A Sea Pig Weekend 2009

This is a picture of my Dad on the up-dated Sea Pig at Present Island about 1979 - Remembering the Sea Pig.

Judy peruses the fresh strawberries at Sarnia Farmers' Market

Bill and Wendy at the market.

The weather forecast was somewhat ominous and the skies were filled with clouds as my old friends Bill and Judy arrived from Brampton at around noon on Friday. Our other old friends David and Reenie were arriving Saturday. I have known Bill and David since we were in seventh grade when my family moved from North Bay down to Toronto in 1960. It has become somewhat of a tradition over the past ten years or so for us to get together here in Point Edward on a long weekend. Luckily, the sun started to break through and by seven Friday evening (better late than never).

Click any picture to enlarge it.

Reenie helps set up the buffet lunch aboard the Phoenix. All part of the Sea Pig Reunion weekend.

Now, as back in Sea Pig days, the food has always been part of the ritual. David checks it out.

Bill and David watch the boats go by from the bridge of the Phoenix.

The original Sea Pig with oil drum pontoons. Look how small the front deck is.

In 1967 (age 18) David and I began construction of a home made houseboat named the Sea Pig. My mom was office manager at Canadian Oxygen at the time and she sweet talked somebody into loaning us a welder. The original plan involved used oil drums, welded together to form the pontoons. The result was a ‘ship’ with all the styling finesse of a case of beer on two salamis. The boat was started in our back yard in Long Branch and completed up at David’s family cottage at Duck Bay, near Port Severn Ontario.

Several years later, when I was living in London Ontario, I managed to acquire a dozen stainless steel agricultural spray tanks from the bankruptcy auction of the George White Farm Machinery Company. Nose cones were fabricated at London Steel Industries and David hauled the ready-to-assemble pontoons on his trailer up to the cottage near Waubaushene. This enhancement made the old Sea Pig much more seaworthy, increased her weight carrying capacity, and increased her length by 7 feet to about 38 feet. Longer and better balanced, she even looked much better.

That's Wendy and me with David and his Mom, Mabel.

We sold the Sea Pig in 1980 for $1800 but in those dozen or so years we had countless adventures as we explored the lower part of Georgian Bay’s Thirty Thousand Islands. I had become part of David’s family up there at the cottage as did the Sea Pig. His family’s un-ending hospitality is something I’ll never forget. Over the years, the youths of the Sea Pig grew up, married and had children. Parents and older friends and neighbors passed away one by one but the memories of those Sea Pig days live on at these annual get-togethers.

Wendy and I in the galley of the Sea Pig.

Bill seems to be having a good time. I remember it was a rough water voyage from Midland to Waubaushene.

Barry's mom Lois laughed until tears ran down her face

We took the Pig through some pretty rough water. How it stayed together is an engineering mystery.

David's mom Mabel seems to doubt the sage admonitions of Captain Tim.

The new, stainless pontoons ready for installation during the late 1970's refit.

Judy is aboard their Alcan houseboat. The hands are my son Tim's 1979 (born 1977).

Reenie thirty years ago.

Bill and I on the 'roof deck' of the old Sea Pig

So, almost every year for the past forty or so, we have gotten together somewhere for the Sea Pig Reunion. This year, I dug out some old photos to put on a slide presentation of a hundred or so snapshot pictures of some of the highlights of those Sea Pig Years. As usual, we had a really good time, albeit much more subdued than those wilder and carefree days aboard the old Sea Pig.

A buffet on the 'Lido Deck' of the Sea Pig over 30 years ago.



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Cocktails On The Green

The first of what hopefully will become a regular weekly event was staged under unsettled skies. This potluck type cocktail hour was the idea of condo neighbors Grace and Ann. It's good to get out and talk with your neighbors, especially in the gorgeous setting of the condo common areas. Thankfully the rain held off until it was over and the temperature was a comfortable 75F.

Audrie (above) and George moved away to B.C. last August but were back for a wedding.

It was good to see George, who moved away to B.C.

Happy Birthday Canada! - Canada Day 2009

Although it was raining, we could see the fireworks quite well from our bedroom window at the condo.

A Perfectly Hot Week

Wendy drove back to London on Wednesday for a dentist appointment and a “Girls’ Night” at Joyce’s in Aylmer on Thursday. It has been a hot week and even the nights are not much cooler. I ran the two AC’s on the boat all week, not just for comfort, but it tends to dry things out and freshen the air. While Wendy was away I had time to get a few things fixed and maintained. The dinghy works well and I am happy with a new 5 gallon tank replacing the 3 gallon size that came with it.

When Wendy arrived back, we took the dinghy over to Stokes Bay Restaurant for a dinner of hot chicken wings and cold beer. The weather is perfect for an outdoor patio meal.

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A Leisurely Ride Up The River

Check out the blue sky! Perfect weather. Phoenix at dock. Condos in background.

The Phoenix was out of winter storage and ready in the water and waiting for us when we drove to Port Lambton to bring it the 26 miles up the St.Clair River to our condo in Point Edward. Normally, we do this a little earlier, but since we were away in Alaska for 2 weeks, there was no rush to put it in any earlier this year. Because I keep her in heated storage, everything was just like I left it last fall.

A night shot on time exposure of the Phoenix at our marina

Wendy drove the car back and I took an uneventful but pleasant ride up the perfectly flat river. Although the temperature was in the low 80’s, the ride was particularly pleasant as I enjoyed the soft breeze created by the boat at 12 knots or so. No need to run faster - just uses more fuel. I was running against the current so it took a little over two hours, arriving at 1:40 pm. Checking the price of fuel in USA, I was pleasantly surprised to find diesel was cheaper than gasoline. Diesel $2.79/gal. Gasoline $3.49/gal. This compares to the Canadian price of $1.11CDN/liter (almost $4.50/gal.) Hopefully it will stay down until my NEXUS card comes in the mail, so I can take the Phoenix to USA next week.

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NEXUS Connects Us - Easy as 1 2 3 (Months)

Since our condo is right at the border with USA, we have NEXUS cards that can be used for entries by land or sea. On land we have a special NEXUS lane where there is generally no line up. The program was designed for frequent, “low risk, prescreened” travelers and works very well when it works. It has saved us countless hours in lineups on the Bluewater Bridge. Also, we don’t need to carry our passports when we cross by car or boat.

Anyway, our cards expired, so like a passport, a new application has to be filed every 5 years. No renewals. I began the application process with $50 each back in April. Apparently they need three months to do police background checks in both countries etc. Tuesday was our appointment date for our personal interview with first a US Customs officer, then a Canadian officer. This all took place after being fingerprinted, photographed and re-asked most all of the questions on the original application. Now we must wait an additional 7 to 10 business days for the cards to come in the mail. All in all a simple three month process! Never expect anything quickly from the government unless it’s something they want.

Back Home - Great Cruise!!!

Got some pictures posted but this will take at least until the next weekend. Stay Tuned. Check again next week.

Back to reality - Friday, June 19, 2009

I don't feel any thinner. I hope they let me on the plane!!!

At Sea, Bernie's Birthday

I managed to get a great movie of Bernie on stage with beautiful Joni Butler, the excellent featured singer at the evening show(s)

Ketchikan, Alaska - Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Our last Alaskan port of call is Ketchikan.

It looked a little dubious at first but when we got to Ketchikan the weather turned nice. There was a lot of activity as 4 planes landed at the Airport and a dozen or so float planes took off or landed and circled the ship. Ketchikan has to be one of the best shopping destinations on the whole trip. A myriad of tourist stores starts right at the dock and stretches throughout the little village.

We wandered around for a few hours, retracing some of the stores we visited last week.

An actual ship from the Discovery TV series “the Deadliest Catch” has been refurbished into a tour boat with several hundred seats for tourists to go out on the ocean and experience crab harvesting firsthand. Every excursion available seemed to involve either a float plane or some sort of boat. All of these tours may have been good value if the weather was crystal clear but at $300 to $400 for the two of us, we were not convinced it was something they really wanted to do, especially after seeing so much other amazing and wondrous sites in the past few days.

Later we watched the ship dancers do a Broadway type show and headed off to the dining room for dinner. Bernie went to the pinnacle for dinner. He had asked Liz but unfortunately she was unable to attend. Tomorrow is Bernie’s birthday and we bought a present (a tshirt) for him. I treated myself to a mickey of vodka which I smuggled aboard for later.

Juneau, Alaska - Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Our third last port of call is Juneau. When we were here last week we decided to see more this time.
We had planned on visiting the Mendenhall Glacier today but as we arrived there was rain on the deck, so we decided to wait and see. This was the town where when we were here last week we saw an outdoor stand (Tracy’s) selling buckets of Alaskan King Crab Legs. We have since reminisced at the size of those legs and were still contemplating sharing a bucket for lunch.

Well, since we are so weather-lucky this trip, it was no surprise that the sun started to Shine before noon. We bought 2 tickets to get to the Mendenhall Glacier. This proved to be a good decision. The fare for the 12 mile trip was only $7 each, each way so it was economical too! There were several trails to explore. One took us quite close to the glacier and the water falls. Of course all the way along the trail Wendy fretted about bears. Ironically we heard there was one spotted near the parking lot where we were to catch the shuttle.

On our return to Juneau the stores were all packed with shoppers owing to the fact that there are 3 other large ships in port. We ordered a bucket of king crab legs at Tracy’s. They were huge and delicious, served al fresco at dockside with unlimited melted butter. After that, craving a cold beer, we crossed the street to the Red Dog Saloon but couldn’t get a seat it was so crowded.

Tomorrow we are back in Ketchican, our last port before returning to Vancouver on Friday morning.

Skagway – Please Bear With Me

The sidewalks are all but rolled up in Skagway come winter, so you can only imagine the frightful conditions endured by the gold prospectors who passed through en route to the Yukon, with a mandatory ton of supplies to be hauled with them over the steep and treacherous Trail of '98.

We awoke before the alarm at 6:30 am to bright sunshine on the deck. Wendy saw a white Beluga whale just before we docked along with 3 other large ships. How could a 14 day trip just keep getting better every day? The weather was perfect, warm, sunny, mid-sixties

We hit the dock at 8:45 because we have an Avis car reserved for 9:00. Did you know a Canadian cannot legally rent a car in USA and drive it into Canada? Huh? Maybe there’s a reason I don’t understand but it seems like a stupid law to me. Luckily a few weeks ago I read about the dumb law and emailed Bernie. He liked the idea of getting a car, agreed to drive across the border and mailed me a cheque. Perfect!

We entered Canada with Bernie at the wheel, without event, at Fraser BC and continued to Carcross in the Yukon after a mini tour of greater Carcross, we headed up to Emerald Lake for more pictures before heading back to Skagway. We figured we all got much better value with the rental car than from the train ride at $103 each and we went much farther. The scenery was wherever you pointed the camera.

Keep The Car Running Bernie!
On the way back I saw something beside a car on the other side of the road. “Look, a bear!” Bernie swung the Toyota into a u-turn and we approached slowly and quietly up behind the other car. There on the side of the road, a big brown bear was casually enjoying a meal of dandelion flowers. He totally ignored us as he passed by our car within 10 feet. I switched my camera to ‘movie’ and recorded the whole thing. Here's the You Tube Video:



All in all, the drive consisted of about 5 hours of un-ending ‘wows'. Overwhelming beauty and awesome vistas just continued mile after mile. We were overdosing on the sights, sounds and smells of the great white north.

Back in Skagway, we wandered around this picturesque town with its old style buildings and myriad of tourist traps. With 4 ships in port, it was very busy with thousands of shoppers. In one of the many diamond stores, we found Liz, the ship’s shopping representative, Bernie’s shipboard friend. Also, at the same store, we said hello to our tablemates Carol and Glynis.