Great Weather = Great Progress

Writing “Glacier Bay or Bust!” on our whiteboard made Mike nervous. So I borrowed from Ted Lasso, but I couldn't erase the old phrase well. It kinda makes it more meaningful.

I’m noticing more often that retirement is providing me the gift of pausing. I pause long enough to focus on the voice of a raven or wait for a stranger to start a conversation. Even with the swift progress we’ve made, we have plenty of time to pause and get into our heads while we're underway.

The weather has been great--little wind and generally favorable currents. With every passing day, we can allow ourselves to believe a little more that we’ll be able to stick with our plans.

HAKAI ISLAND

We stopped at a neat place called Pruth Cove, home of the Hakai Institute. (1) The anchorage is a lovely large cove poised in front of a well-maintained dock and the institute. It felt very “Fantasy Island” with clean, motel-style buildings, manicured gardens, and helpful signs at every turn describing rules and directions for visitors. They’ve made visitors super-welcome by installing narrow boardwalk trails deep into the forest. This enabled us to reach the white sand beaches on the far side of the beautiful island. We were surprised to find abalone shells and periwinkles.(2). 

On the boardwalk on Hakai. We thought there must have been major efforts to build and maintain effort the 100s of yards of boardwalks through the forest jungle.

One of the beaches at Hakai.

After days of racing, we decided to put down temporary roots for two nights at Pruth Cove. On day 2, I did a bit of kayaking around the cove while Mike went salmon and halibut fishing (3). Although Mike only pulled in a rockfish and greenling, they made a tasty dinner. 

We thought the rock walls along the little islands next to Hakai looked different and worth sharing:

We left Pruth Cove and returned to civilization: Shearwater and New Bella Bella. We expected it to be just a good place for laundry and groceries. It ended up being much more. 

Nicest laundromat ever at Shearwater! Ten-foot-long handmade laundry folding table. 

SHEARWATER & NEW BELLA BELLA

We learned from welcoming, talkative locals that 4 local villages are home to 4 First Nations tribal bands, each with a chief. The boat “bus” drivers who deliver passengers back and forth from Shearwater and New Bella Bella recommended that we visit the new and impressive Big House. We walked around the village and made our way to the Big House.

Big House exterior at New Bella Bella. See the two front doors on the lower left to get a sense of the large scale.

I appreciated the cavernous space, supported by 4 large totems which appeared to hold up enormous yellow cedar beams. The cool, peaceful, and reverent space reminded me of the interior of the Gothic churches we just stepped into in the Yonne Valley in France. 

A local woman walked by me on her way out and, observing my smile, said, “Hello. Don’t you love this space?” She continued to tell me how important the House was to her and the community. The sand in the center as well as the large stones around the firepit were brought in from the land of all 4 tribes, she said. And, the first gathering was opened by a traditional dance by children, emphasizing the importance of the House to the endurance of their culture. 

Later, we got to know our marine gas attendant. She was a woman about my age who opened a conversation with us by saying she was new to the job. “Why here?” we asked. She said it was to return to her tribe to discover her roots. She was part of the Sixties Scoop and had grown up as a foster child in another part of the province. She explained that to feel a part of the community, she just represented her great, great grandfather, who she just learned had served locally during WWII. She represented him by rowing in her band’s tribal canoe which escorted a wounded vet’s group that is kayaking from Olympia, WA to Skagway, Alaska through their territory. She opened herself to an amazing personal journey.

We left Shearwater with an appreciation for the struggles among the Heiltsuk Nation, and their willingness to share their stories.

This self-important raven had something to say on its soapbox at the marina entrance. Wish I  knew the language:

.

“Stop” sign in New Bella Bella. Language is so important to a culture. Wouldn’t the sign imply control by an outside culture if it read “stop” in English?

GREAT PROGRESS

Sunshine and moderate winds over the next 3 days enabled us to make long transits. There were no villages, just quiet anchorages where there were 1 or 2 other boats. 

Typical glacier-cut mountains and valleys along our route.

We’d pass one recreational boat about every hour during this long leg. And then, we were surprised by a Disney cruise ship. 

The narrow waterways for this leg were filled with unnamed waterfalls. What beautiful sites (very rare to see in California).

I’m writing this from a good stopping point at the large town of Prince Rupert. Tomorrow at O-dark-hundred, we cross another long, exposed gate, the Dixon Entrance, to Ketchikan, Alaska, U.S.A.

Boat Miles: 622 miles

Boat Hours: 76

Footnotes for Fun Fact Fans

(1) Imagine the intense competition to get into the Haikai Institute and be part of that academic community. 

(2) Guidebooks say Haikai Island has the best beaches on the upper BC coast and that’s not an exaggeration.

(3) The area is famous for salmon and halibut. The Haikai Institute’s buildings used to be a fly fishing lodge.

Quiet evenings in the cove.

Shearwater for fuel, water, garbage, best laundry. Handmade one piece folding table, 15ft long. Two older gentlemen are dockhands ready to help with lines. Encouraged to visit new bella bella via water bus. 

Read about it too.

3 first nations men in the bus. Very open and warm, sharing their feelings about their community.

The marine gas station attendant says she's new. Recently returned to the community. Not just a buzzword. Says she learned her great great grandfather served locally in ww2. They weren't in the army because they were an Indian unit. To join community she participated in a row that accompanied a veterns group that is kayaking to alaska from i dont know. As a sign of respect and reconciliation. 

Community makes you feel something larger than yourself.

Saw humpback purposing towards us fron about a mile away. Awestsruck to see huge gape of mouth going up in the air and down submerged completely only to rise again. As it continued to quickly get closer and closer we wheeled to the right to move out of the way. After a few more appearances it disappeared completely.

Community of the sea. 

Glacier Bay or Bust

 

Practicing my skills on Nautica, the boat we’re towing, outside of Squirrel Cove.

WE’RE UNDERWAY

We left Decourcy Island on June 15. We are now headed to Glacier Bay, Alaska.

It’s about time I gave you the big picture of our plans. We are cruising in Unwine’d as far North as Glacier Bay and then will cruise back to Decourcy. We are bound by 3 date constraints:

1. We have made reservations with the Glacier Bay National Park Service to enter Glacier Bay July 15-21. (1)

2. Mike wants to play in an annual tennis/dominoes tourney at the end of September in California. Need to be back for that.

3. We can only stay in Canada until sometime in October when we hit our 6-month limit mark. This will vary depending on how many days we are in Alaska, U.S.A. So if, for whatever reason, we miss getting back in September, we need to get back by sometime in October. 

THE CALCULATIONS

Glacier Bay is approximately 1000 miles/1600 kilometers from Decourcy Island. Our average speed is 8.5 MPH. This requires about 120 hours of boating time. We only boat during the day. And our average amount of running time per day we plan is 6 hours. This would mean we will take about 20 days to get to Glacier Bay. 

The big however, here, is that we won’t be boating in a straight line. And, we will not boat across any unprotected ocean “gates” in nasty sea conditions.(2) We will wait for the right conditions.

Also, we need to time the right passage times through rapids. So it will take 5 weeks or more to get to Glacier Bay. We left about 2 weeks later than would have been ideal. (3) 

So we are racing, so to speak, up to Glacier Bay. We plan to make a more leisurely route on the way back down to Decourcy, hitting many spots that we missed in our haste going North. 

SIGHTS AND MOOD

Already we’ve seen some amazing sights. The weather has been generally sunny with great visibility. When we crossed from Comox over to the Sunshine Coast, we managed to avoid rain surrounding us. But the wide views allowed us to witness a neat rain scene. 

Rain dropping in the Straight of Georgia. It was miles away, but the reflection on the calm water gave the illusion that it was closer. 

A sunny day passing North of Desolation Sound. Huge, glacier cut islands compete for the view.

It’s exciting because we’ve now gone further North than the most Northern we’ve ever cruised back in 1996 when we lived in the Seattle area. We remember there were beautiful views, but we had forgotten just how majestic the mountains around these upper Gulf Islands are. 

And boating through the Broughton Islands area is quite moody with many smaller islands strewn out on either side. Many islands are Indian Reserves. We made passage in narrow channels where you can easily watch the shore go by. 

The fir trees grow right down to the water, reflecting in the water to a sort of lovely bottle green. See video below:

Some of you know of the many rapids in the area we just passed. Tremendous volumes of water move around these islands, often causing rapids at shallow, pinch points as the tide breathes in and out. Using Tide & Current tables, we carefully planned when to go through the rapids on our chosen, fast route around slack time. We were anxious that we planned these properly. And adding to the anxiety is that we’re towing our Nautica boat, which is new to us. In the end, everything came off without a hitch. The waters looked like cauldrons around us, with swirls and boils. Bull whip seaweed winds around. As we powered through, our bow veered a little right and left, while the stern sometimes fishtailed, causing us to move in a yaw. Luckily, we never felt out of control as we went through near slack. 

We’ve enjoyed meeting other boat couples at anchorages and every marina. It’s a congenial atmosphere. We noted that everyone was retired. We have received  great advice from these experienced mariners about possible routes.  Many of them have made the trip to Alaska multiple times and return to boating here each summer season. It’s just normal here to cruise up to Alaska or around the Broughton Islands or SE Alaska, in general.

We also noted that we’ve had the smallest power boat in just about every cove and marina. While we are 34 feet overall, most boats range from 37 to 65 feet. It’s a great boat show. If you were here, you’d catch us staring out the window at the big beautiful trawlers with high, sloping bows and large pilot windows, aggressively angled. Lots of storage space below decks and in cabinets. Hmph and hmmm. By comparison, we have to store a lot on our Lido deck. They can store more in hatches under decks.  

Skipper Mike on the stern at Port McNeill. We’ve got extra stuff tied down like our BBQ, crab and prawn traps, a large plastic container with odds and ends, and specialized ropes. Just 5 more feet and that could all be different.

GOOD NEWS

The good news is we were able to plan favorable currents and rapids transiting through the area North of Desolation Sound; the Discovery Passage. We also had excellent weather conditions when we transited through Johnstone Strait, without having to wait extra days. This is a sticking point for some mariners. We just got lucky with our timing. After only 6 days we were already in Port McNeill, to do a little provisioning.

Today, we made it through the first gate, around Cape Caution. This is the most challeging gate because the combination of winds (prevailing from the NW) vs. currents out of the Inside Passage during ebb flow, going West, produce higher, steeper waves. In addition, there are swells from the Pacific Ocean. In addition, just South of Cape Caution is Slingsby Channel, which produces a huge confluence of water into the Pacific, making even rougher seas. To avoid the confluence, we decided to transit about 4 miles from shore.

Yesterday we anxiously checked the weather and buoy reports for today. It said that there would be light winds and swells of 3 feet until late in the afternoon. We created a plan to take advantage of this great window: push off at 5:00 a.m. from Port McNeill and motor just 4 hours through these notorious waters to a good waiting area, Alison Harbour, which is South of the Slingsby Channel confluence. Then we would leave the next day or as soon as the forecasts are favorable. 

This morning we checked the updated forecast and were thrilled to find that it did not change. I popped 2 Dramamine pills and we headed off in the daylight, with cloudy skies—and there was virtually no wind. By the time we were solidly in the waters exposed to the mighty Pacific, we experienced short swells up at 1-3 feet in glossy water. After about 3 hours of unchanged conditions we decided to take advantage of the weather window and continue straight on for 5 more hours to Fury Cove, which is North of Cape Caution, out of the swells. Eight hours is a long time—but somehow seeing new sights, navigating, alternatively sitting and standing, making snacks, taking turns at the wheel (4) and listening to podcasts helps us easily pass the time. 

Check out the gentle rocking we endured from the minimal swells:

I’m sending this to you from beautiful Fury Cove where we are slowly rotating around our anchor. There are about 7 other boats here, some of which we saw and met in previous evenings. It’s a migration we’re all taking. 

The next stage of the journey is through the North Coast of British Columbia Inside Passage, where marinas and stores are more dispersed. The next town is Prince Rupert. This will take a few weeks. Then, we will cross the next gate, which takes us to Alaska. Ketchikan is the first town we’ll reach in Alaska.

Boat miles so far: 340

Hours of boating: 40

FOOTNOTES FOR FUN FACT FANS

(1) We can miss some of the first days of the Glacier Bay reservations without jeopardy to the remaining days. 

(2) Around Cape Caution is gate 1. From Port McNeill to Cape Calvert. 

(3) We really needed to get our new generator moved to a better position in the engine compartment. And, the new coolant container for the generator was leaking and needed to be replaced. This required a trip back down to North Saanich to Canoe Cove. This took a week. Also, the raw water pump, which is located at the bottom of the engine, was leaky and needed replacement. This took a day of Mike’s time as well. And then we took a few days to pack up. 

(4) Most of the time we use our autopilot. So don’t picture us with our hands on the wooden wheel whistling like Mikey Mouse on Steamboat Willie.  

France Canal: Part Deux

 

Lush creekside stop while looking for open wineries in Chablis. I hope you can zoom in to see the surprise animal across the bank. 

LE BATEAU

Before we could push off, the Le Boat trainer, Tomas, had to give Mike and Sean the nod of approval. Mike made this look effortless because the boat had stern and bow thrusters. It could rotate 360 degrees easily and docking was almost effortless. The maximum speed was 5 MPH, so there was little way to make too much damage. 

Tomas looking over Mike’s shoulder. You can also see the open port holes above 2 of the 3 staterooms. Each also had an en-suite full, but compact, head. There was a narrow hallway down the center.

The boat was thoughtfully designed for novice boaters and for foreigners not speaking French. Consoles used pictograms, for example, above the switches.(1)

While the guys got the rundown on systems, the gals picked staterooms and unloaded groceries that Alison and Tim thoughtfully packed. The galley had a full fridge, oven/range and was equipped with plenty of linens, glasses, cutlery, etc. 

THE LOCKS

We were ready to roll. The first challenge was to traverse through our first lock. There were 6 locks we worked through during the week (and same 6 returning).(2)

Teamwork makes the dream work. Here we ducked under a bridge and into the narrowest lock possible.

Mike and I had experience from the 1990s going through the large locks in Seattle, with the guidance of world-class Army Core of Engineers lock keepers. Alison and Tim had experience going through locks on their previous 4 canal trips, where they often had to operate locks themselves. The locks here on the Yonne were somewhere in between. They all had a single “eclusier” (lock keeper) who operated the lock and sometimes helped us with our lines. I found the locks to be a challenging, fun part of the adventure because of the teamwork.

View from the stern. Entering a lock. At this one, we were about to go “downhill.”

Crew taking their places. This lock was likely after a wine and cheese lunch.

Down we go, as it drains.

...and further down...

...until the water is level. The gates open and we continue our journey.

THE SMELLS

I mean smells in a good way. The air of the Yonne was heavy with flora. We think this was from blooming Mock Orange and Elder Flowers.

Banks covered in Mock Orange flowers.

While we never smelled freshly baked bread in boulangeries, we did smell irresistible chocolate croissants and eclairs with chocolate and maple-iced tops. These were a daily crew breakfast.

THE FOOD

We experienced 3 kinds of meals. The most special for me were the smorgasbord-style lunches that Alison prepared. These were a great excuse to wait for the lock openings. 

Lunch in the galley: melon, roast chicken, baguette, rabbit terrine, and more.

The second kind of meal was budget-friendly restaurant lunches. While the quality of these meals was hit-and-miss, the wait staff was kind and helpful. Most of these restaurants had escargot on the menu (to Alison’s delight) and perhaps one salad offering with baked chevre (one of Margaret’s favs). Pizza typically appeared on these menus.

Casual lunch with a hilarious, straw-hatted owner, “Leezz”, who sang and danced for us. 

Tim had a special talent for finding and booking dinners at fine restaurants in all the villages and towns we stayed at. These were the third kind of meal. As we hoped, the food at these establishments were outstanding in flavor and presentation. The service was friendly and professional. And the interiors celebrated the original architecture of the old buildings so tastefully. And to top this off, we found the prices to be half of what we’d pay for equivalent dinners in California. Spoiled and satisfied were we.

THE WINE

As I said in Part 1, we ended up not cruising through wine country. However, I think that we did plenty of wine tasting each day; lunch, happy hour, dinner...etc. We stuck with local chablis, pinots, and sparkling wine. I don't recall any that didn’t delight us. And again, we found the prices for these great wines were cheaper than the equivalent in California.

Yonne canal cruisers can’t live on wine alone. 

THE SIGHTS

So very much that we saw along the Yonne was delightful and so very different than my personal experience.

Here’s a typical view. Notice the path on either side, the bushy banks and the calm water. We hardly ever saw other boats as well.

The views were often magical. Almost like Disney-magical.

Postcard-perfect traditional homes with brightly contrasting shutters, framed by roses.

Brilliant, red poppies.

Storybook spires--these were homes.

The incredibly picturesque town of Joigny. We stayed 2 nights here with this view.

THE SHORE ACTIVITIES

After 2-5 hours of cruising most days, it was fun to go into the villages and towns to explore local markets, the cathedrals, clothing stores, and the pre-Renaissance towers. 

Mike and Margaret returning from the store on the funny little rental bikes.

We were humbled by the size of the Gothic churches. The stained glass windows, Renaissance paintings, and flying buttresses were awe-inspiring. What was really impressive were the cool, quiet interiors that calmed the most rambunctious of the crew.

Mike stands in front of one of the original portals in Villeneuve-sur-Yonne. This used to be a gate surrounded by thick stone walls. Cars drive in and out of the portal now. Glad I captured the French poodle in the pic too. The car and foot traffic streets in the towns were actually quite light.

Margaret “leaks” out joy of shopping on Joigny’s market day.

POST-CRUISE TOURING

Just as we got used to living in tight quarters and watching the world go by at 5 MPH, it was time to exit the last lock, dock, and pack. After realizing that nothing broke (3) and we each gained 5 lbs., the crew split ways. Alison and Time drove to the town of Chablis, and back to the UK. The rest of us stayed overnight in the bite-sized city of Auxerre. 

Final portrait on the Yonne.

The clock tower and astronomical clock were first built in 1483 in the old town part of Auxerre.

We 4 took an afternoon at the Abbey of Fontanay. This UNESCO world heritage site lived up to its billing. We found its current use as a family home, combined with the antique working forge, trout farm, and well-preserved buildings a unique window into the past. It reminds Mike and me of the original off-grid compound. Not that we are creating a compound at Decourcy, but still, there are parallels we can draw.

We then stayed in the town of Chablis in an attempt to finally get in some wine tasting! We found a few wine-tasting rooms and wineries open, even though we were there on a Monday. 

Now that we've tied the knot on this trip, we have created some great memories. The trip surpassed my expectations. I didn't expect the warm and patient French people, clean small towns with outstanding restaurants, as well as the perfumed, green scenery along the waterways. 

Mike and I really enjoyed catching up with our like-minded, boating, old friends on this fun and lovely trip.

FOOTNOTES FOR FUN FACT FANS

(1) Our boat was the Horizon 3 and was 45’/14 meters long. We never had to worry about power usage as long as we either plugged into shore power at night or ran the boat during the day charging the house batteries. 

(2) The locks in France were built in the late 1700s to the mid-1800s in order to boost commerce. Horses strapped diagonally to barges walked along canal paths. Trains steadily replaced canal and river traffic. And by the time automobiles came along, commerce in the canals was reduced to recreational boaters or commercial tour boats. Today, the paths are used by bicyclists and pedestrians. 

(3) Okay, so one line broke. At one of the first locks, I had tied a line too tight. As the lock opened, tremendous current pushed the boat, straining the line.  We heard an awful groaning whine. I thought, “Oh sh@#, the cleat is going to be torn off the boat!” I ducked and the polypropylene line snapped in two. Alison worked fast and retied the boat to the remaining line. No eyes or limbs were lost. Locks can be dangerous. Mike and I will traverse through 150+ locks when we do The Great Loop.

France Canal: Part 1

Our boat at a marina on the Yonne River, France

I’ve just returned from 3 weeks of travel. I boated, flew, trained, taxied and drove to Beaverton, Oregon, then to the UK (just London) and France (Paris and then Burgundy-by-boat). This travel was about the journey as well as the destinations because it was a haul to go from rural, to urban, to rural and back. Rinse and repeat. My personal saying since retirement is, “so far, retirement is just logistics.” 

All in all, with the sad exception of losing our sweet doggie, Maggie, on the first night of the trip, it was a fantastic trip that was full of pleasant surprises and new discoveries.

PORTLAND

To efficiently travel from Decourcy Island, you need to take a seaplane to Vancouver airport. This time of year, it means departing from Nanaimo(1). Mike boated us on a 30-minute speed ride in calm waters in our RIB(2) to Nanaimo. There, Mike kissed Maggie and I goodbye and we took a seaplane to the Vancouver seaplane dock. Then we taxied to Vancouver airport and flew to Portland. Karen rushed Maggie and me to the vet, where within a matter of hours we lost our special and loving dog. I’m so grateful for Karen’s support. 

After rushing through Portland earlier this year, I finally got to spend unhurried time with my family in the area. Karen took me to verdant Hoyt Arboretum. This must have been the best time of year to see it. The beautiful weather brought Crayola “Leaf Green” new growth, blooming dogwoods and rhododendrons at every turn.

Another highlight for me was a visit to the Maritime Museum in Astoria. The rigorous Coast Guard training and the historical challenges of the dangerous sand bar at the enormous mouth of the Columbia River were well-explained and, frankly, entertaining.(3)

During this week I expected to get an email from our French canal boat rental agency, Le Boat, with logistics and a confirmation. However, they surprised me with the news that a lock just south of our planned starting point was broken. We had signed up for a one-way trip from the small city of Auxerre to Tannay. Now we would have to start from Tanney and end at Tannay. Okay, so this was a little disappointing and I dreaded having to relay it to the crew. 

The crew consisted of we 3 couples. We were: Alison and Tim, ex-neighbors from Decourcy Island, repeat french canal boaters, and conversational French speakers. And, Margaret and Sean, friends from college days. And Mike and I were couple number 3.They buoyed me with being so flexible and having good attitudes. It really made life easier planning the trip. Also, everyone was a boater. 

LONDON 

Mike and I met up in Vancouver airport and we endured the first few days of jet lag in London. After a long evening of flying, we were impressed with the digitally efficient customs at Heathrow Airport.(4)

Outside our London hotel. The flags are still up celebrating the crowning of King Charles.

We met up with Margaret and Sean and over dinner, caught up and talked about our plans for our one great day in London together. Alison and Tim would drive from their flat outside London, meeting us at the Le Boat rental marina in France.

We discovered the perfect London afternoon outing: renting a small electric boat on the Regent Canal. We picked out delectable picnic lunches at a Marks & Spencer food store and for 3 peaceful hours, we offered queenly waves to passersby (5) as we silently floated past apartments and businesses, and through Regent Park. 

Picnic in an electric boat on Regent Canal, London.

Gorgeous scenery of the Regent Canal.

Colorful liveaboard canal boats in Regent Canal.

Here, we spotted our first graceful white swans of the trip. Being from California, we had only seen these in fairytales. Yes, we saw baby ducks this time of year, including an “ugly” swan duckling! Regent Park is also a mini mecca for geese, ducks and…monkeys! The canal skirts the enormous Monkey Valley habitat at the Regent Zoo.

We also passed barge homes, tied up in small clusters. After we regretfully returned the boat, Mike got friendly with one barger and finagled a tour. Walking from bow to stern, it has a salon with a kitchen. It’s about the same size as our galley on our tug, Unwine’d. A narrow hall encloses the bathroom and then opens up to a queen-sized bed. The skipper pilots the boat from a stern cockpit and uses a rudder, instead of a wheel. That's it. A fairly tight, floating RV.

We toured this live-aboard boat in London.

PARIS 

Around dinner time, the French boat rental agent sent an urgent email: “The lock South of Tannay has collapsed...your boat is south of Tannay in Decize...You must start at Decize and return there.” My thought: “I spent hours selecting the route and making sure it would work for our crew. What is that part of the canal like South of Tannay?” We did a little research via our cell phones and saw there were campgrounds along the waterway and a couple of villages. No wineries or Renassiance towns. 

The crew admitted that any cruise would be what they needed; a relaxing float. However, we decided to push the rental agency to find us another boat in another canal, relying on Alison and Tim’s coordination via calls in French, and our pointed emails with the rental agency. There are many canals in France with boat rentals.

In the meantime, we headed to France. When we got to Gare du Nord(6) we decided to look into train tickets to Tannay (the plan was to meet the Le Boat staff, first in Tannay) for the next day. That's when the real trouble started. The online booking system would not accept our booking. Neither would the ticket kiosk in Gare du Nord. We finally inquired with real Fench humans and learned that this was one of the busiest travel weekends in France! It was the three-day weekend that marks the beginning of summer. All trains were booked. 

Plan B: rent a car. Again, desperate search via cell phone. The car rental agent at Gare du Nord said apologetically, “We have no cars. Try the airports. And if you find any car available, book it fast.” After desperate clicking and swiping, we booked a car for a week that could hold us and our mountain of luggage. This was better, we told ourselves, “We won't have to drag luggage around and since we don't know where we are going tomorrow, we can be flexible!” Margaret said, “France drives on the right, right?”

Mike enjoys late night street food in the Right Bank, Paris.

The next morning we were relieved to learn that a boat was available in Migennes, albeit a slightly smaller boat. Another desperate cell phone search revealed a number of Renaissance towns, but no wineries. Practically in unison, we exclaimed, “We'll take it!”

Map of the 3 Le Boat locations (see red dots). There wasn’t much to do near Decize.

In the morning we schlepped our luggage to the Orly airport via train, and at the car rental we were pleasantly surprised to spy, waiting for us, a fairly roomy, new SUV. The perfect chariot to Migennes. Sean, our solid chauffeur. 

In rental car. Notice no view out the back due to perfectly engineered, stacked suitcases.

We had never been to the countryside in France and we were delighted to stare out the windows at quaint villages with very old stone homes. This area of France had farm after farm with green, softly rolling hills of wheat and rye. We spotted the apparently famous Charolais white cows. 

Typical view on drive from Paris to Migennes.

THE FLOAT BEGINS

Finally, we pulled into little Migennes, nestled against the Yonne canal(7). Laid out before us was the Le Boat fleet, all lined up. We checked in with the Le Boat staff and she directed us to our home for the next 7 days. All our anxiety about the quality and size of the boat alleviated with our first step into the rear cockpit. We were immediately pleased with its newness, cleanliness, and efficient layout. It was like being at a boat show. 

Here's the stern area. You can also see the rental bikes.

As we made our way to the “Lido” deck we saw Alison and Tim drive up. Waves, hugs, and kisses as we felt happy to be reunited and for Alison and Tim to meet Margaret and Sean for the first time. Surely, we appreciated the effort from the whole crew to get to that very moment to begin the float. We were in the Yonne River, and ready to see new country from the deck of a purpose-built canal boat in Burgundy, France.

FOOTNOTES FOR FUN FACT FANS

(1)Nanaimo is a large town North of Decourcy Island with a population of 100,000. It's got a Costco, big supermarkets, and a university. It has a large population of retirees who have migrated west. It’s a major harbor of Vancouver Island.

(2) RIB=rigid inflatable boat. We’ve been using this boat for about 15 years just at Decourcy Island. We store it on a trailer when we are not there. We plan to tow it behind us as we go to Alaska. It goes about 25 MPH versus about 8 MPH on the Nordic Tug.

(3) Only 18 petty officers a year are accepted into the elite Coast Guard training program in Astoria. The danger of the Columbia River opening to the Pacific Ocean is caused by a relatively shallow area, a sand bar. When a tidal current runs opposite of a high wind over the bar, it can create very high, 20-40 ft. steep waves. Like most boaters in the Bay Area, Mike and I have experienced this effect too, but on the sub-five foot scale. We try to avoid it.

(4) If you have nothing to declare, you queue up and just scan your passport and look at a camera lens for a facial scan. Then the gate opens and you pass on through without any human interface. 

(5) The Regent Canal, just like the Burgundy Canal and others in Europe, was built in the 1800s, or prior, to efficiently move commercial goods. Horses clomped along paths that line the canals, pulling the barges full of wine barrels, or whatever. These canals were outmoded by trains. Now, most canal traffic is comprised of commercial tour boats, private owners or renters like us. Pedestrians and bicyclists still use the paths. Government organizations maintain the canals for recreational use. 

(6) We took the Eurostar train which travels through the Chunnel. Our train was completely booked. Passengers go through security much like you do in an airport. You keep your luggage with you on the train. Gare du Nord the busiest train station in Europe. The superstructure is a romantic step back to the Beaux-Arts era of the 1800s. The rest is fairly modern.

(7) The Yonne River runs through the Yonne Valley, which is the northwest part of the Burgundy region. Sometimes we piloted in the river, while other times we were diverted to the Yonne canal.