Wow!!  It's so hard to try to write about what a great time we had on this trip.  So, rather than bore you with the "day 1 we did this", I'll try to recap most of it and let the pictures speak for themselves.  These pictures and the ones below are all in a place called Echo Bay.  The first one shows Brian dealing with our perpetual dinghy problems that we had during the trip.  It was serviced before we went, but that caused the problems.
The one in the middle up above is a house that I thought the roof very cool.  The last in that row are floating homes that are brightly painted.  On this row, I love doing clouds with land in the back ground, so these two look out from Echo Bay.  The last one is across from the marina.  There is another dock to tie up to, but it lacked power and water.
 
Jump in the dinghy and head over to Proctor bay to meet Bill Proctor (far left photo) which is a great old guy that has "Billy's museum" (middle photo) where you can find an assortment of what he calls "junk" (his words) that he'll explain to you.  We loved the life magazine from 1960 and the opium bottles, along with the many Indian artifacts that he has found from different sites.  He has written two great books, one about the area and one of his life in the area.   Far right is Brian on his way to the store in Echo Bay
       
I became fascinated with the optical illusions that were created by the rock and the tides.  All of these pictures are taken when the tide is just right, and the water is flat calm, so that the reflection in the water completes the picture.  You are really only looking at the upper half of the rocks with moss and barnacles and fissures that when reflected in the water make a complete picture. 
It's a fantastic illusion that looks like faces, fish, arrows and other things that can only be seen at the right time.  I have TONS of photos of them and we all tried to decide if it was nature or some long forgotten civilization that had carved on the rock when the tide was right, to create their own artwork!!!!!  Of course we knew it was accidental, but it was much more interesting to pretend otherwise!!!:-):-)
       
Here's just a few random scenery shots.  I don't even remember exactly where they were taken!!  All the places run together unless we look at the log book, which of course I don't have with me while trying to do the website!!!!!  Grrrrrrrr, but the names don't usually mean anything to people unless they want to go there.
       
The first photo is looking out from Bookers Lagoon.  We met Wally and Linda on their boat Hobbit (middle photo) at Echo Bay. Brian found out he was a diver, and that began a few days of buddy boating.  Rock man on the far end stands guard at the entrance to the lagoon and is also the point where the dive begins, or ends according to the tidal change.  Later, when Richard and Betsy joined us, we came back and all made the dive and it was an amazing dive.
Far left is Wally taking a picture of Brian taking a picture!! :-)  Wally, Linda and I did some sea life viewing along the cut into the lagoon.  Wally is a biologist, so was awesome to have along to explain what we were looking at.   At low tide, there was still a lot to see.  When we were with Wally and Linda, we were on the outside of the lagoon (above photos) and when we came back with Richard and Betsy, we were on the inside of the lagoon which are the other two pictures.  Inside is where some of the above optical illusions were.
       
In Melanie Cove, a little hike brings you to a fantastic lake.  It used to have a rope swing but it has disappeared.  So now the amusement seems to be cliff jumping.  Brian started at the lower level, see him standing in the bushes??  Then he took the plunge, and of course after watching some little kid do it from the upper level, he did too!!!  I stuck to swimming.  The boat on the end is Amygdala, Selene owners from Oregon which we had the pleasure to meet and spend time with.
       

Far left is Furthur at anchor in Melanie Cove.  In the middle and far right are pictures of Kwatsi Bay.  Brian was feeling adventurous and in need of some exercise, so he hiked up the land slide that you can see in the middle picture in order to get these breath taking shots.  Kwatsi is a wonderful bay with a marina that has some great folks.  We anchored out as the marina was full.  We spent a few quiet days here, and later ran into Wally and Linda aboard Hobbit that were anchored next to us here.  We hadn't talked to them here, only saw their boat.

       
The next bay over from Kwatsi had a couple of rivers that we kayaked into.  Far left is the view going into the bay from the river, middle photo is a RARE view of Brian kayaking, and the far right is where we had to stop our kayak trip due to the "rapids". :-) There was a sand bar along the river with some bear and cougar tracks that were enough to make me jump in and start paddling back soon after that!!!  One of my joys of the trip was being able to kayak into so many great areas like this.
       
We anchored off of Hanson Island and took the dinghy to the Orca lab there.  Brian knows the founders, so we stopped in to visit.  It's a fascinating place where they record the Orca whales with underwater microphones (hydra phones) in several different locations, so as to observe the whales in natural habitat without disturbing them.  For more information on it, see http://www.orcalab.org/  There is also the thousand year old cedar to see on the island.  It's a big one!!!
       
Richard and Betsy joined us in Pt. McNeil.  And happy they were to be aboard!!! :-)  So all of these shots are ones where they were joining in some "rascalism" with us.  We got that term from watching Oh Brother Where Art Thou, and we laughed about it for days.  We went diving, Betsy and I did a lot of Kayaking, we read books, played Zigitty, watched movies, which gave them an excuse to have cookies and ice cream, and just had a blast with them.  We look forward to them joining us on future endeavors!!!!
Far left, we hiked over to a lake from one of the coves we stayed in, and since the water was so inviting, we all stripped and plunged in. :-)  No log is complete without a picture from the brig at Sullivan Bay (middle photo) and another lake swim after a 4.5 mile walk to get there.  Which left another 4.5 miles to get back.  Needless to say, we were dragging bum by the time we got back to the boat.  But it was good to get out and get a little exercise.
The golden lab was the "guide dog" to the lake.  He's only about a year and a half old, but he takes you out to the lake, never gets to far ahead of you, and then on the way back after a few miles he "dogs" you and heads on home.  Phyllis made the trek out to the lake with us and John and Phyllis (Selene owners that went to the rally) also landed in the brig.
Some more fun photos of Sullivan Bay.  It's a floating dock with a store, laundry, moorage, and there are floating homes on the other side of it. A fun little place to hang out.
       
After Richard and Betsy left, we had a few days before we all met up for the pig roast.  We went to monks wall (far left) which was an old trading post area in the late 1800's.  Many of the stone walls are still standing.  You have to know where to look in the woods for them.  Middle and far right photos are of Mamallilacula, an old Indian town.  Some of the buildings are still standing, but no one lives there.  A great book of a woman's two years as a teacher/nurse is called Totem Poles and Tea.  I read it after we were there unfortunately.
       
We had ten boats rally at a place called Pierre's Bay, named that after the owner of the place.  It's a wonderful marina that does a pig roast every Saturday night in the summer and has different dinner type things on some of the other nights of the week.  It has a cute little movie theater where they show what they have on DVD or what you might bring to show.  There is a baker who will take your order the day before and deliver all sorts
of wonderful baked goods to your boat.  The top left picture shows some of the Selenes dockside, and the other pictures, along with the ones in this row are of the wonderful Selene owners at the potluck we had Friday night.  Middle photo this row shows a few more boats along with the lighthouse bakery.  It was a really great group of people and a few days of fun and laughter.
Here, Brian and I stand in front of the massive barbeque used for the pig roast.  Middle photo is Pierre, wife Tova and son Christian, who own and run the place.  They also had a girl staying there that gave massages on your boat and sang that night at the pig roast.  She had a wonderful voice and was a real treat for us.  No need to say what the far right picture is.  I put it on only for you meat eaters.  I avoided looking at the poor thing the whole night!!!!
       

Alas, all too soon we had to head back to reality.  Five of us went part of the way home together, but we had to be back before everyone else did.  So on our fast trip back home, Brian did what he likes to do and I did what I like to do in an effort to hang on to the last vestiges of the boat trip!!! :-):-)

We look forward to many more fantastic voyages...
     
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