Day 1 ~ Seattle, WA to Oven’s Island, B.C

I walked down the dock to Dad’s boat and found that my sister Eileen had already arrived and Judy was leaving.  The morning was fraught with emotions, on one hand we were all sad that we were going to be apart from each other and on the other hand we were filled with anticipation and excitement about our adventure. When Dad fired up the engines, the reality that we were leaving set in. We pulled away from the dock under overcast skies and gentle rain.

Delayed by commercial traffic at the locks we all started digging out our technology. We look pretty silly with laptops, smart phones, tablets and wireless connections. Power strips were the first thing we added to the shopping list. Finally, we entered the small locks, and as we started going down, the lock master asked where we were headed. When we responded, “North to Alaska”, he told us to go to the red buoy, turn right and just keep going.

Eileen was the primary at the helm as we charged up Admiralty Inlet. Dad and I had made the trip several times so we were quite content to take advantage of our technology and work. We had timed our arrival at the head of Admiralty well which allowed us to take a bearing on the west side of San Juan Island and head straight across the Straits of Juan de Fuca towards our first destination which was the SYC outstation at Henry Island.

We were making such good time, that I suggested we should skip Henry Island and head directly into Sidney, BC to clear customs. Everyone aboard agreed, so we made a course change… the first of what would be many. Dad had already declared his ‘snake charmer’ fire arm to shoot the halibut, so the customs agent had to board the boat and inspect. While waiting for the agent, we talked ourselves into pushing forward to the SYC outstation at Ovens Island, near Ladysmith.   

Once we cleared customs, Dad announced that it was time I started skippering the boat. I was a bit intimated but Dad was a great coach. From then on, I spent the rest of the summer docking and undocking the boat. Our course to Ovens took us around Salt Spring Island and up Sansum Narrows. We arrived 10 ½ hours after departing, the rain that we had experienced most of the day had finally lifted.

I fixed dinner while Dad made adult beverages, another pattern that would continue most of the trip. After dinner Eileen led us on a hike around the island. We were the only ones on the dock which meant we had the island to ourselves. Along the walk, we decided that our next destination would be Campbell River. When we got to the backside of the island we found a bench and stopped to enjoy the view of Ladysmith. When we returned to the boat, Dad and I got ready for bed while Eileen was out on the dock doing her exercises.