Preparing for Departure

August 17, 2022

This last month has been a very busy one for us, as we have been working on our boat and our house, getting projects done that we wanted done before leaving Ocean Falls on our sailboat.  Now that the travel restrictions that have been around for the last three years due to Covid have mostly been lifted we are finally continuing on our original trip and heading to Mexico in our sailboat.   

The plan is to leave Ocean Falls on Sunday, August 21^st.  We will make a stop in Bella Bella, and then head down to the area around Calvert Island.  From there we will make the jump down to the west coast of Vancouver Island and travel down to the area around Tofino.  From the Tofino area, probably somewhere in the Broken Islands, we will wait for our weather window to head offshore and sail south to Mexico.  We plan to spend the winter in Mexico and then to leave the boat there, which would have us flying back to Canada in the spring so as to be back in Ocean Falls for the summer months. 

The list of things that we wanted to get done on the boat and the house was long, but after many long and steady days we got through the list.  During the past month I also had to travel to Port Hardy for a pregnancy 20-week ultrasound appointment.  The trip out on the ferry was 14 hours long, and because the ferry schedule is not weekly, I had to stay out for 10 days.  Luckily I have a good friend in Port Hardy whom I was able to stay with, and it was great to get to visit with her.  My ultrasound appointment was very cool, and I found out that Jason and I are having a baby boy, due in December.   

For those ten days that I was away, Jason remained at home working hard to get stuff done.  One of the many large projects that he accomplished, with the help of our neighbour, was falling and delimbing all of our large trees at the front of our house.  I did not think that we would have time to complete this project this year, and I therefore thought that it would be a next year project, but Jason got it done.  We were concerned about leaving the trees standing because they had had ivy growing up on them for many years, and so we were worried about them falling on our house during a winter storm.  Since most of them were large spruce trees, one was about three feet in diameter, their needles also plugged up our gutters and we did not like the idea of having all of our Ocean Falls' winter rain pouring off of our roof and settling around the house.  What a big job off of the list, and our view is now spectacular!!! 

Next year we will have to deal with the “clear cut” that is now our front bank, but that is a project for another time.  

Jason also worked on prepping the front of our house to paint it.  We wanted to at least get the front of the house painted before we left because it was in the worst condition. 

The front takes the brunt of the wind and rain and sun, and it had the most flaking paint.  We ended up managing to get two sides of our house painted, the front and the south end, both of which were the worst of the sides. 

We are very happy with the colour and think that it looks quite good. 

When I came back from Port Hardy on July 27th, I traveled back on the ferry with my parents, who then stayed with us until August 11th.  It was a beautiful, sunny day for the ferry trip back to Ocean Falls, and we got to see a lot of whales.

They were happy to help us with all of our projects, so we put them to work.  One of the jobs that was on our list to get done before leaving was to gather more firewood so that it would be dry and seasoned by next year.  Things ended up working out very well for us, as our neighbour five houses down had borrowed our ladder to do a bunch of tree trimming, and when he fell the alder trees on his two properties and had taken the wood that he wanted, he told us that we could have the rest. 

We had to haul it all up the steep bank to the ally, but it was much quicker gathering it that way than driving out the logging roads for it. 

We got four nice-sized trees, as well as the butt end of a massive, old alder; it was a good amount of wood for us. 

The day after I left for Port Hardy, on July 18th, summer arrived in Ocean Falls.  While I was away Jason had days that were up to 36 degrees, and by the time I got back it was around 32 degrees most days.  It was very hot in the sun for working, but beautiful weather.  We made a point to find time to take a couple of days off to enjoy the summer. 

One lovely, calm day we took my parents out fishing and my dad ended up catching two salmon, which we kept to have for a couple of different dinners.  We spent the rest of the day out on our sandy beach on the island off of Rattenbury Point that I wrote about previously.  It was amazing how much warmer the water was than in June, and we all went swimming several times.  We had a sausage roast and marshmallows, and it was a lovely day!   

After my parents left, Jason and I were in countdown mode, excited for our departure and the adventure that was ahead of us.  My parents traveled home with our truck, and they also took Jiji with them.  My parents will keep our truck in Victoria for the winter so that it is there for Jason and I in the spring when we want to drive back up to Ocean Falls with a load of stuff.  Jason and I had a hard time deciding whether or not to bring Jiji with us on our sailboat trip, but we finally decided that with the longer time offshore this year, since she is not used to the boat and got seasick in the swells previously, it would be better for her to stay behind.  When we were trying to figure out who could look after her, my parents offered as they had enjoyed having her around last January when Jason and I were in Mexico on holiday.  I think that it is the best thing for her, and she has easily settled back into life at their place. 

I will continue to write about our adventures, and to take pictures, and I will send everything to my Mom when we have cell service or internet connection, for her to then put it all together to post to the blog.  An exciting new chapter is about to begin for us.