Sunday: Penn Cove, Whidbey Island to Seattle and back home

It turned out that this was the weekend of the annual Coupeville Arts and Crafts fair, a pretty big deal that attracts artisans and shoppers from all over. We had about a six hour run ahead of us to get home, but it was another beautiful day so we decided to stay here for the morning and take a look around.

Coupeville is distinguished by a 415 foot pier, the longest on Puget Sound, that sticks out into Penn Cove.







The fair was set up through the four main streets in town and spilled over into a nearby park.



We’ve only been to the fair once before, in 1995, and it had really grown since then when it only ran along one street. We took our time looking but didn’t buy much. Nevertheless, it was fun to wander and see the area again. By lunchtime we had had our fill, so it was back to the boat to eat and finish up the trip.

Compared to the scenery of the San Juans and Gulf Islands where we have been for the last three weeks, the trip from Penn Cove home is not terribly scenic and is fairly boring. But the weather was great, so we sat back and enjoyed the ride. As we approached the locks, through which we needed to pass to return to Lake Union, we wondered how Seafair would affect us. Seafair is Seattle’s big annual summer festival that culminates in hydroplane races and a Blue Angels airshow over Lake Washington, and it was happening this weekend. While I’m sure there are a few die-hard hydroplane fans, most of the people who go by boat to the race course and tie up to the log boom surrounding it do so to swim, drink beer, party, and then cruise back through the locks just about the time we would be arriving.

Sure enough, the locks were wild and full of revelers, but fortunately for us they were all going in the opposite direction. We were directed to the smaller of the two locks, along with some others, but the main action was happening in the large locks. We were happy to avoid it. They crammed quite a few of us in the small locks, but nothing like they were doing across the way. And none of us were drunk, so it made for a pretty orderly trip.



We finally made the last half hour cruise to our marina and the trip came to an end. Allison and Warren picked us up and will be here for a couple of more days before they return to Davis, California. This was definitely the best boating weather we’ve ever had and, all in all, a memorable trip.

Saturday: Hunter Bay, Lopez Island to Penn Cove, Whidbey Island THE LONG WAY

Today our plan called for running north about two hours to drop Allison and Warren off at Samish Island, so they could return to Seattle, then turn south and begin our own trip back home to join them tomorrow. The plan was executed, just on a different schedule than we had anticipated.

We awoke to more crab in the trap and fog in Hunter Bay. The crab was good news, the fog not so good. A and W wanted to get to Samish Island by about noon so they could drive and ferry to Bremerton by late afternoon to see some more of Warren’s relatives. Since we couldn’t see across the bay, we weren’t going anywhere very soon. After a few hours, though, the fog started to lift and by 10:00 we were on our way. We calculated we could still get to Samish Island by 12:00, or soon thereafter, so no worries. No worries, that is, until we transited Lopez Pass and entered Rosario Strait where we couldn’t see across to the other side because of heavier fog. Rosario Strait is a major shipping channel that runs roughly north and south, and you don’t want to be caught out there unable to see the tanker before it hits you.

We started across, hoping that the fog would lift as we went, but before we were halfway across it got so thick we couldn’t see anything. Time for plan B. There is a small island just north of where we were, James Island, that has a small bay overlooking the strait so we headed for that. There were three other boats there, but room for us to anchor and wait. Wait we did. The sky was a beautiful blue above us, but the blanket of fog at sea level was thick and white. Occasionally it would look like it was lifting, but then it settled back in again.

Finally, at 2:00 on the dot, it lifted almost instantly and we were on our way. We would find out later that even the ferries in this area had stopped running for three hours and they usually run through anything. We felt bad about holding up A and W, but our decision to wait was validated by that.

From then on it was a smooth trip back to Samish and we dropped them off about 4:15. They would get to the relatives later than hoped for, but as it turned out they were still in time to lose some money in a poker party. We started our journey south, waiting to pick a destination until we could see how the currents and remaining sunlight would affect us. We went south through the Swinomish Channel, home to the small town of La Conner

and the Rainbow Bridge (I never understood that name, since it is painted orange)

and thought about stopping but decided to press on. We finally arrived at Penn Cove, home of the famous Penn Cove Mussels and the small town of Coupeville, about 8:45 and set the anchor literally as the red sun was disappearing on the horizon.

Friday: Massacre Bay to Hunter Bay, Lopez Island

Finally, some crab! I changed the bait I’ve been using and that seems to have helped – we picked up six nice-sized Dungeness which should be plenty for dinner tonight.

Tomorrow we take Allison and Warren back to Samish Island. We picked Hunter Bay as today’s destination because it’s only about two hours away from there and it also takes us by Spenser Spit, a popular park on Lopez Island where, coincidentally, our friends Tom and Eileen are camping for the weekend.

The sun was out, but it was a little cooler than it has been due to some wind that had picked up overnight. We got to Spenser Spit about noon and there were several park mooring buoys available, so we snagged one, ate some lunch, and took the dinghy ashore. It’s an interesting place, with a long sandy spit that pokes out perpendicular to the shore and almost reaches across to a small island. The spit is actually a triangle shape that contains a saltwater marsh, home to lots of wildlife, and while the marsh itself is off limits to people the rest of the park is good for exploring and camping. Allison and Warren set out to explore while Kristine and I tried to find Tom and Eileen, but when we located their campsite it looked like they had left by car to explore another part of the island. We rejoined A and W for some lazy time on the sandy beach, then headed back to the boat and motored about another half hour to Hunter Bay.

This is normally a wide open, tranquil bay, even though it’s exposed to the north. Today was no exception. We put out the crab trap one more time (you’re only allowed to crab from Wednesday through Saturday) and feasted on the ones we caught last night. Here’s a picture of the well fed crew:

Thursday: Westcott Bay, San Juan Island to Massacre Bay near Skull Island

We got skunked on crab this morning, bummer, but the tide was low enough to dig a ton of clams. Neither Kristine nor Allison is fond of clams, but Warren and I both are so we were pleased.

We weighed anchor and poked our noses out into Haro Strait, on the west side of San Juan Island, because it is often a good place to see orcas. After about a half hour with no sightings and no whale watching boats off in the distance listing to one side because of all the sightseers taking pictures, we decided to turn back and head for our next destination: Massacre Bay.

First, a stop at the very small village of Orcas on, you guessed it, Orcas Island.

The ferry stops here and there is a small grocery, a couple of cafés, a hotel, a liquor store, and an arts and crafts store. We poked around for a while and had a great lunch at the café that was right on the bluff with outdoor tables overlooking the water. After grabbing a few groceries we headed about a half hour north to Massacre Bay and anchored behind tiny Skull Island. It’s a pretty serene place these days, but apparently there were some major fights between the Lummi Indians of Washington and some Indians from British Columbia way back when, and the names of these places, along with nearby Victim Island, are testaments to those days. For us, it was a day to relax in the sun again, explore the island, and give Allison and Warren another chance to swim. Exploring the island didn’t take too long – here’s a picture of the island from the boat and another of the view south.

It was another legal day for crabbing, so we set the trap at night and hoped for better luck than we’ve been having.

Wednesday: Jones Island to Westcott Bay, San Juan Island

We left a little early today, deciding that we would stop by Roche Harbor again to show Allison and Warren the sculpture garden that is nearby. Kristine and I hadn’t had time to stop in and see it our last time here because of the alternator repair hassle. It’s really pretty interesting, and they change the sculptures every so often, so there were a number of new ones we hadn’t seen when we were here a few years ago. Stopping at Roche also enabled us to get wifi access to check email and do some online chores.

Roche has a dock for short term visitors, about two hours or so, but it’s first come first served and pretty popular. We figured if we got there before the lunch rush we might get a spot and we did, although not before exchanging a few words with some other boaters who were obviously getting cranky with the heat. We saw a spot open up as we approached so we headed for it, but another small boat intercepted us and shouted that they had been waiting. Fair enough, we let them have it but asked if they could move one of the other boats already docked forward a bit after they landed and then there would be room for us too. “No problem” they said, probably happy that we weren’t challenging them for the spot. They landed and shuffled the other boat for us, but as we headed in to take the spot another boat captain started yelling at us that he was next. He had been anchored out and we had no idea he was even waiting – most people either mill about to wait or else they anchor and take the dinghy ashore. In addition, he was probably ten feet longer than us and we didn’t think he could fit in the spot anyway. Nevertheless, I told him to go ahead and after pulling their anchor, sending their own dinghy to try and move the boats again, and a bunch of yelling and arm-flapping, they finally decided that they couldn’t fit and told us to go ahead. We smugly proceeded to do so.

We picked up a newspaper at the little store and saw this headline on the front page:

It confirmed what we’d been thinking – it was hot. We looked around at the sculpture garden and did our other chores. Checking email we were dismayed to learn that my brother Kirk’s mother in law passed away. She was a great lady who had battled cancer off and on for many years, beating it each time until now. Kristine and I knew her a little and really enjoyed her, we were sorry to hear the news.

We left the dock and headed to a nearby bay called Westcott (or Westscott on some charts, I haven’t been able to figure which is the official name). It one of two bays that kind of intersect, the other is the home of “English Camp” which is a historical park that marks where the English military camped while squaring off against the American military in 1859 in the Pig War. Without going into the complete history lesson, it seems that there was a lot of contention between the British, who governed Canada, and the US over where the international boundary should be drawn through all these islands, so both countries had a military presence. Pressures boiled over when somebody on one side killed a pig that belonged to somebody on the other side and the Pig War erupted. Anyway, the issue was finally settled but the remnants of the camp still exist and draw tourists by car and boat.

Allison and Warren decided that rather than study too much history, they would cool off in the bay:



This is typically a good source of crab, so we dropped a trap and will check our luck in the morning. We counted 72 traps in the bay when we motored in, so I’m not expecting too much. However there’s also a very productive clam bed just behind where we anchored and there is a low tide about 7:00 in the morning, so I will be there for the sure thing.

Tuesday: Fossil Bay, Sucia Island to Jones Island

Whoo-boy, it’s hot! We continue to be thankful for the nice weather, having experienced the opposite many times on the boat, but it has taken Allison and Warren a little by surprise. They’re used to the A/C of the Sacramento valley, not the heat wave of the Northwest.

Today was another pretty lazy day. We had a great breakfast, compliments of our new crew who had stopped in the Poulsbo bakery and Sakuma’s berry farm on their way north. We looked at the charts to plot a course and settled on Jones Island, a small state park that we haven’t been to in many years. Calvin found a place to relax and enjoy the cruise.

Jones Island is somewhat known for the resident deer population. Years ago, when it was still okay to feed them, they became very tame and would eat just about anything out of your hand. The Parks department tried to put an end to that practice, for the health of the deer, and the new generation is still visible but not quite as tame. Here’s one we saw a little off the beaten path:

The island is shaped a little like a figure “8” with small bays on the north and south sides and a short trail that connects them. It’s a very popular island for kayakers to stop and camp because the gravel beaches are easy to land on and there is plenty of room for camping.



We took the trail to the other side and back, but pretty much spent the rest of the day chatting and reading.

Monday: Anacortes to Fossil Bay, Sucia Island

The nice weather seems to have no end in sight, a condition we are happy to be part of.

This morning was a time to tidy up the boat, offload garbage, fill the fuel tanks, and head over to Samish Island to pick up Allison and Warren.

It’s only about an hour away and we arrived before they did, so Kristine picked some blackberries while we waited for a bit until they showed up. They had been at a reunion of Warren’s shirttail relatives down on Hood Canal, and now were ready for more family on Allison’s side. We shuttled them and their gear from shore in several dinghy trips, and then pulled anchor and headed for Sucia Island, one of our favorites and one both Allison and Michael always liked when they traveled with us as kids.

After a barbeque dinner topped off with fresh blackberry cobbler, we pulled out the cribbage board to teach Warren how to play and watch Allison win, as is the custom. It was another calm night at anchor with a fiery sunset that turned the whole sky orange.

Sunday: Parks Bay, Shaw Island to Anacortes

Last night’s storm had passed and it was a beautiful morning. We marveled at the good timing – it was much more pleasant to be inside at night during that storm than on the way somewhere having a terrible time. As the morning progressed, however, the fog started to build:

and build:

and build:

As I mentioned in a previous post, we don’t do fog, so we made some more coffee and pulled out our books and decided to wait it out. Today our destination was Anacortes, only a couple of hours away, so it was really no big deal – in fact, the currents would be more in our favor the longer we waited.

Anacortes is on the mainland and is the place that people go to catch the ferry for the San Juans or Sidney, BC. It has a huge marina and we don’t usually stop there, but we wanted to today because tomorrow we are planning on picking up Allison and her boyfriend Warren! They flew up from California last Wednesday and have been visiting with some of his family that lives in the NW, and now they are driving up to Samish Island where we will pick them up and take them with us for a few days. Warren’s never been in the islands, so we’re hoping it will be a treat for them both. Especially if this sunny weather holds.

The fog finally lifted about 12:30, after a few false hopes, and we cruised to Anacortes to wash the boat, buy some groceries and fuel, and mentally adjust to having two more people aboard.

Saturday: Shoal Bay, Lopez Island to Fisherman Bay, Lopez Island to Parks Bay, Shaw Island

Things looked to be back on track this morning. The crab trap had one keeper, not a record-setting haul but enough to build a dinner around. We used a can of cat food for bait, and Zoe was more interested in it than the crab, apparently.

The sun was out, our anchorage had been calm last night, and the engine repair had been successful.

We decided to take a two part cruise today, first around to Fisherman Bay on the other side of the island, then to a different place for anchoring overnight. We’ve gone into Fish Bay, as the locals call it, before but never stayed because the scenery is not terribly pretty. But the small village of Lopez is nearby and on Saturdays there is a farmers’ market, so we decided that we might as well go in and explore. The entrance to Fish Bay is narrow, S-shaped, and quite shallow. Since the tide would drop very low while we were there, we would have about five or six hours to kill before we would be able to leave again.

We got into the bay, anchored, and took the dingy ashore to one of the two big marinas. Lopez Island is pretty flat, unlike most of the other San Juans, and is a popular place for bicyclists because of that. People ride the ferry with their bikes or rent them on the island, and enjoy the rural feeling and nice scenery. Walking is easy, too, and it only took about thirty minutes to walk into “town.” Lopez is a very small village, about on the order of Eastsound that we visited earlier but we didn’t think it was quite as charming. We went to the farmers’ market that is set up in a big field, and while it was interesting it was a bit of a misnomer – there was only one food stall, the rest was arts and crafts and a bit of a let down after the eclectic goods we saw in Ganges. Here’s a shot of the layout:

We stopped in the grocery store for some ready-made sandwiches and salads and took them out to a driftwood log on the beach for lunch. Around the corner from where we ate there is a big wetlands area that is protected, but there is a small trail that goes out to a viewing platform in the middle of it. Here you can see some of the area with the bay in the background.





Then we stopped by the library for internet access and went back to the boat to wait for the tide to come back up high enough that we could transit the exit. While waiting, we talked to Michael some more about the aftermath of his accident – he is one lucky guy. Only cuts and bruises physically, and only about $80 in damages to his bike, glasses, and clothing. He was preparing to call the driver of the car to ask for a reimbursement.

Finally, about 3:00, we figured the conditions were right and set off for our overnight destination, Parks Bay on Shaw Island. It’s a beautiful place, one of the few in the San Juans that is surrounded by trees and no houses. That’s because it’s a biological preserve, owned by the University of Washington. You’re not allowed to go ashore, but anchoring is fine and it’s very pretty and quiet.

Kristine decided that today would do as the second half of her birthday celebration, so we had a crab dinner and opened presents. Around dinner time we noticed that the sky was suddenly getting very dark, and within a couple of hours it let loose with a dramatic lightening / thunder / rain storm. It’s unusual for a storm like that to come up so quickly around here, but boy did it go nuts. No wind, just straight down torrents of rain and flashes that lit up the whole bay – they must have been close. The rain subsided as we were going to bed, and the lightening and thunder seemed to be moving on, but we could still see and hear their effects as we went to sleep.

Friday: Bellingham to Shoal Bay, Lopez Island

Perhaps you can tell from the title of today’s post that things worked out better than yesterday. The rain had disappeared, the sun was out, and by 7:00 AM I was hanging upside down in the engine room removing the alternator; by 8:00 AM I was in a cab enroute to Whatcom Electric, by 8:30 AM I was being assured that there was “good news” – the alternator was, indeed, broken. (A rather perverse sense of humor, but he said that at least my diagnosis was correct and he wouldn’t have to send me back to the boat with a “sorry, it must be a different problem.”)

It felt good to stretch a little, and there was really nothing to do but wait, so I walked for an hour to get back to the marina. Kristine and I found a coffee shop where we could drink a $1.75 cup of coffee, free refills, for a couple of hours and use their wifi to catch up on email. That’s when we got a cell phone message from Michael that he had been hit by a car while riding his bicycle last night!

Jeeze. We called and talked for quite a while. He had been riding in the bike lane, a young couple in a car slowed down and turned into their driveway, right into him, no signal. Michael went head over heels on his brand new, two week old bike. Luckily, he escaped with only a few bumps and bruises and his bike came out virtually unscathed. But now he needs to deal with getting them to reimburse him for some expenses: broken glasses, torn clothing, etc. He said they seemed genuinely concerned and willing to help, gave him some water and $30 (all the cash they had on them), admitted it was their fault, and traded names and phone numbers. We’re hopeful the situation will be resolved over the next few days and very thankful that it turned out as well as it did.

By lunch time, the guy at Whatcom Electric called and said my alternator was shot, but for only two and a half “boat bucks” he could give me a completely rebuilt one that would essentially be like brand new, so I agreed and we headed back out to pick it up. This trip, we discovered that the marina offered a free shuttle service to guests (because the downtown area is so far away), so we asked a nice young fellow to drive us up, wait while I paid for the new one, and drive us back. He did so and even said those magic words when we got back: “We’re not allowed to take tips.”

Soon, the new alternator was reinstalled, tested, and it looked like we could be on our way. It was about 2:30, so we looked at the charts to see if we could get back into the San Juans somewhere for dinner, and settled on another bay we’d never anchored in called Shoal Bay. It would be about three hours and that seemed perfect, so off we went.

As I have said, I’m not much of a mechanic. When I make a repair like this I’m always a little nervous that I didn’t tighten something enough, or too much, or something. We took it slow for the first hour, just to be safe, but everything seemed to be running fine. About 6:00 we were dropping anchor, back in the San Juan Islands again.

Shoal Bay indents the north side of Lopez Island. At one end is the ferry terminal, we anchored at the other. We saw a few crap traps scattered around and decided to try our luck, since we were now back in the US where we are licensed to crab. We dropped a trap and will check it in the morning. The weather was very calm, and we felt relaxed again and ready to continue the trip.

Thursday: Sidney to Cadboro Bay – OOPS, I mean Bellingham, Washington

Happy Birthday to Kristine!

Another sunny start to the day boded well for the celebration. Kristine decided she wanted to spend the afternoon and night in Cadboro Bay, a nice spot we’ve been to before that’s near Victoria and home to the University of Victoria. We pulled away from the dock and as we were exiting the marina we again saw Loren and Erin, also leaving. We radioed an “adios” and turned south toward Cadboro Bay as they headed east.

Alas, the good luck we’ve been having was about to change. After 45 minutes or so, I noticed one of the gauges not registering properly and, from experience, surmised that our alternator must not be working properly. I’m not much of a mechanic, but I do know that if the alternator doesn’t work then the batteries won’t get charged when the engine is running. Since the batteries power everything on our boat, from the refrigerator to the water faucets and lights, to the ignition switch, we like to keep them well charged at all times. We have an electric charger that does the job when we are plugged into power at a dock, like last night, otherwise we rely on the alternator during each day of cruising. If we didn’t get the batteries charged back up in about two days, we would be stuck wherever we were.

This was not a good situation. We cruised along for a bit, discussing options and hoping that the situation would fix itself. Of course, it didn’t. We finally decided our best bet would be to detour back to the US a day early and see if we could get the alternator repaired in the San Juans, probably at Friday Harbor (the biggest city).

We made a left turn and headed for Roche Harbor, on the westernmost part San Juan Island, where we needed to clear customs before we could do anything else. Unlike previous visits, the customs agent was friendly and efficient and we were through in less than ten minutes. We pulled the boat ahead to a visitor dock, and I walked up to the resort to find a phone book.

To make a long story short, I found the following:

1. Nobody in the San Juans repairs alternators, they send them out to either Bellingham or Seattle (each a six-day turnaround)
2. Loren and Erin walking the dock.
   

We thought we’d seen the last of each other for this trip, but they had cleared customs here too and decided to stay the night. Upon hearing my plight, Loren said “I have a spare alternator aboard that you’re welcome to use.” What are the odds of that happening? To make another long story short:

1. By 4:30 we gave up trying to make his alternator fit on our engine
2. I called the repair place in Bellingham to see if they could fix ours in one day (Friday) if I got it to them in the morning, and they said yes
3. We cast off and headed for Bellingham

Bellingham is a medium sized town in northern Washington, on the mainland, home to Western Washington University and just a little south of the Canadian border. We’ve never been there by boat, but from the charts we estimated it would be about a five hour cruise – all the way through the San Juans, out the other side, across the Rosario Strait, and up Bellingham Bay. Nevertheless, it seemed like our best option.

We tried to make the most of our situation, even though this wasn’t the birthday Kristine had anticipated. The cruise was very scenic, and we tried to enjoy that part of it. By 8:30, when we were about an hour away from Bellingham, we realized that the sun would be going down soon and we also noticed a rather large rain cloud right over our destination. Neither of these was a particulary good sign. To make one more long story short:

1. The sun went down and it started raining just as we arrived at the marina
2. There was exactly one space left that we could fit into, but we had to dock in another part of the marina first and move a small boat by hand that was right in the middle of that one space before we could fit in (there was no one outside to help, probably because of the rain, and the boat's owner was nowhere to be seen)
3. We tied off, had a bite to eat, and went to bed.

Kristine decided that she would celebrate her birthday a little differently this year. The morning had been lovely, with a long shower, sunshine, a walk through Sidney, etc., so that counted. She would celebrate the second part of the day, from noon on, sometime in the next few days when our status became a little more settled.

Wednesday: Selby Cove, Prevost Island to Sidney

We’re about due for another night at a dock so we can enjoy some long showers and, more importantly, do some laundry. Our destination today was the town of Sidney, just a couple of hours away.

As I updated the map I’m keeping of our route, I noticed that it’s getting a little confusing with all the backtracking and crisscrossing. Sidney stands out a little more on its own. It’s a good sized town, familiar to many Washingtonians because it’s the terminus for the ferry that goes from Anacortes, through the San Juans, and into Canada. It’s not such a popular city itself, but it’s a short drive or bus ride into Victoria from here and that’s the main draw. However, for boaters it is a draw in itself because it has a very nice marina and lots of little shops to peruse on the main downtown street.

We cruised uneventfully, another beautiful morning, but as we got closer and to a vantage point from which we could see the San Juans again, we saw a thick blanket of fog shrouding them. For reasons we don’t understand, we’ve never had fog in the Gulf Islands but the San Juans often develop fog this time of year and today was a fine example of that. We’re not sure if it will stick around or affect the rest of our trip, since we’ll be heading back to the US in a couple of days; we will just have to take it a day at a time. We don’t do fog in the Elsa, after one attempt many years ago that turned out fine but aged us several years in the process.

Sidney’s a charming town that enjoys its flowers – there are gardens and baskets everywhere. Maybe they are extending the theme of the famous Buchardt Gardens, a tourist attraction for people from all over the world that is about 20 minutes from here. Whatever the reason, a bright sun shining on the flowers makes this a very colorful city. Even the marina gets into the act; each slip has a hanging basket fore and aft, as do all the walkways.

We walked through town and along the aptly named “East View Drive” where there is a nice view of the water and San Juans to the east. (The fog had burned off by the time we took this picture.)

Then it was back to the marina for laundry time, where we coincidentally ran into Loren and Erin again – it turned out they had come here and taken a slip two piers over from us. They are starting their return trip, planning to be back in Seattle in about four days. A barbeque and after dinner walk through town to the grocery store wound down the day.

Tuesday: “Unnamed Bay” on De Courcy Island to Selby Cove, Prevost Island

After a calm, restful night out of the wind, we woke to another clear, sunny morning. We can’t believe our luck with the weather this trip, especially compared to one we took last August that felt like November most of the time.

As we were eating breakfast, we noticed we had company: a family of four river otters was making its way along the shoreline, each member gulping down small fish as they swam along. They were only about thirty feet from us, so it was pretty fun to watch. On the other side of the bay, this guy was still looking for his breakfast.

We didn’t have a planned destination for today, so we got out the charts and discussed some alternatives. We settled on one, but then about ten minutes later we changed our minds and picked a small bay on Prevost Island. We haven’t been there in many years, and we wouldn’t have to fight some strong currents, going against us, to get to our other choice.

You know the feeling you get when something goes terribly wrong very quickly? The rapid pulse, the lump in the stomach, the dilating pupils, the sweaty palms? Then you probably know that when something almost goes terribly wrong very quickly that you feel the same way, but for just an instant and then you feel relief and quickly forget about it. We had the latter experience, fortunately, just after we pulled our anchor and started heading out for our newly decided upon destination. We were leaving a bay on the south end of De Courcy Island, and just to the south of us is another island with a small bay on its north shore. We decided to go over and take a peak – we had actually stayed overnight there once a long time ago, but wanted to revisit it for just a minute. We went in, very slowly, being mindful of the reefs that line both sides. The tide was low, so the reefs were easy to see; in a high tide, they pretty much disappear. After our visit, we noticed on the chart that there was a shortcut exit between a couple of the nastier looking reefs, so we figured we’d take it. Before we could say “holy crap,” we realized that the tide wasn’t quite low enough to expose another part of the reef – we could see under it the surface just about punch a hole in our keel. Reefs are pretty unfair that way. We made a quick, sharp turn to starboard (not enough time to just slam it into reverse) and hoped we would clear the danger. Boats don’t steer like cars, from the front, but rather from the back where the rudder is, so sometimes you think you’re making a sharp turn when actually your stern is still heading merrily along, even swinging wider the way you don’t want it to go. The gods were smiling on us, because we missed hitting the reef by that much and continued on our way without incident. Somebody told us that having bananas on a boat was bad luck, but we have had bananas the whole trip and had great weather and, now, missed a reef. We’re keeping the bananas.

As we quickly forgot about the incident, we headed south into the sun and pulled into Selby Cove about three hours later. Prevost looks a little like your right hand does if you hold it in front of you, thumb up, palm side in. There are five fingers of land poking out to the northwest which create four long, skinny bays that are popular anchorages. Selby Cove is the one between your forefinger and middle finger. We pulled in to find only one other boat. There was a beautiful little “niche” indenting a section of shoreline, complete with its own shell beach, and decided to make that our home for the night.

In Canada, more so than in the states, boaters at anchor often run an additional line from the stern of the boat to shore. This has the effect of holding the boat in one position, instead of allowing it to swing freely around in a circle on the whim of the tide and wind. It’s done mainly to allow more boats to stay in a crowded anchorage than would otherwise be able. We decided to use a stern line tonight not because of crowds, but so that we could keep our beautiful view of the niche and also get some shade in this very hot, still afternoon. Here’s what the setup looks like from our shady stern, followed by our view when we wanted to warm up.

The rest of the day we took it easy, tromping around on shore for a while and running the dinghy around the bay. Here’s Craig, with Elsa in the background.

Monday: Newcastle Island, near Nanaimo to “Unnamed Bay” on De Courcy Island

Today we will be starting to head south again, and to do that we will need to go back through Dodd Narrows. Slack was predicted for about 9 am or 4 pm; we opted for the 4 pm transit time. The wind had picked up overnight and was blowing pretty hard, even in our bay, but the anchor was holding fine so we decided to leave the boat there and take the dinghy across the channel to Nanaimo. We’d never done that before and wondered if (a) our little, unreliable outboard motor would hold out and (b) we would get swamped from the waves being kicked up by the wind, but tried it anyway and had a pretty easy crossing that only took about ten minutes.

We explored downtown Nanaimo and, although we have been here many times before, we found an area we had never been to: the historic district where the city actually began to take shape. After some wandering, it was time to check email, charge the laptop battery, get some groceries, and head to our favorite Mexican restaurant for lunch.

Going back to the boat by dinghy was not quite as easy as coming across, because now the wind was against us. The waves were bigger and we got wetter, but we still made it and got back just about as it was time to leave for Dodd Narrows.

When a northwest wind blows, as it was today, it funnels down the Georgia Strait (the big body of water between Vancouver Island and the mainland) and into the little channel that connects the Nanaimo area with Dodd Narrows. It was pretty choppy, although we’ve seen worse. In less than an hour we were through the Narrows and less than another hour at our next anchorage.

We opted for a little bay that is unnamed on the charts, but it on the south end of De Courcy Island and offered nice protection from the wind that was still blowing. We came here last year during a similar northerly windstorm and shared it with one other boat. Today, several people had the same idea as us – by nightfall there were six others, but everyone still had plenty of room to swing. Here's a picture looking toward shore, the other boats were all anchored out farther than us.

This bay is part of a marine park, so we went ashore and hiked some of the trails. A couple of them lead to a bigger, more popular bay called “Pirate’s Cove,” but the wind isn’t as kind to boaters in there and tonight it was almost deserted.

On the beach, a kayaker was just pulling in and we got to talking. He was on a solo, three week trip from Port Hardy, way the heck on the north tip of Vancouver Island, to Seattle. (It turns out he lives just a few miles from us!) I don’t know how many miles that is, but look it up on a map and you will be astounded. I can attest to the fact that some of the water he has had to go through is ROUGH! Anyway, he was an interesting guy and found some fellow kayakers on the beach with whom to share dinner and stories. We went back to being our lazy selves, eating dinner in our soft chairs and watching the sun go down. We admired his drive, but are enjoying ourselves just the same.

Sunday: Telegraph Harbour, Thetis Island to Newcastle Island, near Nanaimo

The tide was very low when we woke (the picture from yesterday’s post was taken this morning from the boat), but we still had enough water under us to float so we were fine. We went back ashore to chat some more with Loren and Erin, then took a walk to a very small farmers’ market and around some of the island’s roads. Today we are heading to our northernmost point on the trip, near the town of Nanaimo, but to get there we have to wait to go through a pass not unlike Deception Pass in Washington, except much narrower and with potentially stronger currents. The predicted slack water at Dodd Narrows is at 3:17 pm, and it's about a two hour cruise, so we had some time to kill.

The Chris Craft rendezvous broke up about noon, and we snapped this picture of the Potentate leaving.

A little while later, we pulled the anchor and headed out ourselves. We got to Dodd Narrows a little early, but the current appeared manageable and other boats were going through, so we did too. Here’s what it looks like upon approach:

About forty minutes later we were lowering the anchor in a bay just off Newcastle Island. The island is a huge, beautiful park just across the water from downtown Nanaimo, the biggest city we’ve seen since we left Seattle. It’s a jewel. It’s also popular, especially on weekends, and the anchorage can get pretty crowded. Today was no exception, but we found a spot well enough away from other boats.

Here’s a picture of part of the shoreline of this island, and also one of a critter we startled and forced to climb a tree.

Back to the boat for some dinner and a chance to watch the sun set on Nanaimo.

Saturday: Ganges, Saltspring Island to Telegraph Harbour, Thetis Island

We awoke to another beautiful, sunny day. Reports were that yesterday was 90 degrees and we would be topping that in the days to come. This is definitely better than the first day of our trip, where we had to keep adding layers of clothing to keep warm!

With a plentiful supply of water because of being tied up to a dock, we were able to take nice, long showers for the first time in a while. We were due. We’re normally pretty stingy with water but we obey different rules when all we have to do to get more is run a hose.

With our fresh, clean outlook we went into town to explore the Saturday market. It’s a mixture of farmers and artisans and interesting to wander around. Here are a couple of pictures to give you a flavor:

For lunch we tried a new Mexican café, right at the head of our dock, and it was very good. Afterwards we went back to the dock, topped off the water tank one last time, and headed for our next destination: Telegraph Harbour on Thetis Island. Our friends Loren and Erin have a 52 foot wooden Chris Craft, and would be there attending a Chris Craft rendezvous.

We arrived after a three hour cruise, happily nothing like the USS Minnow’s three hour cruise on “Gilligan’s Island,” dropped anchor and went ashore. There were a number of Chris Crafts, some old and wooden and some newer and fiberglass, but all nice. We had a good time trading sea stories with Loren and Erin and her parents, who are traveling with them. We left after a while so that they could attend their group’s festivities and we could go back for a barbeque.

This bay is actually formed where two islands come together, and there is a very narrow cut between them. At least it’s narrow at low tide. Here are a couple of pictures to show you what a difference a tidal change makes: The cut at high tide, and the same view at low tide.

This trip, the water completely dried out during low tide, something we'd never seen before. It was a LOW tide.

Friday: Beaumont Park, South Pender Island to Ganges, Saltspring Island

If you haven’t noticed, there’s a link on the right side of the page, in red, where you can check and see the route we’ve taken so far. I’m updating it with each posting.

Today, our destination was a two hour cruise to the town of Ganges on Saltspring Island. As you can see from the map, Saltspring is by far the largest of the Gulf Islands. We have been to Ganges many times before and enjoy it each time. We are enroute to Thetis Island, a little farther north, where we will try to meet up with our friends Loren and Erin who will be there this weekend, so this seemed like a good stopover point.

We woke to a beautiful, sunny morning – no fog! We decided to get going early so that we could snag a place at the government dock in Ganges when people started leaving for other destinations. We pulled the anchor about 8:30 and had a great cruise in calm water until we approached Ganges.

About a mile or so from town we thought we saw Loren and Erin’s boat coming out, and when we hailed them on the marine radio it turned out we were right. They had been in Ganges last night and were just leaving. We confirmed plans to meet them tomorrow and continued in to dock.

We haven’t docked since we left Seattle, and it’s about time for us. We love to anchor, but at docks you get amenities like electricity, fresh water, and easy access to shore/town. In Canada, there are privately run, commercial docks and government docks; they are similar, but the government docks are cheaper and we prefer them. They don’t take reservations and can fill up early, so we were glad to pull in and find plenty of room. The government dock here is right in the middle of town and we like it.

Ganges is a small town by most standards, but a big one by Gulf Island standards. It’s very colorful and is visited by lots of tourists who travel through these islands by ferry. There are a lot of artists on this island, and they sell their wares in several shops around town. They also put on an open-air marked on Saturday mornings throughout the summer, which we will roam through tomorrow. Here are a couple of pictures of the town near the waterfront.

Not much else to add today, so I'll leave it at that.

Thursday: Blind Bay, Shaw Island to Beaumont Park, South Pender Island

We woke this morning to the sound of fog horns from the inter-island ferries, and looked outside to see … nothing. White out. Fortunately, we were in no hurry and slowly but surely the fog began to lift. Here’s a picture of a ferry coming into Shaw, after the fog had lifted a bit.

Once we could see enough to get to our crab trap, out we went. Sorry to say our banner catch of last year was not repeated, but we got two keepers – enough for dinner – and so Kristine didn’t have to put up with me pouting all day.

We hung around most of the morning, watching the fog lift, and finally about 10:30 decided it was time to go.

Our destination today was Beaumont Park, just across the Canadian border. It’s a beautiful national park and a place we haven’t been to in several years. There was no wind as we headed across Boundary Pass and into Bedwell Harbor on South Pender Island, where there is a very fancy resort hotel and also the customs dock, where we pulled up to take care of the formalities. Canadian customs is much different and easier that US customs: you tie up at the dock, pick up a phone that dials in automatically, talk to a friendly agent who asks a few questions, gives you a clearance number, and wishes you a nice trip.

Once that was done, we motored about 5 minutes away to Beaumont and dropped the anchor. Here’s a picture from the shore; you can see the resort on the far left and between the points in the middle you are looking back toward the US.





We went ashore and explored the beach a little, then started on a hike to the top of “Mount Norman.” The trail sign said it was a little over three kilometers, but what it didn’t say is that Mount Norman is 890 feet high, seemingly straight up, a fact we looked up when we got back down. It took us about an hour and some huffing and puffing, but we were rewarded with some good exercise and a fantastic view of the surrounding area. Hard to capture in a picture, but this may give you an idea.




Once back to the boat, we prepared for the main event of the day, our first fresh crab dinner of 2009. I cleaned and cooked the crab while Kristine made some “Canadian tomato” salad. (At the customs dock, we were informed that we weren’t allowed to bring tomatoes into Canada, and were to dispose of them in a box on the dock where other people had left their unauthorized produce. Kristine made a deposit, unwillingly, but luckily for us she found a few “Canadian tomatoes” on board by dinner time.) It was a very hot evening, but we found a little shade in which to sit and consume crab, tomatoes, bread, and wine while listening to a CD of Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock playing a live concert on two pianos. I defy anyone to dream up a better evening than that.