We made it to Petersburg, AK July 7th. We really are feeling like we are “in Alaska” now with all of the snow-capped mountains. It is beautiful. The next day, I found a nature trail to take a slow jog:

We had a gorgeous 70 degree day and packed a picnic lunch to set out in the Fournado to go see Le Conte Glacier. It was pretty incredible. The color of the icebergs was a stunning turquoise, and we dodged around a lot of icebergs to get as close as possible to the glacier.

I did underestimate how cold it would be, especially going 30mph in the Fournado. We warmed up when we stopped by a waterfall to eat our lunch.

We had to try the iceberg!

Cute seal friends taking a nap!

Our perfect day (okay, maybe not too perfect in that the day started with Paul visited the medical clinic due to additional swelling. They said everything looks fine.) ended with a quick shopping trip, yummy dinner of homemade butter chicken and fierce game of Mexican train! On to Tracy’s Arm and more glaciers tomorrow!

July 6-7, 2024 We left Ketchikan (round 2; hope this time it is for good until we head back) in the late afternoon after making a series of boat tour videos (Paul is splicing them together; Sea XII boat tour coming soon!) and headed to Vixen’s Inlet. We arrived late, dropped anchor and went to bed. The next day, however, was full of wildlife! We finally saw two bears in the inlet!

And a lot of whales!

Wrangell Narrows is very narrow! Eagles here are like deer – there are so many, but still magical to see. I have never seen them in a flock on the ground!

To those of you wondering why we haven’t posted any updates in the last couple of days, it’s because I wanted to finish my evaluation of the Alaskan medical system. I am happy, and here, to say they did an amazing job in both Wrangell and Ketchikan!

I developed an infection in a horrible place. The men out there are probably thinking… “Uh oh… Not there!!” and indeed that’s not where it started. But that’s where it got to! The family jewels had swollen up like an early investment in Microsoft!

The doctors in Wrangell were so concerned about the state of this asshole they wanted to medivac me out on July 4th! 

Perhaps it was the massive increase in courage I had suddenly developed, or the lack of available sober pilots on a national holiday, we chose instead to leave early the morning of July 5th and head back to Ketchikan for surgery. 

On arrival, the Wrangell clinic had called ahead, and the doctor came in saying he was “looking for an angry asshole” which got a chuckle from everyone. The butt jokes continued… “Full moon” was a common one. Everyone was in on the fun and it lightened the mood. 

Full anesthesia was required, and for about 30 minutes there was a hand deeper up my ass than a Jeff Dunham puppet! The doctor proclaimed the surgery a success, but required that I stay admitted overnight. 

My pain level and courage had started to diminish by 8pm. Hourly vital sign checks, a lovely dinner of uncrustables peanut butter & jelly (on wheat at least), and a regular TV got me through the night. 

My room had a beautiful view of the mountains, the staff was fantastic, and the facilities very modern and comfortable. I highly recommend the Ketchikan hospital if you have to go in for a procedure. I could even see our boat from my room!

I was discharged early in the morning and walked back to the boat. I still couldn’t take a taxi because sitting continues to be impossible. It wasn’t far, only about a half of a mile. Once back on the Sea XII, in an ironic twist, I dispatched my daughters to the store to buy me some maxi pads.

All’s well that ends well… But the moral of the story is, don’t ignore the lump on your hump when you wipe!

06/30/2024 We planned to anchor into Lowe Inlet for the night and take the Fournado to hunt bears (we’re going on a bear hung, we’re going to catch a big one, what a beautiful day, we weren’t scared!) as Lowe was known to have a beautiful waterfall where bears liked to fish for salmon. We set out in the Fournado and ran into rapids (not runnable in the dinghy, unfortunately. However, I made grand plans to come back and run the rapids in the kayak (until Paul squashed my dreams and made me promise not to). So no bears, no rapids, and rain chased us back to the boat – boo:( When we got back, we looked at the map to see how in the heck people got to the waterfall and discovered that we overshot Lowe Inlet by about 23 miles and were anchored in Kumealon Inlet – at least it was pretty!

It can’t all be sunshine and roses… until Ketchikan

07/01/2024 We had a big, looooong day. Paul had a big meeting, and Hannah and Kathryn were starting school. The morning started off promising; Andrew and I did a work out (spell out your name and birthday with burpees, sit-ups, push-ups and such). I then took out the kayak to find some bears and see how close to the rapid I could get (skirting the edges of Paul’s prohibition). I was joined by two cute otter (seal?) friends!

Good thing I took a peaceful kayak ride and did calming yoga (who’s kidding – yoga with four kids is anything but), because the afternoon was the antithesis of calm, with a frustrated husband and frustrated pre-teens trying to navigate a new online school platform. Might as well start motoring; at least we could make headway towards Ketchikan. We left around 2pm and headed towards Prince Rupert. We then discovered that our large 65kw generator (“big genie”, as opposed to the 20kw “genie” and 6.5kw “little genie”) was not starting and we could not use our thrusters (tied directly into the 65) to turn around. After anchoring, Paul checked filters and called an expert on the Northern Lights generator. He followed all recommendations with no success. We called it a night and went to bed, hoping for a brighter tomorrow.

I don’t have any pictures…not a very pretty anchorage, but I think it is time to break up the writing with a pretty picture. We thought the white stuff was ice and I was going to start the day with a cocktail made with glacier ice, but sadly, it was just foam.

07/02/2024 We pulled the anchor at 5a.m. and headed out. Because the generator was still not working, we altered plans to go to another anchorage and decided to motor a long day and go straight to Ketchikan to see if we could get the boat looked at. Paul called a friend who was in Ketchikan (the aforementioned Nordhavn guy who is also traveling north with his family) and asked if he could push us into a T dock with his dinghy. We also called the Ketchikan marina to see if they could fit us in; on the T dock please? (Unfortunately, none of the marinas in Alaska take reservations, so if you don’t get a place, you are SOL.) The harbor master said to call back when we were an hour out. Amazingly, about 1.5 hours before arrival, our generator started working! We weren’t taking the chance of turning it off, so we ran the dishwasher and two loads of laundry while we had big genie working. It is great that we could now use thrusters to dock because when we called the marina back they said the only place we could park was on the cruise ship dock. Only Kathryn could make it up the 50 foot old rusty, barnacle covered ladder. Thankfully, we called our friend, and he knew of a private marina (some guy bought a marina so he could have a place to park is 156 foot boat). We successfully docked (thank you, God!) and our friends came over in the dinghy to walk around town and get dinner. The kids got along great, which warmed my heart so much! We all had a great time (and delicious dinner of blackened halibut and salmon tacos!)

07/03/2024 Since we could not find any mention of 4th of July fireworks in Ketchikan, and maybe more importantly, since we cannot stay up until 11:30pm, when it actually gets dark enough for fireworks, we decided to re-provision and continue north. Andrew and I got in a nice hike at Tongass National Park, before I headed to the store (always fun shopping the day before a holiday), and now we are underway with all systems ago (please knock on wood!)

Our days might so far seem redundant – slowly motor, find anchorage or marina, kayak, hike, possibly visit a small town, and you would be correct. But we are surrounded by gorgeous trees, mountains and water. It is so peaceful and serene. We have seen a couple of whales and numerous eagles. Yesterday, our journey was filled with abundant waterfalls along the way.

Our original plan of anchoring in Kutze by a beautiful waterfall was thwarted by the dense fog (we did go in for a picture), but the bottom was not great for anchoring and we decided to get in more miles. We ended up at Butedale – a cool, old cannery that had a long dock that we could tie up to along with two other boats. We are meeting the coolest people along the way, all with fascinating stories and plans. One of the couples is doing the 1000+ mile journey from Anacortes to Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska on a pedaling sailboat.

After tying up, we had a dinner of homemade chicken noodle soup (pat on the back; it was quite good) and biscuits and then donned our rain gear and hiking boots to hike behind the cannery to an old hydro-electric dam that was used to power the cannery. We embraced the rain and mud, and it was the contest to see who could become the least muddy (although once we turned our mindsets to the fact that mud feels good – like slime for the feet!- we could let down our guard). Paul and I are so proud of the kids. They have already grown so much. Andrew wanted to keep hiking, but it was 9pm, and none of the kids complained about hiking in the rain and mud; this would not have happened a month ago. Unfortunately, despite carrying bear spray, we were not lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the spirit bear (a group of rumored white-colored black bears) that inhabit the area.

Mental health check – if you know me, you know I do not like to sit; I like to run around and constantly move from activity to activity. I was running 6-7 days a week and averaging over 20k steps a day. I5 minutes was full of possibilities – I could take a 2 minute dip in the pool, float for 7 minutes to dry off while eating my lunch and reading, get changed, fill my water bottle and be out the door to drive a child to some random activity (okay I would be 5 minutes late). So far, I am embracing the slow pace of life. I have gone on a couple of runs when we are in a town; I have done a couple of workouts on the boat, and the kayaking and hiking has been enough to keep my mind engaged. I have no idea what my step count is; I wear my watch, but have not looked at my steps. I am reading more, starting a Woobles crocheting kit, cooking, cleaning, navigating and spending a lot of time with Paul and the kids – I read with each of them; I started math with Claire and Andrew, and we play a lot of games. I am trying to give them my full attention, and look them in the eye when they talk. The only thing on the “kid” list, is starting Minecraft with Hannah; she has been begging for months now…. The kids are doing well also. They miss their friends but are happily playing Minecraft and Roblox together (I think when they play on their computer, they are not limited to 1 hour, but that is okay.) Paul is Paul. He is happy and chill. He may have a stressful work day but then takes the time to reset with a hike or row.

“Nature is the purest portal to inner-peace.” – Angie Weiland Crosby

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.