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Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Tasman to Tatoosh: Landfall!

Sunday, August 12th! Landfall at Ucluelet, British Columbia, Canada!
Completing our 18 day, 2,471 n mile passage from Kauai reaching under cool, but sunny skies, we watched the snow-capped mountains of Vancouver Island grow taller and taller, we arrived at our destination.  We were greeted on the way into the harbour by a whale sounding.  [When we get back to the US, it'll be "harbor" again.]

This passage completed our 9,877 mile return voyage from Hobart, Tasmania started on Bill's birthday March 9th. What a relief to have that all behind us.  We didn't have any really bad weather or trouble, but what a long tedious trip.  After a perfunctory visit from the RCMP for customs, Barbara and Harry Lee took us to their condo for champagne and salmon. Life was truly looking good! What a great welcome! Thanks Barbara and Harry!

And many thanks to Seth Siegal, who sailed with us!  His unending thoughtfulness, good humor, resourcefulness and patience made the trip so much easier and enjoyable for us. We are in his debt.







We stayed a couple nights in Ucluelet, showered, shopped, laundered and fueled up. On August 14th headed out again towards Victoria. We made a detour through Barkley Sound and spotted some humpback whales in Imperial Eagle Channel later in the afternoon.

 The breeze came up and we hoisted the sails. As the sun set, the fog closed in and the wind died. We motored overnight to Victoria keeping a very close watch on the radar and AIS for the many vessels traveling and fishing in the Straits of Juan de Fuca. Sometime in the night, we completed our return rounding of Tatoosh Island, closing the loop on our 3 year, 27,351 n mile  Pacific voyage. Now we're off to rediscover southern BC before returning to Seattle for good.

Whale's Tail
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