Alaska
Vancouver CAN to Seattle WA, USA - August 20th 2010
Still with Peter & Sal, we arrive at Coal Harbor Marina right in the Downtown of Vancouver City.
The O’Briens are leaving us here to catch up with a long lost Canadian cousin and see some more of Canada before heading home to Coff’s in Australia.
This marina is probably the best we have been in ever, mainly for proximity to everything. On the edge of famous Stanley Park, next to the brand new Convention Centre, 500 m to a top supermarket, and downtown shopping two blocks away.
Coal Harbour Marina, Vancouver, Canada. Image source: Marinas.com
We were very impressed with what looks like an extremely liveable city.
We were here for 5 days to have a look around and relax with some retail therapy and fine dining, before heading south to Anacortes to fill up what is believed to be the cheapest fuel on the US west coast. Then of course we have to run the gauntlet with the aggressive Officer Roberts from Customs, and no, he hasn’t mellowed with time, and is still letting down a team that have just been fantastic all through Alaska.
OR (Officer Roberts): “Your permit has expired”
Me: “But it is for 12 months and still 8 months to go”
OR: “Aha, but you have been in Canada so cough up another $24“
Me: “OK, here’s my Master card”
OR: “We only take cash”
Me: “Here’s $30 in cash (nothing smaller), buy yourself a beer with the change”
OR: “Can’t do that you must go into the town and get the right money from a shop”
Now he was only doing his job by the book, but must have gone missed out in his training about PR as I found the Alaskan Custom officers treated you with so much consideration and friendliness.
After one night overstay in Anacortes, and filling our tanks with 60c a litre diesel (half of the Aussie price) Marg and I set off for Elliott Bay Marina in Seattle where we would then fly home, and attend to some business obligations, grandkid cuddles, and of course patting Elliott the wonder dog.
The trip down allowed me to experience another milestone in my short voyaging experience - Fog.
Now I mean real pea super fog with visibility about one boats length at times. With both radars whirring away, AIS on, and my recently installed “Fogmate” which automatically sounds my horn every 2 minutes, we stuck to the controlled and seperated shipping lane in Juan de Fuca Strait, and under the watchful eye of VTS Seattle Traffic who had us under surveillance through our AIS (Automatic Identification System), and communicating with us all the way alerting us to any other traffic, and all the way down Puget Sound to our destination at Elliott Bay Marina in Seattle. VTS is just like what aircraft controllers do.
Coming back to Seattle was so familiar now and to see Larry & Lyn Schildwachter from Emerald Harbor Marine who did lots of work for us before we left, and Don Kohlmann from the Nordhavn sales office who has been so friendly and obliging.
Don was going to keep an eye out for SKIE while we were away home in Oz for 6 weeks.
Don also took us to see a Nordhavn 76 that was on the market, and arranged for us to inspect another N76 in San Diego as we were flying home via LA. More to tell about looking at a larger boat at another time.
I returned to Seattle 6 weeks later to start preparing SKIE for the trip down to Mexico and across the Pacific to home next March (2011).
One thing I wanted installed was a KVH antenna with Fleet broadband so that I could get data and e-mail via satellite for the Pacific crossing.
Also to get Hatton Marine owner Craig Hatton to come on board and gave my three engines, John Deere main, Lugger wing, and Northern Lights generator a serious inspection.
He replaced a leaking coolant gasket at the turbo (not serious as it only happens at WOT – i.e. wide open throttle) and he recommended that all hoses on the John Deere main engine should be replaced, not because problems could be seen, but the fact they have been on the engine since new, and an inexpensive insurance policy. This is called preventative maintenance.
All work was carried out by Craig himself in spite of employing 30 mechanics, and for this I was blessed with his wide experience, and such a nice man into the bargain.
He suggested that I should take on only three spares for the main, a starter battery alternator, a starter motor slave solenoid, and spare transmission hydraulic hoses.
What surprised me was that he claimed thousands of tractors and trucks have my engine and every bug has been ironed out long before, and said the main Leece Neville alternator for charging the house batteries has been used in millions of trucks for years, and was pretty bomb proof, but on the other hand, the 2nd smaller one for charging the starter motor batteries was lacking some robustness.
My preparation for the crossing is an evolving issue and will be amplified much more closer to the date next March.
People say that if you put a spare on board you will never need it. The one you don't have will be the one that's needed. Now this spares thing can get quite out of hand and lead to some paranoia if you don't keep a grip on things.
We have 16 days crossing to the Marquesas in French Polynesia where we can't get any support, but after that spares can be found easily if the place we are at has an airstrip.
Barb from Hatton Marine in Seattle is regarded as a guru for getting spares to you wherever.
Crossing the Pacific is childs play compared to risks in driving my car down the mountain from where I live out of Melbourne, so nil anxiety exists whatsoever for me, and I only mention it as so many outsiders ask about it as a possible concern, that's after piracy of course.
Anything that disables the boat will not be an issue until water and food runs out, and being the owner I'm last cab off the rank when we have to eat each other.