{"id":12200,"date":"2018-07-09T09:23:20","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T15:23:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/macblaze.ca\/?p=12200"},"modified":"2018-07-09T09:23:22","modified_gmt":"2018-07-09T15:23:22","slug":"spring-2018-round-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/macblaze.ca\/?p=12200","title":{"rendered":"Spring 2018 Round Up"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/d\/embed?mid=1CCc-O0J7yp9imoIDI9AipZPOLsTxGU2Q\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Well our spring 2018 cruise is done. We went a bit later this year due to time commitments but since we were headed north to the Broughtons it was still a pretty uncrowded affair. We only had three and a half weeks, but we were determined to make the sojourn north again. In retrospect it was a bit rushed (especially as we had a timetable involving picking my brother up in Port McNeill) and I am not sure I would do it again with that little\u00a0 time \u2014 then again I am such a fan of the Broughtons I probably would. It just a different kind of cruising than we&#8217;ve become used to.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/neverforever.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/IMG_3316.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1992\" src=\"http:\/\/neverforever.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/IMG_3316-450x338.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"450\" height=\"338\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Day 1: 24.5 nm (Lasqueti Island&#42;)<br \/>\nDay 2:\u00a0 58.5 nm (Gowlland Harbour&#42;)<br \/>\nDay 3 : 27.5 nm (Blind Channel)<br \/>\nDay 4: 38.25 nm (Port Harvey)<br \/>\nDay 5: 23.5 nm (Mound Island&#42;)<br \/>\nDay 6: 0 nm (Mound Island&#42;)<br \/>\nDay 7: 6.25 nm (Spout Island&#42;)<br \/>\nDay 8: 14 nm (Port McNeill)<br \/>\nDay 9: 0 nm (Alert Bay)<br \/>\nDay 10: 26.25 nm\u00a0 (Echo Bay)<br \/>\nDay 11: 15.5 nm (Kwatsi Bay)<br \/>\nDay 12: 25.5 nm (Lagoon Cove)<br \/>\nDay 13: 15 nm (Goat Island&#42;)<br \/>\nDay 14: 0 nm (Goat Island&#42;)<br \/>\nDay 15: 21 nm (Port McNeill)<br \/>\nDay 16: 35 nm (Port Harvey)<br \/>\nDay 17: 42.5 nm (Shoal Bay&#42;)<br \/>\nDay 18: 26 nm (Von Donop)<br \/>\nDay 19: 0 nm (Von Donop)<br \/>\nDay 20: 43 nm (Van Anda)<br \/>\nDay 21: 28 nm (Secret Cove)<br \/>\nDay 22: 24 nm (Nanaimo Harbour)<br \/>\nDay 23: 1.5 nm (Stones Marina)<br \/>\nDay 25: 0 nm (Stones Marina)<br \/>\nDay 26: 0 nm (Stones Marina)<br \/>\nDay 27: 0 nm (Off the boat)<\/p>\n<p>Total nautical miles travelled: 495.75 nm (918.12 km)<br \/>\nTime travelling: 92 hrs 50 minutes<br \/>\nNew places visited (see asterisks): 6<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/neverforever.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/DSCN2438.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1994\" src=\"http:\/\/neverforever.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/DSCN2438-450x338.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"450\" height=\"338\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>As you can see we only spent more than one night at an anchorage on 3 occasions \u2014 quite the contrast to <a href=\"https:\/\/neverforever.ca\/2017\/06\/spring-2017-roundup\/\">last year<\/a> where only twice did we not stay more than one night.<\/p>\n<h4>Wildlife spotted<\/h4>\n<p>Humpback whales: 12<br \/>\nPacific White-sided Dolphins: ~100<br \/>\nDeer: 2<br \/>\nSea cucumbers:\u00a0 a bunch and 2 different species<br \/>\nBald Eagles: uncountable<br \/>\nBarn swallows: a passel<br \/>\nPurple Martins: some?<br \/>\nSlugs: multiple!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Spotted for the First Time<\/strong><br \/>\nMink: 3<br \/>\nDall&#8217;s Porpoises: ~5<br \/>\nMinke whales: 2<br \/>\nSea urchins: tons, both green &amp; red<br \/>\nChitons: various<br \/>\nViolet Green Swallows: 4 or 5<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/neverforever.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/DSCN2475.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1995\" src=\"http:\/\/neverforever.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/DSCN2475-450x338.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"450\" height=\"338\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h4>Boat Troubles<\/h4>\n<p>This years trip featured more than our usual share of boat-related issues.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Electrical weirdness \u2014 We raised the sails almost immediate after leaving Nanaimo Harbour b and a few hours later the chartplotter was so dim it was almost unreadable. After we started the engine if brightened back up again. This continued throughout the whole trip. I checked all the connections but didn&#8217;t find a solution. (After we returned to dock and properly cleaned all the battery terminals the problem seemed to clear up.)<\/li>\n<li>Webasto heater\u2014 it ran just fine the\u00a0 first few times we used it but on the morning it hit 11\u00b0 C, we just couldn&#8217;t get it to fire. It gave us a 3 blink error code for the first half dozen attempts but then it became a 6 blink. After we had access to the web again I discovered that 3 blinks was a low\/high voltage error (see point above) and that 6 was a Temperature Sensor Interrupt (which necessitated ordering a new part).<\/li>\n<li>Jib Furling \u2014 after sailing downwind in 30+ knots, when I rolled the jib in it didn&#8217;t wrap around the stay properly and left a little flap of sail that caught the wind. After entering Discovery Passage the winds picked up, caught the flap and started unfurling my sail. This became so bad we had to turn back into the wind and unfurl it and wrestle the sail back in again. What seemed like a straightforward procedure took about half an hour and had me on the foredeck getting pummelled by the jib sheets.<\/li>\n<li>Main burner thermocouple \u2014 the main burner started cutting out halfway through the morning hot water boiling procedure (much to the dismay of the caffeine starved crew). I cleaned the thermo couple and dismantled the burner to give it a scrub but it was all to no avail. So for the rest of the trip we had to rely on the two small burners which meant cooking was a very time consuming affair. I opted not to have the new thermo couple shipped to me and that turned out to be a good thing because getting the old one out eventually necessitated drilling out old screws and retapping the holes.<\/li>\n<li>Lost oar \u2014 we lost the bottom part of one of the oars somewhere on Johnstone Straight. It was odd because the conditions weren&#8217;t half a s rough as they had been on days previously. I called a head to Port Mc Neill to see if they could order me a new oar and they said they would try. But upon arrival it turns out that oars are such a specialized thing that they couldn&#8217;t find one that would fit. So we bought a paddle as a backup and resigned ourselves to more motoring that we usually do.<\/li>\n<li>Overturned dinghy \u2014 after surviving the 25+ knot winds in Knight iInlet we breathed a sigh of relief and turned up Clio Channel. Unfortunately the winds funnel down Clio even more and soon were gusting in the mid 30s. When they hit 39 knots the dingy became air born and then flipped and landed upside down. I managed to pull it in and right it but our new paddle, the seat and the fuel tank were gone. A few MOB turns later we had recovered the seat and the fuel tank but the paddle was gone.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/neverforever.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/IMG_3797.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1997\" src=\"http:\/\/neverforever.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/IMG_3797-450x338.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"450\" height=\"338\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h4>Brotherly Love<\/h4>\n<p>As I mentioned my brother joined us for a week (Port McNeill &#8211;&gt; Broughtons &#8211;&gt; Port McNeill). North Island Marina let us use their van to pick him up and drop him off at the Port Hardy Airport which is a great service. He hadn&#8217;t been on the water since he was a kid so if was a new experience for him. I asked early in the trip if he wanted to be crew or passenger and he opted for passenger. Still he managed to\u00a0 spend his share for time at the helm and was a great help.<\/p>\n<p>We saw tons of wildlife, hit the high spots of the Broughtons and generally had a great adventure.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/neverforever.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/IMG_3582.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1996\" src=\"http:\/\/neverforever.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/IMG_3582-450x338.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"450\" height=\"338\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h4>In Conclusion<\/h4>\n<p>It was a great trip and over much too soon. We managed to meet up with some old friends, connect with some internet acquaintances and make some new friends as well. And we are still eager to do it all over again.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/neverforever.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/IMG_3388.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1993\" src=\"http:\/\/neverforever.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/IMG_3388-450x338.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"450\" height=\"338\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>We managed to get back to a few spots we wanted to see again (including Alert Bay) and were blessed once again with a whole pod of dolphins traveling with us for a few miles. The only thing missing was some orca, but given that we saw a mother and calf pair of humpbacks I think we can let that slide.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><div id=\"attachment_1988\" style=\"width: 460px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/neverforever.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/map.jpg\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1988\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-1988 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/neverforever.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/map-450x322.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"450\" height=\"322\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1988\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A static version of the map for posterity.<\/p><\/div><br \/>\n\u2014Bruce #Cruising<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/d\/embed?mid=1CCc-O0J7yp9imoIDI9AipZPOLsTxGU2Q\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Well our spring 2018 cruise is done. We went a bit later this year due to time commitments but since we were headed north to the Broughtons it was still a pretty uncrowded affair. We only had three and a half weeks, but we were determined to make the sojourn north again. In retrospect it was a bit rushed (especially as we had a timetable involving picking my brother up in Port McNeill) and I am not sure I would do it again with that little\u00a0 time \u2014 then again I am such a fan of the Broughtons I probably would. It just a different kind of cruising than we&#8217;ve become used to.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/neverforever.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/IMG_3316.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1992\" src=\"http:\/\/neverforever.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/IMG_3316-450x338.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"450\" height=\"338\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Day 1: 24.5 nm (Lasqueti Island&#42;)<br \/>\nDay 2:\u00a0 58.5<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12199,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/macblaze.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/image-.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/macblaze.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12200"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/macblaze.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/macblaze.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/macblaze.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/macblaze.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/macblaze.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12200\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/macblaze.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/macblaze.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/macblaze.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/macblaze.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}