Alphabet Photography Project | X is for Xanadu

Thursday, March 03, 2016TheCambrians

Alphabet Photography Project

Alphabet Photography Project | W is for Water

Wednesday, February 24, 2016TheCambrians

Alphabet Photography Project

Alphabet Photography Project | V is for Vessel

Thursday, February 18, 2016TheCambrians

Alphabet Photography Project

Alphabet Photography Project | U is for Under Sail

Wednesday, February 10, 2016TheCambrians

Alphabet Photography Project

Alphabet Photography Project | T is for Territory

Wednesday, February 03, 2016TheCambrians

Alphabet Photography Project Cruising with a Dog Pets Aboard

Alphabet Photography Project | S is for Sally

Thursday, January 28, 2016TheCambrians

Welcome to another installment of the Alphabet Photography Project and the letter S. There’s only one S in my life and, considering one has been my home for the last 15 years, logic would dictate that it’s “sailboat” . . . or “sailing”. But it’s not. A good second guess would be “Stephanie” since that’s my name (and it darn well better be the most important S in David’s life). But no. My S stands for “Sally”, our four-legged friend for almost 18 years.

I picked her up from a farm in Andover, Kansas when she was just a pup and hardly a day passed over the next 18 years when we weren’t together. In fact, we were inseparable to the point that some people would call me Sally . . . and I’d happily answer. I don’t think we had that “hey, your dog looks like you” thing going on, but personality-wise she was definitely her mother’s “daughter”. But for some reason beyond my understanding, dogs don’t live as long as people . . . or parrots (really, why do they need to survive for 100 years? What purpose does that serve?). And one day in June, we had to say our good-byes.

That was a year and a half ago and we still miss her like crazy, possibly to the point of being unhealthy but I really don’t care (I’m not the one who refuses to throw out her dog biscuits, after all – that’s David). We talk about getting another dog (well, I say things like “I really want another dog” and David ignores me) but are trying to be patient. Having a dog aboard can make travelling to other countries difficult (depending on the countries), so we really need to decide where and when we’re going next before we make the commitment.

I have a lot of great pictures of Sal. She was a beautiful girl, after all (boy did she know it!), and choosing just one was difficult. My favourite is one of her standing in the snow at Christmas time. We had just returned to the

from

New Zealand

and were visiting family in Kansas for the holidays. She looked incredible against the white background, if I do say so myself. But I use it a lot so I chose this one of her in the cockpit of Cambria as we were sailing up the coast of New Zealand because it’s quintessentially Sally and shows off her difficult (and funny) personality. Life was always a battle with our headstrong dog and on this particular day she was pouting because we wouldn’t let her go on deck while we were under way (2 metre ocean swell be damned!) . . . you can see why we miss her so much!

Alphabet Photography Project Inside Passage Roscoe Inlet

Alphabet Photography Project | R is for Reflection

Wednesday, January 20, 2016TheCambrians

Alphabet Photography Project England Notes From the Dockside

Alphabet Photography Project | Q is for Quay

Wednesday, January 13, 2016TheCambrians

From Oxford Dictionaries:

Quay noun \'kē, 'kā, 'kwā\

A concrete, stone, or metal platform lying alongside or projecting into

water for loading and unloading ships.

Welcome to another installment of the ‘Alphabet Photography Project’ and the letter Q. This week I chose the word “quay” for a couple of reasons: 1) it’s nautical and 2) there’s a story to be told, though not one that goes with the word itself but, rather, the seaport town it’s located in – Whitby, UK.

What’s so special about Whitby?

For a start, it’s home to the ruins of the famous abbey where Bram Stoker was inspired to write “Dracula”. It’s also home to the Magpie Café where people line up daily to taste their world-famous fish & chips (they really are some of the best we’ve ever had). But what makes Whitby truly special, to us anyway, is it’s Cambria’s home port.

You may be wondering why we chose to register our boat in the

and not the

. The answer’s pretty simple: David’s the captain and he’s not a

citizen . . . but we also didn’t want to. Our first choice was actually

New Zealand

, a place we called home for six years. But in order to register Cambria there, we would’ve had to pay import duty and GST. That left

England

: Cambria was built there. VAT had been paid. And both of us appreciated the idea of having a little piece of

England

with us wherever we went.

Neither David nor I are from Whitby, but we didn’t choose it randomly either. Like with most things relating to us, there’s a rhyme or reason behind what we do (though I’m not always sure what that is). David was born in a large industrial town called Middlesbrough in Northern Yorkshire which sits on the bank of the River Tees. The Tees feeds out to the North Sea and is a major port but lacks . . . character. It’s also a bit of a mouthful to say on the radio and not many people, outside of

England

, are familiar with it.

Enter Whitby.

Whitby is only 22 miles southeast of Middlesbrough, making it the closest recreational seaport in the area. Well, that’s not entirely true. Hartlepool is much closer but there’s this whole long story about a monkey being mistaken for a French sailor that disqualified it from the running (though, in hindsight, maybe we should have gone that route). Whitby, on the other hand, is a quaint seaport village with an interesting history that carries a level of gravitas (it also looks good on the stern of the boat).

There’s another reason we gravitated towards Whitby as our home port. Captain James Cook was born in Marton-in-Cleveland in 1728, which is now a suburb of Middlesbrough. His ancestral home was within miles of David’s and even closer to where he went to grammar school. Much of D’s childhood was spent in Cook’s footsteps: playing in the same fields and climbing the same hills. And it was in Whitby that Cook became an apprentice in the Merchant Marines, starting his career on the sea. He’s a legendary figure in the area and was a childhood hero of David’s; our choice was a bit of a tip of the hat to this great mariner . . . and just one more reason to call Whitby “home”.

Alphabet Photography Project Desolation Sound Inside Passage

Alphabet Photography Project | P is for Panorama

Wednesday, January 06, 2016TheCambrians

Cambria alone at anchor in one of British Columbia's most popular marine parks - Prideaux Haven.

From the Oxford Dictionary:

Panorama /panə'ramə/

1 An unbroken view of the whole region surrounding an observer: 1.1 A picture

or photograph containing a wide view.

Welcome to another installment of the ‘Alphabet Photography Project’ and the letter P. This week was a little difficult but, as it turns out, they all are. Not because it’s hard to come up with a word that begins with P, or any other letter for that matter, that’s easy. What’s difficult is coming up with just the right photo.

In the end, I opted for ‘panorama’ and a wide-angle look at a pretty rare sight here in the Pacific Northwest: a solitary boat anchored in the hugely popular Prideaux Haven, part of the Desolation Sound Marine Park. And that boat is none other than Cambria. If you’re a regular follower of our blog, you probably already know that David and I generally seek out remote anchorages where we can be completely alone in the wilderness. And if you’ve been fortunate enough to spend time cruising the Inside Passage, you know that Desolation Sound is anything but desolate so it’s a little surprising that we love anchoring there. But we do.

From October through June, things get pretty quiet on the water, even in one of British Columbia’s most popular marine parks, and it’s during these months that we like to spend time there. But one visit stands out above all the rest. It was late-September of 2011 and we came into Prideaux Haven looking forward to getting off the boat and exploring after having spent the previous week holed-up during the first major storm of the season. Not only did we have the anchorage to ourselves (there were other boats that were anchored in Melanie and Laura Coves), but we spent 3 or 4 days following a black bear from our kayaks as he foraged along the shore. It was a pretty special experience and was the beginning of our love affair for bears.

It’s been a few years since we spent any time in Prideaux Haven. Hopefully our morelaid-back approach to the upcoming cruising season will find us there again soon lazing in the kayaks, hiking the trails and (if we’re really lucky) watching bears.