20100831

100824 - Thaikarl - USA Friday Harbor, unitedstates, uh, yeah

friends,
back in the USSR, er, USA.  we departed canada by crossing in invisible line in the water yesteray.  came into Roche Harbor to clear customs.  uh, huh.  when we entered canada, we docked at the customs harbor on Pender.  mike got out, and made a phone call to customs, to thell them that foreigners were entering the country.  they asked a few questions on the phone- "any fruit, food, guns or explosives?", gave mike a number to post in the window of the boat, and we were in.  when American Citizens come back INTO america, well, i don't want to say anything.  Homeland INSECURITY might be listening.  lets just say it was a little more involved.

we're gonna hang out in the san juan islands for a few days, mikes wife might join us for a couple of days, and we're back.  "it's good to be alive"sings sheryl crow on  the music in the coffe shop here... i agree.



you see a lot if interesting boats out here.....

100826 Thaikarl - USA - Doe Bay, Orcas island - hanging out for a few days

friends
posted a few now photos in the desolation sound gallery:  http://picasaweb.google.com/thaikarl/DesolationSound  scroll down to the picture of Errol at the bottom for the lates posted pix.  
we anchored at Doe Bay, Orcas island a couple days ago.  been hanging around, enjoying the resort facilities (for free :-)  they have a restaruant, mike got us in to play music tuesday night.  we made 36$ in tips, and got free pizza.  he got us in last night also, nother 38$ - i keep one dollar, the rest goes into the boat fund.  i don't know mikes songs, so i don't sing with him much, i fake my way thru the chords with him.  sometimes i can read them off his song book, otherwise i watch and listen and try to keep up.  fun to be playing in public again.

the resort has a spa - a set of hot tubs overlooking the little bay here.  we went up and sat in the hot water after playing last night.  nice.

the wind blows thru the strait of jan de fuca, hits widbey island and blows north thru rosario strait - right at us.  the boat was rocking and rolling all night again.  nice way to get to sleep, being rocked and bumped around.  errol was sleeping up on deck, hanging in the mayan hammock suspended by lines and halyards.  i went up late at night to see what was rolling around making a banging noise.  errols hammock was swinging back and forth like a flag in a storm.  the kid slept thru the whole thing.  except when we was being banged into the mast!  we're going to play music tonight at the open mic and probably head south towards seattle tomorrow.

the weather has turned cold, windy and somewhat cloudy.  summers over i guess.  nice while it lasted.  we got a text saying it was pouring rain in seattle.  wah! when i get back i'll make a google map of our travels.

the adventure continues
karl

100810 - Thaikarl - CANADA - Chilling out for the day in Maple Harbor

friends,
we pulled into maple harbor today.  nice marina.  rustic, with numerous nautical decorations around the property - old ships engines painted red and white old propellers etc.  store, pub, laundry... laundry!  my wife was consternated when i told her i've been wearing the same pair of jean for two weeks (..."put honey, i change my underwear...") mike decided to pay moorage, so we'll hang out for the night.  shore power to charge up all the batteries things.  errol has a nintendo DS, there's a DVD player machine, i've got batteries, cell phone and camera to charge, computers, there's the GPS etc etc.  you get real attentive to charging things when your 110v options are limited.  we have a 12v to 110v inverter, but it drains the anchor and house batteries so we have to limit the use of that.  at least the adults think about charging things.  errol just uses them til they die.

traveling by boat sure is different.  i have no idea how you would DRIVE here.

onward - back to the san juan islands this week.
Karl

100816 - Thaikarl - Canada Millions of jellyfish, and wonderful sun

friends,
we're having a wonderful time up her in British Columbia.  the internet connection here in Campbell River marina is weird proxy thing.  i'm trying to upload photos.  goto my picassa gallery  http://picasaweb.google.com/thaikarl and look for an alblum called "Desolation Sound".  i'll upload as many photos as the connection will allow.  we're heading up around Quadra island today.  headed for Octopus islands and more.

onward!

100808 - Thaikarl USA - greetings from canada

friends,
greetings from bedwell harbour, south pender island, British Columbia.  Canadian customs station check in.
we left seattle on the armadillo - mikes 50 foot sailboat on friday around 7pm.  motored up north into the setting sun and oncoming darkness.  i had been going full bore the last few days, so i went to my bunk around midnight.  we got in to some rough water alongside whidbey island, where the sea is open to the ocean thru the straigt of juan de fuca.  difficult to sleep with the boat banging around, bouncing up and down on the bunk, things falling down and clattering in the cabin.  i just got to sleep at 3am when nathan woke me to go up and take down the sails.  we hoped to sail, so we'd put them up, but not enough wind to make a difference, so we were motoring,  but the sails were making steerage difficult, so we hauled them down and went back to bed.  mike was driving until 5am, when nathan awoke me again to anchor up in burrows pass.   we slept a little while motored into anaortes to top off the fuel tanks.

we motored over to friday harbor in the afternoon, went grocer shopping and nathan and i took land showers.  a friend of mikes lives on friday island across from the harbor.  we mored over there, visited a while and anchored up in the south anchorage of friday harbor, because the fog rolled in and it wasn't a good idea to go any further.

mike set the crab pot before midnight.  this morning, mike hausled up 15 crabs, 6 of which were males big enough to keep.  crab feast tonight!  motored up here to check into customs.  we're in funny money land now.  woo hoo!!!!

onward!!!
karl

100806 Thaikarl - In the USA and off again

friends,

returned to the USA.  what a shock.  but, after so many trips, it's as expected.  been really fortunate to have lots of work come my way.  which means i'm just enough ahead to take off again.  going to desolation sound in canada on mikes 50 foot sailboat.  we're out for three weeks.  yeeeee haaaaa!

more will be revealed...

karl

100702 Thaikarl - thailand is behind, korea is now, USA is before... me

friends,
the internet cafe next to our hotel in bangkok is no more, so i didn't post before i left.  i'm in korea now, on 10 hour layover.  so i took the subway trains into town.  going to drop off a book to the couch-surfing.com contact i have here, and goto a korean bath-house.  the subway system here is a trip.  it's a giant puzzle.  you have to know how to read maps and spatial diagrams, search out the english words mixed in with the korean characters.  i got it sorted out, mostly.  when i went to leave, my travel card that i bought from the machine didn't work to let me out the gate.  buzzes went off, and barriers wouldn't open.  i went to various machines, up and down stairs, to multiple exits, studied all the maps looking for an office of some sort.  couldn't find a worker to help me.  finally a young guy helped me... he just took me through the handi-capped gate.  doh!  don't have a clue what when ary.  maybe i fried my card?
raining here, but warm.  bought a cheap umbrella cause it's warm, and i was getting all steamy.  with a little help from the guy at the desk, i got online in a "PC-BANG", internet/game room, down in the basement of a building.  going to the bath-house for a few hours next, then back to the airport. and try some mystery food.
and from there... i dunno.

onward!