Author: Jamie Czetwertynski

6/28/2024 We anchored (only took three times) in beautiful Codville Lagoon and were excited to see another Nordhavn, Pendana, anchored there who we had previously connected with because they were travelling to Alaska this summer with their three kids. We did get to meet Brian but the kids and his wife were in for the night, and they took off early the next morning. We will be playing leapfrog with them up the inside passage, so hopefully we can meet up again.

The next morning, we geared up to take the kayaks in for a hike. We took a beautiful, fun (a tree-root scramble) up to Sagar Lake. Weather was great, and we all stripped to t-shirts by the time we got to the top. We took time to take pictures and enjoy the sandy beach. We spotted a bathroom sign, which led to a small, isolated spot to take a a natural bathroom break with a beautiful view (for my Grand Canyon gals, very a la Groover). We told the kids their assignment was to create an art piece out of natural (duh) materials. My artistic Kathryn won, of course, with her turtle. Unfortunately, the flies won the game of hide and seek and we skedaddled back down to the kayaks.

We continued on boating and anchored in Shearwater, in the territory of the Heiltsuk Nation, so we could run into town to get rid of trash and stock up on Fruity Pebbles. We had a very long wait for dinner and played an intense game of Battleship (Andrew and I won!) Also, shout out to Kathryn, my always-prepared for everything daughter, who always brings cards (and slime!) to dinner. We have been playing a lot of fun games of Trash while waiting for meals. On our way back to the Fournado, we ran into a sailing family (kids 9 and 12) who just got back to BC after a year-long trip from BC to Mexico to Hawaii. It was great to hear about their experience and soak up their advice.

After a friend asked about our food and kitchen, I decided to write a post about my favorite topic, eating. (Sorry, guys, Paul is going to have to write about the engine room and electronics; I got nothing…). I like to cook (kind of like to cook), but I definitely like to experiment with different recipes and cuisines, but decided to keep the first round of food simple: burgers, spaghetti, stir-fry, enchiladas, steak, chicken noodle soup (stuff my kids will actually eat without too much complaining). We have thrown out the crab pots a few times with no success, unfortunately, so no crab feasts…yet. Breakfast is cereal and fruit or eggs, bacon/sausage, toast (or sometimes, in a homage to our friend, Harbor, we like to first breakfast and second breakfast around 8:30 and 11. Lunch around 2 is leftovers or sandwiches, fruit, chips and carrots. Dinner is whenever the heck we can get it on the table. My favorite dinner spot is our Fruit Stipes couch on the Pilot House level.

We have a lot of refrigerator/freezer space, when they are all working… the kitchen fridge is the fridge and two drawers below; the freezer is the two drawers to the right. And we have a great walk-in pantry for food (and liquor!) storage.

Freezer drawers in the pilot house are not working for the moment… will remedy for the Pacific crossing!

The fly bridge has two additional refrigerator drawers:

I did a boat tour video, but Paul said it was boring. I will try again soon when movie producer inspiration hits me.

“Children, set the table, your mother needs a moment for herself.” Lessons in Chemistry

We successfully made it through Cape Caution, which was our first jaunt into the Pacific Ocean. After an eight hour boating day, we headed to Big Fry Pan Cove. Some cute little smiley yellow fish (Time Zero Navigation did a great job depicting these little fish that look too cute to be caught…) showed up on the sounder, so we decided to throw the lines in and catch dinner. I drove, and in normal Jamie-fashion, decided to turn it into exercise time with using the stepper and exercise band, while Paul fished with the kids.

Kathryn quickly reeled in the first fish, a whopping 12in 3lb’er, identified possibly as a chum salmon? Hannah and Andrew pulled in the second fish; we believe it was a rockfish. While they were fishing, I decided to look into the drawers in the pilot house…and found that we missed throwing away some mugs with the old boat name, Invictus. Uh oh…sure enough, within minutes, we lost all electrical power to the helm and alarms were going off like crazy. All screens were black and we lost steering for a few moments. Paul rushed up and took over driving (I swear, I didn’t do anything!) and left Hannah to try to hold onto the fishing net from the swim platform with the second fish in it while Paul was driving 6knots. We got the fish and Hannah successfully aboard , made it to the anchorage and dropped anchor. Paul was trying to troubleshoot the electrical issues but didn’t get far when the power magically was re-stored. No idea what happened, but do superstitions exist for a reason? Anyways, we are happy the sea gods were on our side this time!

We sauteed the fish for everyone to try. Thankfully, we had a back-up plan of enchiladas or we may have gone to be hungry (a definite no no for this mommy monster)

In the morning (actually, closer to afternoon; with exception of Andrew’s room, the other kids don’t have windows in their room and have been sleeping until 11), we took the kayaks out to explore the bay. Kathryn and Andrew climbed ashore to explore a waterfall. Peaceful, for sure!

06/23/2024 Hole in the Wall was a big learning experience for us. It doesn’t look like much, but the swirls in every direction were so strong that our boat got caught in a not-so-fun whirlpool and was tossed side to side without forward progress, and we couldn’t power through.  We had to turn around, and it took several hours to backtrack. We ended up pulling into Campbell River at 9 pm, which was pretty far south of our intended destination. We were seven minutes past the recommended slack tide; timing is everything!

06/24/2024 We left at 12pm to get to Seymour Narrows 7 miles away for slack tide at 1:30. If you don’t get through during slack tide, the currents can reach 15knots. Seeing as how we travel at 8 knots, we would be pushed backward if we didn’t time things right. We didn’t go far to get to a recommended, lovely anchorage, Kanish Bay. We unloaded the Fournado and took it to a hiking spot. Unfortunately, we forgot to look at the tide and couldn’t take the dinghy in too far, in fear that it would be beached if tide was low, so Paul stayed in the dinghy while the kids and I hiked up to Granite Bay. We got back to the boat, finally being early enough to celebrate the start of our adventure with the steaks Paul bought. Yum!

06/25/2024 Paul and I woke at 4:20a.m. to pull anchor to get through the Johnstone Straight at slack tide. We made it through and had our first humpback sighting! So exciting! No pictures; too far away and Paul’s drone was uncooperative. We anchored at Port McNeil. Maybe we will go into town? Next contender tomorrow: Cape Caution, where ocean waves plus wind waves can collide to create a nasty challenge.

Doesn’t that have a great ring to it? And it is aptly named; a largely undisturbed (there are a few cabins) calm sound, surrounded by beautiful trees and majestic mountains. We motored for 12.5 hours yesterday to reach Desolation Sound. We made great time, actually, until the first two anchorages we tried were too full and without having rope to do a stern tie, we would risk swinging into other boats or shore. We finally made it back to the first anchorage that we passed and tiredly tried to drop anchor twice before being successful on the third (in 80-90 feet of water the amount of line that we had to have out would put us in too big of swing risk). So we were tired and passed out shortly after our 9:30 dinner:)

6/23/24 Paul and I woke up early to take a kayak and row boat around the sound. It is beautiful! We got back before the kids woke, had a lazy morning and then headed back out with the kids for Kathryn to try her aerial silks and then go for a kayak ride. Beautiful!

So far, the journey has had its intended effect: life has slowed down enormously. No schedules, no appointments, no 500 things to keep our minds everywhere but in the present. At times, it may be borderline boring, but between looking up and taking in the gorgeous views around us, cooking meals, unpacking/organizing, doing laundry, there is enough. We have to train ourselves that it is okay to slow down. The kids might say they are bored, but they are doing great. They are on their devices for their allowed time each day – an hour – and then find books to read or legos to build. They may start school early, though, which hopefully will give them the flexibility to take time off of learning when we get somewhere cool and aren’t motoring.

We left June 17th and landed in Seattle, rented 2 minivans to load our 22 bags heading to the airport (not including backpacks), drove 2.5 hours to Port Angeles, checked into a hotel, unloaded all of our luggage, returned mini vans and passed out!

On the 18th, we took a ferry to beautiful Victoria, BC to pick up our new kayaks and Hannah and I paddled to the SeaXII. We departed Victoria on the SeaXII to head back to Port Angeles, WA believing it was easier to load our  22 bags plus 8 shipped boxes in the US.

Bad news – deciding to face our fears, I decided to test our pilot house bathroom…and brought down our whole toilet system:( The toilet problem that started last summer continues to plague us….  As my friend points out, unfortunately there are no porta potties as back-up along our route, and my kids aren’t adept at the Grand Canyon manner of using the bathroom…yet.

We loaded all of our luggage, and 10 days worth of groceries from Walmart, visited gorgeous Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park and then pushed off on June 20th to head back to Sydney Harbour, right outside Victoria, where Philbrooks will take a look at the toilets.

June 21, 2024: I went for a run and visited the adorable town of Sydney to pick up donuts and headed back to the boat to find we are apparently on a B.O.A.T. – wait, what?  They found the source of the bathroom issue – yay! – only to find that the alternator and water pump weren’t working. Oh, and we found a water leak. We took the Fournado (dinghy) to lunch in Sydney. Kathryn couldn’t handle the speed after our very sloooooow 8 knot speed on the SeaXII and fell out of her seat. They put the old alternator on, replaced the water pump, replaced the electrical relay for the toilet. We don’t think it will be worth leaving today.  Will we start our adventure tomorrow?

Hey everyone! I am trying to put together a basic itinerary so you can follow where we are and decide if you want join us for part of our journey! Our friend and retired Coast Guard Lieutenant Commander Adam advised us that Alaska is the hardest water to navigate. Once we have Alaska under our belts, we are ready to conquer the world!!!!

We have to be super planned and organized so we can assure that we can book slips in our ideal marinas (or stop at places with good anchorages) or ensure that we can stop in places with good grocery stores for re-provisioning. On the other hand, we have to be flexible, in consideration of weather,  current and tides. I met a couple in Florida doing the Great Loop who said they have A,B and C plan but everything in organized spreadsheets. However, this may be a challenge to convince my husband to be this organized….

For example, we had to apply for a permit to enter Glacier Bay National Park but we could not apply until 2 months out. We applied, and got our preferred dates of July 15-19. Then we could work out a plan to meet Paul’s sister, Sophie, and her partner, Ross, in Juneau.

These our our projected places to visit. Exact dates TBD, weather and location dependent

Port Hardy or Port McNeil

Cape Caution

Bella Bella

Prince Rupert (supplies)

Ketchikan (entering Alaska)

Wrangle or Petersburg

Juneau (July 12th) – pick up Sophie

July 15-19- Glacier Bay National Park (we will find out where we can go when we check in on the 15th and get a briefing)

Other recommended places in Alaska and British Columbia. Hopefully we can get to as many as possible!

1. Blunden Harbor:- jumping off point to Cape Caution
2. Fury Cove – shell beach
3. Pruth Bay
4. Codville Lagoon – walk around Sagar Lake
5. Khutze Inlet – very pretty, often see BEARS!
6. Lowe Inlet – waterfall; bears often fish
7. LeConte Bay – southernmost tidewater glacier in the northern hemisphere
8. Tracy Arm, Endicott Arm, Ford’s Terror – beautiful scenery
9. Takatz Bay – beautiful scenery and BEARS!
10. Red Buff Bay
11. Egg Harbor, Coronation Island