Trip #14 Vancouver, BC - Ladysmith, BC

Length of Trip: 12 days

Nautical Miles Traveled: 320

Hours of Cruising: 21 hours

Longest Cruising Day:  5 hours, 75 NM, Port Townsend, WA - Ladysmith, BC

Pleasant Surprise: Port Townsend, WA; Escape House in Seattle, WA

Biggest Disappointment: Ladysmith, BC

Favorite Destination:  Seattle, WA

Favorite Activity:  Cruising in spa on Gran Finale (Timi’s choice)

Favorite Meal:  Pink Door, Seattle, WA

Today we faced the longest voyage of the cruise, a 75 nm run to Ladysmith, BC.  Our first destination, however,  was a stop at the Van Isle Marina outside Victoria, BC for customs and to pick up some fuel.  Ladysmith is a fairly small town up the hill for the marina, so without a lot else to do it provided us an opportunity to break out the tender and cruise through the lovely bay/cove housing the marina.  Taking 6 people 35 miles an hour in our little 10’ inflatable jet tender entertained all (except Timi who remains convinced we’re going to flip).  We then went out to to our final dinner of the season at the Fox & Hound.

Today we headed back the 50 nm to Port Moody, BC to put the boat away from the season. Rather than add another hour to the trip for the Knauf’s and Nunziati’s we pulled into Coal Harbor and dropped them at the dock before continuing down Vancouver Harbor to the boat house.  While Tri-Shore Marine will winterize and keep and eye on the boat for me over the winter, we nonetheless spent a few hours getting things squared away before leaving with Paulo for the airport where we said our goodbyes.

Our next planned destination, Port Townsend, WA, was the one marina for the whole season which would not take reservations until the morning of our arrival.   I didn’t think that would be a problem since we are fairly late in the season but it also didn’t occur to me that it was Labor Day weekend.  Fortunately my concerns proved unwarranted as they were able to take us when I called first thing in the morning and we arrived early enough to walk to lunch at the Fountain Cafe.  There we found a very cute downtown containing a mix stores carrying everything from antiques to high end merchandise and clothing.  From my perspective the highlight was a West Marine just a few blocks from the boat allowing me to stock up on marine supplies which I had not been able to easily do in several weeks.  It was a nice evening so we enjoyed some time on the flybridge before dining “uptown” at Finistere.

The weather was nice enough that we were again able to cruise up top for the 60 nm from La Conner to Seattle, WA.  I had reserved a prime slip at the Bell Harbor Marina right downtown and just a few blocks away from Pike’s Market.  Thus not surprisingly the Market was our first destination for the day where we ate lunch at Etta’s just outside the entry.  Right after lunch Janette and Pete needed to depart for the airport.  While Timi, Nancy and John planned to spend the afternoon shopping, I headed back to the boat to meet a craftsman I had flown out from Ft. Lauderdale to repair some dings in the boat’s high gloss woodwork and address a little mishap which occurred during the shipping from FL.  He has a unique skill where he melts acrylic sticks to repair a ding in the woodwork or flooring making a permanent undetectable repair.  That took most of the afternoon but he was able to finish in time before Anne and Jim Cashman, my estate attorney and his wife joined us for cocktails.  They have a home in Gig Harbor and took the ferry over to see us.  They had to pick up their daughter at the airport and thus were unable to join us for our wonderful dinner at the Pink Door.  

On our second day in Seattle Rick and Jody Knauf flew in to join us taking the O’Campo’s place on the boat.  And after getting them settled, it was time for a private bike tour I had scheduled around downtown Seattle stretching from the Seattle Center all way to Pioneer Square.  This proved to be both fun and informative as we learned both about the history and the current happenings in the City including Amazon’s growing presence.  Thereafter we had noticed when researching things to do in Seattle that there were “escape houses” downtown.  Escape houses are a series rooms where you need to solve many clues or puzzles to move on to the next room with the goal of solving the final puzzle/opening the final door before your time expires.  While we did not make it out of the final room at the Locario Escape House, we did get through two the rooms and were about halfway through the final one before our time expired.  We thought the concept was fun and would do it again.  The day concluded with dinner at Taviolata.

Our plan was to leave Seattle today, Wednesday, but there is so much to see and do in Seattle we decided to stay one more day and celebrate Timi’s birthday in Seattle tonight.  After a busy day yesterday we had a leisurely morning which included some birthday jewelry shopping for Timi followed by lunch at the Steelhead Diner at the entrance to Pike’s Market.  More shopping and exploring was following by a birthday bar crawl of Mr. Darcy’s, the Unicorn, the Narwhal and finally dinner at a classic Italian restaurant called Vito’s.

The weather was lovely for our 40 nm cruise to La Conner, WA.  The trip involved transmitting the scenic Deception Pass spanned by a dramatic suspension bridge.  The currents can be up to 12 knots through this area so we were careful to time our arrival at slack tide.  Our timing was perfect, however the slack current also translated into low tide at the Swinomish Channel that leads to La Conner which resulted in some anxious moments where at times there was barely a foot or two of depth below the bottom of the boat.  

After arriving in La Conner we walked the boardwalk of the small quaint town investigating lunch spots and settled on an outdoor table overlooking the waterway at La Conner Sips.  While the ladies remained in town for some shopping, I headed back to the boat to meet a serviceman to swap out the heating element to try to improve the performance of the hot water heater serving the guest cabins. More R&R on the flybridge deck was followed by dinner La Conner Brewing allowing us to provision at the local market just before its closing on the way back to the boat.

Our day began with a hike around nearby Killarney Lake which again included my father and Gus followed by a farewell brunch on the Gran Finale.  From there it was nearly a 60 no run to Roche Harbor, WA where our first responsibility was to clear customs into the US.  We got in just in time to explore the small town before dinner.  Nancy’s neck was still bothering her so she and John took a 20 min cab to the urgent care at Friday Harbor to have things checked out while we had dinner at  McMillans where the pleased to learn our server’s son and daughter both attended Santa Clara.  

The next day the weather had improved nicely so Timi, Janette, Pete and I began with a brisk hike around a peninsula section of the island along Armadale and White Point Roads.  We met John and Nancy at Lime Kiln Cafe for lunch and then all but Nancy rented kayaks to paddle around Pearl Island and Posey Island State Park - 2nd smallest state park in the US.  The big highlight was spotting two two orcas about 200 years from our kayaks.  We relaxed on the flybridge with cocktails before dinner again McMillans which John and Nancy had missed due to the trip to Urgent Care.

We started the day early with a bike ride joined by my father and his guest Gus through Stanley Park, along False Creek and then back to the marina through the Gas Town historic area of Vancouver.  Unfortunately about 2/3rds of the way through the ride we “lost” my father who got completely turned around and arrived back at the marina a full 45 minutes behind us.  From there we rafted the boats together at anchor on the other side of the Vancouver peninsula in English Bay for a BBQ rib lunch on the sun deck of the Gran Finale.  After lunch we took my father’s new tender to Granville Island where we walked around a wooden boat exhibition.  

Thereafter we together cruised to nearby Bowen Island, BC where we each had slip reservations Snug Harbor/Bowen Island.  The girls chose the hot tub of the Gran Finale while my father and some of his guests came about Innamorata for a change of pace.  While I agreed to host cocktails and hors d’oeuvres on my boat for my parents and their guests, service and appetizers was courtesy of the crew of the Gran Finale.  The evening concluded with dinner at Doc Martin’s, one of just a couple of dinner choices on the Island.  

We had a smooth flight early morning flight which arrived right on schedule at 9:30 am allowing us to be onboard the boat in Reed Point Marina in Port Moody, BC by 10:30.  We unpacked, I did a several quick projects and it was off from the boat house to Coal Harbor in downtown Vancouver, BC.  Our slip was just one dock away from the Gran Finale which was awaiting my parents arrival for the last few days.  This will likely be the only time the Gran Finale and Innamorata will be at the same place at the same time, so our plan is to spend the next two days boating with my parents who arrive tomorrow along with our guests.  So this afternoon was dedicated to knocking out a list of to dos associated with the stuff I brought with me for the boat and so before we knew it, the afternoon had disappeared.  We were tired so it was a easy decision to simply walk down the dock to Cardero’s, located at the foot the marina for dinner prior to watching TV and retiring for the evening.  

Timi and I had a leisurely morning while we awaited the arrive of our guests, John and Nancy Nunziati and Janette and Pete O’Campo.  They arrived right on schedule at 10:30.  Welcome cocktails, a boat tour and then unpacking was followed by a lovely walk through Stanley Park to The Teahouse Restaurant for lunch.  Unfortunately Nancy experienced a pinched nerve in her neck earlier in the week and in an effort to get to 100% she and John sought a bit of treatment in the form of both some acupuncture and massage while we walked back from the restaurant.  My parents arrived and requested we join them at the Prohibition Bar for drinks before we headed our separate ways for dinner.  We had a lovely meal at the nearby Hy’s Steakhouse.