Butchart Gardens, BC

On the way South, we stopped in at
Butchart Gardens. There is a inlet that goes in behind the gardens called Tod Inlet where you can anchor out and take your dingy ashore to visit them. It's been over 25 years since we have been here.
Tonight we are tied up in Skyline Marina in Anacortes. We stopped in to look a slip that is available for lease for this winter. It's a nice place and only a hour drive from Marysville. It would certainly we alot quieter than Everett. We traveled over 2200 miles this summer going to Alaska and back, and we saw only a fraction of the country. Seeing all the wildlife was really great.
We will be back in the Everett area this coming week. See you all then.

Chemainus, BC

Last spent last night at a small marina at the town of Chemainus. It's about a hours drive north of Victoria , on Vancouver Island. More than 30 of the towns buildings have large well done murals painted on their sides, depicting the distant past as an Indian campground and it's history of mining and logging.

Today we will head out for Todd Inlet which is in behind Butchart Gardens. There is a place we can anchor out and take the skiff a-shore . We haven't been there for over 20 years. Maybe we can take a bus into Victoria for the day. We will probably cross back into the US later this week. See you guys soon,

I"ve got dinner skipper !!

Greeting to everyone. As you can see Pat caught a really nice salmon the other day. This is the third one this size we have caught so we have been eating alot of fish lately. Tonight we are tied up at Campbell River. We got all the chores done and tomorrow will head out again. The boat has been working fine. Today the weather as changed and we got a little rain, first we've had in about a month.
Really not much more to report. We spent so much time getting the boat fixed that we couldn't do much of anything else. Will report in later,
Russ, Pat, and Maddie

Nice Salmon Skipper !!!

Finally caught a salmon yesterday morning. It weighed about 15 pounds. We have lots of fish in the freezer now. We are still waiting for the repairs to be finished on the engine. Hopefully it will be done by Friday and we can be on our way again. This has been a nice little marina to stay in. We are within walking distance of all the stores in town. Every night there is a new group of boats here. The weather has been nice so I have been doing some painting and varnishing. That will be a never ending task since this is a wood boat. Can't believe it's been almost four months since we left Everett. It's gone by very fast. Hope all is well with you guys,
Russ, Pat, Maddie

You can come back two more feet skipper

Hi Everyone;
We are at Port McNeill, which is on the north end of Vancouver Island. We developed a problem with the starboard engine and it looks like we are going to need to remove the cylinder head and do a valve job. Not a good thing! I found a good mechanic that has a shop here in town and has been fixing diesel engines for many years. He is trying to work me up a ballpark price right now. The alternative is to run back home on one engine and then fix it there. We're still a long way from home so I guess we'll get it fixed here.
We came across the Queen Charlotte Straits a few days ago. It was foggy all the way so we steered by our GPS navigation system and kept our eye on the radar looking out for other boats. The swells come in from the Pacific there and it was a little rough, but we made it OK. It was about a 5 hour trip.
We have good Internet here and phone service. Most likely will be here most of the week. Regards, Russ, Pat, Maddie

Dawsons Landing, Rivers Inlet, BC

This is the area that Pat's mom and step-dad lived and ran a fishing resort. We made a trip up here in about 1980 and Pat caught a 65 pound salmon.

Yesterday we saw about 30 humpback whales. They even jumped out of the water but we weren't close enough to get a picture. Also had some dolphins riding our bow wake. We're looking for a place to do some salmon fishing now. The weather has turned nice again. Sun is out today, about 65 degrees. This past week we've seen several black bears. At one place there was a mother with two grown cubs, one of which was brown. At another place there was a black bear that was brown on the sides and black down the middle of it's back. It was so big I thought it was a grizzly.

We will slowly continue heading south but don't plan on being back in Puget Sound until Sept. Hope everyone is well. Russ, Pat, Maddie

Meyers Chuck, Alaska

Hi Everyone,
We have been out of touch for a couple of weeks. Alaska has been beautiful and we've seen lots of wildlife. This morning we left and headed back to Canada, arriving back in Prince Rupert just a few
minutes ago. As soon as we crossed the border it was sunshining and much warmer. We will take our time coming south and do some fishing. The fish should been here by now. Hope everything is OK with everyone. Almost forgot, the two girls we met that were taking their kayaks to Alaska, we saw them again yesterday. They came aboard and we fixed them some pizza. They are still headed north. Regards, Russ, Pat, Maddie