PORT MCNEILL

Catching up, again, after skipping a day yesterday due a surprisingly busy day here in Port McNeill. We left Port Hardy fairly early yesterday, thinking it would be very windy but it wasn’t that bad. We even fixed breakfast after we left and it was calm enough for me to take a shower along the way. There were a few lumpy stretches, but, overall, a smooth three-hour ride down here. The wind did pick up throughout the day, however, and has stayed strong, in fact strengthened quite a bit, today.

We took advantage of being in a reasonably-sized town by hitting up the very well-stocked grocery store, the marine supply store, the sporting goods store, the beauty salon (Elaine) and the espresso shop (Dave).

This is the last significant provisioning stop going north until you hit Prince Rupert, just below the Alaska border. There are occasional marinas with small stores, but usually with half-empty shelves most of the week until the supply boat comes in.

Harley

One of the intriguing parts of staying at the marina in Port McNeill is “Harley,” the top dog of the dock. Harley essentially owns the docks, checking up on you several times a day (no, he’s not just looking for treats) and escorting you to your boat when you come down the dock.
Besides Harley, other wildlife include the bald eagles which hang out around the docks at low tide. They scavenge the tidal area for food and keep all the seagulls at bay.

When we decided to cruise north, I intentionally did not bring fishing gear, surmising that this is such a great fishing area I would just buy it. I was wrong. there is no fish for sale anywhere around here. Fish is something you go out and catch, not something that you buy in a market. I have not seen a single bit of seafood for sale at any market we have been to up here. This has forced me into buying fishing gear (at more expense than I was planning on), but, hopefully, as we travel north, we will have some fresh fish dinners.

Hanging out in the marina on windy days like yesterday and today have definitely enhanced our social life. Last night we had cocktails with a couple from the 100 year-old converted fishing trawler CAPE BEALE who we met when we were at Sullivan Bay, and tonight we had dinner with a couple we met at Kwatsi Bay. Boats sort of cruise around at their own pace, on their own itinerary, then end up bumping in to one another here and there. You never know who you’ll be anchored next to or moored near.

The weather forecast continues to look promising for Thursday through Sunday, so we’ll probably spend another day here, then start working our way up the Queen Charlotte Strait for an assault on Cape Caution late this week…

BACKTRACKING TO PORT HARDY

It was a very windy night. I guess that could be expected when you are anchored between a couple of small islands in the middle of Queen Charlotte Strait. Typically, the wind dies down around midnight or so and stays pretty quiet until late morning. That’s not what happened last night - it was windy, with the waves slapping the side of the hull all night.

I got up to check things out around 11:30 and was surprised to still see blue sky on the western horizon. I guess we are pretty far north. We had planned on getting up around 4 AM to get an early start (without wind) around Cape Caution. The weather forecast at 4 AM, however, was not at all promising. Essentially, gale warnings for the next three days. We went back to bed.

Knowing that rounding Cape Caution is now out of the picture for several days, we backtracked a bit and went over to Port Hardy on the north end of Vancouver Island. It wasn’t far, only a couple of hours, and most of it was downwind (more comfortable) although, getting out of the middle of the strait, we saw some pretty lumpy seas for a while.

We did have some company for part of the morning - a pod of dolphins swam along with us, jumping in front of the boat, swimming alongside then darting across the bow. It was fun to watch - they are amazingly agile. Unfortunately, they have sensors which detect when I pick up my camera, and they disappear until I put it down again.

Port Hardy is an OK little town, seems to exist primarily for the fishing crowd. Has the basics - espresso shop, local museum, hardware store, grocery store, etc. We walked through town picking up a few things (Elaine bought yarn at the hardware store). Basically it was a “lay low” day waiting out the wind.

It is not until Thursday that there is a forecasted lessening of the wind. I think we’ve had enough of Port Hardy, so we’re going to try for Port McNeill tomorrow. Even though the wind and seas are going to be a bit uncomfortable, we will be going downwind again, with following seas, so a few hours should be tolerable. We have heard that Port McNeill has a bit more to offer than Port Henry, and I’m sure the marina will be more comfortable and protected.

The current plan is to position ourselves on the north side of Queen Charlotte Strait Thursday, then try again to round Cape Caution on Friday. The forecasts are in our favor, if they are accurate…

STAGING FOR CAPE CAUTION

Well, I think this will be a quick post. Nothing terribly exciting happened today, and we have minimal cell service, so getting it uploaded may be a challenge.

We discussed whether or not we should head further north. There are a couple of barriers to doing so - one is Cape Caution, an exposed cape at the northern end of Queen Charlotte Strait which has a bad reputation. It is one of the “gateways” to cruising north of the 51st parallel. Rounding the cape, you are fully exposed to the Pacific Ocean (which I always say was badly mis-named), so you must pick the right weather window. Predominate winds are from the northwest this time of year, so if they are blowing, it is at the least uncomfortable going into large waves, at the most, dangerous. The other barrier to going further north is our boat insurance. We are insured only up to the 51st parallel, and if we go further, we must get a rider to our policy with restrictions as to when we can go, and how far we can go north.

We have heard so much about the area north of here, and several people have said we just have to go, so we decided we’re going for it. I emailed my insurance broker and we studied the weather reports and decided to skip Port McNeill for now and stage ourselves for a rounding of Cape Caution. We left Sointula a little late at 12:30, considering the wind usually comes up in the afternoon, and headed up the Queen Charlotte Strait to a protected cove between Staples Island and Kent Island, right in the middle of the strait. We did run into some 3-4 foot seas for a short while, but they calmed down and we anchored in the nice, calm cove about 4:30. We have the very isolated cove all to ourselves.

I got the crab pot out before happy hour and will pick it up later this evening. We want to be ready to go very early in the morning, before the wind comes up. It gets light just after 4 AM, so we should be on our way by then for the 6-7 hour rounding of the cape. We have a couple of bail-out anchorages identified, just in case it gets too rough out there…

Spades Island

SOINTULA, MALCOLM ISLAND

Had a slow morning today, catching up on world news (ugh! Why do we do that?) and getting a few chores done. I dismantled the anchor winch, figuring that the suggested "annual" maintenance had probably not been done for 5 or 6 years - no one takes their winch apart just to lubricate it. But that's what I did this morning while Elaine was doing laundry. Pretty boring stuff, but stuff that has to be done.

We did walk over to the 'Namgis First Nation Burial Ground which has an impressive collection of totem poles. According to the locals we talked with, totem poles are primarily visual statements explaining the identity of those who erect them. The figures on the poles represent mythical encounters of a family's ancestry with supernatural beings often represented by animal figures. The carvers added hidden meanings and visual puns, but the true meanings and significance were never written down.

Their beliefs were that nothing lasts forever, so the totems were not maintained. When it fell, or was damaged, it was time to make a new one.

It was interesting that there was one stone cross in the burial ground - a juxtaposition of cultures.

We left Alert Bay around mid-day and went the few miles of to the town of Sointula on Malcolm Island. This island has a history of being settled by a Finnish Socialist group in the early 20th century. The Socialist Commune didn't work out too well and was disbanded, but there remains a strong Finnish cultural influence here, as well as some of the socialism, represented by the major suppliers (grocery, hardware, oil/gas) being co-ops.

Unlike most marinas where they assign you a place to tie up, the instructions here were to "find a place that makes sense" in the marina, then come up to the office to register when you have time. We walked a couple of Km into town and everyone we passed gave us a greeting and welcomed us to Sointula. Even the drivers gave a wave in passing.

The grocery store was well stocked, with reasonable prices. The only thing that seems to be missing in all of these local grocery stores is seafood. You would think that since everyone fishes, catches crab and shrimp, there would be plenty around to sell. I'm beginning to think that fresh seafood changes hands in places other than the grocery stores. I'm going to have to sharpen my observation skills and find out where we can get some fresh fish & shrimp...

SULLIVAN BAY AND ALERT BAY

As nice as Sullivan Bay Marina was last night, it was remote enough to be beyond cell phone or internet reach. This evening, however, we are back at least close enough to civilization that we have a phone signal and can get online.

Alert Bay

Sullivan Bay is an interesting little floating community with all structures in the "town" on floats. There are several private homes, a restaurant, a marina, a general store, golf range, laundromat, boat repair/fuel dock and a floatplane airport all on floating docks anchored in the bay. It is probably the nicest marina we have seen in the Broughton Islands, a tribute to the hard work and ingenuity of the staff.

Sullivan Bay

The "golf range" takes a little explaining. There is an artificial turf tee box out on the end of the dock past the airport and a "hole" anchored out in the water. The hole is a small float with a flag on it and ranges between 100-150 yards out, depending on the tide and currents. Any marina guest eating at the restaurant is entitled to 4 tries to hit the "hole," and if you do, your marina stay for the night is free. You are also entitled (required) to wear just about the ugliest green plaid sportcoat I have ever seen, to dinner. Elaine & I both gave it a try - didn't have to worry about wearing an ugly coat!

We thought we'd cross Queen Charlotte Strait this morning, even though the weather forecast was for 15-25 knot winds with possible gale warning. The winds were to be out of the northwest, which means they would be behind us, so even if things got a little bouncy, at least we wouldn't be slamming into the waves. We got out there and it was almost like glass. There were a few smooth, small swells, but no wind and no waves. The sun was out and it was just about the nicest day we have had up here.

Queen Charlotte Strait

It took a few hours to cross the strait, then we turned in to Alert Bay on Cormorant Island, just northeast of Vancouver Island.  The harbour is a real "working boat" marina, but our trawler style boat fit right in. The town is primarily a "First Nation" settlement and they have a very nice cultural center which we visited, then visited the grocery store for a few essentials. We'll be heading over to Port McNeill in a day or so, and it is supposed to be a much more cosmopolitan town than Alert Bay, so we'll save any significant provisioning until then...

ECHO BAY

Well, I missed a day of blogging yesterday, but I can make up for it quickly: rain, cold, rain.

It rained for 36 hours with only one break of an hour or so in the late afternoon. It did make the waterfalls incredibly full and beautiful, but was it wet!

A couple of us tried to help the marina owner, Max, recover some items which had sunk, along with his shower house, last winter. A few months ago he had hired divers to check his anchors and, while they were down there, they secured a rope to a stainless steel fish-cleaning table. Unfortunately it was a pretty thin polypropylene rope and a very heavy table. Three of us couldn't pull it up, so we rigged up another line to Max's 120 year old hand-winch he had salvaged from an old lumber operation. The winch worked fine, but the rope just wasn't strong enough and broke before we could surface the table. All this in the pouring rain...

Most of the rest of the day was spent reading, covered in fleece and getting the boat warmed up now and then with the heater.

Even though it was still raining this morning, we had had enough of Kwatsi Bay, and left for Echo Bay, about a three-hour ride away. The weather gradually changed, with the wind diminishing, the rain stopping and the clouds finally letting a little blue sky show through.

After getting tied up at the marina, we went exploring for Billy's Museum - a locally famous collection of old-time artifacts collected by a fellow who has lived on the island for 75 years. The route to his museum was a bit circuitous, involving a condemned dock and pier, trying to find a path through a grassy meadow, wandering through deep woods, then finally finding Billy's place on the next bay over. It was an interesting collection, and Billy was fun to talk with.

After returning from the museum, I loaded the crab pots into the dinghy and took off for Shoal bay to drop them for the night. Well, it was a bit further than I thought over there, and the water was getting a bit rough from the afternoon winds, so I abandoned that idea and headed back to the boat. I like crab, but it's not worth the risk of having the dinghy get swamped with some very cold sea water...

KWATSI BAY

After our first cup of coffee this morning we went up to the head of the dock & picked up the croissants we ordered last evening. It was a nice change for breakfast rather than just coffee and a granola bar.

We  walked back to the boat through the cold wind and rain, turned on the heater for a while, then checked the crab pots. One that was too small, one female that needed to be thrown back and one large male, which was a keeper. He was soon dispatched and boiling away on the stove (kinda reminded me how much I miss my hot tub).

We left Port Harvey around 10 AM, heading toward Kwatsi Bay. The wind was very strong today - 15-20 knots - but, for the most part, we were in semi-protected waters, although saw 3 ft. waves at times. The scenery was terrific! The grandeur of the mountains is just overwhelming, Seven thousand foot snow-covered peaks as a background, then steep tree-covered granite escarpments diving down into the water. The rain and wind contributed to the drama, but it would have been nice to see this scene with some sunshine (and have it be a little warmer).

Along the way we did see a black bear foraging among the rocks on shore, the usual seals and sea lions, but not a whole lot of other wildlife. Maybe they were all waiting out the weather too.

Soon after pulling in to Kwatsi Bay Marina, we took the wharfinger's advice and hiked up to a nearby waterfall. We had to dinghy over to the remote trailhead, but were reassured that no bears had been seen in the area for several days. We hiked through the dense woods, Elaine with her whistle in hand to frighten away any bears, and found a very impressive waterfall.

Before joining the rest of the marina guests for the usual pot-luck happy hour on the dock, I took the dinghy and set out a couple of crab pots in the bay. I'll check them in the morning and see if we can add to our store of crabmeat...

PORT HARVEY

Just a quick post today - it has been a very long day, I'm tired and I have crab pots to check...

We left Big Bay this morning at 11 AM after waiting around for too many hours for the flood slack tide to let us get through Gillard and Dent Rapids. We could have gone earlier (5:20 AM!) during the ebb slack tide, but then we would have been fighting a head-current the rest of the day. By waiting, we got anywhere from a 1 to 3 knot boost from the current all the way down through Johnstone Strait.

We were also lucky in that the wind was from the southeast heading out Johnstone Strait. The more normal situation for this time of year is to have a northwesterly wind which would then be going against the current, causing waves, havoc and misery for all. With the wind going the same direction as the current, there were no waves. It wasn't perfect -- it was cloudy, cold and it rained, but I would take that any day over fighting an oncoming sea.

We were headed to Port Harvey, partly because I had heard George had rebuilt his pizza oven after having his marina barge sink a couple of years ago (the reputation for George's baking has been around for quite a while). Although the oven has been rebuilt, and is in operation, we pulled in to the marina too late to get our pizza order in for tonight. The consolation is that we did get our order in for freshly-baked cheese and bacon croissants for tomorrow morning.

Elaine threw together a great chicken curry dish for dinner which we carried up to the "dining room" at the head of the dock and ate with all of our dock-mates, who were having pizza -  a nice social get-together.

We were advised, when we first tied up to the dock, that we should throw our crab pots over the side and there would be a good chance of success. We dropped them down before we went up for dinner, then checked them when we got back - two females & one undersized male. All had to be thrown back, but the traps are down again, just waiting for those guys.

We will probably head up into the Broughton Island area tomorrow, although the forecast calls for another pretty gloomy day. Who knows, maybe we'll just sit here and wait for our crab pots to fill up...

YUCULTA RAPIDS

It was a surprisingly quiet night last night. The wind died down around 10 PM so there were no ripples on the water to hit the side of the boat and make noise. We must be getting used to the sun rising at 5 AM, because we now ignore it and we actually slept in until almost 7!

After the Storm

Our plans for the day were to do a few chores on the boat, then head over to Squirrel Cove and anchor out. We left Melanie Cove about 10 AM and were in Squirrel Cove by 11:15. That was too early to call it a day, so we stopped by the store at Squirrel Cove, then kept on going. We calculated the slack tide for Yuculta Rapids (pronounced u-claw-ta—I know, not like it looks), and figured we could make the 4 PM slack ebb without any problem. We didn’t want to continue through Gillard and Dent Rapids (although we could have made it fine) because we would then be fighting a flood current in Cordero Channel. We took the option to duck out at Big Bay on Stuart Island just after Yuculta Rapids and we’ll take the slack flood through the other rapids early tomorrow morning, then ride an ebb tide down Cordero Channel.

Stuart Island is very interesting. The local economy is based on sportfishing, and there are a number of high-end, and very high-end resorts here catering to the wealthy. Accommodations start at $1000/night and the restaurants serve set-menu dinners starting at $120/plate. Helicopters are coming and going, dropping off clients, and there are a couple of large (100 ft +) yachts dropping off guests for a wedding scheduled for tomorrow.

We are at the public docks, had a beer on the veranda of the community co-op store and will have canned chili over rice for dinner. Slumming it! Nice, though…

GALE WARNINGS

Gale Warning: an official warning of the existence or imminence of winds of 34 to 47 knots (54 mph) in the marine area.

We took it easy today - never even weighed anchor or changed locations. We were in a protected cove and watched the weather go by with very strong wind gusts and heavy rain on and off (very happy I bought an oversized Rocna anchor!). It never got up to 60 degrees (F) all day, so it was double layer fleece, wool socks and we even occasionally turned on the heater.

Last evening it was so cold Elaine decided to bake cookies, using the oven to heat up the boat. This morning it was biscuits — I can see some advantage to this cold weather…

It was a “project” day for me, trying to fix our electric outboard motor. We managed to break the shear pin holding the prop, and after tearing this boat apart, decided I must not have put the spare shear pins on board. I tried making one from a metal barbecue skewer, but it didn’t hold up, so, after searching for anything that would work, I modified an allen wrench to be our new shear pin. I also had to epoxy the prop and now, after only five hours, the epoxy is finally starting to set. I had hoped to get it back together by this evening, but it looks like tomorrow.

Another project was to get my old I-phone (full of music) connected to the stereo. We are now in an area with limited, or no reception, and it would be nice to have music once on a while, so I managed to get the rear of the stereo exposed and make a USB connection so we now can have music during dinner (and at other times too).

Because we did not run the engine today, the batteries did not get any electricity from the alternator. We started up the generator this afternoon to charge up the batteries. Since the generator supplies 120 volt electricity, Elaine got out the vacuum cleaner for a quick clean-up, after which she was able to take a nice warm shower since the water heater works on 120V too.

We also worked our way through a couple of books during the storms and even an afternoon game of Scrabble. Another diversion was watching the bald eagles come out between squalls.

The weather is forecast to improve tomorrow, so we will be on the move again, probably over to Squirrel Cove to set up for going through the next set of rapids - Yuculta, Gillard and Dent. These rapids are a major “gateway” for getting north up to the Broughton Islands and can only be passed on a slack tide, preferably after a high tide, so the passage must be timed precisely to get through all three safely.

We are starting to make plans on where we could leave the boat for a couple of weeks and get back home for a short time before flying back to continue the voyage. There are significant logistics, including where we could pick up a float plane to get back to Seattle, then get down to Tacoma to pick up the car before heading home. I suspect things will work out -  they have so far…

DESOLATION SOUND

We had a quiet evening in Lund last night, although the marina is sheltered only by a floating breakwater and is a little rolly. At least it was a gentle roll and rocked us to sleep.

I downloaded a photo of the town of Lund, viewed from the dock. It shows the hotel which has a gallery, post office, laundromat and grocery store behind it. But that’s only half of the town - not in the picture is the Bakery, sweater shop and kayak tour office. That pretty much makes up the whole town. Nancy’s Bakery is a very well known establishment, and for good reason. They have an incredible assortment of bakery products and also serve meals from a nice, casual menu. We stopped in for a breakfast treat and coffee this morning and it seemed like half the town stopped by for coffee while we were there.

The big discussion on the docks this morning was the weather report. Gale warnings have been issued as there are two fronts coming through - one today and the larger one tomorrow. Winds are forecast up to 35 knots today and possibly up to 50-60 knots associated with tomorrow’s front. People were trying to decide wether they should stay in Lund (with the rolly docks) or head out to find a sheltered anchorage to hide out in for a couple of days. Lund is only about 15 miles from some protected bays in Desolation Sound, and with the first front forecast to come through around noon, we decided to go for it. Although it was windy, the water wasn’t too bad since we were in the lee of the peninsula and a bunch of small islands along the way. We went through a very narrow, shallow passage into Prideaux Haven then through another smaller passage into Melanie Bay. Both of these bays are well protected from the forecast southeast winds, with Melanie Bay, although much smaller, being the most protected. As we got into the bay, it was obvious others thought the same way we did. This small bay already had five boats anchored in it, but there was enough room for one more, so we dropped anchor.

Only a few minutes later, the front came through with very strong winds and heavy rain. By this time, we were snug in the cabin, warming up soup and noodles for lunch…










BTW, we had a great dinner last night - that poor fish that got caught up in my crab pot ended up wrapped in parchment, accompanied by some onion, peppers, tomato, lime and a splash of vermouth. A few minutes in the oven and that was it!

PENDER HARBOUR TO LUND

It was an uneventful passage back down to Jervis Inlet, although the afternoon winds picked up and we were pushing through 3-4 ft. waves on the nose for a couple of hours. We finally got through Telescope Passage into Blind Bay on our way to an anchorage on Hardy Island. Once in the small cove, we were planning on putting out an anchor in the middle of the cove, then backing in toward the shore and tying a line from the stern of the boat to land. We tried twice to get a set on the anchor, but it just wouldn't hold, so we went out more toward the larger part of the bay and dropped anchor there. It initially held, but I just couldn't put much confidence in it, so we pulled up the anchor and backtracked a couple of hours to Pender Harbour, where we knew we wold have an excellent anchorage (as well as a cell phone connection).

We anchored in essentially the same place where we were anchored Saturday night - in the well-protected Gardners Bay area. We knew we were running low on water, so I dinghied over to a marina to see if we could get water from them in the morning. They happened to have a pub at that marina and a big-screen TV with the Warriors/Cleveland pregame show on it. I quickly went back to the boat, got Elaine & returned so we could have a bite to eat, a beer or two and watch the Warriors win the Championship.

I'm glad that, earlier, we made the effort for a good anchorage, as the wind blew very strongly during the night and I'm sure we would have dragged anchor if we had stayed on Hardy Island

Looking at our charts this morning, we decided we would stop by the small town of Lund on our way north and spend the night at their docks, and we could get water there. We skipped getting water at the Pender Harbour Marina and headed out into bumpy Malaspina Strait, stopping by to pick up the crab pots we had put out on our way in the night before. Unfortunately, we did not get any crab, but, somehow, a flounder got stuck in one of the traps and I couldn't get him out without causing him grave bodily harm. The only solution was a merciful euthanasia after which I filleted him, so we are having fresh fish tonight.

The water calmed down remarkably through the day and we had a smooth ride all the way into Lund. We are now just south of Desolation Sound, so will be going in to that area tomorrow, weather permitting. The forecast is not that great - rain and at least a short period of high winds, but we'll see. If things look really ugly, we both have a few books with us and we can hunker down here for another day (there's a bakery at the head of the dock that has famous blackberry cinnamon buns that may be worth another day anyway)...

PRINCESS LOUISA INLET

Cruising into the fjords of Jervis Inlet, we left hi-tech behind. Snow-capped mountain peaks 7-10,000 ft high surrounded us and cut off all airwave reception from the outside. No cell coverage, no TV reception, no AM or FM radio reception, no VHF radio reception, no weather radio reception… The only communication device working was the Garmin InReach satellite communicator, and that worked only when the satellites were in the appropriate orbit and were essentially overhead.

Luckily, we didn’t need any of that for our visit up to Princess Louisa Inlet - the Holy Grail of West Coast cruisers.  The inlet, with its infamous Chatterbox Falls, is about 40 miles up from Malaspina Strait above Pender Harbour. We weighed anchor around 7 AM Sunday morning, timing our route to arrive at the entrance to Princess Louisa Inlet five hours later at slack tide. The entrance is a narrow channel less than a quarter mile long, called Malibu Rapids where the currents can run as high as 9 knots with eddies, whirlpools and standing overfalls. Twice each day, as the tide changes, the current subsides and, for about a half hour or so, it is safe to pass.

The cruise up to that point was pretty spectacular - the further we went up the fjords, the more peaks and waterfalls we saw. The whole area is densely forested with no towns, villages, or other pockets of civilization. There were a couple of lumber camps and an aquaculture station, but we didn’t even see more than two or three other boats the whole way.

We did have to wait around for about 45 minutes when we got to Malibu Rapids, then once we were through it was another four miles up to the head of the inlet and Chatterbox Falls. The steep granite walls of the inlet were thousands of feet high with dozens of waterfalls cascading down from the melting snow on the peaks. All the guidebooks and cruising guides describe the area as “magnificent” and say it has a “majestic grandeur.” They are correct, and are not overstating.

 We tied up to the dock right in front of the falls and had a spectacular view outside our salon windows. A few other boats were there, but we seem to be pretty early in the season around here (everyone says it picks up when school is out, late June) and it was not at all crowded. The only way to visit this area is by boat or by floatplane.

After looking up the tide tables last night and calculating the morning slack tide, we pulled away from the dock today at 6 AM. We leisurely cruised the length of the inlet while making coffee and having breakfast, soaking in the incredible scenery,  and arrived at Malibu Rapids right at slack.

STRAIT OF GEORGIA

So much for the accuracy of the marine weather forecasters. We checked the NOAA forecast, the

Environment Canada forecast, Windytv and Big Wave Dave (a local windsurfing site) — all said the 5-10 knot overnight winds would diminish to “light and variable” by morning and continue to abate throughout the day with a partly cloudy sky. We woke up to steady rain and a northwest wind at least 10 knots. Since it was supposed to diminish, we left Nanaimo Harbour around 8:15 to cross the Strait of Georgia. The US/Canada Torpedo Test Range, Whiskey Golf, was inactive today, so we were able to make a straight line across to strait toward our goal - Pender Harbour. Immediately out of Nanaimo the water started getting a bit lumpy and the seas increased until we were going into a very confused sea with waves in the 3-4 ft. range. It wasn’t bad enough to turn around, but we were rockin’ and rollin’ a bit. The crossing took about three hours and the waves started to drop after about two hours. The last hour saw 2-3 ft. waves until we got behind a couple of islands which smoothed things out.

We got into Pender Harbour and anchored in Garden Bay around 1 PM. Looking for a more detailed cruising guide to Desolation Sound and the Broughton Islands, we took the dinghy into shore and walked over to John Henry’s Store to check out their selection. We didn’t really find what we wanted, but picked up another book anyway.

The weather had improved by this time, although it remained cool, breezy and cloudy. We tried sitting up on deck to read, but it was just too cold so moved back inside where it is very pleasant out of the wind. We did have a few visitors, though - so would you call them Canadian Canada Geese?

We’ll crank up the barbecue tonight. We’ve spent so many nights in marinas so far (very atypical for us - we almost always anchor out) we haven’t barbecued much - they don’t let you do that when so many other boats are close by.

The plan for tomorrow is to cruise up the Jarvis Inlet about 40 miles to Princess Louisa Inlet. We’ll have to get an early start in order to time the tidal flows through Malibu Rapids at the entrance to the inlet. It is a narrow, “S” shaped channel which can have flows up to 9 knots, so we want to get there in between the ebb tide and the flood tide when the water has the least movement.

NANAIMO LAYOVER

Nice relaxed day in Nanaimo, doing a little sightseeing, laundry and provisioning the boat.

After Elaine finished laundry this morning, we walked up to the Farmer's Market where the Marina attendant suggested we could buy some farmers (he must not have seen the apostrophe). The market was a bit underwhelming, although I did get a very good muffin for breakfast.

Near the Farmer's Market was the daily "firing of the cannon" which commemorates the Hudson Bay Company's protection of the area during the fur trading days. I found it a bit ironic that the cannon was pointed directly at a performing Elvis impersonator...


We took at least three trips to the grocery store today (have to carry everything back to the boat), one to the drug store and one to the marine supply store. I think we are pretty well supplied. Elaine feels that since we are having a difficult time finding places to put everything, we must we adequately provisioned.

Internet connection and speed here at the marina is good, so we anticipate streaming the Warriors/Cavaliers game this evening. Hopefully there won't be any technical problems and we'll be able to enjoy the game - especially if the Warriors win.

The weather forecast is looking good for tomorrow. Winds aren't too strong today and are forecast to diminish overnight to "light." If accurate, we should be able to get across the Strait of Georgia and up to Pender Harbor tomorrow. We'll see...



P.S. Update - we couldn't get the game on internet (they won't stream to Canada), so went to a nearby pub to watch it. Had to sit right in front of the drummer of the band - don't know if it was that or the way the Warriors played tonight that gave me this headache...

SOME WET, GREY DAYS

Since we had a couple of boats tied up behind us, we didn't get off to a very early start from Victoria Harbour on Tuesday morning. We left the slip around 9AM, then spent a while searching for the pump-out station to empty our black water holding tank. We found it, got pumped out & passed the harbor breakwater around 9:30. We retraced our route around the south end of Vancouver Island, but then went north through the Gulf Islands on our way to Nanaimo. Originally we thought we might make it up there in one day, but a combination of the late start and pushing against some tidal currents, we decided to call it a day around 4:30 and anchor in Montague Harbour on Galiano Island.

The forecast was for increasing cloudiness with some showers in the afternoon, and the clouds definitely increased through out the day, but the "shower" part was off a bit. It started raining soon after we anchored and rained steadily throughout the night and most of this morning. There was also strong wind forecasted to accompany this cold front, but it was surprisingly still overnight and the wind didn't pick up this morning until around 9 or so.

We had another challenge to follow the Warriors game last night. We didn't have any TV reception where we were anchored (no surprise), but were able to get a scratchy AM station which was broadcasting the game. I also had a bit of cellular reception, so I tried using my phone as a "hot spot" and we started watching the game on the computer. That actually worked out quite well -- until I exceeded my daily hi-speed limit of 500 megabytes. We had changed our plan to get "unlimited" data while in Canada, they just didn't point out the small print that said after 500 megabytes in a 24 hour period you went back to old-fashioned dial-up modem speeds (wiping out any possibility of accessing the internet for the rest of the night). Naturally, that wasn't enough to stream the game, so for the second half we went back to the scratchy AM radio broadcast. In any case, it was a good game with an exciting finish in favor of the Warriors. We'll have to see what happens tomorrow night - not only with the outcome of the game, but how and where we will watch it. We have quite of history of trying to watch the Finals in unique places. It seems like we are cruising during the NBA finals each year and have had to be quite creative at times to watch the Warriors play. We have streamed the games, gone to marina lounges, bars, laundromats, other boats, etc. just to keep up with the games.

Back to the weather - the forecast also called for high winds today, in the 35-40 knot range from the SE clocking around to the SW. Luckily, this put the wind behind us, so we started out early, expecting a possibly bumpy, but tolerable ride. We pulled anchor around 7:30 to get to Dodd Narrows three hours later at slack tide. The narrows is only around 120 feet wide with lots of water coming through during the tidal exchanges. Currents can run up to 9 knots or so and be quite turbulent, so one needs to time it to go through as the tides are changing and the water is slack. This happens a couple of times a day, but only lasts for a half hour or less before the currents start up again, so timing is everything. Past Dodd Narrows, we pulled in to Nanaimo and got a slip at the marina so we could conveniently get to the grocery store in anticipation of not seeing many more big stores as we head north from here.

Nanaimo is a neat little city - the second largest on Vancouver Island after Victoria. It has a very organic, earth-muffin vibe that makes those of us from Marin County feel right at home. Nice restaurants, nice shops, a good marine supply store - what more could you ask for?

The forecast is for remaining strong winds for another day, and this means it would not be wise to cross the Strait of Georgia tomorrow. So, we're going to spend another day in Nanaimo, but this will give Elaine a chance to get to the Farmer's Market tomorrow (and maybe even visit the yarn shop she discovered tonight) and then, hopefully, we'll cross the Strait on Saturday.