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)...