Glacier Bay

What an amazing place. We were able to get a four day permit to visit this
National Park and UN Biosphere Reserve. We weren't planning to come here,
but we're glad we did. Our first day, we were able to see orca, humpbacks,
sea lions, sea otters, and a moose! And it was sunny!

Here's some fast Glacier Bay facts:
- The Park is over 3 million acres - the size of Connecticut
- Last night, the tide went from 18ft to -5ft.
- 250 years ago, there was no Glacier Bay - it was all ice.
- Glaciers have now receded 60 miles to the head of the bay.
- Most glacier here are receding, except two (one growing/one stable).
- 2 cruise ships, 3 tour boats, 6 charter boats, and 25 private vessels are permitted in the park each day.

Here's a few snaps...
 

 

Puffin

Sea Otters were EVERYWHERE...and crabs were not

This guy was near the visitor centre!

Brrr...a chilly Alaskan day

Hanging with the bergs - an amazing way to spend one's birthday!!

Laysan Delivery - Passage Pics

As usual, we didn't take many pictures underway. But, here's a few pics of our passage.

We spent long hours at the helm. We passed the time by reading, watching movies, chatting, and eating!

 

Everyday, I checked in with the Pacific Seafarer's Net to report our position and weather info. They were a great group of people located all over the pacific, and talking with them on the radio each day was a highlight!

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Red-footed Boobies loved to hang out on the boat.

Eggs Aboard

John and I left Samoa with 6 dozen eggs. But we eat a lot. Most mornings for
breakfast. Baking. Pancakes. Etc. We also had a HUGE stalk of bananas on
board...so lots of eggs were used for banana bread. The good news is that
they last a long time. But, you must remember to flip the cartons
regularly...so the yolks don't stick to the shell.

Shortly after arriving at Canton, Eric's eggs were on the verge of
sulphurizing. Yuck. So we quickly devised a plan to make quiche for the
Sunday village feast. No problem. He made the pastry. I mixed up his eggs
with some canned cream. I threw in some canned spinach and canned crab.
Presto. Yum.

The locals loved it and asked for more. Oh no. Renova's supply of eggs was
getting low, and we couldn't really fathom losing a dozen or so eggs in one
dish. So...we did what Tom Neale* would have done. We collected Tern eggs.
Here is the trick, learned from Neale. If you put the egg into a cup of
water (salt water is fine), the good eggs will sink to the bottom and lie on
their side. Yeah. The fertilized eggs will sit on the bottom, in an upright
position. Put it back. And the rotten ones will float. Run away.

Tern Eggs

Eric made Tern egg quiche again the following Sunday. John refused to eat
it.

*Tom Neale wrote the cruising classic, "An Island to Oneself", about his
time living along on Suwarrow in the Cook Islands.

Red-Footed Boobies!

A Red-Footed Boobie

This title is not solely an attempt to increase blog hits, but I suppose it never hurts!!

Bernie and Yvonne are avid and knowledgeable birders, and they had offered to take me out this morning to an island on the far side of the atoll to explore some lively bird areas. What a treat. This worked out well for John and Eric, as they wanted to do some fishing in the same area, and they were much more comfortable with another dinghy in the area, in case of outboard trouble.

(An aside - our outboard has been giving us trouble lately. Again. Strange knocking sounds this time. We expect it is just a matter of time. But...Eric lost his prop here a couple weeks ago, so now we're sharing - his inflatable dinghy with our outboard!! Hurrah!)

We had a fabulous time. We saw lots of Frigatebirds - both Lesser and Greater, Red-footed and Brown Boobies, all of which were nesting in the trees not far from head height! We also had the treat of seeing Red-tailed Tropic Birds nesting on the ground. I'm still working on sorting out the Shearwaters and Storm-petrels, but there certainly were hundreds, if not thousands, flying around us.

Bernie and Yvonne

Eric and John had success fishing, and caught three nice fish, and great stories of a too-eager shark which chomped down on John's fin, in his attempt to claim his rightful portion of the fish. After birding, Bernie, Yvonne and I also explored some of the gorgeous coral, which was the most colourful and healthy since the Tuamotus. We also saw lots of sharks, most were black-tipped reef sharks. Quite harmless. But after Bernie speared a nice fish, we were also investigated by a Lemon Shark. Not the harmless variety. I nearly choked in my snorkel as I beat my fin in its face, and flung myself towards the dinghy. Afterwards, I felt quite selfish (not to mention cowardly) for jumping in so quickly, without regard for Bernie and Yvonne! But as seasoned cruisers, they knew it wasn't friendly, but weren't nearly as paniced as I was!!

Tonight, we're off to the beach for another round of coconut crabs. Dinner will be some concoction of the various fish we caught today - Parrotfish, Jackfish, and Yellowlip Emperor (I think).

A Jack, A Yellow-lip Emperor and a Coral Trout

Anxious to be in the tropics

After a several month hiatus...we're excited to return to the boat, and the warmth of the tropics. Here is a glimpse of our life:

 

 

I know...the pic doesn't look much the Pacific Northwest, does it?!? Sunny AND snowy?? Crazy. Feels a bit like we're in Edmonton....well, except for the ocean. Hmmmm.....

Oh yeah...here's a close up of the top of the flag pole (whose flag was long ago shredded in one of our chaotic winter storms):

I'm also looking forward to blogging again!! Stay tuned for more updates, as we get ready to cruise once more!

Images from the 'Slow Boat to China'

We not-so-fondly referred to ourselves as being on the 'Slow Boat to China' on our passage from Mexico to the Galapagos. Here are a few of the images that we captured along the way.

Dolphins visited us daily, and when we were moving fast enough, they liked to play in our bow wake.


I dove mid-ocean to cool off, and to check on the status of our zinc:Once John determined that I wasn't going to get eaten by a shark, he jumped in for a dip too:

This boobie isn't walking on water - he's riding on the back of a turtle. We know this because we were adrift beside him for over an hour!!


We caught this lovely tuna, and it made delicious sashimi!!

Boobies were forever trying to hitchhike a lift:
These guys also liked to travel beneath the shade of Renova:

We celebrated crossing the equator in style:

Isla Espiritu Santos...Boobies!

Yes, the title is a blatent attempt at gleening more visitors via keyword searches. I'll let you know how it goes.

But it isn't completely unmerited. We spent the weekend at two islands near La Paz, Isla Espiritu Santo and Isla Partida. These are now a national park site, and are a wildlife mecca. We saw Brown Boobies, Magnificant Frigatebirds, brown pelicans, turtles and many others. At the north end of Partida you can swim with a tame group of sea lions, but we decided to save that for another day.
At the islands we hiked on shore amid cacti and gecko to explore the beaches and fishing camps. John was ever hopeful with a fishing line off the stern of the boat...and even a small line off the dinghy as we went to shore. We swam in glorious, torquoise waters (and scrubbed the hull, while we were there). We devoured a fabulous fresh-caught snapper meal on board Wandering Star, along with the crews of Magenta, and Jesse's Girl.After this quick 2-day escape, we're now back in La Paz. We wanted to try to get a spear fishing gun for John, have someone look at our non-starting 1972 outboard engine, and stock up on a few odds and ends and provisions, once again. And...perhaps one more lunch at the ever-delightful Mercado Bravo.