Why: In 2013, I went on a standard Alaskan cruise with my wife and other family members. It was a whirlwind cruise that whet my appetite for the area. Particularly for a place called Glacier Bay in central coastal Alaska. A dream to revisit the area in a more leisurely manner was born. In 2023 my father died and left me just barely enough money to realize that dream/bucket list checkoff.

Needed a boat. Decided on a sailboat. I did take a 5 day aboard, sailing course in the mid 1980s and remember enjoying it. That's about all I remember about sailing. Hadn't sailed since then. Oddly enough; nobody or no company would rent or lease me a decent or otherwise sailboat for this trip. Had to spend about 5 months looking for a suitable boat to purchase. Found and purchased SeaScape and did some repairs, customization and familiarizations. The plan was to leave Vancouver in early April, 2024 to give us plenty of time to get to Glacier Bay Alaska and back before " the witch of November comes stealing". Everything boat related seems to take way longer and costs more than it should. Ended up leaving Vancouver on May 6, 2024.

When I return I will probably sell SeaScape. All of my sailing friends say that it won't be easy because I will love the boat and sailing so much that I will find a way to keep her. On my pension......probably not. I do fantasize about taking her down to the Sea Of Cortez in Mexico and spending a good portion of the winter on her. Intriguing and I guess a remote possibility. Time will tell.

I decided to do this travel blog to; keep friends and family updated on our progress but mostly to give me a way to remember the trip whilst sitting in some not too far off, old age home with challenged memory, between watching repeat, repeat, repeat episodes of Gilligans Island on the TV. Had to install a StarLink system on the boat to do that easily. A week or so into the voyage it does seem to give us good internet service. It was also a must for Laurence and her freelance translation business. She apparently needs to work to support her husband's boating expenses for OUR sailboat, though she likes to pretend it is strictly; "my problem".

So......on this "The Journey" page, I think I will just ramble on, from this point on. Voyage thoughts, opinions, observations and general stream of consciousness shit. Hey, you are warned. No intrinsic need for you or anybody ( except me) to return here. I am still struggling with how to make and update this website/blog. The stream of consciousness ( and voyage events) photo gallery (on this blog) will have corresponding photos. If I can figure out how to do that.
TBC

So many things that need to be figured out on this journey. How long will Laurence and even Pi, hang in there? Will the StarLink internet work consistently? Will the fridge be big enough or cold enough? Will oil changes and motor maintenance be straightforward, as expected. How long will the water last. Will the batteries and solar, motor alternator and backup Honda 1000 generator; keep the juices flowing to keep the StarLink, fridge, lighting and heater fan happy? How much and how difficult will the sailing be? How long can we go between shopping for the essentials and of course; the luxuries? Will Andy's navigational or lack of skills, get us lost or washed up on some reef or rocks. Maybe he should have taken the multitude of navigational courses offered by the national boat safety organization? Celestial Navigation, Charting And Planning, Weather and Marine Weather Interpretation, Tidal and Current Navigating, Chart Interpretation 101, Anchoring 200 etc. etc. Will the little 30hp engine be strong enough to get us through the multitude of currents and winds that we will be faced with? Did we bring enough cloths, tools, spare parts, cooking and eating utensils, books and manuals and entertainment or too much of some? How much of a challenge will it be to have enough fuel for the of voyage? various legs of the voyage. Will it be too boring or too stressful or would "Team LAP get on each others nerves and mutiny or worse impend? Will the boat turn out to be too small and cramped for such a long trip? Will sailing be fun or stressful or both? Will Pi adapt to using the stern "poop deck" or would she prefer elsewhere on the boat or will I just have to make a shore trip happen, when needed? What about bears and wolves on shore and homicidal whales in the waters? So many questions. Hopefully the answers will come in a favourable package. Time will tell. BTW: whose sadistic idea was it to have white floors and decks in sailboats?! I knew a guy once who sponge painted the exterior and inside floors of his old motorhome, in a black white and various shades of grey, with the odd sparkle of blue, just to keep it interesting. Dirt and even bird shit just blended in. Why not on sailboats? So here we are, at the beginning of August 2024 sitting in Bull Harbour at the northern end of Vancouver Island. Halleluiah! We made it this far and a lot of the preceding questions have been at least, partially answered. As follows: So.......charts. They cost about $30 each are from the Canadian government and are all supposedly available at most well equipped marine stores. The last I heard......."I see nuthing" most boaters are required to have them for the area you plan on operating in. That would be about 40 charts from here to Glacier Bay. Who has room for that? I do have about 7 or 8 mostly for the gulf Islands. I never refer to them. My Lowrance Hook 7 Fishfinder with GPS mapping is all I ever needed. with chart screen. Even better though is my Navionics App on my Iphone 13 Pro Max. Good to have two.....just in case one goes down. The Navionics App is great. It even gives currents ( on the paid version) and some tides. I did buy a Ports and Passes 2024 Pacific Northwest Tide and current guide. It is pretty complicated to use. My Tides App is much easier and quicker. I also bought several guide books with suggested anchorages and boating guides. The Waggonner 2023 Cruising Guide for Washington, B.C. and Southeast Alaska is my favourite.