Back Across to Vancouver Island

It was a cold lumpy  recrossing of Georgia Strait. We left in the dark and weaved our way out to the open strait where of course we were immediately on a collision course with a big freighter.

 We arrived at Silva Bay which is the closest protected anchorage. We dropped out anchor just before the weather turned nasty with a strong Northerly wind and a deluge of rain.

Silva Bay is a great anchorage with an even bottom with good depths and protection from the wind. Unfortunately it is crammed with mooring buoys and it is very difficult to find a spot where you don't swing into a boat or buoy.

Anyways it all worked out and the next morning we went back through Gabriola Pass back to our favourite anchorage at Pirate's Cove. Much to our amazement we had to share the anchorage with two other boats.

From Pirate's Cove we headed North to Nanaimo. We anchored off Newcastle Island and rushed to the mainland to buy treats and booze for the New Year's Eve celebrations that night. As usual we were fast asleep when the New Year arrived but we did hear the sounds of fog horns and sporadic fireworks going off at midnight. We spent two glorious days at anchor here and took long walks on both Newcastle and Protection Island. Being the New Year I paid special attention to accumulating a new list of birds. We finally got great views of a Pileated Woodpecker. I have have no idea why this common bird had eluded us so far.

A short trip brought us to Stones Marina where we will keep the boat while we fly off to Southeast Asia for six weeks. This marina is very secure and seems to get very little wind. An added bonus is that our friend Angus has a boat here and will be able to periodically check the boat while we are away.

So far the weather had not been too bad. It gets below zero at night but usually warms up around nine or ten. Rain has been sporadic, not the perpetual deluge we were expecting. When the sun pops out it is paradise. I think great things await us when we return on February 18th.

Pirate's Cove before Christmas

There were supposed to be some flurries. Instead we woke up to this.

We headed off to shore in a wet slushy snow that very quickly got everything very wet. As soon as we entered the forest we heard tree limbs cracking like rifle shots. Large Arbutus limbs were succumbing to the weight of wet slush. I cautioned Yammy to keep about fifty feet separating us as we walked, to avoid a double catastrophe. 

We didn't see otters frolicking, but we did see signs of their passage.

Vancouver

I am skipping over the snowstorm in Pirate's Cove. I will do an update and post the snowy wet pics.

From Pirate's Cove we first had to get through Gabriola Passage and then Cross 25 miles of Georgia Strait. I was a little concerned because we had to wait until late in morning to wait for the current to ease. Once we were through we were out in the strait and it was gorgeous. It was a little windless but that pleased the first mate. The timing worked out and we pulled into False Creek in downtown Vancouver just as the sun was setting.

So here we are in the heart of the beast. A five minute dinghy ride gets us close to Cambie and Broadway where there are a whack of stores and restaurants. In the other direction there is downtown the library the skytrain and the seawall. There is no end of stuff to do here and we shall be royally entertained over the Christmas season. We hope to cross back over the Strait a couple of days after Christmas. But the Gods may have something to say about it.

Sidney Back in Canada

Past Turn Point Light and across Haro Strait and we were back in Canada

We cleared customs in Sidney. We are staying in a pretty fancy marina. They had a two day special price. We stayed our two days then went and anchored out overnight and now are back for another two days.

The fact that I have so few pictures of Sidney is a bit of a commentary on the town. It has everything a sailor needs but is a little lacking in Character. The streets are full of old timers like us. It is important to keep your eyes peeled for the mad seniors racing down the streets on their three wheelers.
On a windy wet day we sailed off to Connover Cove. It is about fifteen miles away and a south wind pushed us the whole way.  We were lucky in that we were the sole boat in this congested anchorage. The last time we were here there were about six boats crammed in here.

Stuart Island Again

Another nice day, a little fog and a short hop over to Stuart Island our last port in USA. This time we anchored in Prevost Harbour on the north side of the island. There was a baba 35 pilot house sailboat moored to the dock.

Sucia Island

I can't say enough good things about Sucia Island. The whole island is a state park and at this time of the year it is very quiet. The great weather continued and we lingered here for three days. We were very put out when we discovered two other boaters anchored in another bay.

My apologies for the indiscriminate photo dump.