Our long trip during the summer of 2018 was up to the Gulf Islands and to Victoria for the Wooden Boat Festival.  We don’t seem to have lots of photos, but we will at least include the route images.

24 August 2018: Ewing St Moorings to Port Townsend Anchorage

Our friends Peggy and Randy had flown in the night before.  While we were waiting for Paul and Erica, the 4 of us got the boat ready to go.  We were off the dock within minutes of Paul and Erica’s arrival.

The first day, we headed up to Port Townsend to our usual anchorage.  We left at about 1140, went through the small locks without any other boats, and were out the other side in an hour.  The current was right to go through the PT Canal, and we anchored off Haven.

We had good wildlife sightings: common murres. rhinoceros auklets, red-necked phalaropes, harbor seals and porpoises, and guillemots.

25 August 2018: Port Townsend Anchorage to Sidney Spit

We got up early to try to avoid rough weather on the Strait of Juan de Fuca.  Unfortunately, there were lots of waves.  We ended up tacking a bit to minimize the unpleasantness for our guests.  We cleared customs at Oak Harbor.  It was okay coming in, but pretty tight backing up to get off the dock.  The kids on the dock were very pleasant and helpful.  From Oak Harbor, we went up to Sidney Spit, and anchored at the usual spot.  Three orcas were swimming around the harbor at Sidney Spit–it was quite a site!  Paul, Erica, Randy, and Peggy went ashore and hiked.

26 August 2018: Sidney Spit to Maple Bay

We left Sidney Spit at mid-morning, and headed to Maple Bay.  It was attractive on the charts, but wasn’t too interesting of an anchorage.  We took the GFB to each of the marinas to find out if there was fishing access to a local lake, but it turned out to be inaccessible.

27 August 2018: Maple Bay to Montague Harbor

Our next stop was Montague Harbor.  We had stayed there years ago on the Guillemot, and remembered that it was an attractive location.  We anchored in the eastern part (see pink spot right inside the point); there were lots of boats closer to shore.

28 Aug 2018: Anchored in Montague Harbor

Erica and I (Nancy) went kayaking.  We saw river otters, black oystercatchers, and guillemots.  Peter, Paul, Randy, and Peggy went out fishing and shrimping.

Fish count: 2

Shrimp count: 10

29 Aug 2018: Montague Harbor to Cadboro Bay

We got underway fairly early, stopping briefly in Tsehum Harbor, and ending up in Cadboro Bay.  The wind was really gusty; boats were dancing around their anchor chains.  Other boats that we recognized at Cadboro (either in the harbor or at the marina) were Patamar, Thelonius, Deerleap, Sue Ellen, and Zanzibar.

Peter and Paul tried their hand at crabbing without any luck. Lots of rock crabs and female Dungeness

30 August 2018: Cadboro Harbor to Victoria Harbor

We wanted to arrive at Victoria not too early and not too late.  The festival harbormaster doesn’t start docking ships until noon, so if you arrive early, you end jockeying around all the other boats in the harbor.  We ended up going right in.  Port side tie out on Ship Point Wharf.  One of the nicest things about going to Victoria is that you are docked in the inner harbor, at the foot of the Empress Hotel  There’s a blues festival that weekend, and you have front row seats for all the goings on.  The blue blob on the chart below is where we were docked.

Serene I (one) ended up rafted to us, and David B was across the dock from us.  Randy and Peggy rented a car and headed up the west side of Vancouver Island for a little siughtseeing..  We had fun touring some of the boats, especially the MV Betty Mc, a crawfishing boat that had come all the way from from Australia.  The owners, Rodger and Ali, are cruising the world in this great practical boat.

Here are some photos from Victoria.

A few days after we returned to Seattle, we saw Rodger and Ali heading down the Ship Canal.  We ended up getting together with them for dinner on the Gyrfalcon, and had a great time.

3 Sep 2018: Victoria Harbor to Port Townsend Anchorage

We left Victoria Harbor at the break of dawn–we needed to get through US Customs while the Coho (ferry from Pt Angeles to Victoria) was at Victoria; otherwise the customs agents are busy with the ferry passengers and not open for other boats.

The crossing of Juan de Fuca was again a bit rough, but not as bad as the way out.  After customs, we headed over to the east side of Protection Island where we saw lots of wildlife:  the usual seals, gulls, guillemots, and red-necked grebes, but also harlequin ducks and large numbers of eagles on the hill and on the beach.  After drifting around Protection Island, we headed down to the usual Port Townsend Anchorage.  All of us went to shore and wandered around town a bit.  We headed back to the boat, and got ready for the last leg of our voyage.

4 Sept 2018: Port Townsend to Ewing Street Moorings

We left early and headed around Midchannel Bank (north of Marrowstone and Indian Islands) due to the current in the Port Townsend Canal.  There was lots of navy vessel activity:  we saw a YTB (yard tug big) and a YT (yard tug), the Amelia Earhart.

It was a bit confusing in the large locks.  When we came into the locks, we assumed starboard tie, but it was port side.  There were lots of little boats heading in ahead of the large boats which made locking through a bit confusing.

We were back at our home dock at 1409.  We spent the evening relaxing; another Gyrfalcon adventure ended.