Miss Liberty

2006-09-19T20:53:00.000-06:00

9/19/06 This is the end of our blog on our 3,000 mile trip on the Inside Passage to Alaska on our American Tug Miss Liberty. If you have any questions or comments feel free to contact us at garbe@pressenter.com. If you would like to read the blog from the start of the trip scroll down on the left and click on May. Then since blogs list the most recent entry at the top, you will need to scroll down to the bottom of the page to find the beginning. Thanks for checking out our blog. The Garbe's

2006-09-19T20:43:00.000-06:00

9/14/06 Here is Miss Liberty's home for the next eight months. The marina starts to launch boats for the year about May 15. We rented a slip just up the road at Pike's Bay Marina for next summer. We plan to spend a full year in Lake Superior before we move on.

2006-09-19T20:26:00.000-06:00

9/13/06 Miss Liberty arrived safe and sound today at Washburn, WI on Lake Superior. She has lot's of road dirt but not a scratch otherwise. The marina washed her for us and then left her in the travel lift overnight so we could put the railing back on and mount the tender back on the swim platform. Tommorrow they will put her in a heated storage shed for the winter.

2006-09-10T21:41:00.000-06:00

9/8/06 Jerry DenAdel of Associated Boat Transport came this afternoon and loaded our boat on his truck to take it to Washburn, WI on the southern shore of Lake Superior. It took over three hours to load and fasten everything down. The boat is an oversize load, almost 14 ' wide and 15' 1" tall. During a lot of the trip he will have a car going ahead of him with a vertical pole 15' 1" high on it's bumper checking clearance of the overpasses. We know from our drive out to Seattle from WI that he will have a lot overpasses too low on the freeway that he will have to go around. Having said that I think we will have to hurry to stay ahead of him in our RV on the way home.

2006-09-03T17:46:00.000-06:00

9/3/06 Trip Statistics -

57 days - 3 days we didn't travel, 1 of which was due to bad weather

2921 NMiles

51.2 miles per day

1.8 miles/gal

26 nights at docks

2 nights mooring bouys

25 nights at anchor

402 hours on engine

8.7 kts normal travel speed

2006-09-03T09:46:00.000-06:00

9/3/06 We're keeping good company here at the transient dock at the La Conner City Marina. It's been fun watching the boats come and go over the holiday weekend. The Swinomish Channel runs right along the dock so there's boats to watch there too. We've been busy the last three days washing, waxing, cleaning ,oiling teak, doing maintenance and moving things to our RV for the trip back to WI. Today I'll change oil and service the generator and main engine. Tomorrow I'll winterize the boat, drain out all the water and add antifreeze to all the lines and tanks.

2006-08-31T22:35:00.000-06:00

8/30/06 After eight weeks of travel on Miss Liberty we're safe and sound back in La Conner, Washington.
We're helping Jerry and Nancy load their things in their camper van for their trip home to Minnesota. We'll follow in a week after we get Miss Liberty ready for shipping back home.

2006-08-31T21:47:00.000-06:00

8/30/06 Yesterday we crossed back into the United States and spent the night at Roche Harbor in the San Juan Islands. It's a fairly large harbor of mostly transient boaters. The picture shows some of the new summer homes they're building there. Fun place to explore. At dusk everyone joins together on the dock for lowering of the flags and firing the cannon to mark the end of the day. At nine this morning we were treated to a carillon concert echoing through the harbor.

2006-08-28T21:56:00.000-06:00

8/27/06 Montague Harbor is a large protected cove where close to a hundred boats are anchored with us tonight. We can see two other American Tugs also anchored here. The bay has a Marine Park on the north end where we spent the afternoon hiking and exploring the beach. This is all part of an island filled with vacation homes.
In the evening we hopped on the Pub Bus which picks up customers at the campground and harbor. It takes you through the hills on the wildest bus ride I've ever been on to the local pub. A night to remember!

2006-08-28T12:14:00.000-06:00

8/26/06 We did a great hike in Teakerne Arm before we left Desolation Sound this morning. Spent a couple hours taking in the sights at Nanaimo before stopping at Buccaneer Bay to anchor.

2006-08-28T11:52:00.000-06:00

8/25/06 We explored Desolation Sound today including going up Toba Inlet.

Spent the night in beautiful Prideau Haven with 20 other boats. This is the first short sleeve shirt day we've had in seven weeks and we've seen a dramatic increase in the number of pleasure boaters.

2006-08-28T11:23:00.000-06:00

8/24/06 We left early this morning from our anchorage in Forward Harbor headed to Campbell River on Vancouver Is. Shortly after getting under way we had our first black bear sighting since the Schillings have been aboard. We spotted him walking along shore during low tide. Our route which took us through Johnstone Strait was slow going because of a 2 1/2 kt current against us and rough seas. We made Seymour Narrows at slack tide and was of no concern.

In Campbell River we visited their museum and saw a movie on the demolition of Ripple Rock. Ripple Rock was a hazard in Seymour Narrows that sunk many boats at the cost of more than 100 lives. The blast to remove it in 1958 was the largest at the time since the atomic bombs of World War II.

2006-08-23T09:50:00.000-06:00

8/22/06 We spent the night at Fury Cove primed for a crossing of Queen Charlotte Sound early in the morning. The morning weather report said 1.8 meter waves and swells so we waited a day for better weather.( We go at 1 meter or less) We spent the day at Duncanby Harbor, a sport fishing resort. The crossing the next day went just fine and we stopped at Sullivan Bay for the night. The picture shows Pierre's Bay, a small floating resort. It a whole new side of boating staying at these small resorts. Things are very social in the evenings sharing boating stories, visiting other boats and having group dinners. Last night was a big spaghetti feed. Bring your own plate.

2006-08-23T09:04:00.000-06:00

8/18/06 I thought Ocean Falls had a picturesque setting for a town but I think Bella Coola has it beat. We stopped here in part to see their local museum and learn more about Mackenzie and the settlers from Minnesota that founded the town. We met an Indian carving a totem pole. We asked him what was the meaning of the figures on the pole and we were treated to the historys of many Indian legends.

This is to prove that no one goes hungry on this boat.

2006-08-20T19:24:00.000-06:00

8/17/06 We've seen such great scenery, seen all the special animals and birds and had such great experiences that when we start out in the morning it's hard to imagine we can have yet another exciting day but we always do. Today as we went out into Dean Channel we came across a large pod of Killer Whales and shut the motor off and drifted among them while they put on a good show feeding on samon. From there we went into South Bentinck Arm and came across two chinnock helicopters flying timber down the mountainside. The danger and flying skill level was beyond belief. We watched as they dropped the logs into the water in front of us.

Them we went to the end of S. Bentinck Arm and anchored for lunch in front of some world class scenery.
We ended the day hiking up from Larso Bay to the largest Red Cedar in B.C. It was nearly 20 ft diameter at the base. So goes another day of adventure.

2006-08-20T19:08:00.000-06:00

8/16/06 Today we anchored in Eucott Bay and went to the hot springs there. The water comes out of the mountain side quite warm and people have taken rocks and concrete to make a large hot tub.
We also passed the monument that marks the site where Sir Alexander Mackenzie completed his overland journey across Canada to the Pacific. He was the first person to cross North America to the Pacific, many years before Lewis and Clark.

2006-08-20T17:42:00.000-06:00

8/15/06 Today we stopped at Ocean Falls and I just fell in love with the town. It was a paper mill with 5,000 residents but after the mill closed 30 years ago the population is down to 30 winter residents and 100 summer residents. The town is trying be reborn as a retirement community. Fun place to explore. The picture is the power dam above the town.

2006-08-15T21:53:00.000-06:00

8/10/06 There are a half dozen fjords claiming to be the best of the Inside Passage but our vote goes to Gardner Canal. We'll let the pictures show why. The boating is safe and hazard free but we saw very few other boats here.

2006-08-15T20:13:00.000-06:00

8/8/06 Today we traveled down Grenville Channel and stopped at Baker Inlet. The narrow entrance is 60 feet deep but gets down to only 30 feet wide. The picture shows it as we left in the morning at slack tide but we entered it at two hours before slack the night before. We definitely wouldn't do that again because it was a very turbulent three knots and we had to add a lot of power to maintain control. We forgot it was spring tide. (Tides change the most at new and full moon and are called spring tides.)

2006-08-15T19:07:00.000-06:00

8/6/06 We left Ketchikan and made a short stop at the Native American village of Metlakata. It had a great harbor and we enjoyed a walk around town. Sampled some home made treats at a food both in the city park. We spent the night in Foggy Bay shown in the picture. It's at the half way mark to Prince Rupert.

2006-08-06T10:03:00.000-06:00

8/6/06 Nancy and Jerry on the left, are our new crew for the trip to La Conner. After a day of sightseeing, grocery shopping and boat familiarization yesterday in Ketchikan, we're starting out this morning.

2006-08-06T09:52:00.000-06:00

8/5/06 We flew back to Ketchikan and are ready to start the second half of our trip of Ketchikan to LaConner,WA. John, who was watching the boat in Ketchikan while we were at home, flew home today. The airport is on the other side of Tongass Narrows from town so we took John over to the airport dock with our boat.

2006-08-03T07:16:00.000-06:00

7/29/06 Today we flew home from Ketchikan for a six day brake in the trip. We need to attend to somethings on the farm and check up on the grandchildren. The picture is downtown Ketchican and in the foreground is the empty cruise ship dock. The cruise ships don't normally stop on weekends. The harbor in the center is Thomas Basin where we left the boat. Son John will stay on board until we return for the second half of the trip.

2006-07-29T13:10:00.000-06:00

7/27/06 Today we went through two fjords (Walker Cove and Punchbowl Cove) in Misty Fjords National Monument. Barb and John did a mile hike along a mountain stream and waterfall to a beautiful mountain lake. I stayed on the boat because it was too deep of water to anchor safely (120 feet). The fog and haze cleared off quite a bit today so we could see the snow covered mountain tops. We used a private buoy to tie up for the night. The tour companies use it during the day.
On our way back to Ketchikan we passed New Eddystone Rock, a southern Alaska landmark.

2006-07-29T12:41:00.000-06:00

7/26/06 and we started clock-wise around the Behm Canal on the way to the Misty Fjords. Once you get off the Inside Passage in Alaska the boats are relatively few. Today we didn't see another boat on the Behm. It's very remote with no radio reception of any kind. There are always sport fishing boats from fly-in fish camps and commercial fishing boats around somewhere so there's always emergency help if you needed it. It's just that if you have a break-down help is slow to arrive and very expensive because of the distances involved. This is a picture of Klu Bay off of Shrimp Bay where we anchored. It's my favorite anchorage we've had in Alaska. Steep mountains all-around, two small creeks for bear watching, (we didn't see any.) a big rock with a dozen seals on and lots of eagles.