Day 17 overall, Day 10 afloat: Pierre’s Echo Bay Marina to Port McNeil (Monday)

Blog Reader come in this is vessel Domino. Inching our way to Port McNeil and stealing ourselves for Cape Caution! (It even sounds scary right?)

Ropes off at 7:00 and we have Kevin aboard today. Kevin is a lovely man from Victory. He is the author of “Local Knowledge and the publisher for the Wagner Group. We will be underway for 4 hours to Port McNeil and Kevin will spend some time working with us regarding the Furuno Radar system. Since Kevin wrote a book about radar for which all the example screen shots were taken from our model of radar he is the right guy to teach us more about the system. He also heard a squeal in the engine room which we had heard before and wants us to have it looked at when we arrive in Port McNeal. He thinks it is bearing not belt. We also spent some time learning how to communicate and dodge high speed ferries. Kevin is a wealth of knowledge and a really interesting guy. We enjoyed having him aboard and made it to Port McNeil in no time.

I handled the remaining laundry and the grocery store run and Andrew worked around the boat. He also waited for the boat repair guy. The squeal turned out to be the alternator and we purchased a new one at the Auto and Marine part store at the end of the dock. We tossed a lasagna in the oven and I watched a movie until Graham came back at 9:00 to repair the alternator. Graham, the repairman, was a great guy and very knowledgeable. He claims to be retired but it appeared to me that he continues to work pretty hard. He is quick and efficient and in now time the Domino had a new alternator and the cost was reasonable at $200 and the part was $102.

We met a lot of other boaters on the dock. We got a tour of an amazing ship called the Indigo. Her dinghy was a ~17’ enclosed fishing skiff. The boat is fantastic 60 foot boat that used to be used by fisheries. It is really salty and amazing! The thing can sleep a whole family comfortably. They have a cat aboard and they had to find a vet in Port McNeil for the poor kitty. They found a great vet there, which is good to know since we also have a kitty aboard, and the vet was wonderful and took great care of their cat. Lovely people and we hope to see them in Alaska.

We also met Ben and Jerry Schultz on the Silver Star. Also a fabulous sea worthy boat and lovely friendly folks.

Domino…….Arriving at Port McNeil and staying put until the wind dies down…..Over and standing by on VHF channel 68.

  • Left Dock/Weighed anchor: 7:00 Am
  • Cruise Log: 26 Nautical Miles
  • Weather Conditions: Gray and slightly windy.
  • Navigational Obsticals: Saw our first dead head which is a log floating vertically with only the top foot or so out of 40 bobbing up and down and above the water line. Hitting this would have been catastrophic. Kevin said he hadn’t seen one of these in many years because of the new strapping systems used by logging companies.
  • Wildlife Sighting: Seagulls
  • Arrived Dock/Dropped anchor: 11:30 AM
  • Slip for the night: $60 slip with power
  • Time today Helm for TEA: 0 hrs
  • Time today Helm for ACA: 4.5 hrs
  • Lessons learned: Watch out for flotsam and jetsam in the water. You don’t want to hit a big logs with your boat and do damage.
  • Fun Meals underway: Cereal

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