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…..