Our intentions were to head out from Victoria at the instant our holidays started – Friday evening perhaps even. Of course as the departure date neared, a boatload of chores beckoned. Between hauling supplies to Freya, dinner with friends, varnishing and installing our new hatchcover, closing up our house, and finishing a few work details, we didn't get underway until Sunday afternoon. Chores don't seem so bad though when accompanied by plenty o' drinks and ice-cream at the nearby Fin & Gill Cafe.
The west coast of Vancouver Island was to have been our cruising grounds
– we'd even borrowed charts of the area
in anticipation of
seeing something new - but all weekend the marine forecasts reported
extensive fog and westerly winds between 20 and 30 knots.
We didn't
relish beating up the Strait of Juan de Fuca's 70-odd miles against
the wind and in poor visibility, so we turned left leaving Victoria.
Following our wake we had our dinghy (Argosnot) and kayak (no
name, yet).
Cordova
Bay is a great anchorage just around the corner. It's still city, but
high bluffs with houses perched upon give good privacy to boats
below. Our first night at sea in a long time, and we were treated to
seals slapping their tails while the sky faded through blue to purple
to black. Monday morning was sunny (with low fog banks to the south
and west, confirming our decision to go the other way) so we decided to stay put a few
hours to see if a sailing wind might fill in. Meantime we each
enjoyed a paddle around the shoreline, spying on the seals.
Just
before noon we hoisted sail and enjoyed a sweet downwind run to
Bedwell Harbour at South Pender Island. This anchorage has a brisk
uphill hike to the top of Mt Norman; today we took the direct route
back down, unlike last time, when we ended up walking three hours
along a road only to end up across the bay from our boat and had to
borrow a canoe to get back.
An
hour after leaving Bedwell, a couple of Dall's Porpoises joined us.
Despite our laggard speed of 3 knots they seemed glad to play, and
four more abandoned a power boat to come frolic with the first two.
The group stayed a quarter of an hour, zooming across our bow and
occasionally leaping partway clear of the water.
A
dying wind forced us to motor the rest of the way to Selby Cove at
Prevost Island (named after British Captain James Prevost, who
negotiated the San Juan boundary dispute between BC and USA (not in
our favour, either)). On entering this quiet cove we spotted seals
sunning on a raft in the bay, slipping back into the water on our
approach. Kayaking here was fun, as was the hike across to
neighboring James Bay, along the shore and through mosquito-peppered
forest. 
All it was lacking was a grove of palms and coconuts
layering the forest floor and it could have been Daniel's Bay, Nuku
Hiva. Deer grazed in the ancient apple orchard, left over from Digby
de Burgh's ownership before the area became a marine park. We
returned to Freya just as the sun set, before too many of the
mosquitoes found us tasty.
Pirate's
Cove was a short day northward - mostly sailing in light airs. Not as
crowded as when last we were here five years ago, with Tara
and Summer Fling. The Treasure Chest on shore was still loaded
with loot, including a toy sword and flash necklace of skulls and
bones. We tossed in some fishhooks (in a bag, so's not to catch any
young pirates), a puzzle, and some stamps. This cove is small enough
that many boats prefer to stern-tie to shore. Freya
ended up rafting together with a neighboring trimaran when we
both drifted in the light airs toward each other in the evening. We
had good walks again on this small hilly island. Mosquitoes seemed to
have followed us here too. A good hard rain overnight caused several
bright orange 'shrooms to pop up. They could have been worth
$100/kilo, or 5 nights in the emergency room...
Southwest
winds being light, we decided next to sail to Nanaimo's Newcastle Is.
There's several routes, but the shortest runs through Dodd Narrows.
This 50 meter wide pass can develop up to 9 knots of current,
limiting us to a short window around the tide change. We joined
several dozen boats passing through starting an hour before slack
tide. This parade seems to be a popular spectator sport; many
cottages lining the shore have deck chairs facing the action. One
house strung out on a clothesline naval signal flags spelling
“IFYOUxxxxxx” We didn't decode it in time, but it
probably asked us to honk if we could read it.
In the busy Nanaimo port we briefly tied up to the Ecobarge for a free pumpout of our holding tank. Like Victoria Harbour, there's float planes zipping around, big barges and tugs muscling along, and small fizz-boats (see NZ vocabulary) criss-crossing everywhere.
Newcastle
Island is a great spot. It was sunny! The big bay anchorage can hold more than 100
yachts, and the shore is criss-crossed by at least 15 km of trails. This
early-ish morning we met joggers and red pileated woodpeckers in
equal numbers, while checking out an old sandstone quarry
and finding
coal chunks on the beach. The long column Barb is leaning on was cut from the
sandstone and intended for construction of the San Francisco Mint. Loaded onto
a ship, together with 80 tons of other sandstone blocks, it made it only
partway down the coast before sinking in a February snowstorm. The Mint eventually
received replacements, and a few years ago a diver discovered the wreck.
Following a salvage effort, the column and other artifacts are now on display.
We also did our good deed
for the day, rescuing two baby Purple Martins fallen out of their
nests. These Martins migrate between North and South America and are
welcome insect-catchers. The west coast population numbered only 6
breeding pairs in the 80's. Now there are many hundreds –
helped by nest boxes placed on harbour pilings all along southern BC
coast.
Back at Freya we spy S/V Lutra, another Hunter-Vogel, but built 10 years earlier than ours! Bob and Lindsey have owned theirs for 26 years. With only eleven built (and one sunk), it's a rare occurrence to spot another one.
While in the area, we meet Barb's Dad &
Darlene, and head to Mrs. Richie's for lunch. None of us wanted to
tackle her Monster Burger – it includes a full pound of ground
beef, plus bacon, cheese, a whole tomato, and loads of other stuff.
Eat it all, and it's free. Since we didn't go for the big burger, we
later enjoyed picking blackberries – yummm! ...and followed it
with icecream – yummmm! At Ron's and my suggestion, we enjoyed
the icecream while seated on a bench in front of three sunbathing
bikini-clad babes :-) Watching Nanaimo's walk-about Tourist Info
staff (they also take cell phone calls) rounded out the
entertainment.
Next
morning's sail out past Nanaimo was pleasant, and we amused ourselves
wondering whose large motor-yacht had pulled into town (M/V Odyssey,
about 120 feet long). Rumour had it that Oprah was in town, but no
indication if it was hers. We motored through Dodd Narrows, once again
parading with dozens of others at the start of the 2-hour window. The
radio waves were punctuated by a few angry radio calls as some pushed
their way through out of turn, or created large wakes that bounced
smaller boats around.
More sailing took us past Coffin Is, to
Sibell Bay, near Ladysmith. This lovely little anchorage in the
channel between Dunsmuir Island (owned by Seattle Yacht Club) and
Hunter Point Native Reservation. Warmest water yet, at 18 C! We
hopped in for swim over to SYC's island and back. While waiting for
the charcoal to catch, we heard lots of splashing and kids having fun
on the nearby beach. Our BBQ pork chops were just finishing when the
crew of Lutra dinghied past. They were taking their grandkid
around – who found treasure at Pirate's Cove, including some
fish hooks. They left a deck of cards and a shackle in exchange.
Tonight was a great night for stargazing. Barb outscored bj on
meteors, but we both saw three good long-trailed ones. Lying on deck,
we tried to recall the names of the many stars we made friends with
on our last trip.
Next
day dawned sunny and hot. The radio said “up to 27 C”.
Summer's here! Not for long though – by the weekend it is
supposed to get cooler (19C) and showery. Figures. A light breeze
tempted us to depart under sail alone, but a shift caused us to head
for the SYC dock shortly after weighing anchor. On came the engine.
We
kept motoring all through the rest of the trip to the bay northwest
of Montague Harbour. HMCS Brandon entertained us by turning
doughnuts and maneuvering behind, alongside, and in front of us as we
went down Stuart Channel and Houston Passage. Along the way we amused
ourselves by leaving bread-crumb trails for the seagulls from a
package of moldy pita bread. When one bird spies the morsel, within
minutes there are half a dozen seagull friends swiftly winging their
way over. We also spotted a glider pulled aloft in the clear morning
air.
After
anchoring we rowed ashore with the water toys, and spent an hour
wading the shallows looking for interesting sealife. The visibility
was short due to much floating algae, and the water was cooler than
the day before but tolerable. Saw a chiton, starfish, a drowned
dragonfly, and a centipede-like creature that insisted on following
us and latching onto my swim trunks.
Pizza night! Woohoo! Our quiet evening
anchorage was punctuated by slaps of seals' tails, and slaps of
sun-warmed humans jumping in from other boats. One could tell the
difference between the two because the seals' slaps weren't followed
by screeches of 'Wooooeeeee! This water is $%@#$ COLD!” We
slung the hammock from the rigging, made a couple rumandcokes, and
read till the pizza was ready. Ahhhh....
Morning dawned much cooler than the day before. We sailed upwind in a light sou'easter with over 20 other boats also enjoying the rare winds. Occasional gusts had us heeled over with the gun'ls awash. Fun on a three-hour sail in flat water; not so fun for 22 days with no breaks and with open-ocean swells in the mix :-)
On
approaching Winter Cove, we spotted the wreck of the tall ship
Roberton II, formerly used for training youngsters, and bought
less than a year ago by a private individual. It ran aground late
night about a month ago and so far efforts to refloat it have been
fruitless. We passed by the same reef, now oh-so-well-marked, and
anchored in the gusty cove. While settling in, we reviewed the chart
and noticed that we were anchored close to an undersea power cable.
So close, in fact, that a local passing by in a runabout stopped to
remark that we ought to move to avoid the fate of another sailboat
just this morning who had snagged the cable. Just for the record, we
weren't on top of it, but we moved anyway.
The
next day was again better than forecast, and we sailed past a
well-attended sailboat race, drifted past the lighthouse on S. Pender
Island, detoured past Zero Rock to view some Orcas in the binoculars,
and motored into Cordova Bay. Foregoing our running yatzee
tournament, we instead reminded ourselves how to play Crib. Barb won,
comfortably.
The
rest of the sail to Victoria was slow, though assisted by a nice
following current. We took the long way, around Discovery Island, and
arrived happily back in West Bay Marina early afternoon. It started
raining heavily that night, but by then we had retired back into our
spacious water-tight home.