Return Photos

The first two Photos by Bob Bennet of Quijote going through theBallard locks.

Chocolate chip cookies anyone?

Our final night on the 2026 Prince Rupert expedition. It's been a spectacularly successful trip in my mind. Sure we had some toilet issues, but we also inducted a fourth crewmember: our bucket Dumpy.

And yes, we did finally see some whales. Coming out of of the unnamed kelp choked cove we almost ran into a pair of them. I cut the throttle to avoid hitting one and they rolled downward and disappeared. For the head count, we saw one bear, several sea otters, and a few humpback whales. Eagles everywhere. Jeff, you wanted to see a whale and Mick wants to see a bear. Maybe you can trade credits.

It was a long, slow day today. We countered current all day. There was really no choice. We started at 3:30 am to get us through San Juan Channel at slack and across the strait in the part of the day forecast to be the calmest.

That half of the day worked out well. But afterward, it was a tough slog working our way into Admiralty Inlet through the shipping lanes, thick with commercial traffic. Tugs with barges, cargo carriers (flying through at 22 kts) and swarms of fishing boats all doing a days work  

Quijote could be seen making her way among them, always giving way, even when it meant veering off course. We plodded into the current, speed under 2 kts for a time while rounding Point Wilson. It seemed to take hours to get around that point. It did take hours to get around that point.

I am so thankful for that boat and my crew. Nobody ever complained throughout this entire trip. On every leg, Quijote crew just worked hard, had an great time, and always got the job done.

After anchoring today, we baked cookies and listened to the USA beat Bosnia Hertz.

With an early start tomorrow comes an early arrival. Dumpy and the rest of the Quijote crew will be arriving at the Shilshole fuel dock between 10:00 and 11:00 am tomorrow, then around 1 pm we'll be at her slip on Lake Union.

Quijote Crew and friends who would like to join us for the locks transit are welcome to do so. We might still be able to offer a chocolate chip cookie baked fresh this afternoon in the galley. The standing crew are working their way through them though, so no guarantees.

I'm sorry this post is so late in arriving. It means that those who read it that might have joined us won't learn of it until after the fact. Or, maybe it won't matter.

A tip of the hat to all those who followed the blog this year. It's been great fun to provide it.

Back in the USA

We took a look at the weather forecast for the Strait of Juan de Fuca for the next few days. It looks relatively calm tomorrow morning, then 10 to 20 knots or more for several days.

The waves will be on our beam as we head south with wind blowing in from the ocean. That'll make it a very tough ride. Bob knows what I'm talking about.

If only we could cross the strait tomorrow instead of Thursday as we intended. It would make the crossing a lot more comfortable. Where there's a will...

That's how we find ourselves in the middle of another long day, skipping tonight's anchorage to leave us in position to cross the Strait of Juan de Fuca tomorrow morning instead of Thursday.

We used the CBP app to clear customs under way. It is very nice not to have to stop in Friday Harbor for clearance. That place is a zoo. Nice to spell Harbor correctly too.

Then we'll stay in Port Ludlow tomorrow night and be home a day early. It's too bad we couldn't spend one more evening in Canada. I'd have loved to do the inlet shore trail in Bedwell Harbour one more time. We talked about stopping there, but it's not worth getting beat up crossing the strait.

It'll be a very early start tomorrow. We have one more narrow pass to get the timing right for: Cattle Point at the South end of San Juan Channel runs about 5.5 kts if you hit it at the wrong time, which we will if we leave when we'd like to. Oh well. We can do early.

I made Mom's chili while under way today. That's the good news. The bad? We won't get to eat it until around 8:00 tonight. It'll be worth the wait. And pie afterward of course!

A windy Day in the Marina.

Yesterday was like today, but the wind blew hard all afternoon. It made me nervous about docking in Campbell River. I'd have to thread Quijote down a narrow fairway between two piers into a slip on the opposite side of the finger dock with little room to turn in blustery conditions. And by the way, slide her in next to a big, beautiful motor vessel with gorgeous wood trim.

It was the same slip I was assigned last time we moored in Campbell River on the way up. Last time, with little wind, I slipped her in without a thought. This time I knew enough to be nervous about it. It all came out well in the end, although not without hanging onto those wooden hand rails to keep Quijote from being blown toward the big boat before Mick and Yoshi could tie her up.

Half an hour later while the three of us were cleaning the deck, connecting the power cable, and filling the water tanks with fresh water, I saw activity on the big boat. I was wondering how it was going to handle the wind with so much surface area. Those big guys have bow thrusters to allow them to maneuver in tight spaces. They can thrust their bow left or right without the need for forward movement. Quijote has no such luxury. Without water flow over the rudder, she won't turn.

The vessel's operator backed the boat out of the slip and turned. Now broadside to the wind, he couldn't maintain control. He tried to gun the motor to use the prop wash and turn the boat into the wind and regain the center of the fairway, but the turning radius in that wind was too great. It just served to turn the stern into the pylon with a crunch.

He gunned it again and the behemoth shot forward toward Quijote. Thankfully he hit a second pylon instead. Crunch. A large section of the wooden hand rail broke off. From the back of our boat we pushed on what remained of his railing with all our strength and managed to push his bow clear of the pylon where his bow thruster and propeller took over and gave him back the fairway center line.

Yoshi ran after him waving his broken handrail. The man's wife yelled back to leave it on the dock.

Off to Nanaimo are we

 We're cruising down the Strait of Georgia with the wind at our backs making good time. We need to. We've got a long day ahead of us. I've been doing this for a while, so new trips plagiarize older trips. This trip is much like the trip to Haida Gawii: cruise to Prince Rupert, cross Hecate Strait, wander among the islands, cross back to the mainland, and head home. This time we'd do all that except the crossing to Haida Gwaii and back.

Unfortunately a couple of the planning details didn't translate. Today for example was intended to be a 45 mile day from Campbell River to Nanaimo. Never mind the fact that Campbell River is 75 miles away from Nanaimo. Oops!

Somehow we have to remedy that. We can either do 75 miles or we can break it into two days. The latter is more comfortable, but my crew has flights to catch. If we can just get 75 miles out of the day all will be well again. Or will be if I haven't screwed up the mileage on any of the other days. I make a mental note to check.

After a slow start (3.5 kts against a strong current) the wind filled in and pushed us for a few hours, peaking boat speed at about 8 kts. Then the wind died.

Now we're motoring in calm weather with about 35 miles remaining. It's a warmer sunnier day than advertised. Very nice. We couldn't have done it otherwise.

It looks like we're going to make it to Nanaimo and be back on schedule. Meanwhile... Mick is making us pressure cooker stew for dinner. Tomorrow we get to sleep in and take a mid-day run at Dodd Narrows. Let's hope the rain holds off.

Quijote Crew

Mick and Yoshi

Fury Cove