We’re voyaging north to further explore the Hakai Luxvbalis Conservancy Area and the outer islands north of Seaforth Channel, so we won’t be blogging again until we’re back and caught up in the mid-August time frame.  More then.

Jennifer & James Hamilton

Jennifer@mvdirona.com / jrh@mvdirona.com

Hi James,

As I recall, your website shows pictures of you using your laptop on the bridge of Dirona. Can you tell me what laptop you use that is viewable in the bright sunshine? Is your laptop dedicated to Nobeltec or other software or does is get all-around use?…….Excel, Word, Photoshop…..that sort of thing.

Nice work on Cruising the Secret Coast. I didn’t make Trawler Fest, but perhaps you could do a presentation for the Power Squadron in the fall?

Thanks,

Gerald Albertson

Response:

Gerald, you can buy products like the Panasonic Toughbook that are ruggedized.  We chose to spend less and, if necessary, replace more frequently rather than pay extra for a ruggedized system.  Essentially we self-insure.  Over the course of the last 8 years, I think we have established that it was the right approach.  We buy inexpensive laptops, they last quite well—typically  around 3 years—and then we upgrade.

For screen brightness, any screen is a problem in the sun and there is no avoiding that problem entirely. We do find considerable variation in laptop screen brightness.  We favor those that are on the bright side and we have always found them usable.

We run Nobeltec, Word (boat log), Excel (fuel log), Photoshop, weather software, a NMEA multiplexer, and logging software all on the same laptop (I wrote the last three software packages).  If we ran single functionality, we probably would spend less time chasing the odd weird issue, but that would require more laptops. Each costs money and each requires power.  We choose to run everything boat-related on the one boat laptop and it works fine. We do, however, have a backup laptop that is running Nobeltec and always is ready to go if we run into problems.  And we have a backup GPS system in case the main GPS fails.

Sure, we would be happy to do a presentation for the Power Squadron in the fall.

            --jrh

While heading south through Colvos Passage on July 3^rd, we heard on the radio that Quartermaster Harbor was closed to all boats until 6pm that day due to the Tall Ship Parade of Sail. We arrived in the area just as the last one, the CGC Eagle, was leaving Quartermaster Harbor. An impressive number of pleasure craft surrounded the parade, and an equally impressive security contingent guarded the boats. The Eagle had a particularly large entourage: two 110-foot patrol boats, the Sea Lion and the Orcas, and two large tractor tugs, the Henry Foss and the Wedell Foss. A myriad of other small Coast Guard and Coast Guard Auxiliary craft in everything ranging from Coast Guard 27-foot utility boats to 50-foot pleasure-craft to jet skis zoomed throughout the crowds and the parading ships, while the Coast Guard’s 175-foot buoy tender Henry Blake stood off the entrance to Quartermaster Harbor.

We idled off the Ruston shore to watch the ships pass, then joined the crowds in the Foss Waterway as the ships docked and fighter planes swooped overhead.

Queen Charlotte Sound has many amazing white-sand beaches, but the best we’ve found are at the McMullin Group. The sand is deep and soft, and almost every beach has view east to the Coast Mountains.

The island group is wonderfully complex, making for interesting dinghy exploration. As we toured around, we kept finding what we thought was the best beach, only to find an even better one around the corner. And as at many of the nicer beaches in Queen Charlotte Sound, we found an elaborate kayaker camp, complete with a rope swing. From the camp, a trail led to the western side of the group, for views across the Pacific. We later took the dinghy into the outer reefs west of the islands. That was exciting—the seas were reasonably calm, but breakers crashed over the reefs all around us.

For more detail on the McMullin Group, directions and anchoring advice, see chapter twenty, Bardswell Group, in Cruising the Secret Coast.

Earlier this month, Michael Short of the radio show Let’s Go Outdoors interviewed us on Cruising the Secret Coast. Michael asked a variety of questions, including how we got started in boating, why we wrote the book, and some of the experiences that have stood out over the years. The show aired this past weekend as Episode 10 of Let’s Go Outdoors Canada (LGO Canada). Update: new link to listen online.

We lived for years in Victoria, B.C., where both our families had owned various small boats. Work took us to Toronto for a decade, and during this time James’ parents had purchased a larger boat, Hunter’s Moon, a Hunter 31. When we returned to the West Coast, the time we spent on Hunter’s Moon convinced us we needed a boat of our own.