Day 1 and 2

Today I got a call and email from my dad which was unexpected. He is supposed to call on Sundays and Wednesdays. Last night he stayed at his friend Doug's cabin (I'm not sure of the location but I believe it is on the sunshine coast? If you know, please let me know) and today, he seadooed for 8 hours straight and made it to PORT HARDY!!! Wow!!! He said that it rained most of the time and it was very wet. He tried to leave his dry suit zipper down a bit for bathroom breaks etc. but said that was a HUGE mistake as he ended up getting soaking wet. Another slight issue is that he forgot one glove. He had a burger for dinner (I don't think he ate anything else all day....grrrr...although he assured me he was drinking water) and then found a hotel to stay in. His plan is to head to Namu and then Shearwater in the next couple days, which is near Bella Bella. The highlight for him so far (besides a burger for dinner and finding a hotel to stay in) has been seeing so many beautiful lighthouses. It's been hard for him to get any pictures as its been drizzling and dreary all day.

Here is a photo of Port Hardy (northern tip of Vancouver Island where the awesome Cape Scott Trail is). The map below shows where he plans to head to tomorrow although I think he will just put up a tent on the coast rather than staying at the resort. Namu is half way between Port Hardy and Bella Bella, it is an old cannery site, and apparently the oldest human habitation site of about 10,000 years ago. It is a heritage site for First Nations and industrial historic site. From what I've read, Namu once had 600 residents but the cannery closed down 10 years ago and now only has 6 full time residents.

Another map is below showing the ferry route which will be very similar to his. The ferry does this trip in 8 1/2 hours so I assume it will be quite similar, although he will probably do it in 2 days. Please stay tuned for further info as his adventure should be updated on Wednesday afternoon when he hopes to be in Prince Rupert. Please remember my dad in your prayers. Prayers for safety, wisdom, and memories to last a lifetime! His email said that if he has to, he will send the machine and himself home on a ferry (if conditions are ridiculous). I guess they both took a bit of a pounding today. His plan is to slow down a bit and really enjoy the next part as he has seen the Vancouver Island portion, which he has just completed, several times already. He says he misses us but is enjoying God's great work.

The Plan

On Friday, June 29th, my dad left from Horseshoe Bay to head out on a SEADOO to Alaska. He will be calling every 3 days or so, and then I will update where he's at and how it's going. This is the only picture I have of the seadoo and it was taken last August. Since then, he has added a wind sheild and attached many other apparatus' to it such as; gas tanks, storage bins, GPS, an oar, flare guns etc. He is going out on his own and has been planning the adventure for about 6 months now.

For those of you that are worried, he does have a satellite phone (that costs $3.00 a minute, therefore he says he will only talk to me for one minute:)) and a dry suit.

The plan is to try to get to Alaska but his greatest dream has always been to explore the Queen Charlotte Islands. Below is a map, showing the coast of BC and how far he has to go. He has set aside one month to do this trip and he knows that we would be more proud of him for making a wise decision and return if it gets too wild, than to actually reach Alaska. As you can see by the map below, his greatest concern is reaching the Queen Charlotte Islands as they are many miles offshore (oh boy, he told me once how far, but I forget) which makes it difficult due to unpredictable weather. I will now update days 1 and 2 on the next post!