August 6th 2010
Drama Day; not enough sleep last night, stayed up late trying to post things on the blogg. Typically, I was up before 6, just not enough rest to function; must be all the fresh air. We walked into town to get a cash advance, picked up another Basil plant and bought a fishing permit. Headed out straight away when we got back to the boat, without deciding on a destination. I knew that I had to get out of Ganges, so decided to take the back way and then start pulling out some charts. Not a good idea to be worrying more about where you aren’t instead of where you are. Two chart plotters on and still managed to almost run aground. Fortunately, I saw some water breaking ahead and backed the engine down. I still had 4 ft under the keel, no worry; Money Makers Reef was where we were, evidently I wasn’t the first to visit there. I gave God Thanks for watching over us and then sat in the helm seat. Rounded the corner of Nose Point and did a button hook north into Trincomali Channel. There was a fresh breeze blowing out of the south, pushing us north. Becky made us a Turkey and Avocado sandwich with some of the basil and we settled into a nice sunny cruise to Dodd Narrows. By this time we had looked at the charts, calendar and listened to the weather. We realized that it might be a good day to cross because the wind was to be worse tomorrow. Pushed to Dodd Narrows, hit the slack almost perfect, and only waited 10 minutes to cross. Cruised past Nanaimo and set a course across the Straight of Georgia, a waypoint into Welcome Pass put the seas a little off our beam. Becky turned on her wonderful wristband motion sickness relief bracelet and we braced for the 20-mile crossing. I contacted the Whiskey Gulf torpedo operating station and made sure that we could cross. Three hours of rolling and in spite of being fully loaded, we move a bit, well 10 to 15 degrees and a couple that were more. Things moved around a bit, but mainly the lady wasn’t sick. We watched the mountains appear across the straight and were thankful for Welcome Pass, which we made by 1700. Made it into Smugglers Cove and tried to set the anchor, Becky volunteered to run the stern tie line ashore. It was surprisingly warm and the sea temp was 71. She succeeded smoothly and when she was in the shower I noticed that the anchor was dragging. It was still windy and hitting us on the beam. Starting the engine got her out of the shower and up on the bow half-dressed, and we attempted it again. Nothing like the scream of the bow thruster to disturb a peaceful anchorage, and get some neighbors out on deck to watch the show. Second time stuck we had dinner but I let the stern tie go at dusk and through out the spare anchor before going to bed.
August 7th, 2010
Onto Princess Lousia Inlet. The BC Rain is back, I‘m thankful actually, it’s nice to wash off the salt from our transit yesterday , and the mist on the mountains is a surreal contrast. We had a nice transit, with a following sea up Jervis Inlet, but missed the tide at Malibu Rapids. So we slow belled it up to the head of the Inlet, enjoying the waterfalls and scenery, Becky and I both took turns and napped. We returned to the top of Malibu Rapids and anchored , to await the slack and go to tour the YouthLife Chriatian Camp. Becky used to go there as a teenager and hasn’t been back since. We had a nice two hour visit, and were shown around by a retire air force doctor from Piedmont Ca., Dick Deutsche. There was a great spirit at the camp and we were able to watch the rapids slacken from there. On through the rapids around 6pm, and into the magical Princess Louisa Inlet. It is truly beautiful, awe inspiring, I can only relate it to Yosemete in dramatic beauty. Idleing up the four miles into ChatterBox Falls was so peaceful and beautiful, we took the last spot on the dock and while we were grilling our steaks had a 38 foot fishing boat raft to us, with a family of 4 onboard.
August 9th, Lund, BC
Soaking up some sun after a great night in Hardy Island Marine Park. We had a wonderful cruise out of Princess Louisa Inlet and made a wonderful anchorage in a tight little cove by 5. We got the anchor set well and we both swam the stern tie line ashore. The water is 71 degrees, it was sunny and warm and was great. No drama today and after a little snack we tooled around in the dingy. When we got back to the anchorage a 47 ft Skookum sailboat was anchoring so we ran there stern line ashore for them. That got an invitation for a little apre sail. Our host were Bill and Gail from Bellingham, a nice visit and a good nights sleep a grey morning has opened up to a great afternoon and a little visit into Lund for lunch and some gas for the dingy.
