Pacific NW

Expeditions

It was a slow day in Tenakee today. Neptune spent the morning chatting with our neighbor Mike, who lives aboard his tri-maran, while I charted our course for the next month. We were met by several extremely friendly people who gave us firewood. Greg had just stacked 5 cords of wood on the beach. He gave us good dry spruce from his “personal reserve” for which we traded him a six-pack. We hiked down the “street” with him where he introduced us to Gary, his “boss”. Greg and Gary are doing carpentry work on some summer homes. The two of them enjoyed an afternoon beer while Gary gave us some gunny sacks and loaded us up with red and yellow cedar scraps. The cedar is old-growth with really tight rings and will make for wonderful kindling. “Silent Partner” is once again packed to the gills with good firewood. We are rich! Many a warm night and pizzas to come! All day today the air was very still and a most amazing spectacle occurred. A dozen Humpback whales were feeding on the krill in Tenakee Inlet, spouting and breaching. Their breathing noises transmitted perfectly across the still water, and could be heard and seen from anywhere in town throughout the entire day. “What other place can you get up and brush your teeth while you watch the Humpbacks?” said Greg. Gary interjected “He’s not telling you he’s peeing off the dock with his other hand!” “I can only do two things at once, not three, Gary.” We all laughed and looked out at the whales spouting. Tonight, for the very first time, we turned “Silent Partner” into a movie theater! We set up the laptop on the woodstove, turned on the red lights and watched a DVD! The only thing lacking was the popcorn, but we need to have a fire to cook that. Before I closed the hatch up for the evening I listened to the whales outside the breakwater of the marina. I cocked an ear into the inky black of the night and could hear several. One of them sounds like a really low note on a tuba, the others sound like giant bellows working a fire.