It's been a pretty busy start of year for us and I spent most of January in
LA. Our previously planned 'first trip of the year' was blown away by storm
force winds so we were really looking forward to getting out on the water again,
and the weather this past weekend looked just perfect. So we packed and got the
boat ready on Friday evening and early Saturday we headed across the Strait to
Newcastle Island. All three our kids joined us as did Rob and Heather (Baby
Knot) and our 7 month old Lab, so it was a full boat for the cruise over there.
The water got a little lumpy on the way over and we lost a life ring and a
couple of glasses, but otherwise a nice cruise.
The weatherman was right - the sun was out and it seemed more like a Spring day
than winter. Hard to believe it was snowing just a couple of days earlier. We
tied to the Parks dock on Newcastle Island and had a great day relaxing and
strolling the park. Dinner was had at the Dinghy Dock Pub. Rob and Heather
caught a ferry back to Horseshoe Bay after dinner.
Sunday turned out equally spectacular. Anneline and I decided to dink over to
Nanaimo for some supplies and a stroll. We picked up some steaks, salmon fillets
wrapped around crab and prawn stuffing, crackers with salmon spread and some
caviar (big hit with the kids) and dinked back to have a picnic on the island.
The stuffed salmon and steaks were grilled with the butane stove in the cockpit
for dinner. The evening was spent playing Uno and going to bed early. An all
round magical day.
Monday morning I got up pretty early to an overcast and cold day. Kuredu was floating in a sheet of ice. I did not expect the salt water to freeze over in a relatively unprotected (from current at least) dock.
After breakfast we set off to Nanaimo to add a little potable water to the
tanks and then we cruised out to the Strait. The first 10 miles or so went just
fine and then the water got really ugly. Even this was fun for a while with
everyone making rollercoaster noises as we hit wave after wave but it soon died
down and for the first time ever I had the entire crew, including Anneline,
looking pale and somewhat bedraggled. Anything that was not stored properly was
on the floor and even the dog was looking pretty miserable and seasick.
Having the port engine alarm go off midway through the Strait did nothing to
cheer up the crew or the captain (another post in Motor Yacht section) but,
apart for a few long, worried minutes, did not affect the cruise much. "How far
still to Bowen?" was asked frequently (about 1 mile apart, actually) and when
the water calmed down as we approached the wind shadow behind Bowen everyone
seemed a little relieved.
Back in our slip the rather sad looking crew piled onto the dock and it took
some encouragement to get help washing the salt off Kuredu. Every piece of the
boat was caked in salt so this turned into a full wash and rinse exercise.
A pretty decent first long weekend out for 2006.
