Month: July 2019

Started the day with a lazy wake up. 10am ! Wonderful.

Went for a walk and eagle eye spotted plums…

We have plums for life.

Then we decided to go fish. Those that know me will know I’m cursed with fishing. Always bad luck even when we’ve fished with experts who limit every time we all come home without fish. I genuinely felt like it was a curse.

But we still try.

Fishing is good here. Yesterday a boat nearby came back with a massive long cod his son caught on a piece of cucumber. How hard could it be?

We set out on the tender..

There’s a great spot just a couple of miles from the marina. Right off the island with good ledges around a big rock structure.

You can see the marina top left and Norris rocks on the middle right..

Just off the rocks it’s anything from 200ft to 50ft in quick steps.

We jigged away.

And there was fish immediately. The founder showed marks everywhere and it wasn’t long before we were catching. Overall 4 salmon and 2 rockfish. We let them all go but one decent sized salmon. And that was dinner taken care of.

You can’t get much fresher than that.

Finished the day taking the dog for a walk along the rocks

and then a cruise around the island on the scooter. After making it all the way round there is a trail back to the marina. No motorcycles allowed. But no one was looking….

https://jyoutu.be/3IEcpy0OnhQ

Fun times.

At Hornby island now.

The wind picked up as we approached and the seas came up with it. The wind was coming from right behind us so despite 4 ft seas it was easy cruising as we rode the waves in. We arrived at tribune bay with a plan to drop anchor just off the beach but the waves rolling into the bay would have made for a very bumpy night. As we turned out of the bay we hit the waves head on and got the boat covered in salt. Everywhere!

We motored around the corner looking for protection from the wind and checked ford cove marina for space. It was 5pm and didn’t expect to get lucky but there was one open space on the outside float. Not that protected but much better than being on the hook. We stayed there for the night and took a nice hike for a few miles. The next morning it had rained and we wondered if Hornby island was cursed for us. This sun spot was raining again just like 10 years ago when we were here.

But the rains cleared after a few minutes. The sun came out and it turned into a glorious day. We decided to get the scooter down and tour the island.

We needed to move spots as the float we were on was not connected to the mainland. Called the marina harbor master and he found us a great spot on the inside as a boat was leaving and we moved over.

We spent the morning cleaning the boat. Running the water maker as there is no water at Hornby island marina. But we made as much water as we used and after a big boat clean still had full water tanks. The water maker is a life saver.

We dropped the scooter off the flybridge with the crane and headed off exploring.

We didn’t make it far. We stopped at a crossroads that has about 6 stores bundled together into a cute courtyard and grabbed an amazing pork belly Vietnamese sandwich and then headed to the beach.

Little tribune bay is beautiful. We didn’t move from that spot until the sun went down. It’s an entertaining beach…..

Nice beach for dog swimming right off the marina….

Amazing Mi Banh with pork belly..

The Canadians are not quite as conservative as the Americans 🙂 it’s like being back in Europe.

We’re staying another night. It’s so nice here. Laid back hippy town.

Today we plan to explore the rest of the island by scooter and maybe finish up on the beach… we’ll head out tomorrow. Somewhere….

It’s only Wednesday, technically I’ve only been ‘off work’ for 3 days and yet I just had to check the phone to see what day it was. That’s a nice but strange feeling, to lose track without agenda or pressing time.

Today we’re off the Hornby island. Looking forward to that though it’s not the typical destination of most heading to Desolation. Most cross over to the east of the strait as it’s prettier (apparently) and there are popular stops like Pender and secret cove.

But many years ago when we owned our first boat we trailered it all the way to hornby island. A little 18 ft ski boat trailered to BC, a ferry across to Vancouver island, a long drive up the island and then two more Ferries island hopping to Hornby. Hornby was supposed to be a sunshine spot. Warm water. Sandy beaches but for the one week we were there it rained nearly all week, even though it was August. The locals said it was unheard of. Our, pain in the ass to get there, ski boat broke down on day one. We spent two days getting it fixed and it broke down again. Despite all that we enjoyed the trip, loved the hippy island and even though it rained, tribune bay had a beautiful beach. So I’ve always wanted to go back and make amends with the island and it’s weather.

So we left Nanaimo after a lazy start to the day. Afra was up at some silly time and went for a run. I slept in!! First time since we left. We left around noon, Supernova is running great. The weather is cooperating with a few clouds but lots of sun and as I write this I see Hornby Island the distance probably 20 miles away.

Leaving Nanaimo..

As you make you way up the strait there is a designated zone called WG (Whiskey Golf) its an active military zone in the water used for military testing. I think they fire torpedos through it. I’ve read about boaters unaware that have entered the zone and been buzzed by the Navy Helicopter with the PA system telling them to leave.

We passed right by it to our port side. And they confirmed over VHF that it was active today. You could see a couple of large navy ships way off to the west and a copter hovering above. We survived without being torpedo’d

90 minutes to tribune bay now. We plan to drop anchor there which will be interesting as it’s unprotected to southerly winds which is exactly what the forecast is tonight. Not strong so think we’ll be fine but might be a rocky night. Better get the whiskey ready.

Will update on Hornby island later.

Left sydney after hitting the town for supplies which refreshingly consisted of English beer, Eccles cakes, HP brown sauce. Love you can get so much English stuff in BC. Especially on Vancouver island.

It was a pretty and easy cruise up to Ladysmith. About 30 miles and in no rush. We covered it in a bit less than 3 hours. Running that slow is not like us but it helps sipping Diesel rather than chugging it. Especially when you are away for 5 weeks.

The most annoying part of the trip was the Canadian crab pots. I have no idea why they think it’s a good idea to use dark black crab pot buoys on a dark blue sea. They are nearly impossible to see until very close. And we had to kick off the auto pilot and make a couple of very hard turns to avoid them.

As you can see, hardly the clearest obstacle in the sea. Getting that wrapped around the props would be a friggin’ nightmare. Been there done that.

It was a pretty ride. And dead flat all the way.

We entered ladysmith and started to look for a spot. We considered the main marina but despite hailing on the radar and calling we got no answer. They looked busy so we decided to go and drop anchor. Best decision, we found a cool little bay behind Dunsmuir islands. It’s the location of Seattle Yacht Clubs outstation but we opted for the other side of the bay. About 6 boats anchored. Nice and quiet and very pretty.

The weather was gorgeous and we focused on some hardcore ‘doing nothing’…

Needed to take zed for some exercise so we took supersonic for a lap of the bay and then docked on the small dock and explored the tiny island. It was pretty cool. Great rocky landscape but the water seemed a bit mucky for BC. The dog did not complain.

Back on the boat we had dinner against an amazing backdrop and ideas of going into town for a walk disappeared, beaten away by wine and jerk chicken.

Ladysmith turned out to be a nothing town. I’d read about it being quaint and stuck in time gone by. To me it was boring and not a lot of character compared with so many old Vancouver island harbor towns.

We grabbed lunch at the marina and it took nearly an hour for food to come. Was over priced and while the food was pretty good. It was time to go…

We left early afternoon for Nanaimo.

Another uneventful (thankful) trip we had to pass through Dodd narrows which is a very narrow passage between island and mainland. It can run up to 9 knots which is pretty damn fast for a passage that doglegs and could be nasty. I kept an eye on the timing and aimed to hit it around 2 hours past low tide. We’d be running with it and not into it. The currents at that time were supposed to be 5 knots. It was zero drama we picked up about 3 knots as we drafted through it so it was clearly running slower than the current table suggested. And we snaked through with ease.

Soon enough we were in Nanaimo. 2 nights here in the port authority marina. Docked next to some pretty big boats. And right opposite a nice 125 footer triple decker. Supernova can sometimes feel big. On the outer side of this Marina it felt like a dinghy. Yes that’s us at the back in the picture. See? See?

It’s a cool marina with a nice fish and chip place right on the dock and a cool little palapa taco bar. We have now eaten both, nothing better than getting dinner by dinghy!

and finally, this morning a surprise spa appointment for me for a massage and salt scrub ( Thank you Afra). Sounds nice. Was incredibly disappointing, stay away from ‘Pure Spa’ in nanaimo. You know you’re in trouble when there is a sign at reception saying ‘our massage is only for relaxation we do not have any licensed massage therapists’. It was in a hotel, looked great. But the 20yr old who did her thing was, well, useless.

Back to the boat. Had to fix a bilge pump that took way longer than it should have done due to a live wire that was not live, is still not live but a new wire is. Pain in the ass, but that’s boating.

Finished the day with a walk around Newcastle island that is a really nice, clean state park that you get to by dinghy (or your boat of choice) more dog swimming some good steps for me and then back to the boat..

Leaving tomorrow for Hornby Island…..

Didn’t make it that far on Saturday. Day 1. We decided to stop at Port Townsend after the delay at the locks and getting diesel topped up. We would have arrived late and we have time so we decided to drop anchor at Port Townsend. Normally we stay at the Marina there. It’s one of Afra’s fav spots and her favourite marina of all. But for a change we decided to drop the hook right across from the public dock down town.

We walked the town got some steps in with a few cycles of their steps downtown and then headed back to the boat.

I was woken in the morning by a scraping noise. It was about 6.15am. Panic. I thought we’d slipped anchor and had grounded so I grabbed a robe and ran upstairs. There was a huge sailboat pulling anchor and he was about a foot off our bow. I wasn’t even awake yet so processing. Turns out they were pulling anchor and despite us dropping at least 500 feet away from his boat he had caught our anchor chain on his anchor.

The noise I had heard was the anchor chain grating on his anchor. Apparently he had 500ft of chain out.

Anyway they were friendly enough and nice about it. He was anchored first so maybe I was too close I just didn’t expect someone to have that much rode out. They knew what they were doing and used their main sail winch to hold my chain while they redropped their anchor. Sorted !

NOTE I do not know why the following images are the wrong orientation. I have re-uploaded with every different rotation and it does the same. They are from Afra’s phone texted to me. I blame her for sure

All that drama had me up at 6.30am. Unheard of for me!! So we pulled anchor and set off.

The strait of Juan de Fuca was beautiful. It can be a bitch and the last time we crossed it was 10ft waves and no fun at all. This morning it was dead dead calm! We cruised slowly heading for Sidney to clear customs.

Stopped at Sidney and waited on the phone for 10 mins for customs. Any booze? Any weed? Any guns? No Ma’am. And we were cleared in 2 minutes.

Grabbed supplies in Sidney. All the stuff you can’t bring in. Like salad and veggies and now we are headed to lady smith for the night.

It’s beautiful. The sun is shining. The sea is calm. And I just had a pint of Boddingtons.

All is good.

Well doesn’t surprise me I lost the discipline to keep this updated. Not that disciplined as a rule.

But today I embark on a much needed and much desired Sabbatical. 3 months off work after 19 years seems like a piece of heaven right now. A gift.

Phase one… 5 weeks on the boat and off to Desolation sound. Always wanted to explore Desolation but it’s a trek to get up there. You need some time, and finally we have time.

Desolation sound is off the north east side of Vancouver island known for beautiful anchorages. Peace and quiet. Dramatic shorelines and a rarity in the Pacific Northwest.. warm sea water that can get into the mid 70’s due to minimal tidal exchange. Seems weird to imagine swimming in the Pacific Northwest without freezing your b**ls off. We’ll see

Was supposed to leave last night but had so much to get done and was collecting the boat after a major electronics upgrade. New MFDs in the pilothouse and bridge. New radar etc. of course picked up the boat and it wasn’t working properly. But got that all fixed after S3 marine came out and worked on it at 9pm on a Friday night.

So it was today we leave. Headed to Sidney spit tonight just to clear customs into BC and chill for a night. It’s a beautiful day. We got stuck at the locks but ended up being the first boat in the large locks so that was good to get out quickly.

And now headed to Kingston to top up with Diesel and then on our way. Will try to update this as my own diary of events.