Notes From the Dockside
Year in Review
Out with the Old, In with the New | Year in Review (Part 1)
Thursday, December 31, 2015TheCambrians
Another
year has come and gone which means it’s time to reflect upon the last 365 days. Like the ones that came before it, 2015 ended all too quickly. From start to finish, it was a whirlwind of activity full of highs, lows (mostly highs) and big numbers – including over 3,000 miles and 200 days at anchor. Here's a quick look back:
We Made
Friends with a Duck
Quackers
isn’t just some ordinary old duck. She’s a Domestic Muscovy and can be quite
curious . . . dog-like, in fact. She showed up at the marina last fall and has
been making quite a name for herself ever since; she has her own facebook page
and was even written up in the local newspaper. She grew close to many of us
who live or work at the marina and would come by Cambria to say hello (and possibly get a treat) just about
every day.
Unfortunately,
the busy summer months took a toll on young Quackers and she has grown into a
cranky old lady who steers clear of most people. We’re still friends but our
relationship is solely based on food – she loves David’s whole wheat bread and
will come running (or waddling) whenever I call her name. It’s still very
sweet, but there’s no petting her anymore and I doubt if her little webbed feet
will ever grace our boat again.
We Finally
Went Winter Cruising
It’s
something we’ve been threatening to do since we first arrived in the Pacific Northwest years ago but, for one reason or another, never
got around to doing until this year. With a big season planned, getting out was
a priority so we could make sure everything was in working order and fix
anything that wasn’t. It was great to get away from “civilization” for a couple
of nights and shake the cobwebs out of Cambria’s sails. Hopefully 2016 will bring more winter cruising opportunities our
way.
We Planned
Our Route to Alaska
I
don’t know how or when it started, but I get to decide where we go every season
and how we’ll get there . . . it’s one of my favourite jobs. This year posed a
few problems, however. Sailing to Southeast Alaska
meant we had a lot of miles to cover in order to get there and thousands more
to travel once we arrived. I spent weeks pouring over advice from friends, cruising
guides, books and charts before coming up with a plan that, for the most part,
we stuck to during the season. We may not have made it to every place we
would’ve liked, but we managed to squeeze in all of the highlights and found a
hidden gem or two along the way that we hadn’t counted on.
We Celebrated
Our 10-Year Anniversary . . . In the Boatyard
On the ninth of April in 2005, David and
I stood on a hilltop overlooking the Hauraki Gulf in a suburb
of Auckland , New Zealand
Our anniversary coincided with a layover
in Nanaimo
Planning a haul-out for April is a bit
of a crap shoot when it comes to the weather – wind, rain and cold days are the
norm as the Pacific High fights for dominance over the lows that roll down from
the Gulf of Alaska .
But we couldn’t have asked for better weather. Every day was sunny and
warm and we finished anti-fouling and waxing the boat in record time.
We Were
Followed Around By a Dark Cloud
I
really don’t know what it was about 2015, but we spent too many months being
followed by a dark cloud. First in Alaska when July saw record rainfall for
Juneau and later in Northern British Columbia while we waited out the remnants
of a typhoon that had move across the Pacific from Japan. The rain continued to
fall in the north, but we finally found our way out of it by the end of
September and had a few great weeks of fine weather at anchor. It started up
again in November and Washington State
And that seems as good a place as any to end this part of our Out with the Old, In with the New Year in Review. Log on tomorrow for the rest of the story. Until then, we wish everybody a very safe and Happy New Year!
