Frequent News contributor TERU LUNDSTEN takes her readers along on a new nautical adventure
I leaned over the rail of the Gravina, watching its gentle, sibilant wake. I looked up. Ribbons of waterfalls cascaded down steep green slopes on both sides of the narrows.
Going inside the pilothouse, I observed Rob and Peggy working on their wedding vows. They were considering Elizabethan verse, "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today" and "All Day and All of the Night" by the Kinks:
I'm not content to be with you in the daytime
Girl, I want to be with you all of the time
The only time I feel alright is by your side...
"That about says it," said Rob.
"Take out 'Girl,' 'Oh, yeah' and repeated lines," I said, "and it could work!"
The Gravina was making its maiden voyage up the Inside Passage - as the Gravina, anyway. My husband Mark and I started a boat charter business this summer, Queen Anne Charters, and Rob and Peggy were our first customers.
Mark was a commercial fisherman for 27 years. Five years ago he retired from fishing and bought a wooden boat called the Ranger 9, originally built in 1930 as part of a "Ranger" fleet for the U.S. Forest Service. The Ranger boats were built on Gravina Island off Ketchikan, Alaska.
The hull of the Ranger 9 was in good shape, but the rest was not. Mark spent three years totally rebuilding it. He gutted it down to its ribs and installed a new engine, electronics, hydraulics and amenities. While the boat was hauled out (an old superstition), he renamed it the Gravina.
As we planned our first summer's itinerary, a glitch altered it significantly. We learned that the Coast Guard requires that, for a charter business, the skipper must have logged 90 days at sea in the past three years. Mark has logged many years at sea, but not that recently. He's been busy onshore rebuilding the boat.
So, to log days at sea and gain experience, we invited friends, who we trusted would be more tolerant of us beginners than strangers might be. They paid us personally (not our business) a bargain rate, enough to cover fuel and groceries. Our schedule of five trips filled up immediately. We cast off on June 20, with Rob and Peggy.
From my journal:
June 21 (solstice). Very sloppy yesterday crossing Strait of Juan de Fuca. Looking aft to get fresh air, saw fishing gear tube fly overboard! We turned around & soon I spotted it, even though it's blue. Rob was able to retrieve it with the gaff.
Rob and Peggy lived together through most of college but broke up their senior year. They fell out of touch, married other people and had children.
Having introduced Rob and his first wife, Mark and I attended their wedding, a large and well-appointed affair.
Eventually, both Peggy's and Rob's marriages ended. Through a complex of events they reconnected, fell back in love and decided to get married.
Mark and Rob have been friends since seventh grade, and we have seen Rob periodically over the years, but it had been 34 years since we'd seen Peggy. We had eight days to make up for that, winding through the pristine labyrinth that is the Inside Passage, often feeling as if we were the only people in the world.
June 22. We'll be in BC for most of this trip. Stopped for a few hours in Alert Bay. Lots of First Nations residents. Walked to the edge of town to see the world's tallest totem pole. Houses humble abodes but brightly painted.
Anchored overnight in Port Alexander, an idyllic cove. Only one other boat there, its anchor light twinkling in the late dusk, the only light except the fuzzy half moon & its reflection. All-pervasive silence.
Mark worked hard not only as skipper of the Gravina but also as engineer, familiarizing himself with the systems he had designed and installed. All worked well, except the water maker.
June 23. The water maker doesn't work & we're almost out of water! The water is the color of tea in this web of inlets. Mark thinks that might be the problem - he changed the filters & they're full of rotten vegetation.
Seeking fresh water, headed into Namu, a dilapidated village, very different from Alert Bay - abandoned lopsided houses all white with maroon roofs. Seemed completely deserted, but then Rob spotted smoke coming from a chimney.
Pouring rain. Pulled up to the dock, where a friendly old woman waited by the hose, as if she knew what we needed. Took 100 gallons in exchange for beer.
Only six residents of Namu, all inside the structure, fully covered but open-air. A fire roared in a makeshift fireplace in the center of the room. Large logs roughly milled into picnic tables. One set for dinner, a birthday cake sitting at one end. Birthday girl another older woman in a red & black plaid shirt with a long braid down one side in front. "Any presents?" I asked. She pointed to her feet: pink flowered knee-high rubber boots, very retro.
As cook, I too was on a learning curve. Cooking on a boat is different from cooking at home. The galley is small, and sometimes it rocks and rolls.
June 23. For dinner I started to make curried chicken. I misread a direction & put in way too much cayenne - tasted awful! Had to whip up something else.
The claustrophobia and limitations were getting to me. Peggy came down. "I'm not cut out for this!" I said. "Give yourself a break," she said. "I'm sure you'll make something tasty." I did, & we ate before 9:00.
Lesson No. 1: No elaborate recipes. Cook like I like to cook, lots of improv. Lesson No. 2: Keep cool.
June 24, 5:45 p.m. Stopped at Klemtu for more water. Went to Robinson's General Store, a house's basement with shelves crammed with canned goods and junk food. Bought pilot biscuits, tin foil & clothespins.
6:30. Slow circle in front of Butedale - spectacular falls, haunting settlement. Most buildings collapsed, one light on. Mark remembers Butedale when it was thriving.
8:00. Pulled into Bishop Bay & tied up at the small dock. Only one other boat here. Mark has been here before & wanted to bring us to the hot springs. Bathhouse a simple concrete hut covered with graffiti inside, mostly names of boats & lovers. Hot sulfurous water felt great.
June 26. Anchored overnight last night in Lowe Inlet. Six other boats there. Rob spotted a sailboat just like his - rare. Went over to check it out in our skiff, dubbed the "Minnow," after Gilligan's boat - thought appropriate because it darts around. Sailboat was a 42' Halberg Rassy, built in Sweden, a sloop (one mast). Rob's is a ketch (two masts), otherwise the same. Friendly owners.
This afternoon crossed Dixon Entrance into Alaska. Huge male orca surfaced in circles around us. Lighthouses drab again - Canadian lighthouses are picturesque, white with bright red roofs.
Anchored now in Vixen Bay in Misty Fjords. Only boat here.
June 27. Dutch boy pancakes for breakfast - yum! Easy to make, too.
Three hours into Ketchikan. Ran errands (groceries, fuel). Rob & Peggy's marriage license is ready for them!
Now (5:30) anchored in Vallenar Bay, N.W. end of Gravina Island, drinking champagne. The Gravina has returned to her birthplace for the night, our last night of this trip.
June 28. Rob and Peggy's wedding day. Mark, a Universal Life pastor, officiated, and I served as a witness. But we needed a second witness, and celebrants, too.
We conscripted three men from neighboring boats moored in Thomas Basin Marina to attend the wedding. As we stood on the stern of the Gravina in a gentle breeze, Mark said, "In the words of the great English poet Ray Davies, I'm not content to be with you in the daytime...."
(To be continued.)
For more information about the Gravina, call (206) 484-0909. 2008 website under construction.
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