Westview - Powell River to Secret Cove - July 24th, 2008

We left Westview and headed south towards Secret Cove. Secret Cove is just north of Smugglers Cove Provincial Park where we had stayed on the way north. Secret Cove has a great marina and although expensive, it was nicer than Roche Harbor. The docks are nicer and they have a great store and restaurant that are both very good quality and at half the cost of the store prices and restaurant in Roche. The weather was perfect and we had a port tie.. We were next to a couple who were laying out the design for their retirement home on the dock. They were in the process of planning and having the land surveyed. We had a great dinner and the restaurant had a very good wine list. We checked out the store and bought a few additional supplies. Secret Cove is one of three marinas in the harbor and it is very pretty, surrounded by tress and feels removed from a high paced marina. At the restaurant we met a wonderful couple, Brock and Mary who travel in their sailboat Manuhuka. As happens with all boaters we meet, we exchange great places to see and share boating adventures or misadventures. It will be nice if we run into Brock and Mary again sometime. They had kept their boat at Point Roberts for some years before moving it to Canada.

Prideaux Haven- Refuge Cove- Lund- West View Powel River July 23rd, 2008

We left Prideaux Haven and set out for Refuge Cove. Refuge Cove is noted to be the busiest place in Desolation Sound. It is not in the Marine Park proper so there is a store, fuel dock, garbage barge and café. We wanted to take a picture of the store as the ones we had seen really made it look like the last outpost of civilization. Well it was an extremely busy place, even the garbage barge. A man named Dave set up the barge and for a small fee you can leave your trash there, as all the Marine parks are pack in and pack out with no facilities for water or trash. We did not have a need to unload our trash at that time. Refuge Cove was very crowded with no docking space, we took our pictures from the boat and headed for Lund. We had stayed at Lund before, but had not explored the city itself, we thought we might do that. However, when we arrived at Lund the place was full. It seems that the vacation season had hit its peak in Canada. There was no place for us to dock or anchor. We could burn diesel and wait for someone to leave, however West View/Powel River was about 2 hours away and we knew we could dock there. So off we went. We arrived at West View at about 4:30 and they did have room so we pulled in for the night.

Parker Harbor to Prideaux Haven July 22nd, 2008

We left Parker Harbor about 9am and headed for Prideaux Haven. The area is made up of three coves and is very popular for large yachts, since the coves are large and provide significant space to anchor and allow for swing without using a stern tie. (A stern tie is where you have your anchor let down in front and you take a line to shore and tie to a tree, rock or sometimes, there is a metal ring. You bring that back and tie off on both rear cleats. This keeps the boat from swinging 360 degrees around the anchor point. It allows more boats to anchor in small limited spaces.) Anyway, it was very crowed when we pulled into Prideaux, the most boats we had seen in some time. However, there is a smaller, but still good size cove through a narrow channel called Melanie Cove. We went through the little channel and Melanie Cove was much less crowded and so we anchored in the middle and did not stern tie the boat this time. The current was so minimal in the cove that we never moved more than 30 feet away from the anchor point. The tide was about a 15 foot difference from high to low and that was the only time the boat changed direction, from west to east, but did not move significantlyfrom the anchor point. The wind at about 5-6 knots was light and had little effect on our swing.

We have been towing the dinghy,”very Canadian” as you don’t encounter much sea and the distances between anchorages is short. So we went exploring to the other Cove that makes up Prideaux Haven, Laura Cove. In Laura Cove there was what appeared to be a yacht club outing and there were 9 boats rafted together and plenty of people. We had picked a good spot in Melanie Cove. The weather has finally been warm, 70 to 80 during the day and the water in Desolation Sound is about 65 to 70 degrees. So, Alexus decided to take a look at the anchor and donned all her dive equipment, wet suit, tank, gloves, hood, and down she went. We were anchored in about 20 feet of water and after about 10 feet again the water got significantly colder. She was attempting to free up the line we tie to the anchor with buoy at the end. The buoy marks the anchor spot, and the line was not as long as it should have been given the water depth. Most likely the line got wrapped around the chain as we let the anchor down. As she was diving, Alexus was able to see where the chain and the buoy line was wrapped, but because of the mud could not see where the anchor went into the mud bottom. That is a very good thing!!!! It means our anchor sets well and our chain also sets well on the bottom to hold our 40,000 to 50,000 pound boat.

A Note About Desolation Sound And The Numerous Coves.
It is all very pretty and again looks like a combination of Yosemite and the Grand Tetons with large bodies of salt water thrown in. Like everything else though, we have pretty much seen our fill of beautiful coves. We spent about four full days in Desolation Sound. There are other islands and channels to explore further north, out of Desolation Sound Marine Park, but we need to start heading south. It will be good to get back to a mix of towns, marinas, mooring balls and anchoring in less populated coves. The water won’t be as warm, but the scenery will change more frequently.

Grace Harbor – Okeover Inlet- Parker Harbor, July 21st, 2008

We left Grace Harbor and headed for Okeover Inlet. Okevoer landing is where the wonderful restaurant the “Laughing Oyster” is located. We anchored about ½ mile from the landing and used the dinghy to tie up to the small dock. We walked around the area and up to the restaurant. We were looking for the store, but there did not appear to be one. Since it was near lunch time and we had had such a wonderful dinner the other night, we decided to stay for lunch. We tried some sautéed oysters, but they still are not as good as raw on the half shell, which no one in Canada seems to prepare. Anyway, after a great lunch we “dinghyed” back to the boat. There is not much shelter where we were anchored, so we went up Okeover Inlet to a small one boat cove.

It took us a while to identify it as Parker Harbor. It was only mentioned briefly in one of the four books we use, Waggoners, and two others about Desolation Sound. We first found the cove our charts. It was more protected than the open Okeover Inlet and we anchored there without any problem and no need to stern tie the boat to reduce our swing. It was a pleasant night so we got in the dinghy and rowed around the little cove. It seems it was a private oyster lease area. The water is so clear and was only about 15 to 20 feet deep and you could see oysters all over the rocky bottom. We returned to the boat and watched one of the best and most colorful sunsets yet!