We sure made our plans in the sand at low tide this Memorial Day weekend! We thought we'd head to Tumbo, but our time of departure and wind against kept us from making good enough time to make Bedwell Harbor in time for Customs, that closes there at 5pm. Our chartplotter had us getting there at 5:45. So we turned off and spent a lovely late afternoon at Prevost Harbor. Few anchor near the County Dock, but the holding is great, there are no real hazards, and you are nearer to the lighthouse. We stayed there and hiked out to the lighthouse, enjoying every step. It really is a gorgeous place to walk.
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| Breezy trip north |
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| At Prevost headed to County Dock |
On Sunday we went up to Bedwell and cleared Canadian Customs. Though Amy and I have Nexus cards, we traveled with our exchange student who does not. Thus the station visit. The officers arrived soon after we called in and they were so professional and nice. Amy bought them coffee after we had cleared, thanking them for their service. She manages the enforcement officers of DFW so knows the risks they face daily and the important work they do.
We then decided to not fight the ebb out to Tumbo. To get to Tumbo a number of things have to be true. The wind cannot be strong NW while there, cannot turn to strong SE to get back, and you can't fight the ebb to get there, or a strong flood to get back. It usually works out, but not always.
So on this trip with the recent full moon and a 10 foot tidal change in 6 hours, we went West instead from Bedwell and went to Portland. Lovely Portland. Princess Bay only had one other boat. When we got there we dropped in only 8 feet of water near the lowest tide. We quickly left to circumnavigate the island. I found on my GPS watch it was 5.2 miles all the way around, with a few extra steps on the beaches. They do a good job clearing the trails of logs, but it's rugged in places and a pretty good workout.
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| Princess Bay-Always hard to set anchor due to thick algae growth |
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| Tide pooling at very low tide |
The night was calm. Monday dawned still cloudy. It was cloudy and cool all weekend, never getting above 55 or so. Our trip back to Friday Harbor was going great, going down along the West side of Moresby and Stuart, to Spieden channel. About the time we hit Sentinel Island an unexpected thing happened. The motor died. WTF! I maintain my diesel with absolute devotion. But she died. I swapped over to my backup fuel filter, since that is always the cause, but she wouldn't stay running. So I called Pan Pan, given the lack of wind and nearby rocky shores and strong current. We were offered help by a friendly power boat and soon the Customs and Border folks came by. They stood by while I arranged a tow from Boat US. While waiting for the tow boat to come, I was able to get the motor running again and the Customs boat was so kind to stay near us in case the motor died again. When the tow boat arrived we bid them farewell and were followed by the tow boat. Aeolus has never been towed, and this was only the second time I've called for one. In both instances, I was able to get her running again with either a fixed fuel filter, described in a post here, or by swapping to my backup filter this time. We made it all the way home no problem. I'll go back soon to troubleshoot. My tank is clean, and the filter was changed on the Racor 500 not long ago. Something is going on and I will find it out!
