Sweating in Nanaimo

Nanaimo, BC, Canada

Not a lot to report for the last while.

For the first few days we sweated in the heat.  Temperatures in the mid-30s, coupled with high humidity made for some of the hottest weather we have ever seen in Nanaimo (pushing 40 with the humidex readings).  Needless to say, we did not do a lot of work during those days.

Not a lot of change around here since we left 2 months ago, except that it is now prime cruising time and both the inner harbour and Mark Bay anchorage are very busy.

The annual salmon run appears to have started as well.  We have never seen them catch a lot, but they seem satisfied with standing in water up to their waists at the mouth of the river at high tide.  At low tide this area is virtually dry.

There seems to be a change in management at the Newcastle Marina and Boatyard - here is a picture what we assume is their new yard foreman.

For the last week, the weather has cooled off enough that we have been able to start on the list of boat projects that we compiled while we were away.  Much progress is being made and we are spending money like true boaters.  A lot of our list consists of equipment that we feel we should have before we head south next month - spare lines and pumps and such, proper off-shore outfits, new charts and guides, etc., etc., etc.

So far, most of my time has been spent installing a new raw water washdown system, adding a new 12V outlet for the freezer under the front bunk, extracting the alternator and negotiating with the Balmar dealer on a better solution, trashing the aft head to make room for a new watermaker, and numerous small projects.

Susanne has taken on the huge task of painting all the decks, a project that we could never seem to get a sufficient weather-window for before we left the marina in June.  So far, it looks fantastic, but now that the weather is starting to cool off a bit today, the rate of painting may suffer.

With the dock work that is going on around us, we have acquired a new construction supervisor.  Here he is on his daily inspection tour - seems pretty pleased don't you think?

{GMST}49|10|N|123|56|W|Nanaimo Harbour|Nanaimo Harbour{GEND}

Downwind Express

We spent a nice day in False Bay, visiting the public dock, having a sandwich and coffee at the cafe, and going for a walk down the quiet roads.  The sun did not make an appearance until about noon, but then it came out with a vengeance, making for a hot afternoon.

After a restful night at anchor, we left around 8:30 AM for the final journey to Nanaimo.
The best sailing we have had for the entire 2 months we have been away.  Launched the genoa as soon as we exited False Bay, and did not take it down until we were in Departure Bay in Nanaimo.  Consistent following wind, and a bit of current.  Covered the 25-mile distance by 2:30 in the afternoon - quite a feat for our slow boat.  And lots of blue sky and sunshine.  Downright hot when we got to Nanaimo.

The excitement did not really start until we were pulling into our mooring at Stone's Marina.  While we were away, they started working on replacing the docks and had stored a small, low-lying, barge with some lumber in our slip.  We could not see it until I had the bow started into the slip.  It would not have been so bad except that we still had some wind behind us as we came in and that usually means we only have one chance to get in, before the boat gets blown onto the main dock.  To make a long story short, I was able to get the boat into reverse in a hurry and backed, mostly in a straight line, up wind between the boats, while the workman got the barge out of the way.  Only two tries later, we were moored successfully.  No harm done.

After getting everything squared away and relaxing for a while, we hit the pub for some fish and chips and a couple of brews.

Life is good again.

Deja Vu

We spent another day in Drew Harbour and finally re-launched the dinghy (it has been riding on deck for over 2 weeks now). The day started out overcast, but by 10 AM the blue sky appeared and the sun came out. For a few hours is was lovely and we took the dinghy to shore, where we were able to take a walk on Rebecca Spit. Impressive collection of driftwood along both sides of the spit, the obvious results of severe storms in the past.

We thought we would take the dinghy to Heriot Bay, at the entrance to Drew Harbour, to do a little shopping at the local store. However, as we got to the north end of the harbour the wind and waves forced us to turn back for fear of swamping our poor little dinghy (actually the crew just didn't want to get wet).
Once we got back to the mother ship, we were faced with more wind and waves, as we stuggled to get the outboard stowed, with the dinghy pitching up and down. Where we are anchored, at the far south end of the harbour, leaves us wide open to the NW winds, which makes for a rather bumpy ride, even in the big boat. We spent the rest of the day in the cockpit, partially sheltered from the wind, and entertained ourselves by reading and watching the boats come and go. Without the wind it would have been a terrific place to spend more time.

It was interesting last night, when the winds came up after about 6 PM; a lot of the boats that were anchored around us, started pulling up their anchors and heading to the north end of the harbour, in hopes of finding less wave action. Based on what I saw up there today, I'm not sure it made any difference.

Today, we made the move to continue south, into the Strait of Georgia. There are not a lot of places we like to stop in this northern stretch of the strait, so we made the long (50 mile) journey all the way to False Bay on Lasqueti Island, one of our favorite anchorages - motored all the way. This was the first place we stopped when we left Nanaimo and will probably be the last place we stop before we are back. One big difference is that it is very busy here now; lots of boats at anchor. When we were here in June, we almost had the place to ourselves.

The weather today turned into full "summer" mode, for the first time in ages. Bright blue sky and sunshine all day. And the anchorage in False Bay is much calmer than what we have been experiencing for the last couple of weeks. We were able to just relax and work on our tans this afternoon. We may just stay here a day or two before we head back to Nanaimo. Somehow it figures that we have spent two months looking for the good weather, only to find it within 30 miles of our home port.
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Drew

Yesterday turned out exactly as predicted; overcast, fog, mist and drizzle.  A good day for just staying put and playing games.  It has its own sort of beauty though.

Today looked a little better, so we upped anchor early, around 6:50 AM, to make our arrival at Dent Rapids by 9:15.  We timed it perfectly and breezed through Dent, then Gillard Passage and finally Yuculta Rapids, all under engine power.

While motoring through the start of Dent Rapids, we got a big surprise as we were joined by a pod of dolphins playing in our bow wave.  Of course, I was a bit busy at the time trying to navigate the swirling whirlpools and eddies of the rapids and had little time to admire them.  Sue did try to get some pictures this time, mostly after the fact with just splashes of water showing.  Still, pretty exciting for us.

Then we continued on our way, mostly motoring, with about an hour of sailing when the wind would cooperate, all the way to Drew Harbour, where we arrived about 2:30 PM.  This is an extremely busy place on Quadra Island, next to the Rebecca Spit Marine Park.  Lots of boats and lots of campers on the shore.  Speedboats and water-skiers and kayaks, etc.  A bit of culture shock for us.
Bonus: I found some free, unguarded, Internet.

The weather has improved remarkably and we were able to spend the rest of the afternoon getting a tan in the cockpit.  As the evening approaches the wind is getting up and we are not sure what the night or tomorrow might bring.

Here is picture of a boat we anchored next to in Forward Harbour a couple of nights ago.  It appears that helicopters might be replacing dinghies as the preferred method of getting to shore.  I think we are getting a little behind the times.

Sailing, sailing...

For two days now we have been blessed with strong NW winds in Johnston Strait.
For two days now we have been headed SE down Johnston Strait.
Ye-ha!

Day 1 saw us leave Port Harvey at around 8:30 AM, motored into the strait, then sailed for 4-1/2 hours down the strait (light winds at first but later strengthened to 20+ knots) and into Sunderland Channel, where we totally messed up a gybe and were forced to motor the rest of the way into Forward Harbour. Anchor down by 3:30 in the afternoon.
As a note of explanation, to gybe this boat when we have only the genoa flying, we have to furl the sail completely, turn the boat, then unfurl the sail on the other side. Somehow during a moment of inattention, we managed to get the roller-furling totally screwed up to the point that we had a big piece of the sail kind of flapping in the breeze, with the sheets wound up both underneath and around the sail (which I did not think was possible), completely unable to furl or unfurl anything. We got it sort of bundled up and when we found a relatively sheltered spot, we managed to get it all untangled again, before we entered the anchorage and completely embarrassed ourselves in front of everyone.

Day 2 we left Forward Harbour at 6:30 AM to catch slack water at Whirlpool Rapids, then motored down Wellbore Channel, and a piece of Chancellor Channel to get back to Johnston Strait. We pulled out the genoa again and sailed for 3-1/2 hours, covering most of the distance to our destination, just a short way up Nodales Channel, at Cameleon Harbour on Sonora Island. Anchor down by noon. No big screw-ups today. We made very quick progress, for us, due to a combination of 10 to 18 knot following winds and a mostly following current down the strait.

So this means we have had 2 consecutive days where we have actually covered more ground under sail than with the engine running!

For a while this afternoon, the sun came out and it was quite warm. Didn't last though, and now they are predicting possible showers tonight and tomorrow. If so, maybe we will just stay put here for a while. The harbour here is pretty open to the NW winds, but it is roomy and we have our anchor well set.
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Route Reversal

It was a beautiful morning in Potts' Lagoon; calm and, though the sky was not perfectly clear, the sun was mostly shining.

We upped anchor at around 9:30 AM and motored for an hour and a half to Lagoon Cove, where we had anchored when we were on our way north.  This time it was only for a quick fuel stop at the marina.  I figured we had enough to get us back to Nanaimo, but decided to play it safe and top up the tank while we are so close to a fuel dock.  I'm not sure what diesel is going for on the mainland right now, but I suspect the $1.21 per liter was a bit of a premium.

Now, the timing was right for us to continue to Chatham Channel, to arrive at slack around 1:00 PM.  In fact, we were a bit early so we killed the engine and sailed (drifted) down the channel for about 1/2 hour, in about 3 knots of wind.  The only reason we made any way was that we were still in a flood current going down the channel at about 2.5 knots.
We made it through the narrows ok and proceeded a few miles further to Port Harvey.  This is exactly the reverse of the route we used when going the other way, and tomorrow will likely be more of the same.  There is just no way to avoid using Johnston Strait on this section of the route.

Since we anchored here last time, this time, just to be different, we stopped at the marina.  Met a few fellow boaters that we have seen at a distance over the last couple of months at various anchorages up north.  Somewhat gratifying that so many of them have also had mechanical problems of one sort of another - I don't quite feel so bad about our little issue back in Shearwater any more.

Tonight we will be dining on designer hamburgers in the marina restaurant.  Looking forward to it immensely.

And tomorrow we have arranged for fresh-baked cinnamon buns to be ready for our departure.

Potts'

Yes, here we are in Potts' Lagoon.

Woke up this morning in the fog, but it cleared off enough by 10 AM that we were able to up anchor and make our way through Retreat Passage and Spring Passage, across the start of Knight Inlet, down Eliot Passage, pieces of Village Channel and Indian Channel, before culminating in Beware Passage (which we timed for low water slack). Beware Passage is well named with lots of islets, rocks and reefs to navigate around and through. Great names like Beware Cove, Beware Rock, Caution Rock, Caution Cove, Care Island, Care Rock, and our particular favorite, Dead Point.
We made it through safely, thanks to our expert navigating and a little help from modern technology - Chartplotters rule!

As we approached this anchorage, the sun came out and it almost feels warm outside.
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Waddington Bay

This morning around 10 AM we left Sullivan Bay. Nobody else had budged and we were pretty well in the most inaccessible spot for leaving, so we called on a few fellow boaters to manhandle the boat (Holding on to the bow and pushing our stern off the dock) into a position from which I could meander in reverse between the luxury yachts, till we were clear of the marina. Any time I back this boat any distance without hitting anything is considered a successful launch.

From there we motored for about 3-1/2 hours, to Waddington Bay on Bonwick Island. This seems like a nice, quite place to spend the night.

We had to use the engine the entire way because, in spite of the usual wind warnings, there was virtually no wind. The good thing about using the engine is that we make lots of hot water while doing so. So hot showers were the order of the day as soon as we had the anchor down. Considering that the marina had wanted over 6 dollars per shower (I guess water is scarce), it is actually cheaper for us to pay for the diesel on a short trip like this. Plus, with the lack of sunshine for the last while our batteries did need a bit of a boost.

Now, as I am writing this, some blue sky has appeared, and the sun is actually shining. Maybe this is a sign of good things to come.

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Sullivan Bay

Day 2 at Sullivan Bay

It got a little busier today, probably in part because of the turkey dinner special.  It was quite tasty.

We feel a little out-classed here.  Our boat looks like nerd that somebody accidentally invited to the party.

Notice that helicopter landing pads are not restricted to float homes here.  This is what a dot-com can do for you.

Sullivan Bay remains a bit of an odd place.  It would be nice if there was anywhere you could just get to some solid ground to go for a walk, but I guess the surrounding forest is just too treacherous.

They do have everything here, including the worlds toughest golf course - a one-hole, par 1 course with a bit of a water hazard.