Category: True East Sabre 48 Travels

After a wonderful July 4^th weekend with Howard Yuan and family, we headed back to Seattle with the hope of getting Dan’s ‘pain in the ass’ addressed.

While America may have the best medical care in the world, it sure can be tough to find it when traveling. ‘Can not see you without a referral”, ‘next available appointment is in four weeks’, and on and on. In desperation, Dan goes to the emergency room at local hospital and is referred to Dr. Watts. This leads to seeing three more doctors over coming weeks, MRI’s and the like. A good think Dan did not have to sit down for a couple of months. Despite this uncomfort, we have a great time.

While in Seattle we had a great visit with Treena (Kristi college roommate) her husband and kids.

From downtown Seattle, we went around to Lake Union and Lake Washington….home of The Boy’s in the Boat story. A visit to the Museun of History and Industry and the Wooden Boat Center….a cruise by Bill Gates house and a lunch stop in Kirkland. Alexander Bay provided a wonderful anchorage for a night on the lake.

It’s then down Pudget Sound to Gig Harbor to pick up our friend Cooper who will cruise with us for about two weeks. On our way back up North, we stopped by Port Orchard encountering the annual Chris Craft Rendevous. This area certainly has the greatest concentration of cruising Chris Crafts we have ever seen, although not many runabouts. In Bremerton we passed an enormous Navy shipyard, one of many in Puget Sound.

We stopped at Poulsbo and Couperville en route to our the San Juan Islands. At Rosario Resort we enjoyed a great dinner and wonderful walks. Sucia Island is home to one of the many Marine Parks in Washington State. Coming from New England, Dan had no idea of how extensive the state park systems are in the rest of the country. Unlike New England where almost all of the great anchorages are filled with private moorings and lobster boats here there are State Parks everywhere on land and sea.

From the San Juan Islands, we passed thru the Canadian Gulf Islands (with their Provincial Marine Parks) en route to Vancouver. Stopping at Pender Island to clear Canadian Customs, after Dan gives the registration number of the boat over the phone, he was greeted with ‘Is this George and is Marcia with you?” His reply of course was “Yes and Lola too!”. Homeland Security could learn a few things from the Canadians. First a stop at Granville Market, then around to Coal Harbour where we tied up for a couple of days to enjoy the city. A day cruise took us up Indian Arm to the Silver and Great Falls, then back to the City before heading up to Howe Sound where we were fortunate enough to have our only encounter with orca killer whales.. Union Steamship Marina was a favorite stop.

Headed back to Gig Harbor, we stopped at Roche Harbor to clear US customs. One more stop at Garrison Bay, site of the famous Pig War with the Brits before returning to Gig Harbor.

After dropping Cooper off, we headed back to Tacoma for an overnight with a great Thai dinner. One stop at Penrose Point State Park for a night and we arrive in Olympia. Here we meet Marcia’s brother Steve, his wife Ann, brother in law Tom and his wife Ruth for a wonderful day cruise with a stop at Hope Island State Park.

A couple of days of cruising the lower Puget Sound and we have this area pretty well covered. It’s back to Seattle for a few minor repairs to the boat, some more doctor visits for Dan and having some Navy guests at our marina during Fleet Week.

Click on the photo to see the album of this trip.

After a safe passage up the Pacific Coast in the Straights of San Juan Defuca, we arrived in Nea Bay just around the corner from Cape Flattery. This is an reservation town with a great Museum based on the discovery of pre-European village previously buried by a mud slip and uncovered during a major storm in the 1970’s. On to the charming town of Port Townsend where Dan is starting to deal with a severe pain in the butt…his own. This will be a recurring problem over the coming weeks for Dan. One of the local artists who has sailed the south pacific joins us for dinner on the boat.

On to Anacordes where Mike, Dan and Alex Gero will join us for a few days of cruising in the San Juan Islands. Anchoring up the the famous Roche Harbor, we are underwhelmed and Lola finds the place very unfriendly. Down the east coast of San Juan island looking for Orca whales, the are apparently everywhere we are not. Back to Anacordes to drop off Alex and Dan, the out again with Michael for a stop in Rosario and the great resort there. The great house reminds us of Viscaya in Miami with silent movies accompanied by the house organ.

After dropping Mike in Anacordes, we head out for a a couple of days anchored up a Sucia Island where we have dinner with Wayne and Erin who have the second Sabre we have seen up here. After this great spot we move on to Stuart Island, then a night in Friday Harbor. It seems the best we can expect this time of year are half days of summer, a warm afternoon if your lucky. Next comes Lopez Island with an anchorage at Spencer Spit.

Time to due some provisioning, fill the fuel and water, pump out the waste and visit the local Sabre dealer in Bellingham. After a couple of days on the dock, we are ready to explore some more. Off to cute town of Coupville on Whitby Island with another stop in Langley before heading down to Seattle.

Dan’s butt problems get serious enough to seek medical help that finally arrives in the form of Dr. James Watts at Swedish Ballard…it’s not serious, a major inflammation to be treated with drugs; however, a reminder of aging. As Car2go members in Miami, we are able to access the fleet here for shopping and sightseeing.

Howard Yuan along with Luke and Sarah join us in Seattle for a long July 4th weekend, what a pleasure to get to spent some time with this gang. We take a leisurely cruise down to Tacoma with a chance to visit the Glass Museum and bridge. We are impressed with the ongoing works to rebuild this small city. Off the dock on the 5th, we head over to Vashon Island and anchor up and enjoy kayaking and hiking. On the way back to Seattle, we drop the Yuan’s a Des Moines while Dan and Marcia head back to the city for another doctor visit and more sightseeing.

Summer arrived right on schedule July 1st and finally the sweat shirt is put away and shorts come out.

Clink on the upper photo to see the lower Pudget and the lower photo to see the San Juan Island albums of this trip

At Kennewick we say goodbye to Peter and Diane who drive the GMC and the now dead Smart Car to Seattle where the vechiles will spend the summer. One last dinner with Jeannie and Phil and we head down river to the Pacific Ocean.

The first three days take up thru the McNarly, John Day and Dalles locks, each about 100’ rise and void of any cruising boats like ours.

At the intersect of the Hood River, we enter the narrow part of the river with it’s towering hillsides. The town of Hood River becomes our base for a few days while we rent a car and drive to Mt Hood having lunch at the wonderful Timberline Lodge. This area is renown for its outdoor sports, windsurfing, cycling, climbing, skiing, etc….lots of chiropractors.

After a very rough ride out of Hood River (35kt winds against a 5kt current), we headed down to Cascade Lock and the Bridge of the Gods…not sure how it got the name. On to the Bonneville Dam and another 100’ lock.

After six days on the Columbia River, we arrived in Portland for a four-day stay visiting friends and enjoying the city and it’s wonderful parks. Dan get’s a chance to catch up with Carl Farrington, a Williston classmate for dinner and brunch cruise up the Willamette River.

Down river again with a stop in Kalama were we again rented a car and this time visited Mt. St. Helens. The devastation is still an awesome sight….trying to imagine a 300 mile/hr wind!.

We first discovered the Brew Express coffee maker when it came standard on our Legacy boat. We loved it so much we now have four of them. In Kalama we got a chance to visit the company and it’s owner Bill Spencer.

Last stop on the Columbia River is Astoria, primarily a lumber and fishing town.

The entrance to the Columbia River from the Pacific Ocean is known as the ‘Portland Bar’ and is a major training center for Coast Guard personnel. On the out edge of the bar the ocean swells up from hundreds of feet deep onto a wide and shallow bank about 40 feet deep. The big ocean swells build on this bar and are met by the outflow of the river….potentially one very nasty scene.

We had waited a couple of days for a dead calm winds on an ebb tide, at 5am we left the dock following an experienced skipper on a 100’ Ocean Alexander. Even then, we had a five-foot swell as we moved off the bar about an hour later and headed north up the coast.

Slowed by fog, fishing boats and crab traps we arrived at Neah Bay in the Straight of Juan De Fuca about 2pm without incident.

All told, this leg of our journeys is not one we would repeat in a boat. They make cars and planes for visiting this area.

Click on the photo to see the album of this trip

We have already taken ten days to tour the Olympic Penninsula in True West when True East arrives in Pasco, WA on the Columbia River. Jeanne & Phil provide local hospitality while Peter and Diane Mahoney fly in for extra help.

After unloading True East and getting her ‘put back together’ after the 2,800 mile road trip, we head up the Snake River into Idaho with Peter and Diane.

On arrival at Clarkson, we signed up for a wonderful jet boat tour up the wilder Snake into Hell’s Canyon.

Five days later we are back in Pasco to off load the tender which travelled separately from Wyoming due to inexplicable regulations.

Click on the photo to see the album of this trip

This leg of our trip will take us down the “Sunrise Coast” of Nova Scotia and then around into the Bay of Fundy.

From there it is back to the familiar waters of Maine were we will have a chance to visit a number of friends before laying up the boat for the winter in Belfast at Front Street Shipyard.

After the St Lawence, we entered the Bay of Chaleur with a stiff wind and temperatures in the 50s and 60s. After a stop in Chandler, we headed across the Bay to Shippigan where a small passage leads to the Northumberland Staights separating the mainland and Prince Edward Island.

Down the coast we entered the Mirimachi River, where over 50% of the Atlantic Salmon come up this river to spawn each year. The area has many lodges dating back a century. Leaving the river, we anchored up in Bay du Vin….our first night on the hook after three weeks of marinas.

On to the northwestern tip of Prince Edward Island (PEI) to meet up with our friend Cooper who was traveling in her RV. The next three weeks were spent around PEI by boat and car with several side trips to the western coast of Cape Bretton Island for whale watching.

Rob and Melissa Gray were kind enough to introduce us to their friends Hal and Vickie in Georgetown, John and Gale Sobey were generous enough to share their boat slips and loan us a car in Pictou….great place, great people. Mussels, oysters, clams, lobsters, snow crabs, cod, haddock and lots of PEI potatos…good living for a couple of months a year before it all freezes over.

After Cooper left us, Jen and Megan Trovato joined us for a week as the weather warmed and summer finally arrived. Kristi then joined us at our final PEI stop before we head for Cape Breton Island and the Bras d’Or Lakes.

We flew into Syracuse, then drove up to Alexandria Bay to check on the boat and provision for the summer trip. Two days later, we headed out in beautiful 80 degree weather to the locks of the St. Lawrence seaway. Just below the Eisenhower/Snell locks is Cornwall, ONT…just above is Robert Moses State Park in NY. It’s like two worlds divided on the river, separated by $60 lock fees and customs on both sides people on either side had never been to the other.

Our last lock in the system had an electrical problem which gave us a couple of hours to spend with a group delivering a boat to New Brunswick, arrived in Monteal at 10pm. Fine dining, great shopping at Atwater outdoor market. ‘Downbound’ on the river to Quebec City with a stop in the Sorel Islands and the Trois Rivereres Marina.

Cooper Raphael, new friend from RVing in Montana, meets us for next leg. After a couple of days in Quebec City, on to Tadaussac at the mouth of Sageunay Fjord. Loved the area but not many whales in the area yet, traveled up Sageunay to La Baie for an overnight. Leaving Cooper back at Tadaussac, we headed across the river to Rimouski on the south side. Another day to St Anne des Monts where we planned to lay in for a couple of days waiting for some weather to pass. Made great friends with fellow boaters at marina despite the languauge differences (this really is French Canada!) and picked up tips about ports ahead.

Final leg down the river has a stop at Riviere au Renard, a true fishing port with little else to offer including eagles, water temperature is 48 degrees, high we have seen is 63 and the low was 40. Left in light fog for the tip of Gaspe, calm seas as we round the point. After a stop at Forillion National Park for a walk in the park it is on to Gaspe after an 800 mile trip ‘downbound’. Next, we look for the blue whales reported to be in the baie.