10 Jun 22

We ran the generator for about an hour last night, so we could run the heater and heat the boat up a bit. I was in bed about 21:30 when we heard a loud-ish pop from the cockpit area and the heater shut off; the generator had stopped making power. I went out and looked in the starboard locker and nothing seemed to be terribly amiss, so I went back to bed, not wanting to deal with it at that late hour. This morning, I opened up the generator enclosure expecting to find the drive belt for the generator broken, but it was sound; both the inlet and outlet air vent lines had come adrift though - could it have overheated? I started the generator up and the engine ran fine, although it was not making electrical power. Then, for no apparent reason, it started making power again, as if nothing was the matter. I noticed that the generator start battery was also down at 87.4% SOC and it did not appear to be charging - I think that charges from the generator engine alternator, rather than the 120V generator. Then, all of a sudden, the SOC jumped up to 100%. Everything seems to be fine, although I anticipate further troubles later on. This all took until nearly 09:00. Massilia had pulled out just after 08:00. We finally got going at 09:00. Everything was fine until we left Port San Juan and entered the Strait of Juan de Fuca. There was a big open-ocean swell running - 6-8 ft, I guess, although it was a long-ish period. Unfortunately, when we settled in on our course parallel to the coast, about 2 miles out, the swell was on the forward quarter, so we started rolling pretty dramatically. The wind was light, maybe 4 knots, and was no help at all. As we moved on up the coast, the swell got worse and more confused - bouncing off the coast, presumably. The Admiral was not amused. About noon, she gave up and went below. Where she stayed for about 4.5 hours, until we turned into Trevor Channel; she surfaced when we were well inside the inlet. The entire 6.5 hours out there was a veritable washing tub; most unpleasant. We pulled down into Bamfield Inlet where it was flat calm and anchored about 16:40. Massilia showed up half an hour later and rafted up beside us. After a quick happy hour, we rowed ashore to have dinner at the just-opened “Bamfield Wreckage” (which is at the same location as the boardwalk hamburger joint from when we were here in 2011, only with a much nicer menu); we had calamari, Baha Tacos (with ling cod) and margaritas - all very tasty. We came back to coffee and tea on Massilia and then an early night.

48-49.543’N, 125-08.388’W; Log = 48.3, Sum = 169.7 N-m; Eng. hrs = 7.8, Sum = 2909.1

11 Jun 22

We slept in after yesterday’s long slog. I started the generator to take the edge off the cool and it worked fine. We lazed around all morning, simply enjoying doing more or less absolutely nothing. I did get my fishing rig all tied up ready to go. It rained (drizzled, really) off and on through the morning, but stopped about noon and kind of cleared up. After a late lunch on board, we went ashore and walked up the boardwalk to the general store and then over to Brady Beach to check out the tide pools. It was a glorious afternoon and so pleasant to hang out on the beach in the sunshine and relative warmth. On the walk back to town, we crossed paths with a mama black bear and her two small cubs; we gave them a wide berth and made sure not to get between mama and the cubs. Back in town, we went straight to Bamfield Wreckage for a repeat of last night’s excellent dinner. When we got back to the boat, I unlimbered the guitar and we had a good sing-along in Massilia’s salon.