this isn’t to be taken lightly. There is a lot to do. But for quite a few reasons we need to get moving if we're going to do it. Our departure is set for Wednesday, November 16 and we’ll make one stop in Ensenada, MX to top off the fuel tanks, then we’ll be on our way. Should be about 11 days across, which is the longest non stop passage to date for Eliana and for us.

We have an excellent crew of five selected. Peter and Paige St Phillip, good friends and an experienced cruising couple will make the trip as will Linda Waldroop, Debbie’s sister.

I plan to provide one or two journal updates along the way. In the next one, I will write about a few of the things we did to get ready. In the meantime, you can follow us by clicking the “Track Eliana” link below. Since we will be leaving the AIS range used by Marine Traffic, I will upload our positions manually.

More to come! As always, please post comments or questions on our website by clicking the link below where it says “You can access the blog entry here.” I will do my best to answer questions. And please invite others you think may be interested in following along, too.

Rick Heiniger
N7617 Eliana
Lying: San Diego
Mileage: 8,695 Nautical Miles
Track Eliana

#58 Imagination

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 00:00:00 GMT

The phone rang recently. It was our 5 year old grand daughter Anna who politely asked to speak to Mimi. Debbie took the phone and Anna blurted tearfully “Mimi, mommy says my imagination has gone wild. What should I doooo?” Debbie consoled “Anna, there is nothing wrong with your imagination. What she said is just a figure of speech. It’s OK to use your mind to imagine things.

Anna was quickly calmed, but it got me thinking as I looked out the window. Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined having a home overlooking San Francisco Bay. Yep, a quiet gated community with easy access to all the surrounding communities. Minutes from wine country to the North, Berkeley to the South and San Francisco minutes away on the BART train. Even more incredible, our spot is only temporary during two gorgeous months of the year. I decided my imagination is no match for reality.

Beautiful San Francisco Bay from Marin Highlands

Richmond Shipyards
Richmond Bay Marina where we stayed is situated in a quiet residential neighborhood. During World War II, however, Kaiser shipyard #2 occupied this very spot. It was anything but quiet. More ships were built here during the war than any other yard in the country.

With multiple fronts and a major submarine threat, the country needed ships quickly. More than 747 Victory and Liberty ships were built here during the war, a feat not equaled anywhere else in the world before or since. What’s more, they built them in two-thirds the time at one fourth of the cost of any other yard of the time. Henry Kaiser and his workers applied innovative techniques bringing pre-made parts together, moving them into place with huge cranes. They were then welded or riveted together in the yard using unskilled laborers to do the repetitive jobs required. This effort opened up jobs to women and minorities.

By 1944, the yard could assemble a ship from start to finish in just two weeks. When challenged, they produced the Liberty ship SS Robert E. Peary in just 5 days. For the first time women were employed in massive numbers. The population of Richmond grew almost overnight from 20,000 to 100,000. Now that’s imagination!

Richmond Marina today.

Our slip is where the number 2 is in this photo.

'Wendy the Welder'. Women served the war effort in mass numbers. There is also a 'Rosie the Riveter' memorial on this site.

The Red Oak Victory, one of the last remaining ships of the era. This photo was taken just two months ago before being put into dry dock for new paint.

The Red Oak Victory returned to her berth just as we were leaving so I snapped this photo of her. What a difference. This one may be the only one that will be preserved for future generations to see.

Google
Michael Jones is Chief Technology Advocate for Google. He is an amazingly interesting and quick minded guy. Michael is also a serious student of all things boating. Among his diverse boating interests, he follows Eliana’s Journal. So when Eliana arrived to town, Michael invited us to the Google campus for a tour. Debbie and I jumped at the chance.

Google was incorporated in 1998 as a private company with the mission statement “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful”. The name Google was a misspelling of googol, the term representing the number 1 with one hundred zeros behind it. Today, Google manages data centers around the world processing over 11 billion core searches last month alone. In fact, the term “to google” is now considered a verb in several languages.

The Googleplex in Mountain View, CA is staggering in size. Over 40 buildings, each is dedicated to various departments and portions of the business. The campus is up and running around the clock. Employees enjoy a culture of innovation and problem solving while being cared for in every possible way. The magnitude of the impact Google has on humankind is difficult to grasp. And to think this has been achieved this in only a decade. It makes me wonder what may be possible in the next decade. I can't imagine. Can you?

Viewing a portion of the campus using, you guessed it, Google Earth.

Debbie printing her visitor badge.

Building to building transportation is fast and efficient on company provided bicycles.

One of the buildings.

Google's first production server. I have no idea how many they have now, but it's a lot.

This monitor in the front lobby scrolls real time searches being done all over the world. Of course, it only shows a tiny fraction of the millions of searches every second, but it was fun to see what people type in to search.

Michael Jones with his demonstration booth. It allows the user to stand in the middle with a joystick and fly all around the world seeing it in spectacular realism.

You can even fly it to the moon or mars.

Shop Talk
A few weeks ago I posted #55 Milestones and Mistakes. In it I related the account of losing our main engine power as we approached San Francisco. Later, the topic resurfaced in the Nordhavn Dreamers forum with concerns about our steering and backup configuration on Eliana. By the time I got to it, the thread had ended so I thought this may be a better time to review as I know many of my readers subscribe to the forum and may be wanting answers.

You may recall that we ran out of fuel because I unintentionally turned the wrong fuel valve. This particular valve is out of sight so I got in the bad habit of turning it by feel and I simply grabbed the wrong one. It was an error of execution, not omission. I performed the step, just didn’t do it right.

Furthermore, in the story, I related what happened in sequential order. I shared my thoughts, describing the recovery steps in exactly as they occurred. What I didn’t mention (and should have) was how long it took. Despite having never rehearsed an engine out recovery, only a few moments elapsed (30 seconds tops) to regain propulsion, steering and stabilization.

There were comments questioning our steering arrangement. Eliana’s steering was designed by Kobelt. It is essentially the same simple and basic system used on most working boats such as the Alaska fishing fleet. The benefits of it are high performance (responsive rudder), ease of use and supreme reliability day in and day out.

Here are the components...

Rudder post on the right. Steering cylinders and simple hydraulic control blocks behind the cylinders.

Steering hydraulics and oil reservoir is dedicated only to steering. It does not receive power from or rely on the ship's general hydraulic system.

The primary hydraulic pump is attached directly to the main engine and provides steering power at all times.

The backup pump should the main engine fail. It's powered by the 32KW generator which is often already running, but if it isn't, it starts in just seconds.

Finally, many thanks to those who provided advice to us on this topic. Especially Ken Williams and George Laycock who wisely advised changing the procedure which eliminates tank switching altogether. As Ken says “If you are constantly fiddling with the fuel valves, you will run out of fuel sooner or later”. Another important take away for us is to practice engine out procedures regularly.

Before Signing Off
Eliana has completed the transit from San Francisco to Dana Point. We would like to express our appreciation to our readers for your interest and for your comments or questions. Please click on the link below to go directly to the website where you can post. If you know of others you think may be interested, please do pass along the link to our home page where they can register to receive each post.

Rick Heiniger
N7617 Eliana
Lying: Dana Point, CA
Mileage: 8,629 Nautical Miles

#57 Wine Country

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 00:00:00 GMT

I'll admit it; we love wine. It adds so much to a conversation or meal. We’ve found it pairs well with any sunset, real or imaginary, just about any time. After a day of hard work, we like to think of the traditional pour as a ‘reward’. About the only time we don’t have wine is when we’re underway. Otherwise, you can be sure as Debbie prepares the evening meal, there will be a bottle opened.

Eliana has a small wine cooler on board. We usually keep a few bottles of red and white in there. We tend to purchase only a few bottles at a time, usually at Costco or the grocery store. However, knowing we’re leaving the country soon, we thought it would be a good time to stock up. What better timing than to be within driving distance of California’s wine country!

Road to Healdsburg
My background is in Agriculture so I thought this might be a good time to go a bit beyond the tasting rooms and tours. Debbie recalled that Rebecca (you know Rebecca, my pilates instructor from back home) has a sister, Theresa and her husband, Brian in Healdsburg. You won’t believe it, but Brian represents Canton Cooperage, so he calls on the wineries and supplies some of the finest oak wine barrels in the business. Theresa is the high school principal in Cloverdale. Between the two of them, there are no strangers in the community. So we hit the jackpot, what can I say!

Coincidentally, this is a beautiful time of year in wine country. It’s harvest time so the grapes are coming in at a furious pace. Everyone is incredibly busy, but what an interesting time. Anyway, we made our way to Healdsburg to get our bearings. Brian and Theresa were the perfect guides for us.

After a short tour of town, Brian made up a map for us of suggested visits. Knowing we were more interested in the nuts and bolts, he suggested Dry Creek Valley as a great area since we only had limited time. Unlike more commercialized areas, this one is dominated by small, family owned vineyards and wineries.

Healdsburg is a charming town. A great place for foodie's.

Brian prepared a map with advice for each proposed visit.

Healdsburg and Dry Creek Valley to the North.

Dry Creek Valley
Dry Creek is bordered on the North by Lake Sonoma and is a tributary into the Russian River. It’s not on the beaten path, but may be one of the most pastorally, captivatingly beautiful places I’ve been. French and Italian immigrants first planted grapes here in 1870. The geography reminded them of their homeland’s Tuscany and Piedmont.

The well drained, fertile soils of the valley floor rise to meet a large area of bench land vineyards on the East and coastal mountain vineyards on the West. Zinfandel is the signature grape. The valley is renowned for Old Vine Zinfandel, much of which was planted in the early 1900’s. But the cool climate is also perfect for Bordeaux and Rhone varietals. We found properties with as many as 17 different types of grape which are then blended in pleasing ways.

The farmers of the valley are small to medium sized and are commonly multi-generation, family owned establishments. The vineyards are integral with olive groves, orchards and vegetables. One shouldn’t be surprised to see chickens, goats and a whole host of other barnyard animals! Reminds me of home.

It's actually not too hard to find what you're looking for here.

Aerial view of the valley.

Grapes about to be harvested.

Ferrari-Carano, one of the larger and a beautifully maintained estate along Dry Creek.

Michel-Schlumberger, an older estate on the bench land has been managed agriculturally the same way for many years.

Wine Making
I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised that individual growers and masters have widely varying ideas on best practices. Passion is one thing they all have in common. “Good wine starts with the grape. It all happens out there, not in here ...”; “No, it’s the soil. Otherwise, you’re fooling no one.”; “All good wineries need a chief wino, and I’m him.”; “Nobody can pick grapes with a machine and make good wine. Only hand picking gets you want you want.”; “Small vats are the way to go. Stay away from the big tanks.” I had to smile as it so reminded me of coffee shop chatter growing up on the farm.

Harvest is a madhouse. One of my misconceptions was that harvest was synonymous with crush. Well, it is, and isn’t. The grapes aren’t crushed as they come from the field, they are cleaned and sorted, but then fermented in controlled conditions before pressing the juice from the solids. It was amazing to see the wine makers brooding over the grapes as they were being picked, then nursing each little batch along. Makes me appreciate even more the wonderful quality of a good glass of wine.

Checking temperature on newly vatted Syrah grapes.

Winemaker Steve Law (Maclaren Wine Company) keeps careful records on each batch. He is passionate about Syrah.

Purchasing some unbelievable zinfandel from Michael Talty (Talty Vineyards). He and his wife Katie do a fantastic job.

Preston Vineyards advocates more than just a sip or two. But please drink responsibly! Debbie also got some olive oil produced on this farm.

Aging barrels at Quivira Winery.

Conclusion
I now have a huge appreciation for the dedication of the farmers here. How they love the land, the science and the art of their work. There are a few widely recognized labels in the valley, but most are small and pay close attention to every detail of their production. Spending time with Brian and Theresa left us with the positive impression of a close knit community living and working together. I like it that the world class wine isn’t going to their head, so to speak.

Theresa and Brian with us at Quivira. They were awesome.

And yes, we did find Canton barrels everywhere. Brian must be doing a good job!

Before Signing Off
Thank you again for following Eliana’s Journal. We’re not quite finished in San Francisco, but by the end of October will be picking a time to move south to Dana Point, CA. We love hearing your comments so please visit our web site by clicking on the link below.

Rick Heiniger
N7617 Eliana
Lying: Richmond Bay Marina
Mileage: 8,214 Nautical Miles

#56 Wax On, Wax Off

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 00:00:00 GMT

A scene from “The Karate Kid” in 1984 stands out in my memory. It was about a young man Daniel, who was challenged to compete in a karate tournament by bullies. He turned for help to their apartment’s caretaker, a humble but eccentric Okinawan immigrant named Mr. Miyagi. Miyagi becomes his teacher and surrogate father figure who begins Daniel’s training by assigning him to menial tasks such as waxing cars. In the scene I recall best, he shows how to apply the wax using one hand in a circular motion, then remove the wax with the other hand in the opposite direction.

Miyagi: “Wax on, right hand. Wax off, left hand. Wax on, wax off. Breathe in through nose, out the mouth. Wax on, wax off. Don't forget to breathe, very important. ...” After Daniel finally expresses his deep frustration seeing no reason he should have to do this, Miyagi reveals that Daniel has been learning defensive blocks through the muscle memory of his chores.

So this entry of Eliana’s Journal is to describe how Debbie and I plan to become world class karate punch blockers capable of defending ourselves in any situation. Read on...

Here’s The Problem
We love a clean boat. It’s wonderful. We admire others who keep their boats nice. Research proves most people are generally happier and function better in a clean environment. This is good thing, right? No, it’s bad. There is an unachievable standard for what a clean boat is. I’m not sure Intel keeps their ASIC lab as clean as boats are often expected to be. To the fastidious owner, it doesn’t take much of a tarnish or smudge to make an otherwise perfectly functional finish unacceptable.

You may also recall me saying once that an N76 is easily manageable by two people in every respect except exterior maintenance. Truly, the outside surface area is daunting. I have no idea how many square feet of gelcoat and lineal feet of stainless steel there are, but it is significant. No question, right out of the box we agreed, all exterior maintenance should be hired out. Well, that’s easier said than done.

We’ve found it difficult to consistently find good contractors. When we do, they are often under staffed, difficult to schedule, charge outrageous prices and deliver questionable workmanship. Now that’s not universally true, but I would say the majority of time we struggle with it. Because we are constantly moving, finding and vetting a new crew each time hasn’t been easy.

The Solution
It’s now obvious we have to be able to wash and wax ourselves. Doesn’t mean we won’t hire help when we can. But the Catch 22 is that if we delay doing what needs to be done based on availability of help, it only compounds the work quickly. Once problems begin to appear, remedial work mounts at lightning speed. Washing and waxing regularly eliminates humongous amounts of work.

So we set out to discover the easiest, fastest, and most effective ways to wash and wax. Through experimentation, we are honing our technique and it truly is doable. Not saying easy, but every improvement we make takes us one step closer to self sufficiency which we so desire.

Washing
We wash every couple weeks variable by conditions. We tried using a pressure washer. It works OK, but I found managing the hoses, electrical cord, soap and the unit itself is work. Honestly, it doesn’t clean very well either leaving a scale of dirt that would otherwise come right off with a gentle wipe.

We tried the rinse-only method. In fact, we still use rinse-only for the swim step, transom, sides and anchor platform upon each arrival. But the rinse-only method for the whole boat isn’t even close to a wash and can’t substitute.

We tried the dew-wipe method for a couple months last winter. Using a chamois to soak up morning dew does an amazing job of cleaning at the same time. Problem is it took us 45 minutes each morning to do it. By washing regularly, we only wipe dew from living area surfaces which only takes a few minutes.

The easiest and fastest way for us to wash is the old fashioned way. I call it the soapy-mop-rinse method. Wet the surface with fresh water, mop with soapy water and give it a low pressure rinse. We use Meguiars Flagship Wash & Wax soap. Using this product, the rinse water sheets right off so there is little drying and minimal water spots. The soapy-mop-rinse method works perfectly on gelcoat, stainless, windows and settee cushions.

We have gotten better and faster at washing. A good wax job REALLY helps. Simple things like reducing the paraphernalia to drag around and strategic hose routing speeds up the work. Waterproof bibs and gumboots are essential to stay dry. I can do the wash myself with Debbie following about half time to touch things up. She trades off between that and wash day housekeeping. If we start in the morning, we’ll be done by just after lunch.

Bucket, soap, wash pad and wash mop. These simple items and a garden hose are everything needed to wash Eliana quickly. The key tool is the mop. It's head can flex in any direction to easily transition to all surfaces while you move along. If the mop doesn't work, switch to the pad.

Waxing
I experimented with all kinds of polishes and waxes. One really needs a whole cabinet full of ‘products’ if remedial work is necessary. We’ve been there and done that. Now be it resolved that the easiest way and least work is to keep things protected routinely so the special forces aren’t necessary.

It doesn’t make much sense to wax without a light polish to remove any remaining dirt or stain. I’ve tried waxing alone and the two step process of first cleaning, then waxing. I’ve concluded it makes no sense to do it either way. So I set out to find the best Cleaner + Wax product that would clean and wax in the same pass.

After sampling several products I found the best and fastest results were with Meguiars Flagship Cleaner Wax. It cleans aggressively without requiring heavy pressure on the pad. Plus the wax buffs out beautifully and is longer lasting than anything else we tried. And another very important feature, unlike most others, it can be applied in direct sunlight with no problem. The only downside to this product is it doesn’t like water. So if the surface is the least bit wet, you better get it dry.

Like washing, I began by assuming mechanical help was necessary such as an orbital machine. I thought it would be the only way to go fast. Wrong. Like the pressure washer, it’s a pain in the you know what and logistical nightmare. I also found it gets heavy when you have to reach with it.

The method we found that works the best is the old fashioned way. I use a sponge applicator to apply the wax. Knock it down with a clean microfiber towel. Then buff with a baby diaper (available at West Marine). This system works for everything. Big areas, nooks and crannies, railing, window frames, everything. Most of the time I’m working over my head, below my feet or in a cramped area and yet with these very light tools you can wax on, wax off with the best of them.

A few additional tips: First is to wear kneepads. Amazing how it makes the job easier. Second, I place the applicator pad in a zip lock bag between sessions and it stays perfect. Third, have a big supply of knock down towels and buffing diapers, keeping them constantly clean. Cuts the work dramatically and is worth doing a washer load each evening.

Now, though, I will reveal the most important secret discovery for making boat waxing easy. A ladder. Not just any ladder. Nooo, this ladder is PERFECT and I love it. It’s called the LITTLE GIANT, extends up to 15’ and can serve as an adjustable step ladder accessible from both sides. Best of all, it weighs only 35 pounds and stores in the wash locker with the rest of the stuff.

One other problem we solved was how to do the bow and anchors. We twisted Eliana in the berth so the bow paralleled the dock and the anchors were over the dock. Then with the aforementioned PERFECT ladder we were able to knock out the bow in no time. To get the other side, we just reversed her position on the same dock. No fuss.

We set up our supplies bench in the cockpit.

The ladder isn't necessary for washing, but is essential for waxing. It can contort to different shapes and lengths to work everywhere.

Here the LITTLE GIANT works perfectly as a two sided step ladder.

We've found this simple combination helps us immensely.

By putting Eliana in a twist, her entire bow parallels the dock.

Here's the view from the front.

The anchors are then perfectly positioned for the stepladder.

We wax every square inch we can get to, even the inside edges of hatches. Here, we even waxed the inside trim pieces between the outside glass and screen.

Screw and bolt heads are sometimes hard to get wax in, so I use Boeshield T-9 or Corrosion Block. Squirt and wipe.

Notice how neatly the awesome LITTLE GIANT fits in the wash locker!

Before Signing Off
Anyone that has tips of their own on washing and waxing, please share them in the comments section. Simply click below to go to our website where you can add a comment. We're interested in anything that makes it easier, faster or better.

As always, we appreciate our readers very much. Please pass along the EJ link to others you think may find it interesting.

Rick Heiniger
N7617 Eliana
Lying: Richmond Bay Marina
Mileage: 8,203 Nautical Miles

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#55 Milestones and Mistakes

Sun, 18 Sep 2011 00:00:00 GMT

We gave each other an exuberant “high-five” as the Golden Gate came into view. We had completed our longest passage to date; 822 nautical miles in 100 hours, just the two of us. Our goal was to see if we could successfully manage multiple overnights maintaining constant watch without additional crew. Once again, weather became a factor. Compounding that, I made a critical mistake resulting in parlous suspense at a very bad time. As much as I swore never to let it happen to me, it did. In the event telling the story will help someone else avoid the same error, I’ll debrief later with a blow-by-blow account. Also, I made a short 1.5 minute video which I’ve placed at the end. Here’s the story from the beginning...

Trip Planning
The West Coast is a treacherously unpredictable place for mariners. It takes the full brunt of everything the Pacific has incoming. The coast is rugged so when conditions turn bad unexpectedly, reentry to safe harbor can be dangerous especially when lacking local knowledge. Good weather, when you can get it, is golden.

We thought about breaking the trip into two legs with a stop in Astoria, Oregon. It’s a nice place to visit and we thought it would give us much needed rest. However, we wanted to be flexible if conditions appeared favorable to do the entire trip.

We’re finding there is no better way to get miles behind us than nonstop, around the clock. The opportunity can develop quickly leaving us little time to assemble crew. So being able to transit 800 miles off shore on short notice with just the two of us is an important arrow in our quiver.

I gave Bob at Ocean Marine a call to get his take on the forecast. High pressure centers repeated across the North Pacific pushing low troughs in between. They were coming rapid fire with sporadic areas of pressure gradient in the pattern making it difficult to forecast wind. Oh, but there was an apparent break that could give us 3 to 4 days of steadier conditions. Swells out of the WNW 6 - 8 feet and northerly winds under 20 knots. We made the decision to plan a nonstop and set the departure time pending one final weather check before pushing off.

I further decided on a bluewater route further off shore to take advantage of its simplicity and reduce the coastal affect on currents. Also, crab pots, fishing boats and kelp are not our friends at night. More offshore is better.

Day 1
Departure time was based on two factors. First knowing we would go through a full tide cycle before reaching sea, we decide to go into the flood to start, and then ride the ebb the rest of the way out. That put us by Neah Bay at about midnight, which would give us the first night at sea with the least wind.

Second, we wanted to arrive San Francisco with a flooding current. Prevailing winds are nearly always from seaward so we would get a double push and better ride going in.

So after returning the rental car, we were able to cast off at 10 AM Saturday morning. We decided to alternate three hour watches during the day using the free time to nap. We agreed to divide nights in half with me taking from 6 to 1, then Debbie from 1 to 6. I did engine room checks and switched fuel tanks every 6 hours at 6 and 12.

Passing Orcas in Puget Sound. Amazingly synchronous swimmers.

Our departure route

Saying goodbye to the now familiar company of the cruise ships.

Day 2
Our watch schedule worked well at first, probably because we started well rested. The second day became more difficult and was probably the most difficult part of the trip. Sea conditions were good, but I found it difficult to sleep when I was supposed to. Debbie was sleeping better than me, but still not as much as normal.

Both of us pushed through fatigue determined to get a pattern down. We decided cardinal rule number one was not to have both of us on watch at the same time which we like to do, but nobody gets rest then. Second is to be more vigilant when on watch, managing by walking around, staying occupied and alert as possible. Third to be more purposeful about getting rest when not on watch. It was easy to stay busy if we weren't feeling like going to bed. We agreed not to set the alarm. Better stated, never awaken one who is managing to sleep soundly ... let them sleep if they can.

As day two was nearing nightfall we were passing our intended stop, Astoria. Almost like someone turned a switch, the weather changed radically. I couldn’t believe what was happening. Swells were coming in at 6 to 9 feet, wind was about 25 knots and current was running about 2 knots. None of which would normally be a problem. Then I realized the swells were arriving from the northwest, the current going from northeast to southwest and the wind had shifted to the south. I knew then we were in for a ride! I took a couple of video clips (included below) before it got dark as this condition was beginning to form.

We started calling this the "Sleep Chamber" where you go for 'mandatory' sleep. Blackout shades and the steady drone of the engine help. It also helps to get really tired first!

Nothin' but us birds out here. This hearty species seemed to be prevalent most of the way. I haven't had a chance to look him up, but I'm sure someone will help me fill in the blank.

Day 3
The uneasy sea state seemed to hit us from every direction the rest of the night. On top of that, we met with a huge fishing fleet on our route which was exactly what I was trying to avoid. Amazingly, we got a great night's sleep so day three felt much better. Debbie prepared oatmeal for breakfast, had a big pot of soup on, plus we had ham sandwiches. We double downed on water to stay hydrated.

As the day went on, the wind switched back around to the North confirming a good decision to stay the course. We started a larger generator to make water in the afternoon and air condition the pilot house. Otherwise, we didn’t need any air conditioning or heating the entire trip.

By nightfall though, it was apparent we were in for another round. The ocean swell began to grow to an average of 12 to 15 feet with greater frequency. Nothing like forecast. They hit us on the starboard quarter making the steering and stabilizers work hard. Regardless, it wasn’t uncomfortable so we pressed on.

I'm hungry. I'm tired and thirsty. Haven't seen land in days. Got somethin' for a guy down in his luck? This poor fella showed up and flitted outside the window like he wanted to be let in. Must have been tame. He had a yellowish breast and a yellow patch on the underside of his tail. Anyone know this one?

Day 4 and “The Mistake”
I used to love reading the Pilot Error' column in flying magazines and can remember shaking my head at the dumb things people do. Sadly, this is one of those stories.

The day of arrival finally came. Almost like an alarm clock, I woke up at 6, jumped out of bed ready to start the day. Debbie was getting along perfectly despite a still rough sea. We were nearing our final approach right on schedule. It was my turn for watch only this time I would take it the rest of the way in for an approximate 2 PM arrival. I hurried downstairs to do the normal engine room check and tank change.

Once back at the helm, I checked radar for traffic. There were several freighters and a tanker in the system. I thought it prudent to join San Francisco VTS (Vessel Traffic Service) operated by the Coast Guard who coordinate arrivals and departures.

We set our course for the “SF” sea buoy which marks the beginning of the final channel into San Francisco. This is a precautionary zone where vessels coming from different directions converge and space themselves in or out. There was a pilot boat cruising that area, but otherwise it appeared we would fortunately have the zone to ourselves. I called VTS and requested transiting the zone north of the buoy to cut off a couple miles, although it placed us in the path of any oncoming traffic for about 10 minutes. No oncoming traffic was imminent and permission was granted.

We entered the precautionary zone normally and took a heading direct to the inbound lane. The current was coming on our stern just as planned and everything seemed perfect. The pilot boat came out to parallel us as we transited the outbound traffic lane.

Then suddenly, without warning, our main engine quit. It became very quiet. My mind raced as I watched the RPM’s drop to zero. What happened? What do we do now? In an unexpected moment, Eliana was directly exposed as she had lost all propulsion, steering and stabilization. Debbie rushed up to lend assistance. I had rehearsed this situation a hundred times in my mind, but we had never actually done an engine out drill. No time to think, though, we’ve got to do it NOW.

I glanced at the on-line generator and it was running normally so we had electricity. I started the wing engine, engaged the wing propeller and hydraulic pump. Now we had propulsion and hydraulic pressure, but still no steering or stabilizers. Steering trumps, so I started the 32 KW generator which provides emergency steering power. Bingo, we had steering. Finally, after powering down and restarting the stabilizers, they began to work again. We were wounded, but safe for the moment.

After a quick call to VTS to explain our erratic behavior, we set our course northbound out of the control area. Then Debbie took the helm while I went to the engine room to figure out how to get the engine restarted. It’s got to be fuel, it’s got to be fuel I kept thinking. But how in the world. The wing engine is running yes, it has its own tank. The generators are running but they pull from the same tank as the main so there MUST be fuel there. I threw open the engine room door, wheeled around to see, to my horror, the fuel supply tank sight gauge was completely empty. How? Both main tanks had at least 900 gallons each. Then it occurred to me that if the supply tank is indeed empty, the generators won’t be running for long and we would be in a heap of trouble. I rechecked the fuel valves which were set to pull fuel from the port engine room tank, so I opened the starboard and closed the port. Instantly, fuel began filling the supply tank. I breathed a sigh of relief.

Back upstairs, Debbie did a great job of guiding Eliana generally toward safer water. With fuel back in the supply tank, I made several attempts to restart the main, but to no avail. There is no air bleed provision on the engine, but I knew there must be a way to do it. I called Garrett Severen at Nordhavn who got the answer from Joe Ascona in about 2 minutes. He instructed me to loosen the JIC fitting just past the fuel filter, then crank. I did that until fuel seeped out, then tightened the fitting and cranked again and voila, she started. Five minutes later we had everything completely back to normal and recovered our approach into San Francisco.

The Golden Gate

Closer Up

Post Mortem
Even as we tied up in Richmond Bay Marina, I still didn’t know how we ran out of fuel. But after reenacting the final hours, I figured it out. In haste that morning, I opened the wrong valve to the supply tank. There are TWO valves located under the floorboard of the engine room out of sight. I’ve opened and closed the correct one hundreds of times with no issue. Admittedly, I used to stick my head under there to read the label as I turned the valve, but eventually got to where I did it by feel. This time, I mistakenly grabbed the valve to a forward tank that was empty.

To assure this never happens again, I will be removing the handle entirely from the forward tank valve and tying it off to the side. The other procedure change is to go back to a 4 hour tank switch instead of 6 hour since the supply tank doesn’t hold quite 6 hours. Any misalignment would be caught that way before running out of fuel.

The two valves in question. Both are under the floorboard. The upper one is the correct one.

Before Signing Off
I’ve attached a brief 1.5 minute video which has three short clips. First, departing Puget Sound alongside the cruise ship at sunset. Second, the sea state at nightfall when the sea was starting to kick up. And finally, the entry under the Golden Gate as the fog horns were going. Click Here.

We’re thoroughly enjoying the Bay area. We’ll rest here for a good month and a half before moving further south. As always, comments and questions are welcome. Just use the link below to go directly to our web site. All the best to you and yours.

Rick Heiniger
N7617 Eliana
Lying: Richmond Bay Marina
Mileage: 8,203 Nautical Miles

#54 Reflections ... A Year Later

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Today, we’re going through stuff. Our house sold in early summer and fortunately the buyers wanted most of the contents, all except personal things. We’re sorting into three piles: necessities, memorabilia and garage sale. Not surprisingly, the only “necessities” remaining from a fully furnished home all fit neatly in one box and a hang up bag each. No regrets, that's just the way it is. The reality of a plan we put into motion three and half years ago is now taking its true, although somewhat unexpected form. One set of keys (our boat home), two backpacks and, well, that’s it.

A different perspective.

Recently one of our readers posted the following questions; “Do you miss land life? What is your long range plan? Anything you’d change especially regarding the size or type of vessel? What words of advice or caution to others considering this lifestyle?”

After some thought, we decided there are no short answers. Perhaps it’s time to revisit a discussion of our evolving life. Last year, as we were getting ready to leave for California, I wrote the article “Reflections ... Leaving Home” about the process of leaving our comfortable land based life. Here’s a paragraph from that entry:

Reflections ... Leaving Home (June 5, 2010)

“So at this moment we're finding it helpful to remind ourselves once again and say out loud what our reasoning is. After a lifetime of stepping off into thin air, it seems to us as though faith in a power greater than our own is the exact quality that binds us. We don't want to get so comfortable that we forget what it feels like to live each day as it is given, not fully knowing what tomorrow will bring. Is an unknown destination with uncertain cost unreasonable? It's been said that people in their final days are more regretful for what they didn't do than for what they did. Like us, everyone seems to know where their heart is leading, but often can't overcome the fear of actually doing it or even the discomfort of explaining it. It absolutely means leaving the familiar for a heaping dose of the unfamiliar.”

That was the perspective from a year ago. Herewith, now, I enclose several ruminations on our evolving formula. Two disclaimers: First, this is only a snapshot in time. Our ideas are constantly changing. Second, this isn’t for everyone. Only what we think works for us.

Less is More
Migratory boat life has been one of the most invigorating, challenging and vocationally satisfying retirement occupations imaginable. Our sense of accomplishment is high. It keeps our minds and bodies exercised to the fullest. But the unvarnished truth is: it requires the full-time attention of both of us working together and does not yield well to legacy obligations. We can’t keep our past life’s plates spinning and do this at the same time. As we shed assets and commitments, we have rediscovered an age old truth first hand ... less is more. Fewer things is good for us.

Faith and Family
We don’t view our life aboard as escapism or vacation. The fundamentals of life’s rules don’t change even though our surroundings do. We are sensing a greater awareness of personal identity, family, faith and mission.

The challenge is we miss the support structures of home such as our church and those we trust implicitly through experience, maybe to the point of complacency. Boat life is forcing us to take more initiative in living out our faith. We have our ups and downs, but it seems as though making the effort provides us with comforting stability.

Then there is family, particularly our children and grandchildren. We don’t see them every day as we used to. We’re thankful our two daughters and their husbands are good parents which grants us peace of mind. Every six weeks or so we’ll travel home and move into alternating households for a week devoting nearly all our time to family. This super immersion is giving us a completely different grandparent experience than we had before. They all love Eliana too, so occasionally we get the chance to reverse roles.

Communication
Internet is an important part of the formula. One that wouldn’t have been possible until recently. Our KVH V7 satellite service comes with two Kansas City phone numbers 24 / 7 and full time Internet about the speed of DSL. Our cell phones work OK domestically within range of a cell tower. They are, however, unreliable in places we often go and data service is usually not good or outrageously expensive. Local WIFI hotspots are notoriously hit and miss. In my opinion, the structural integrity and ubiquitous coverage of the KVH is a necessity, not a luxury.

We have used the KVH even more than we thought. It goes without saying we use it for family and business. It’s also been invaluable for planning routes, destinations, arranging services, getting news and entertainment, tracking weather, placing orders for delivery to our next destination, driving directions, banking and paying bills. With KVH we’re only minutes away from essential answers to questions and problems. In an emergency, it’s comforting to know we can make a telephone call at any time. The KVH is without question the most important safety equipment aboard.

We get all of what’s left of our land mail by Internet. It’s forwarded to Janelle, who opens, scans and places it in our Dropbox account which automatically downloads to Eliana’s server. All of our records are stored electronically, so this step dovetails with the rest of our document storage.

The flip side is television. We elected not to have a satellite television receiver on Eliana. Missed it at first. We selectively download a couple of favorite shows and will watch an occasional movie. Honestly, there isn’t much worth watching. News and current events come from the Internet.

Health
Good health is part of the formula. We believe our physical and mental well being is critical. With an increased awareness of health we have targeted four things: eating right, plenty of rest, exercise and safety.

Debbie cooks almost every meal so we know what we’re eating and rarely eat out. Her method is (as she says) “simple ingredients prepared simply”. We have found fresh fruit and vegetables to be abundant and inexpensive except in the most remote areas. Proteins on the other hand are feast or famine, so we are learning to freeze fish and meat in two person portions. We like at least 60 days worth in the freezer. Every night she pulls out the proteins she wants for the next day to defrost. We drink water and a glass or two of wine each night.

The cardinal rule given to all guests staying aboard Eliana is to get plenty of rest. Force oneself to rest. Food digests better, activities are safer, energy is higher which improves alertness on watch. In a year where we had a number of guests get seasick, we’ve found getting more rest helps prevent or combat it. Conversely, nothing good happens when people are tired.

Living aboard is good exercise by itself. Not as much cardio, and nothing as good as Rebecca’s Pilates class, but still boat activity promotes strength, stretching and balance. We also work to find opportunities ashore for cardio such as running. One of the most effective workouts we’ve discovered is washing Eliana. It’s about 5 hours for the two of us but when we’re finished, it feels like we spent an entire day at the gym.

It’s easy to get hurt on a boat. Once I hurried outside barefooted and caught my toe on the edge of a scupper hole. Broke the toe, and definitely slowed me down for a while. So now we intentionally go about each activity slowly and methodically keeping safety in mind and, of course, wear shoes outside when working!

Car Rental
We sold the cars and now rent which fits our new formula well. We always have a clean, maintained car that way and can match the type of vehicle to the situation. Nobody has to pick us up at the airport or take us back. No worries about garage, tires, cleaning, maintenance or tags as we used to. Since we only rent a portion of total days, it’s cheaper.

We have learned a couple of lessons. First is to focus most of the rentals with one company rather than shopping each rental. It’s easier and through loyalty benefits we believe we’re paying less and getting better service. The other lesson is rental insurance. Daily coverages are expensive, so we decline all of them. American Express has an outstanding rental car coverage for $25 per rental with no deductible regardless of how many days the rental is. It’s a great program.

Budget
While pricing a marina last year I commented to the salesman that I felt the rate was too high. The salesman said they charge a higher rate for bigger boats because they don’t think the owners care and slip fees must be pocket change for them. I told him that as logical as that may sound, in our case it isn’t so. We think controlling cost is important for sustaining a successful, full time cruising career.

Our priorities are almost exactly reverse of the seasonal boater. We aren’t as concerned about ownership cost because it’s spread over an entire year of full time boating. Besides it doubles as a home. There isn’t much we can do about it anyway. Ongoing expense is more important. The six primary expenses in order are fuel, internet, travel, insurance, maintenance and slip rental. Being astute with these makes up for a multitude of errors on everything else.

The most important budget lesson we’ve learned is to do as much as we can ourselves. The more we do, the less we spend and the happier we are. We make fewer phone calls, interview less, wait less, give fewer instructions, oversee less and have less to dispute later. Remember, that as we move from place to place we have to deal with a new set of vendors and all the rigamarole that goes with it. So as part of our formula, self sufficiency is the key to freedom. We’re learning to do everything possible ourselves, even things we haven’t done before.

Boat Choice and Boat Life
The boat that works into our formula is one that functions like a home in every way we were accustomed to. It doesn’t need to be as large, but it must serve the same purposes. Eliana is proving to fit that requirement. The space works well for just the two of us or with guests. In answer to the question, “Do you miss land life?”, My response is ... other than the changing neighborhood, there isn’t that much difference. In fact, when not underway it’s easy to forget we’re living on a boat!

The next point is Eliana must be manageable by the two of us. If she requires paid crew, the idea loses its appeal. To do that, we have divided responsibilities. When at rest (which is most of the time), Debbie focuses on household and I on the boat. We thrive on routine mental checklists for our duties. When underway, we divide tasks and coordinate each step by discussing it before and after. By talking through and rating how things went, we have improved many processes through time. Cross training or alternating responsibilities haven’t worked as well for us. One activity we do together is exterior washing. Even then we work better by dividing the task. I wash while she dries. I like it this way because it gives me complete control of the hose so I can spray her down if she gets out of line.

The third part of the boat formula is flexibility and safety. Because of her weight, Eliana is supremely safe and comfortable at rest or underway in a wide variety of sea and conditions. Coupled with fuel efficiency and range it’s possible to make travel decisions that a coastal boat might not consider.

Did we choose the right brand and model? Nordhavn isn’t the only company to build great boats. I believe, however, the Nordhavn philosophy matches our objectives the best. All the models are built to high standards with the above cruising formula in mind. Any are perfectly satisfactory based on personal preference. Just because we chose as we did, I wouldn’t question for a second the competency of other sizes or arrangements.

Future Plans
In our first year of cruising we spent most of the time learning and boating. We put almost 8,000 miles on Eliana, spent hundreds of nights at anchor, visited dozens of marinas and had many guests. Her systems are now well tested. Any defects have been exposed and fixed. Everything is becoming more routine for us. We think we’re ready to modify our travel formula by expanding our activity beyond the boat.

During the coming year, we plan to slow the pace and travel more land side by car. This requires us to select a few locations along our itinerary for an ‘extended stay’ of at least one month. Most marinas offer lower monthly rates and the slower pace reduces the planning that accompanies each movement. Of course the journey between each extended stay will be made up by a combination of many short stops and/or long multiple day passages as we’ve gotten accustomed to.

Over the next 12 - 18 months we plan to progress toward the Panama Canal. Extended stays of one month or more will begin with San Francisco, then southern California, two or three stays in Mexico, a stay in El Salvador, possibly Nicaragua and finally a long stay in Costa Rica before reaching Panama. All subject to change!

Before Closing
I intended to report on the annual inspections which are just finishing up for Eliana and her equipment. Most of it I was able to do myself. There isn’t much to report as everything is in excellent shape and ready to go. I may cover some of it in future posts.

Thanks for reading Eliana’s Journal. We appreciate your interest. Please feel free to post your questions or comments. The link below will take you directly to the website. Also, if interested you can go back to the original “Reflections ... Leaving Home” post from June 5, 2010.

We’ll be looking for a weather window for our first move south approximately mid September. You may use the Track Eliana link below to follow our progress.

Rick Heiniger
N7617 Eliana
Mileage: 7,378 Miles
Lying: Seattle
Track Eliana

#53 Baranof Island

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT

I had reset the mileage counter in Victoria, British Columbia which seemed like ages ago. Glancing up, it read 1,234 nautical miles. It's been just the two of us since Campbell River. We had gone as far north as planned, but now wanted to go westward and explore the less traveled Chichagof and Baranof Islands. We lost telephone service. No dialtone. I looked out the window and sure enough the mountains alongside Lisianski Strait were so close and vertical, they were blocking the satellites to the south. There hadn’t been any other boats for miles other than some fishing boats clustered around Cape Bingham. But now wasn’t the time to worry about that. We needed to pass a narrow, rocky bar to the Pacific before heading back south. The serene, protected water we had enjoyed throughout the Inside Passage was about to become less comfortable.

I had checked weather, although I’ll admit a bit casually. Crossing the bar was no problem. But conditions on the other side were not as forecast. It was apparent conditions were changing quickly. We set our course for the nearest shelter we could find looping back coast wise through rock banks and islands. Conditions gradually became more protected until we were finally able to slip through a narrow inlet to a place called Porcupine Bay. We dropped anchor as darkness fell and it began to rain. So much for our good luck with weather.

The forecast was now calling for a solid week of rain and wind. We decided with regret to skip the beautiful Chichagof Island. It would be impossible to explore using Sweet Charlotte outside the tiny cove we were in due to rough water. So we prepared a southbound route offshore, then via Peril Strait to Baranof Warm Springs. Under the circumstances, natural hot springs sounded nice.

Baranof Island
The name Baranof was given in 1805 by the Russian Navy to honor Alexandr Baranov who ultimately became the chief administrator of the area. It’s slightly smaller than the state of Delaware with one major city, Sitka. Otherwise, today the island is mostly wilderness and lies within the Tongass National Forest.

This isn’t a place you have to fight the crowds. A few cruise ships visit the town of Sitka, however the remainder of the island is a rich wilderness with few visitors other than commercial fishermen.

I have prepared a short, one minute video called Baranof Island Waterfalls. The link is at the end of this post. Otherwise, here are a few pictures from our stay...

Our snug little anchorage near Warm Springs.

Most of Baranof is nature untouched.

A family of brown headed ducks pass by. Maybe someone can help me again with the species. I can't find it in Sibley's.

Baranof Warm Springs. It once had a post office. Today is comprised of only a handful of summer cottages.

Residents built a boardwalk to mark the beginning of the trail back to the natural hot springs.

But the further we went, the less marked the trail became until we were pushing brush aside to get through.

Debbie, towel in hand, ready to get in the hot, 103 degree pool which coincidentally is at the top of a huge 100' waterfall.

Speaking of waterfalls, this beautiful one in Red Bluff Bay is representative.

Baranof has no black bears, but is famous for grizzly. Note the eagles in the background.

Small World
We continue to be amazed at coincidental rendezvous of old friends and other boats we’ve seen before. Here are even more examples.

We celebrated a reunion with the crabbing boat North American and her skipper Barry Nichols who we first saw going through the Ballard Locks in Seattle just two months before. Since crab is off season, she is serving as a fish tender between the local fishing boats and the cannery. North American was one of the vessels in Season 4 of "Deadliest Catch". Both of us stopped completely side by side to visit by VHF radio and take pictures of one another!

Here's our first rendezvous with North American. Had no idea we would see her again so soon.

This must be the zillionth time we've stopped within camera shot of National Geographic Sea Lion. The first times were in the Sea of Cortez, but over time we keep seeing her wherever we go. From the perspective of a complete tour boat novice, I believe the Nat Geo itinerary goes to the coolest, out of the way places. Like Eliana, they drop their anchor and launch dingys for their guests. Very cool.

Yet another Nordhavn! This is Doug and Stephanie Klappenbach on N7611 Tango based in Sitka. We met Doug and Stephanie while we were building Eliana as they allowed us to come aboard Tango for ideas. They, like us, have sold their land home to live aboard full time!

Shop Talk
Recently I wrote about replacing the pump impeller on our hydraulic oil cooling system. It’s been working well since then so you can imagine my surprise when during a routine engine room check, the hydraulic oil was beginning to heat up again. I took a flashlight to view the sight glass flow indicator and sure enough, no cooling water was flowing. Starting at the beginning, I checked to see if seawater was able to flow freely to the inlet strainer. Turns out it was plugged. I removed the hose from the fitting and found seaweed had jammed tight in the through-hull fitting. I was able to clean the inside portion easily with a hook shaped pick. But that left the outside portion still plugged. Since there was an elbow fitting, I couldn’t find anything to bend around the elbow and through the valve. So I magic taped the end of a garden hose to the fitting, turned on the faucet and applied house pressure (about 60 psi) to the plug from inside out. It blew the obstruction out completely. After reinstalling the inlet hose, we were right back in business!

Strainer in the foreground. Behind that is the through-hull fitting and valve plugged with seaweed. The garden hose is attached with what I call magic tape. It worked, but I will probably build a better fitting to do it right next time.

Before Signing Off
We are currently southbound enroute to Bellingham and then Seattle. You may now use the “Track Eliana” (link below) feature again! Both Eliana and Sweet Charlotte are celebrating their first birthday so our next post will be focused on the annual checkup.

As always, we appreciate you, our dear readers and hope you enjoy Eliana’s Journal. Don't forget to visit our website to leave comments or questions. I promised a short 1 minute video: Baranof Island Waterfalls.

Rick Heiniger
N7617 Eliana
Lying: Hammond Bay, BC
Total Mileage: 7,220 Nautical Miles
Track Eliana

#52 Glacier Bay

Sat, 30 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Writing about Glacier Bay isn’t easy. There is no single superlative that adequately describes it. No matter how prepared you think you are ... you’re not. The place evokes emotions that can only be known by physically being there. We arrived early on a Thursday morning, same as any other day. But like Alaska itself, Glacier Bay is so big and so wild it’s impossible not to be a little overwhelmed. All the photos below may be enlarged by clicking on them. I made a short, 2 minute video. The link is at the end of this post, but here’s the story...

Sitakaday Narrows, Willoughby Island ahead

Arrival
Visiting in one’s own boat isn’t without a couple of hurdles. The incredible distance to get there aside, entering the park is by permit only. The total number of private boats allowed in the bay is limited to 25. Only two cruise ships are permitted to be in the park on a given day so you might see one of them. We were only able to secure a two day advance permit with hope that there may be cancellations allowing us to extend our stay. We had two strokes of good luck. First, we were able to get an extension. Second, we hit the weather jackpot! It was beautiful.

Before crossing the line of demarcation, we radioed the ranger station to get permission to enter. We were instructed to go directly to Bartlett Cove just inside the park entrance where we received an “orientation” mostly involving the extensive park rules. We noted many of the permitted boats for the day were anchored right in Bartlett Cove and had no intention of making the long trip into the back country.

Glacier Bay ranger station

The Fairweather range about 40 miles distant as seen from the ranger's station. That's where we're headed!

Geography
Geologists believe the basin existed through a minimum of four ice ages. The last one of those is called the “Little Ice Age” which ended about 1750. About that same time the first recorded exploration of the area was beginning. At the time, it didn’t look like a bay at all. It looked like a mountain of ice. In 1794, Joseph Whidbey, master of the ‘Discovery’ during George Vancouver’s expedition reported that the “coastline was blocked by a wall of ice two miles wide and 3,900 feet thick. It stretched as far back as the eye could see.”

The ice field described in 1794 melted rapidly as the region warmed. By 1890 the entire basin was replaced by 700,000 square miles of clear, blue water much of which is over 1,000 feet deep. As the ice receded, the tundra surrounding the water was completely barren, scarred from centuries of glacial grinding.

Rising high above the water is the Fairweather range of mountains, the highest of which is Mount Fairweather. Despite the name, it's famous for very bad weather. At 15,325 feet in elevation it is one of the highest coastal mountains in the world. Snowfall is estimated at 1,000 inches annually, building layer upon layer, year after year. The weight of the snowfall compresses to exceptionally dense ice formations. Once a formation begins to move by it’s own weight, it officially becomes a glacier. Should a glacier reach the sea, it is termed a “tidewater” glacier. There are about 50 named glaciers in Glacier Bay flowing out of the mountains, a few of which do reach the water.

Mount Fairweather from some distance away. This has the appearance of being taken from an airplane.

Mt. Fairweather, 15,325'. Mt. Quincy Adams, 13,556' slightly left.

Plants and Animals
What I find most interesting isn't so much about glaciers and ice, but how mother earth is replacing it with a vast biosphere of forest, plant and animal life. The glacial scarring is clearly visible on the mountain walls, but in most areas it’s all been covered over. Hundreds of species of moss and lichen grow on the rock which support plants, flowers, grasses and trees of every description. The pine and deciduous forests began to grow during the big melt 200 years ago, so the oldest forests are that old, huge and thick. Each year new species of plants and animals are repatriating new areas of the region and a more virgin, pristine biosphere would be hard to imagine.

Glacial scarring several thousand feet up, evidence the entire valley was filled with ice.

Repatriation of vegetation over the tundra.

Diverse vegetation supports the wildlife.

The sea otter. Common in Alaska but only recently populated Glacier Bay.

The Tufted Puffin. About the size of a pigeon but weigh twice as much. Historically hunted for food with the skins made into parkas, feather side in.

A Black Oystercatcher. They don't swim, but eat things along the shoreline at low tide.

Margerie Glacier
Margerie Glacier is 21 miles long. It’s a tidewater glacier originating on the south slope of Mount Root in the Fairweather range. It terminates at the head of Tarr Inlet just perpendicular to the Grand Pacific Glacier which does not quite reach the water, but itself is nearly two miles wide.

Debbie and I chose Margerie Glacier to visit. It’s a day’s journey to get to and from with no opportunity for overnight anchorage in between. We wanted to see a few other things along the way. For instance, Johns Hopkins Glacier isn’t far off Tarr Inlet. This glacier is advancing rather than receding, but is currently calving off so much ice the path to it is literally blocked off. I didn’t want to risk damage to Eliana and we were plowing enough ice chunks as it was.

Approaching Margerie, my first impression was that it was rather small. But as we drew closer, the perspective of true scale became apparent. The exposed end of the ice is over a mile wide and 350’ tall! For comparison, the statue of liberty is 307’ tall. We got no closer than 1/4 mile from the actual ice face because there were pieces about to come off that would dwarf a small office building. Even at 1/4 mile, we felt very close.

An interesting observation was that both the ice and the water around it were blue. The reason has something to do with the way it refracts light, but honestly I can’t explain it. We noticed as we got closer and closer to the glacier, the water got bluer and bluer.

For miles, Tarr Inlet looked like this, a good sign of a glacier ahead.

The American Bald Eagle can live for up to 40 years in the wild.

Approaching Margerie Glacier to the left, Grand Pacific Glacier dead ahead. This is where I had the mistaken impression it was small.

Getting closer we realize it's HUGE.

It's over a mile long and 350' thick.

The ice itself is very blue and the sounds of crushing and breaking ice was incredible.

While at rest in front of Margerie Glacier. This position 59N - 137W became the highest latitude and longitude Eliana has ever been and probably will be for some time. This calls for a toast!

Windflight
I mentioned there were few other boats in the bay due to limited number of permits. You can imagine our surprise when as we passed an anchorage, tucked back in there were Neil and Margery Hokonson on their Nordhavn 68 ‘Windflight’. As you know, I love coincidences. Eliana and Windflight were built nearly simultaneously at the Ta Shing factory in Taiwan. We decided to photograph them together as they’ve probably not been this close since before they were born!

Sister ships side by side in Glacier Bay, AK.

That’s all for this post. As always we love and appreciate our dear readers. Please go directly to our website at the link below in to leave a comment or question. I normally don’t respond to comments, however they are an important and permanent part of today’s post. I do try to answer questions the best I can.

I promised a 2 minute video of Glacier Bay. Click Here to see it.

Rick Heiniger
N7617 Eliana
Lying: Redbluff Bay, Baranof Island, AK
Total Nautical Miles: 6,504
“Track Eliana” will return when we get back to civilization!

#51 North To Alaska

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

“Way up north; way up north, north to Alaska, you go north, the rush is on...”. I can’t get that old Johnny Horton song out of my head. I was 7 or 8 when it came out. Now that we are pushing north, what was once my imaginary Alaska is turning into reality. Each degree of latitude posts silently on the panel and I start making my own version of the song. “North, dum de dum, to Alaska, I said North, dum de dum, no time to waste...”. OK, in MY mind it rhymes!

So we’re moving almost every day. It’s just Debbie and I for this part of the trip. Lot's of daylight so we pack a few miles on each day, then spend the night in some quiet cove usually by ourselves. Summertime in Alaska is glorious with a mix of sunny and rainy weather. We haven’t used heating or air conditioning for weeks so much of our time at anchor is spent on battery. Not even the gentle hum of the generator to disturb the natural sounds.

Because of it’s proximity to Kansas City our family has spent many a pleasant summer vacation in Colorado. More than once I’ve reflected on how much the Inside Passage landscape reminds me of that. If you filled the Colorado Rockies part way to sea level I think it would be a similar picture. I knew this felt familiar! Oh well, meaningless reflection.

Here are a few highlights of the last few days....

Eliana at one of our night stops. See, it's like Colorado with water! Click to enlarge.

A nearby fresh water lake spills into our bay with a water fall.

At low tide, the water fall gets pretty high. The increased agitation of fresh water falling into salt water makes these foam balls which float into our anchorage.

Scenery along the way.

Shared with the occasional cruise ship passing by.

Shearwater
You may remember Dan Shank and Janet Jordan who helped us move Eliana from California to Seattle in May. Well, their summers are spent in Shearwater which made this a major stop for us.

Shearwater has a colorful history which began at the onset of World War II. The site was chosen by the Royal Canadian Air Force as a reconnaissance base because of it’s location and protected harbor. Built for over 2,000 people, the base supported a fleet of amphibious aircraft. After the war the base closed, but the property was bought by Andrew Widsten of nearby Bella Coola. Andrew had plans to rebuild it as a community serving the central coast with marine services. Now, after more than 60 years of hard work and dedication, Shearwater is beautiful, still owned and managed by the Widsten family. The people of Shearwater today serve the boating and recreational fishing industry in a place that couldn’t be more perfect for it.

During our stay in Shearwater, Dan and Janet took us for a Sunday trip up Roscoe Inlet on Dan’s boat “Makaatur”. We were able to cover distance quickly to reach all the way to a beautiful Quartcha Bay with a river inlet where the Salmon will be gathering soon. We dropped a couple of crab pots for dinner that night. Best of all we had a great time AND we left Shearwater with the freezer full of salmon.

Shearwater's waterfront park.

One of the original hangar structures remodeled to serve the community.

Nicely done local shops.

Recreational fishing is the main business. Fishing vacation for a week is about $2,500 all inclusive. And believe me the fishing is good.

Janet Jordan with Debbie and I on a rock in the middle of Roscoe Inlet. Click to enlarge.

Quartcha Bay. Soon, this water will be teaming with salmon returning to spawn.

We got a huge catch out of the two pots that soaked only two hours. Dan holds one up for the camera.

Ketchikan, AK
All boats arriving to Alaska check in at Ketchikan hence the nickname “Alaska’s First City”. Because of it’s location, Ketchikan has a unique mission that has evolved through mining and fishing to now include being a major transportation hub. The narrow strip of water called Tongass Narrows in front of the city is alive with cruise ships, float planes fishing boats and ferries all seemingly going in different directions. But it’s still a real town with real people. Mike Youngblood is a bank executive in Ketchikan with a passion for Alaska and a boater himself. He lives in the perfect place to see just about every boat coming by on the way north. Mike has been following Eliana’s Journal so he knew without doubt we would be stopping and was eager to welcome us to his home city. I liked having a local give us a walking tour, share some of the history and show us where the post office is. In fact, I think we should make a point to find someone like Mike everywhere we go.

Ketchikan, population 18,000.

Ketchikan has no flat ground. What isn't built out over the water goes up the side of the mountain.

Mike Youngblood. A boater himself poses beside his Mainship.

Petersburg, AK
Half the fun of Petersburg is getting there. I’ve heard all the forewarnings and harrowing tales of Wrangell Narrows. Yes, it is a technical stretch. I probably wouldn’t do it at night. Honestly, though, navigating through Wrangell Narrows is straightforward. I timed the two hour passage one hour before to one hour after slack tide. It was well marked and depths were EXACTLY as charted so there was no doubt or any surprises. Petersburg is strategically located at the north end of the narrows so we stopped in for a visit.

I’ve never been to Norway but I did go to high school in Powhattan, KS which had a strong, hard working group of families with Norwegian background in the community. What makes Petersburg stand out in SE Alaska is it’s Norwegian heritage. It’s called Alaska’s “Little Norway”. It only seems natural that these hearty Scandinavians would have come to a place so similar to their homeland doing they have done so well for centuries ... fish. Fish and seafood processing is the dominant theme of Petersburg. No cruise ships stop here. Nothing to see other than the real Alaskans working hard and proudly building their community. We enjoyed our visit and were treated well by the friendly people in Petersburg.

Wrangell Narrows. Click to enlarge.

Historic "Sons of Norway Hall" stands on pilings at the entrance to the saltwater inlet.

Downtown Petersburg AK, population 3, 080. Reminds me of my hometown, Hiawatha, KS.

That’s all for now. I will continue to place the “Track Eliana” link below, however coverage is spotty up here so we may not be visible for a few weeks now. Once back in civilization, it will work again.

Rick Heiniger
N7617 Eliana
Lying: Cosmos Cove, Baranof Island
Mileage: 6,092 Miles
Track Eliana

#50 British Columbia

Sat, 09 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Eliana is on the move. It brings to mind the age old, unanswerable question... Which is more important, the journey or the destination? We’re finding both in British Colombia. Before departing Sidney, my Dad (Wayne), his wife Florence and her sister Doris came aboard for the first few legs north. I am slowly realizing each step in the journey IS the destination. As sights and sounds unfold before us, we share them together. Just that once, never to be repeated again precisely in the same way.

As I write this, we are at anchor in Frypan Bay on Penrose Island just north of Cape Caution. No other boats in here. It's one of uncountable anchorages in thousands of miles of island and coastline. The beauty of British Colombia simply can’t be described. How is it possible that pine trees grow prolifically on vertical granite mountain walls? We’ve heard there is almost no topsoil, that the roots weave into rock crevices and lichen. The shape of the land hasn’t changed in thousands of years because it is solid rock. Abundant rain and sun support vegetation towering thousands of feet in the air. Towering waterfalls come seemingly from points higher than what we can see. On cloudy days, they cascade out of the clouds with the sound muted by trees and echoed by granite. Occasionally, a gravel slide will cause trees and all in it's path to pour into the ocean. Otherwise there is very little erosion, which makes for a naturally pristine ocean water.

I made a short, 2 minute video with highlights of the past few days. I put the link at the end.

Kwatsi Bay
Case in point is our last stop, Kwatsi Bay. We heard about Kwatsi from friends. It’s located just off Tribune Channel on the eastern side of the Broughton archipelago. The tiny bay is surrounded completely by 4,000‘ tall, nearly vertical granite. Words, even pictures don’t describe it.

Kwatsi Bay is blessed with a charming family who live there. Max and Anca have two children, Russell and Marieke. Since 1995 they have welcomed visitors to the bay with the warmest hospitality possible. There is some space to anchor, but they’ve constructed a float on logs in front of their home where a handful of boats can tie up. Through time they’ve added a small store and cabin. Max generates electricity with a water powered generator he built himself. Through necessity they are capably self-sufficient for all essentials. Port McNeal is two hours away by boat and otherwise their only neighbors are the bear, mink and otters.

Eliana resting in Kwatsi Bay. Click to enlarge.

Kwatsi Bay entrance.

Max and Anca's store.

Nearby waterfall. As we hiked to see it, Debbie was singing "Mares eat oats, does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy" at the top of her voice to ward off the bears. Ummm, none came.

The Cedar Tree
One evening, as a dockside potluck dinner was wrapping up, Jim Roby (a semi-permanent guest at Kwatsi Bay) offered to take us to a nearby place called Watson Cove to see if we could find the ‘The Tree’. It’s a cedar tree discovered back in the 1800’s that is estimated to be 3,700 years old. This tree would have been alive in Moses' time! It’s lived through millenia.

It was late in the evening and the sun was getting low. Jim knew where the tree was, but to be sure, we took Russell (Max and Anca’s son) to show us the way. We hiked through timber, logs, underbrush and bog to find it. Debbie carried her air horn in case of a bear.

The tree was magnificent. A giant among the tall trees surrounding it. The forest was thick and dark enough there was no way to actually see the top of the cedar up through the canopy. But the base left no doubt about the credibility of the claim. We won’t soon forget this tree and pray that 3,700 years is just the start!

Russell showing us the way to the tree. He grew up here and knows every square inch.

The Cedar Tree - 3,700 years old. Compare it to the 60 - 70 year old trees surrounding it. No point in taking a picture up. You can't see the top. Click to enlarge.

Pender Harbour (Fourth of July)
This year, since we were in Canada, we found ourselves celebrating Independence Day in conjunction with Canada Day. The celebration is nearly the same so we enjoyed the parades and fireworks of Canada Day. On the fourth, we found ourselves in Pender Harbour on the northern end of the Sechelt Peninsula. The weekend crowd had left so we had our own little party.

Fireworks I photographed from Eliana. This was on Canada Day, but for us it was our reminder of Independence Day. Notice there is a sailboat mast in this photo. Click to enlarge.

Eliana proudly flying Old Glory on the fourth.

Pender Harbour. A popular summer vacation spot for British Columbians.

Dad, Debbie, Florence and Doris at the Garden Bay Pub and Restaurant.

Underway Notes
So far we’ve found navigating the Inside Passage to be more technical than what we’ve seen in the past. The extreme tides and currents present a challenge, but it’s more a matter of good planning than anything else. We have witnessed two incidents which hold important lessons for all of us. A 45’ trawler entering the marina just behind us was swept into the breakwater rocks due to a 4 knot current across the entrance. Instead of establishing her approach from some distance out, she attempted to 'turn in' with the current on her stern. Later we saw a large yacht turned almost completely around in a swirling tidal eddy at the entrance of Seymour Narrows. No apparent damage there, but the danger was clearly marked on the chart.

The positive of cruising the Inside Passage is there is virtually no ocean swell or big waves (that we’ve seen yet). And if I haven’t emphasized it enough, the scenery along the way is so breathtaking. This must be some of the most beautiful cruising anywhere.

Sunrise on Malaspina Strait. The sun's light is broken by the jagged mountain peaks behind. Click to enlarge.

Dad and I.

Approaching Seymour Narrows.

Johnstone Strait.

Barge traffic is common through here.

Logging stations like this one were also common along the way.

As we snaked through the various passes, I turned the display to 3D beforehand to help visualize what we were going to see. It really did help given this was our first time through.

Shoptalk
Another lesson learned.... Yesterday, as we were underway the hydraulic oil temperature started rising. As we came to the anchorage and started the windlass, the temp alarm went off. We barely got the anchor set when it all shut off that quick. Starting at the cooling water intake, I verified there was ample sea water flow to the hydraulic driven Jabsco cooling pump. I opened the pump and looked at the impeller which appeared to be OK at first glance. Hmmm, what else could it be? I decided to replace the impeller anyway. After removing it, I found the impeller HAD actually failed and was no longer pumping. The fins had worn nearly through at the midpoint making them unable to hold any pressure. A new impeller immediately solved the problem.

Looking at the maintenance log, I had performed an annual inspection about 6 months ago and remember removing the cover, looking at the side and declaring it in good shape. Here are three lessons:

1. Inspecting an impeller means REMOVING the impeller completely to inspect it. Simply taking off the cover doesn’t guarantee all is well.
2. The blue Globe impellers I use don’t come apart like the black rubber ones do which is good because you don’t have to go searching for rubber bits clogging up the heat exchanger, but just because the impeller looks intact doesn’t mean it isn’t worn out.
3. Now that I know the wear cycle, I have replaced the word “Inspect” with “Replace” on the annual maintenance instruction.

The worn out impeller. All the lobes are still on, but each one is worn to the point it had no spring left to pump.

That’s all for now dear readers. Please visit our website with comments and questions by clicking on the link below. I appreciate the many encouraging comments we receive and if you have a question, I’ll do my best to get it answered promptly right in the same comments section.

Also, be sure to view my video: Sights and Sounds of British Columbia - July 5 - 8, 2011.

Rick Heiniger
N7617 Eliana
Lying: Frypan Bay
Total Mileage: 5,580 Miles
Track Eliana

#49 Victoria

Wed, 29 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Ahhh Victoria ... not just the provincial capital of British Colombia. This is one of the most captivating sea ports in the world. The “City of Gardens” is quaint, utterly beautiful and chock full of old-world charm. Victoria’s namesake was the great Queen Victoria. The stamp of Victorian England is indelible. But stuffy? Anything but. Victoria is a melting pot of nationalities of all ages. The city is interesting and vibrantly alive.

Founded in 1843 as the old Hudson Bay fort, downtown Victoria was built around the inner harbor, literally surrounding it. It’s a cauldron of commercial activity during the day. Ferries, sea planes, cruise ships, water taxis, sight seeing, whale watching, etc. etc. It’s probably not the best place for a private, home-like boat like Eliana to be moored permanently. But Eliana isn’t anywhere permanently, so for a few perfect days it was fun to be right in the middle of it all.

We were berthed on Ship Point Wharf directly in front of The Empress Hotel and Parliament. Adding to our enjoyment, we had guests come aboard in Victoria. Donna and Jennifer Boos traveled from home to share time with us. And as outings were often described in the Fairview (KS) Enterprise ... “And a good time was had by all!”

Eliana on Ship Point Wharf. Parliament nearby. Click to enlarge.

"The Empress" graces the inner harbor with a stately presence.

High Tea in the afternoon in The Empress' famous tearoom. Another check on the bucket list.

World's cutest water taxi's. Reminds me of the London taxi.

Rogers' Chocolates started in this store in Victoria and made famous by the delicious Victoria Creams. Yes, I bought several. OK, a lot.

Every boater should visit the BC Maritime Museum. It's in the original Victoria City Hall.

The Royal British Colombia Museum is the perfect place to begin a summer in BC. It covers science, history and culture. We also took in the IMAX theater housed within the museum.

La Loupiote
The day after our arrival in Victoria, a yellow sailboat, La Loupiote, tied up next to us. I didn’t recognize it at first, but slowly my memory began to connect. A woman with a heavy French accent emerged producing a small piece of paper. It explained in English that she and her husband perform a circus act right on their sailboat. She stated that they use the mast for the aerial portion. OK ... this does ring a bell. Yes, this is the couple, this is the boat we saw in Puerto Vallarta last winter. Hailing from France, the man (Franck) and his wife (Delphine) were very charming and had two young daughters living on board. We saw them in PV and had every intention of seeing their act, but it never worked out. Life is full of coincidences, but we all realized simultaneously that somehow after 5 months and a few thousand miles (them via Hawaii), we were tied 10 feet from each other and once again given the opportunity to see their show, only this time in Victoria’s inner harbor.

Despite the unusually cold temperatures, their shows went on and they dazzled the crowd with two performances. The first was a very funny comedy and the other a poetic love story. All the acting, dancing and acrobatics were done to music, but without words. Obviously they were well practiced and required incredible strength and skill.

I was impressed at the thought of this couple sailing around the world in a home-made sail boat funding the entire project with free-will proceeds from their circus act. To meet them and their girls, you can visit their website. If you ever get close to where they are, please see them. It really is phenomenal.

"La Loupiote" It's the stage and set as well as home and transportation. On show day they advertise by displaying a simple black and white sign "Two Circus Shows".

Franck and Delphine performed well-told stories to music, but without words. Click to enlarge.

One story was serious, the other a comedy called "Navigators" poking fun at how couples sometimes work together on a boat ... or not.

Butchart Gardens
Oh, yes everybody knows about Butchart Gardens. I did. Or at least I thought I did until I actually went. In 1904 Jennie Butchart decided the limestone quarries used by her husband’s Portland Cement company needed some beautification. Over 100 years later the result is 55 acres of jaw dropping beauty amidst the remains of a cement plant. These photos are just a sampling. You'll want to enlarge them but it's hard to describe the gardens with photos alone. Even with other people around there is a sense of peace and tranquility. As you stroll along, the smells, sounds and sights are breathtaking.

Blue Poppy Restaurant surrounded by beautiful gardens. There isn't a bad view in the house!

The Rose Garden.

The Sunken Garden

The Bog Garden

Craigdarroch Castle.
One neat tour in Victoria is the Craigdarroch Castle. Completed in 1890, Craigdarroch was built by Robert Dunsmuir who was a coal baron who’s business began on Vancouver Island. The interesting thing about Craigdarroch is that it epitomized the Victorian style of the day. It was only a home for a short time until Joan Dunsmuir died. After that it has been used a number of ways including as a military hospital during World War I, and later became Victoria College serving over 5,000 students from 1921 to 1946. Returning servicemen swelled enrollment to over 600 students. It’s just not that big, so the college was moved. Today it’s being restored accurately to the original Victorian style the Dunsmuir's intended. Here are three photos. These are also larger photos so you can click them to enlarge.

That’s all for now. We are now beginning our northwest trek toward Alaska over the next few weeks. I encourage you to visit our website where you can post a comment or question. Thank you for reading Eliana’s Journal.

Rick Heiniger
N7617 Eliana
Lying: Sidney, BC
Mileage: 5,267 Miles
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#48 Ballard Locks

Sat, 18 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT

The discussion began innocently enough. It had to do with how much fuel we might require on the way up and back from Glacier Bay. We can purchase fuel along the way, but hear the prices can be high. A tank check using pre-calibrated fluid pressure on each tank indicates we’ve got 1,935 gallons on board. Based on past fuel consumption records, and with 15% reserve that’s enough for about 1,480 miles. Enough maybe, but as busy as we keep Eliana the fuel doesn't get stale so why not purchase some peace of mind now, especially if we can find a good price somewhere around Seattle. There are enough other things to think about this trip so the decision was made to add 2,000 gallons.

We don’t purchase fuel often, so when we do it’s usually for enough quantity to be diligent on the price. The Puget Sound is a good place to shop. There are several excellent, high volume docks in the area but the best price I could find was Covich-Williams. One reason may be because they are located in Seattle’s Ship Canal beyond the Chittenden Locks. This would require taking Eliana through the locks in and out. Was it worth a few extra cents per gallon? Herein lies the story....

Now the fuel discussion has evolved to be completely about locks. As Debbie often says, our learning seems to come in layers. Each new experience weaves in with already acquired skills creating yet another layer of capability. For one thing we will likely transit the Panama canal next year. Wouldn’t it be a good idea to get some lab time in a real life setting beforehand?!

Still, we decided our first time through would go better if we had someone along that knew the system. Don Kohlmann at Nordhavn's northwest office graciously offered to help. That's like hitting the jackpot. Balancing our relative inexperience is Don's immense competence coupled with a quiet, confident manner that puts one at ease. Needless to say we were extremely grateful for his presence.

The Ship Canal and Locks
Seattle’s ship canal is a busy place. It’s a deep fresh water channel serving Lakes Union and Washington. But it’s also home to dozens of ship yards and businesses that serve the maritime industry throughout the Pacific Northwest to BC and Alaska. Some of the best talent in the business is right here. Very impressive.

To get into the canal, you must pass from sea to canal level through one of two locks. Completed in 1917, the Chittenden Locks are locally referred to simply as “Ballard Locks” after the community bordering on the north. Designed similarly and second in size to the Panama canal, the locks maintain canal level approximately 20 - 22 feet above sea level and also serve to separate salt water from fresh water. Salmon migrate via a fish ladder feature built into the dam. All of this is interesting enough that the Ballard Locks are one of Seattle’s top tourist attractions attracting more than one million visitors a year. The Corp of Engineers have incorporated a park like atmosphere into the complex including salmon viewing and botanical gardens.

Step By Step
There are two locks, one small and one large. The small one utilizes floating bulkheads and is faster. The large one can transit large vessels, or many smaller boats simultaneously but is slower and requires careful line handling during the transition. Our hope was that we could take one on the way in and the other on the way out. Fortunately, our wish came true and we got to do both. Don was kind enough to take some pictures for us since we were too busy to pick up a camera and otherwise wouldn’t have had anything to show you. I’ve placed the following narrated photos in chronological order going in, and then coming back out.

Entering from Salmon Bay, we're looking beyond the railway bridge to the small signal lights. You can barely see them in this photo, but they are red so we hovered downstream of the bridge. Finally, we got the green light.

Once past the railway bridge we got a clear view of the open lock. This is the small one which has ample room for Eliana. To the right is the river overflow and fish ladder. With this much water coming over, there is a considerable current passing our starboard hand as we enter the lock.

We approached slowly keeping Eliana's center-line aligned with the center of the lock.

The wing wall shields us from the current making handling more predictable.

For a brief moment I thought we should recheck dimensions to make sure things fit.

As we approach our lift position, Debbie already has fenders set and readies her line to place on the bulkhead bollard. Lock personnel are up top ready to help.

I moved outside to get a better view of our port side fenders. After coming to a complete stop and once securely tied, the only job for me was to keep the fenders slightly off the bulkhead using the thrusters.

Debbie secures the stern breast line while Don takes care of the bow. The gates close behind us and the lock fills.

Nearing canal level.

View off the starboard beam. Water is misted over the fish ladder to keep birds from preying on the vulnerable fish.

Once in the canal, we see "The Wizard" from Deadliest Catch off to the side.

Approaching the fuel dock shared by another commercial crabbing boat.

We salute "Lugger" as we pass in the canal. We love our Lugger wing engine.

Floating homes reminiscent of the movie "Sleepless In Seattle".

Waiting for lock instructions to exit the canal. Ultimately we were assigned #2 in line going into the big lock behind "North American". We were to be tied to the wall, then have a work boat rafted on our port rail. A flock of other boats came in behind.

Tie up on the big lock is different. The bollards are fixed on top. Therefore we have to gradually let out line fore and aft as the boat is lowered to avoid getting hung up. That means the big lock is definitely a three person job. The wall position is interesting due to the park like atmosphere. Onlookers are only a few feet away and wanted to visit. "How in the world did you get here from Kansas City?" It was an odd feeling to have our work day being observed and photographed!

Debbie's got the stern line ready. Other boats tying up behind us are also inside the lock getting ready to be lowered.

So the locks are an engineering marvel and a festival of onlookers. We were treated professionally by the lock personnel and amazed at how routine the movement of traffic is. At least we now have a concept of the process and I'm certain we'll be able to do locks whenever we need to. There is a first time for everything.

That's all for now. Thank you for following Eliana's Journal. You may go directly to our website (link below) for adding comments or posting questions which I will try to answer if I can. Feel free to pass along the link to someone else you think may be interested. They can sign up by entering their email address in the registration box of our home page. All the best to you and yours.

Rick Heiniger
N7617 Eliana
Lying: Ship Point Wharf, Victoria, BC Canada
Total Mileage: 5,240 Miles
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#47 Roche Harbor

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Pardon me while I reach back when we were dreaming about migrant life on a boat; what it might be like, highs and lows, possible show stoppers, etc. So many things we couldn't foretell, but one thing sure and certain was that we must keep our family connection. Home may be where you are, but it is also who you are. We agreed to visit our family every 6 - 8 weeks regardless, even if only for a few days. It’s been an adjustment, but we’re learning to focus on quality time occasionally rather than a daily routine we sometimes took for granted. And on the rare occasion, we dream of our family coming to visit us on Eliana. By coming to us, our grandchildren hopefully understand and relate to the other aspect of their grandparent’s lives not unlike having children go to work with their parents for a day.

Janelle and Nathan hadn’t an opportunity to come aboard Eliana as a finished boat until this past week. They were both able to get a week vacation and school's out for Anna and Elisa. This is the week we had dreamed of. Eliana was named after our eldest granddaughters and this would be their first functioning visit aboard.

The DeCaro family made themselves right at home which pleased Debbie to no end. A small amount of TV time was spent alternating between ‘Scooby Doo’ and the chapter story ‘Anne of Green Gables’. The girls like to play games. Anna loves Parcheesi and would play it endlessly if she could. Elisa does pretty well at Memory. They both like playing dolls. Anyone that doesn’t look busy WILL get roped into their activity. Surprisingly, though, the girls slept more than usual even ASKING for naps. By the way, that’s a good thing! They slept together in the port bedroom. We placed a folding two-step ladder alongside the foot of the bed so they could get in and out without breaking something. Neither had ever taken a shower before so in a week full of firsts, the girls overcame their skepticism and cautiously stepped in. Both came out wet headed and giddy. Yep, another good thing...

She's pretty good at it, too. I still think she moves the cards around when I'm not looking.

Steps made it easy for the girls to get in and out of bed.

Getting Ready
Day one was spent getting ready for the trip to Roche Harbor ... mostly food. Nathan is a truly gifted chef (not just a proud parent's opinion) and we knew he would be at home in Debbie’s galley. We decided to let him shop Pike Place Market in Seattle for ingredients for the week. Prices are a touch on the high side, but the selection and quality was unquestionable. The meats, fish and produce were out of this world. Of course, the place was a madhouse as is downtown Seattle anytime, but the girls were good sports. Their highlight was to pick out flowers for the week.

A madhouse, but incredible one-stop shopping.

Endless variety of quality fruits and vegetables.

Whole fish is much cheaper. They filet and package for free.

Anna loves flowers so the girls got to pick some out for the week.

Roche Harbor
The short trip from Seattle to Roche Harbor was uneventful. These waters are incredible to cruise. Smooth as silk even in a brisk wind. Timed right, we were able to catch the current like a conveyer belt. Upon arrival we noticed another Nordhavn at anchor in the harbor. Soon smiles and waves were coming our way and we knew immediately it was Daniel and Sharona Feller, good friends we hadn’t seen in awhile. Not long after tying to G-dock, they came calling in their skiff and warmly welcomed us with abundant local knowledge and good wishes. While we normally would prefer to anchor out, being docked allowed the kids to walk ashore any time they wanted to. We off loaded Sweet Charlotte and the two kayaks so there was plenty of transportation.

Roche Harbor is a sheltered harbor on the northwest side of San Juan Island situated along Haro Strait and the Canada - US border. It’s incidentally a port of entry with a Customs office right on the dock. Once a company town involved in limestone mining, the site has become a popular family resort. Although busy, I wouldn’t call it touristy and definitely not crowded. It’s not that easy to get to. Your options are private boat or airplane, float plane service, or ferry to Friday Harbor on the other side of the island and come across by bus or car. That’s it.

While getting to Roche Harbor might be a challenge, a more idyllic, wholesome place for a family vacation would be hard to imagine. Swimming, hiking, good food, art, gardens behind white picket fences and history everywhere. Chapel bells ring through the village morning and afternoon coupled with the famous colors ceremony each evening at sundown performed by the Roche Harbor honor guard. When Anna first went ashore and looked around she said "Is this for real?". Interesting comment from a 5 year old. That made me think that yesterday's reality may have arguably been more real than the artificial pressure of today's marketing, suburban sprawl and abstract social agendas.

The story of Roche Harbor began more than 200 years ago, in 1787, when Captain de Haro and his crew became the first Europeans to actually sail among the forested San Juan Islands. A hundred years later, in 1886, John McMillin transformed the sleepy Hudson Bay camp into a full-fledged lime works and company town with a population of more than 800 residents. Seven decades later, the Tarte Family restored the buildings to function and cleared the way for Roche Harbor’s transformation. Since then, the resort has returned to its community-centered roots with the reestablishment of neighborhoods and a village center. Still, the McMillin era is apparent and interwoven thoroughly into Roche Harbor. A short hike into the woods reveals the McMillin mausoleum where the ash remains of the family are buried.

Eliana on G-dock.

Roche Harbor village.

DeCaro family and Debbie in front of the original De Haro Hotel.

A real town and still has a post office. It's only a cubby, but gets the job done.

The girls looking for art they like.

Original McMillin era cottages have been restored for people to stay in.

Sweet Charlotte was a perfect taxi to the swimming pool dock.

A short hike to the McMillin mausoleum. Very neat. Click to enlarge.

Colors ceremony at sunset.

Life's grand when Nathan is cooking. We ate well all week long.

Life's also grand when Mimi's girls are here.

Our next stop will be in Victoria, BC for a short stay, and then we’ve decided to make a run for Alaska this summer. Stay tuned.

With great appreciation to our dear readers, we wish you and yours the very best.

Rick Heiniger
N7617 Eliana
Lying: Seattle, Washington
Total Mileage: 5,153 Miles
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