Desolation Sound – Grace Harbor July 19th -20th

We started towards Desolation Sound around noon and we traveled about 20 miles around Malaspina Peninsula to Grace Harbor. It is a wooded large cove surrounded on all sides and well protected from wind, current and weather. The only thing to watch out for is their tides, which are a 15 foot swing from high tide to low tide. You just need to be careful when you anchor. There are bald eagles, sea gulls, seals and of course we caught a red rock crab for an appetizer. We still have not been in an area where you can harvest shellfish and there was a red tide warning just cleared, so we will probably only have oysters in restaurants, if you can find anyone preparing the oysters raw.
We had bought 600 feet of polysteel stern line (so we don’t have to use our good/expensive drogue line) to wrap around trees. As we finished anchoring and using our new stern tie line, Sid rowed over in his dinghy. He was also anchored in the harbor and had been exploring and taking pictures of an old cabin on Gifford Island. Anyway it was warm enough that we went for a swim and Alexus tried to go down to see how the anchor was set. The water is not glacier run off, but it is not warm, and 10 feet lower Alexus said it was a dramatic change and very chilly and she decided it was just too cold just to see how the anchor performed. We had a great day that was very peaceful. The harbor does fill fast and there were about 22 boats on Saturday, and everyone respected the quiet. On Sunday the local folks headed for home and the harbor had about 12 boats for the day.

Powell River - Westview to Lund Harbor, July 18th , 2008

It is a short two hour cruise from Westview to Lund Harbor. Lund is very busy as it is the point from which you can take a water taxi from the mainland of British Columbia to the Savary Island, which is surrounded by wonderful sand beaches, and it marks the last portion of the paved road BC 101. We were able to dock on a floating cement breakwater on the inside. It allows us to dock, but there is no power and we must use the dinghy to get to shore. It was a good test of the new winch Alexus had installed, as the new Yamaha 15 HP outboard was heavier than the old 7.5 Mercury. It was also a chance to try out the new (used) outboard motor, since we needed the dinghy to get to shore.

It was almost 4:30 when we got Lund, so Alexus called to see if we could get a dinner seating for the event at the Laughing Oyster Restaurant and we could watch Scotty play guitar and sing. We were able to make the 8:00 seating. While we were in the process of docking on the breakwater float, we got a hand from Sid. Sid has a sailboat that he spends aboard during the summers. Sid worked in the Silicon Valley and was familiar with the bay area. We exchanged stories and Sid was planning to head to Desolation Sound too and we may meet up with him there. He also spends his time while here exploring the old native Canadian Indian sites and has a very cool artifact that he found and wears as a talisman. I am sure we will see Sid again. It was nearing 7:45 and our ride arrived. It was Scotty, and he drove us over to the Laughing Oyster restaurant. It is a short 10 minute drive. The restaurant is lovely, with a gourmet menu and wine list. It has a great view of the Okeover Inlet, and Dave is an excellent master chief and musician. Scotty is a wonderful guitar player, singer and performer. The whole night was amazing, as the owner Dave, his daughter who studies opera was just engaged the night before. Her Fiancee also works there and is also an opera singer. That night we had a wonderful meal, wine and were treated to opera and rock and roll and folk music.

We also met two lovely women who also happened to stop at the restaurant, Nancy and Dawn. Dawn was from America and loves the San Francisco area, and California and Nancy is a Canadian. They were married in Canada two years ago. We laughed and enjoyed our time with them and invited them to come over to the boat the next day before we left for Desolation Sound and they did! We had a great time and would have enjoyed spending more time with them, but the Harbor Mistress was running a tight dock and she had a 75 foot vessel coming in and we had the best spot for it, so we said our goodbyes and were on our way.

Egmont to Powell River – Westview Harbor July 16th-17th, 2008

There are two stops before you enter the remote area of Desolation Sound, Powell River – Westview is one of them. We had learned from our experience at Princess Louisa and on entering Canadian waters, that they anchor in much deeper water than we are used to in California. So, we went to the local chandlery in order to buy more chain to add to our anchor rode. We currently have a 65 pound Ultra quick setting anchor, 65 feet of chain and 120 feet of line. We decided it would be much easier to have all chain. One reason is that our windlass has a gypsy (the windlass is the device you use to pull up anchor, just like a winch.) (the gypsy is on the windlass and it is what you feed either line or chain through and it grabs it to pull it aboard the boat.) has one side for chain and one side for line. It became evident that it was difficult for us singly and together to hold all the anchor and chain weight while we made the switch from right to left on the windlass. We had never been anchored in 80+ feet of water and had all that weight hanging straight down. So we ordered 200 feet of chain that was to come in the next day and we would have them bring it down to the boat. That way we would have additional weight and length and not have to make a switch from chain to line on the windlass. It would be much nicer.

While we were there, next door to the chandlery was an outboard motor shop. We had looked at a new outboard before we left, but they are quite expensive, 3 to 4 thousand, and we had paid $500 for our old 1984 two stroke Mercury. We were just looking, but in conversation the owner mention he had a used 1997 Yamaha four stoke for $1200. He showed it to us and we agreed it was time to upgrade our dinghy outboard. They brought the outboard down to the boat and installed it on the dinghy. This outboard is so much quieter and does not put out that grey smoke that a two stroke that you add oil to the fuel does. Yea!! The used outboard is quieter, cleaner and was less than half the price of a new outboard. We spent two days in West View and met some fantastic folks. Scotty, a musician who picks up his “Mexico beer money” driving a city provided free shuttle, that goes from the West View Marina to the town center mall. He told us about the area and that he was going to be playing at a restaurant, The Laughing Oyster over in Okeover Inlet on the east side of Malaspina Penisula. We did not know if we could make it, but he gave us the name of the owner, his good friend Dave and said they would send someone to the Marina in Lund if we needed a ride. We thought we might stop in Lund the next day, but were not sure, everything was dependent on when the chain we ordered would arrive.
West View is a great walking town and the shuttle is wonderful for boaters. We met John and Joyce and their wonderfully converted wooden fishing boat. They have so much open space, and beautiful colors in the interior and the owner even included a large amount of diesel fuel!!! John is a Captain and he had captained the Yacht that belonged to Melvin Belli, a famous San Francisco lawyer. Joyce is a teacher and they have three great dogs. So we exchanged sea stories, contacts and I know we will run into them again. They are simply lovely folks. Well, the chain did not come in the next day and the distributor was now unsure of when it would come in, so we decided to just continue with what we were doing. Also, the depths we would anchor in Desolation Sound were in the 15 -30 feet versus the 60-90 feet in Princess Louisa, so we would be OK.

Princess Louisa to Egmont Canada, BC July 15, 2008

Well, the cruise to Princess Louisa Inlet can best be compared to the “ Road to Hana” beautiful, but there is only one way back. So we manhandled getting our anchor released from the rocky bottom and headed back to Egmont. We exited through Malibu Rapids at slack tide and I maneuvered the boat with no problem. It is easy at slack tide; but that is why you transit at slack tide. Anyway five hours later, we are again tied up at the dock in Egmont, and are currently in the pub having Halibut and Chips and catching up with e-mail and the blog site. Tomorrow we are headed toward Desolation Sound, the farthest North we will go, and then start back towards Anacortes Washington. At the pub we were able to get cell signal and had a message from Sam and Robert on Pier Pressure, who it sounded like they were in Vancouver and on their way to Alaska. We may run into them again, and we will send Sam an e-mail letting him know we got his message today, when we were in Egmont.

Egmont to Princess Louisa Inlet & Park July 13 – 15th, 2008

We left Egmont fully provisioned and ready for days away from everything. Princess Louisa Park is reached through a number of inlets and reaches, 35 miles worth to be exact. If you can imagine the terrain of Yosemite, or the Grand Tetons of Wyoming, but up against large bodies of salt water, then you have the picture.
We spent a day at the park on the northwest side, and used a stern tie and a ring drilled into a rock. It was simply lovely and we walked by the falls and got plenty of spray to get wet. We explored in the dinghy and had a wonderful time. We could have anchored right in front of the falls and allowed the current from the falls to keep us from swinging. It is the thing to do, but it seemed so selfish to block the view of others. Not that there were more than 8 to 10 boats there. Our anchoring spot was lovely. The next day Alexus wanted to anchor next to a waterfall we had “dinghyed” by, so we did. I was perfectly happy where we were, after all it is a beautiful location and one that everyone strives to see, but after some multi-phased maneuvering we were set in our new location. It proved to be challenging to release the anchor on the way out, but it was a pretty spot with our own little water fall to listen to. You can’t fish or harvest shellfish here in the park, so it really is a one or two night visit. Anyway it was simply lovely and worth the 70 miles up and back. I forgot to mention the entrance to the inlet is called the Malibu rapids. Speeds can reach up to 12knots in a another dog-leg where you cannot see oncoming boats so you arrive at slack water time and go through with no problem at all. There is a lodge right ay the rapids that is simply beautiful and was the playground for the likes of John Wayne, Bob Hope and other Hollywood stars. It now belongs to a Christian Youth group. The weather has been perfect, warm, sunny and in the low 80’s high 70’s during the day. It would be swimming weather if the water was warmer. After all, the waterfalls consist of glacier run off, not quite tropical swimming.

Smugglers Cove to Egmont July 12th, 2008

We left Smuggler Cove and made our way to Egmont in Skookumchuck Narrows. Egmont is the last docking, provisioning and fuel point before starting up Jervis Inlet on the way 35 miles to Princess Louisa Inlet. There are no other facilities along the way. At Egmont we docked and went to the local grocery store which was very well provisioned and then went and spent the night at Back Eddy Marina. We were tired of pub food and I did not feel like cooking, so we walked up the road about ½ mile to West Wilderness Lodge. It was simply lovely. The view of the inlet was fantastic, the food was well prepared and presented. Anywhere that serves Venison Osco Busco and a Seafood Trio combined with a good wine list, we can spend hours just soaking it up, so we did! When we walked back to Back Eddy Marina we talked to the owner of a 1987 Nova 42 foot trawler. They had just got her in December and were living aboard. Their home base was right there in Egmont. So far we have seen three other Novas, one in Anacortes – 42 foot, two state room, Simpatica, owned by Mark and Jen who live aboard and are artists. The other in Nanaimo a 36 foot Compromise, that is owned by Lee and his wife who travel the gulf Islands.

Nanaimo Vancouver Island to Smugglers Cove British Columbia Mainland July 11th, 2008

In order to get to Smugglers Cove which is a small Marine Park, you need to cross the Straight of Georgia – again. This time we have the added concern of dealing with the Canadian Navy’s testing area. It is a live test area for torpedos and naval weapons. They are not armed, but they can track vessels and if struck cause severe damage to your boat. You must avoid the area if it is active. If active you go the long way around and cross the straight north of Whiskey Golf and Whiskey Foxtrot areas. We headed out to avoid the testing area. For us, going directly across the straight would save us from 1.5 to 2 hours in travel. As we neared the area, Alexus contacted the Winchelas Control and we were advised that the area was open to crossing. Yea!!! Off we went directly across the straight. The weather was perfect and the seas were calm. We made good time to Smugglers Cove.
Smugglers Cove is small and in order for a good number of boats to anchor, you must stern tie as well as bow anchor. Stern tie means after you set anchor, you either use eye bolts provided in the shoreline rocks, or in some cases trees, running a line out from the stern of your boat to the eye bolt or tree. What this does is reduce your swing off the anchor considerably, in fact almost to nothing, depending on the current, tide and wind in the area in which you anchor. Alexus wanted to try this and after a second attempt and some coaching from the folks on Nora Dee II, we were able to set anchor and have effective stern ties. Smugglers Cove is much like the area around Angel Island, only more enclosed with three separate little bays or anchoring areas. We rowed the dinghy around, piddled at Smuggler Cove and I was fortunate to watch a small Red Deer on the shore makes it way from one small canyon to the next.

Thetis Island to Nanaimo via Dodd Narrows - July 8th – July 10th, 2008

We left Thetis Island to time our arrival at Dodd Narrows with slack tide. It is a very small pass, smaller in width than Deception Pass and has a dog leg shape so you don’t see oncoming boats. In order to make it safe for everyone, most boats pass only at slack times and announce their entrance to Dodd Narrows over channel 16, which is the channel everyone monitors. So for us it went something like “Securtie, Securtie, 42 foot motor vessel, NuMoon entering northbound Dodd Narrows, any concerned vessels respond on channel 16”. There was no response and most folks were northbound at this time, so off we went. The current through the pass is strong, but it is the narrowness and dog leg shape that make up the challenge. After going through the narrows we proceeded to Nanaimo. Nanaimo is a large city, one of the largest we have been in a while. They have 130,000 people in the city and a West Marine store. We jumped on our bikes and rode to the West Marine store. Our barbeque that we got at West Marine just under a year ago had stopped lighting with the striker and we were using a lighter. We saw one at West Marine, but did not know how we would make it back the three plus miles to the boat with a small barbeque. Well the sales person at West Marine Rachael, was simply wonderful. She offered to drive us back to the boat with the new barbeque, get the old one and bring us back and then we could ride our bikes back without concern. It was simply perfect. Rachael is a very charming young woman with three young children and a husband who recently suffered severe injuries in a motorcycle accident. However, Rachel is someone who seems very capable tackling all things life throws at her and she still remains a kind and generous person. The wind had picked up in the Straight of Georgia to 25 to 30 knots and it is a large body of water we would need to cross. We decided to sit out the two days that the wind was projected to blow. We could have made it and it would have been perfectly safe, but the chop is close together at around 6 to 8 feet and just plain old unpleasant. We had promised ourselves no more of that kind of travel, and we are holding to that promise. We walked the town and on the third day it was still windy, so we headed over to the worlds only floating pub called the “Dinghy Dock.” There is a small boat that runs every hour from Nanaimo to Protection Island where the “Dinghy Dock” pub is located. We were seated next to a group of women,L iza, Bon-Bon (Bonnie), Nina, Trudy and Josie. They were there celebrating Liza’s (Liza with a “Z” like Liza Minelli), birthday. Well one thing led to another and we ended up walking over to Josie’s house on Protection Island. She has lived there for sometime and she and her son have enjoyed the island life. Her house is wonderful, she says it is small, but it is comfortable, and seems to serve and fit her well. Nina’s sister was to come the next day and they were planning a party at Nina’s and Trudy’s house and they invited us to spend one more day in Nanaimo. They were all wonderful, joyous, women of our age, enjoying life. Josie gave us a tour of the island in her golf cart and we did donuts in a golf cart on the cement basketball court. I think golf carts have a ways to go to be high performance driving machines, but Josie’s does it all including “off roading”. It would have been nice to go to the party, but we had stayed three days in Nanaimo waiting on the weather and the next days was good cruising weather so off we went on our way to Smugglers Cove on the mainland of British Columbia.

Chemainus to Thetis Island July 7th 2008

We left Chemainus and took a very short one hour ride over to Thetis Island. Telegraph Harbor on Thetis has two marinas and we wanted to explore Thetis. So off we went. We ended up after looking around, staying at the Thetis Marina. The docks are long side ties, so we had power, no water. Water is a premium on the islands and very few docks have water and only if you are refilling water tanks, no wash down of your boat is allowed. Thetis is a small island and has about three hundred people. We walked up to the pub and paid our mooring fees and had lunch. The waitress, combination harbor person was named Mary. She lives on the island full time and is a writer and has a book coming out she has edited called Songs of the Whales. It is about all the local people and other locals sharing stories. It is done in a story telling fashion. After lunch it was time to go exploring. There is a cut in the middle of the island, that at high tide you supposedly can take your boat through to the other side of the island and into Clam Bay. Well we decided to test that with the dinghy instead of the boat since no way did it look passable, barley passable for a dinghy. We started out ok and by the time we got to the middle, rowing the dinghy with the outboard motor up, it started scrapping bottom. It was a nice warm day and the water, shallow as it was, was warm. So we stepped out of the dinghy and dragged her through the shallow part about 10 yards to where it was deep enough to get back in and continue. The water was very shallow. A woman 5 yards next to us in a kayak was scrapping the bottom and pushing off with her oars. It was an adventure as we passed a very small sailboat, with a mom a dad and two kids. The mom and dad got out of the sail boat to give her less draft and walk her forward, while the kids remained inside. Once thorough to the other side we started the engine and explored Clam Bay. Clam Bay is an Indian Reservation and there really are lots of clams and oysters. Unfortunately the area is posted no harvesting at this time. By the time we finished exploring, the tide had begun to come in and there was enough water to use the outboard all the way through. The tide differences here are large. They can range from an average of 10 to 14 feet. It makes planning travel and anchoring a little more challenging, not impossible, you just know when you arrived either high or low tide and account for that. When we returned to the boat and I had a couple more days left on my fishing license, we decided to see if we could catch crab from off the back of the boat. We used our folding, expandable crab pot, and low and behold, we caught crab. They were Red Rock Crab, great flavor just a little tougher shells. We caught three one female and two males. You cannot keep the females, and males must be 5 ¾ inches across, so she went free and the two males were dinner. We dropped the crab pot back in during dinner and we caught two more. We decided we had had enough crab in the last two nights and these lucky fellows were set free.

Montague Marine Park to Chemainus Marina July 5th-6th

The weather returned to its rainy and cloudy state so we decided to leave Montague Marine Park and head over to the town of Chemainus and the Chemainus Marina. The weather along the way opened up and poured, didn’t quite rinse the boat clean, but at least most of the travel dust came off the outside.
The harbor at Chemainus is small, and run by a gentlemen named Harmen. Harmen is simply charming and just the friendliest person you will ever meet. He helped us squeeze into a tight spot and Alexus maneuvered the boat expertly. We had electricity, water, and a short walk up the dock to the town. One of the travel books talks about the marina being close to the ferry and getting some rocking and rolling until nightfall, but we did not find it to be unpleasant and even less than we experienced at Friday Harbor. That afternoon we had Sushi at a little Japanese restaurant and walked the town. Chemainus was a logging town and when that closed down, the city council looked for ways to bring work back into the city. A council member had seen where a town in Europe invited artists to paint murals all over town related to the cities history and to attract tourists to see the murals. Well, it worked for Chemainus, they have an annual average of 650,000 people visit the town. They also have a large theater festival and pull in folks from all over Vancouver Island. In fact, we loved the idea so much, we bought tickets for a professional equity presented musical, “South Pacific”. The matinee included lunch, which was themed to the play and we enjoyed a wonderful stage presentation on Sunday July 6th. We went on a horse drawn tour of the town where they describe the history and point out the “vanishing point” perspectives of the 40 murals in the town. While we were at the dock, we met the folks docked next to us. They had caught some nice crab right off the back of their boat. I was amazed and shared that we had tried over at Montague, but had no luck. When we returned from our play Steve, had caught and cleaned and cooked four crabs. We thanked him profusely and I gave him a big hug. It was so sweet of him to do that. So after our big afternoon at the play we returned to the boat to dine on fresh crab.

Ganges to Montague Marine Park July 4th

We left Ganges and headed out to moor at Montague Marine Park. It is a very nice marine Park with a dock, mooring balls and a nature center on the water. Nearby, via a dinghy there is also a marina with a small restaurant and store and I bought a 5 day fishing license there to try my luck crabbing. We did not catch anything n that attempt. We walked the rocky shore of Montague Island and it drove Alexus crazy to see all the oysters on the rocks. There was a shellfish warning in effect at that time, so we could not harvest any oysters. But we hope to along the trip somewhere.

Port Browning to Ganges Harbor and Marina July 2 -4, 2008

We left Port Browning and went around the north west side of Pender Island to check out Otter Bay. it is very small and the area is cute, but with limited dock space. We headed across the channel t and into the channel that leads to Ganges Island and Ganges Harbor. We planned to stay for two nights at the Ganges Marina. When we called to reserve a slip they advised us to call when closer to get a slip assignment. We were assigned slip b19. As we pulled into the marina between the seaplanes and other boats we rounded the breakwater and as we pulled into our slip, right next door was Kapalua, with Neal and Eva aboard. It was great fun to see them again, especially since our plans and timing were unclear last time we were in Poets Cove. They had stayed at Otter Bay while we had been in Port Browning. More to come, losing internet signal for the dock. We are off to Montague Marine Park and then after a day or two to Thetis Island and then Nanaimo.