In Panama

I arrived in Panama after 12 hours of typically boring and uncomfortable air travel.  I had a rough start to the trip when Air Canada informed me they would not let me board the plane on a 1-way ticket, claiming that Panama might not let me in.  After a few phone calls to their supervisors, we determined the solution was for me to buy a fully refundable return ticket, and then cancel it once I got into Panama.

Not surprisingly, no one in Panama had any questions about how long I was staying or how I was going to leave the country.

I met Les and Ali at the yacht club where the boat is anchored, and Roger, the 4th crew, joined us by dinner time.  We headed back to the boat for an early bedtime just after dinner.  It was a very hot and humid night on the boat, and very sloppy seas, with the wake of all the passing ships knocking us around.

Arctic Tern, with Bridge of the Americas

We are moored just next to the Bridge of the Americas, which is the only bridge over the canal.  There has been a steady flow of tankers and freighters going by.  We have received word that we are scheduled to head in at around 8:00 tomorrow morning, which should allow us to get through in 1 day.  The plan is to spend one night in Colon on the Caribbean  side of the canal, and then set off the next morning, with no current plans to touch land again before Wales.

Our planned route will take us between Cuba and Haiti, and then west of Bermuda, before turning east across the Atlantic.

At the Balboa Yacht Club with Ali, Les, and Roger

San Juan Island, and home

We headed off the next morning, planning on anchoring outside of Butchart Gardens near Victoria, for our last night before returning to Sidney.  As we were leaving the harbour, I mentioned to Sara that the next island over was Stuart Island, in the San Juans, on the US side of the border.  She had sailed there a few years earlier on a sailing course with some girlfriends.  She had lots of good memories of the area, and we had hoped to spend a few days there, but we didn't have time to do everything.  Realizing how close they were, we made a snap decision to head over for our last night out.

The first mate raising the courtesy flag

I quickly started researching the procedure for entering the US by private boat.  It seemed we had everything we needed, and changed course for Friday Harbour on San Juan Island, the primary US customs point of entry.  Once safely tied to the (unmanned) customs dock, I picked up the dedicated phone, only to be told that we would have to wait at least an hour, since a ferry from Canada just arrived.

Fortunately, were were first in the queue when the guy finally arrived.  I am sure the other boaters were dismayed when the customs agent decided he needed to take me up to the main office to clear me in, which took at least half an hour.

Once cleared in, we moved the boat into the marina, and headed off exploring.  Emily and I went to the whale museum, which was interesting, while Sara roamed the shops.  We had dinner at a local restaurant, and turned in early.

Friday Harbour

I was up early, needing to spend some time on the computer, and getting the official boat purchase offer signed and scanned.  We were underway by 9:00, and headed straight over to Roche Harbour, on the other side of San Juan Island.  Sara had been there 2 years before, and it was definitely worth the trip.  It has the feel of an old fashioned luxury resort, and the harbour our was full of very large, very expensive boats.

We had lunch off the boat, and wandered around for a couple of hours, before heading back to Canada.

Our day was made more interesting by some dolphin sightings, and in Sara's case, a (believed to be) orca.

The Canadians custom experience was a lot quicker.  Similar in that the customs dock is unmanned, with only a telephone, but in this case after I provided our passport info, they gave me a confirmation number, and said welcome home.  Under 5 minutes total.

We nicely got tied up for what we thought was the final time, when I realized we needed to fill up the diesel tanks.  We then determined that there are no fuel docks at our Maina, so we headed a mile north to fuel up.  I had left the truck at a yacht club near the fuel dock, so I dropped Sara there to drive the truck around, and Emily and I took the sailboat back ourselves.

It was really a great trip for all of us, and removed any doubts about our ability to cruise as a family.  It would be sad that it's over, except that the next sailing adventure is not far off.  I leave for Panama to rendezvous to Arctic Tern next Saturday, and the girls intend on meeting me mid-July in Wales, to continue our adventures, this time in the Irish Sea.

Back to the Gulf Islands

We launched ourselves back actress the Straight of Georgia without a real destination in mind, knowing that we would have at least 3 hours to figure one out. There are only a few openings through into the Gulf Islands from the Straight, and the currents  running through them can be very considerable.  It turned out that we were way too early for slack tide at the passes nearest us, so we opted to make it a short day and head to Silva Bay on Gabriola Island, which is accessed directly from the Straight.  The guidebook described it as a very good anchorage with a nice marina.  The current situation is that the anchorage is filled with boats on permanent mooring buoys, leaving the marina as the only option for a visiting boat.  We tied up and had our lunch before going for a walk.

After quickly realizing that it was a very expensive marina, and many of the local businesses weren't open for the season yet, we decided to carry on.  Our 2 hours in Silva Bay had put us right on schedule to go through Porlier Pass at slack tide, so off we headed again.  After a couple of hours we pulled into Clam Bay, neat Thetis Island, and dropped the anchor with only a few other boats in sight.

Telegraph Harbour is on the other side of the island, but only a 15 minute dinghy ride away through a shallow channel.  We decided to go exploring, and ended up staying for dinner at the pub.

Our neighbour in Clam Bay

The next day, we headed off early, intending to make it to Poet's Cove between North and South Pender Islands, which is one of the most popular cruising destinations in the Gulf Islands.  Once there, we tied up to a mooring buoy, and eventually headed in to explore the resort.

Poets Cove

After a snack in the restaurant, we headed to the swimming pool, where we met some more old hippy islanders.

This was the day that our offer to buy Arctic Tern (aka the orange boat) was formally presented to the buyers, who had briefly stopped in El Salvador.  We had a 24 hour window to sort out a deal, otherwise it would be unlikely to pull the proposed plan together in time.  For the first time in a few weeks we had no cell coverage on the boat, so I nervously made multiple trips over to the resort in the dinghy to get on their Wifi.  There was no feedback at bedtime.

When I woke early the next morning, it was raining, and I had decided to delay my trip in for Wifi for a while.  Luckily, my cell phone connected briefly, and I had an email from the sellers, notifying me that they were accepting our offer without modification.  Game On!!!

Bowen Island & Plumper Cove Marine Park

Bowen Island lies just north of the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal in Howe Sound.  We decided to stay in the Marina there, and as we were coming in, one of our temporary neighbours walked over to help us tie up.  Val and her husband Jerry lived on their 50' sailboat in the marina, and had recently returned from an 18 year (!) circumnavigation.  We were fortunate to be able to hear some of her inspiring stories.

Bowen Island was one of our favourite stops for sure.  All the small-town quaintness we have seen on a lot of the islands, but its proximity to Vancouver gives it more energy somehow.

We were sad to leave, but wanted to better position ourself to cross the Straight of Georgia the next day, so we headed out late in the day for Plumper Cove Marine Park late in the day. Located on Keats Island, just south of Gibsons, it was a beautiful little bay, and afforded us a chance to head ashore for a fire and some marshmallows.

Vancouver

It's always great to spend time in Vancouver.  We were based out of Fisherman's wharf marina between Granville Island and Burrard St bridge.

A visit from our friend Mark

Lunch at the Havana, with new specs

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A short dinghy ride home

After a great weekend, we headed out Sunday afternoon for a quick tour of False Creek, and then up to Bowen Island.

Gibsons

I awoke early the next morning, and as quietly as I could, started the diesel and raised the anchor, aiming to be in Gibsons before lunch.  The girls slept a while longer, but eventually joined me on deck and we had breakfast en route.

Cozy on a rare rainy morning

I spent a good portion of the trip down on the phone organizing new glasses for Emily.  To get quick turnaround, we would need to go to Vancouver, which was our plan anyway after Gibsons.

Clear skies again!

Once we were tied up in the Gibsons Marina, we headed up into town for lunch.  We had excellent sandwiches at the Black Bean, which then became my office for a couple of hours while the girls went exploring (aka shopping).

After I finished at "the office", I returned to the boat to fill water tanks, and take up our garbage and recycling.  When the girls returned, they were accompanied by a woman Sara had met who shared some Outward Bound connections.  We had an enjoyable visit over a glass of wine.

Lasqueti and Thormanby Islands

After a 2 hour motor we arrived at Lasqueti Island, which lies just west of Texada Island in the Straight of Georgia.  False Bay, where we were planned on staying the night, has a public dock, and also some areas to anchor.  As we surveyed the options, Sara quickly voiced her opinion that she thought it would be better to anchor.  A sure sign she is becoming a real mariner!

After setting the anchor in a corner of the bay among a few other boats, we hopped in the dinghy to check out the Lasquiti Pub and Restaurant.  It turns out we were there for opening night of the restaurant this year, and there was a good crowd including a few local kids that Emily quickly befriended.

Lasquiti is only served by foot ferry from Vancouver Island, so the cars that are there for the residents were all brought in on barges.  The place has has a real frontier feel to it.  Most cars don't have license plates, and it seems perfectly acceptable to sort one's recent marijuana crop on the table at the pub.

A new Lasquetian friend

We departed the next morning with intentions of making it as far as Gibsons.  As we were nearing the southern point of Texada, I could see a colony of sea lions basking on the rocks.  I brought the boat in close, and shut off the engine for a few minutes so we could get a good look, and listen to their barking.  We even got to see a couple of the big guys have a bit of a fight, with one of them ending up in the ocean.

It was a slight diversion north to stop in at Thormanby Island, which we had heard about a couple of weeks earlier when we stayed in nearby Secret Cove.  Renowned for its great beaches, I thought we should pay it a visit, since we had short-changed Emily at the beach a couple of days prior.

We anchored just off the beach, had a quick lunch, and headed in.  The long sandy beach was definitely worth the trip, and we spent the afternoon there.  Although the anchorage isn't particularly sheltered, we decided that with the general lack of wind it would be fine to stay the night.  Gibsons could wait a day.

We had a lovely meal that night prepared on the bbq, including the only fish we have kept so far.  After dinner, Emily and I headed out in the dinghy to set the crab trap.  We had maybe a 10 minute ride to get to what looked like a good spot.  The 4hp motor on the dinghy doesn't go very fast, but we were having a very fun ride coming back in, with Emily hanging over the side watching the wake.    (Under my watchful eye of course). Suddenly, she yelled and turned back to me, eyes full of concern, which was easily observed since there were no glasses in the way.  Despite a very quick U-turn, there was no hope.  Her glasses had been donated to the mermaids.

Hornby Island

The forecast has the gales dying out, but still good wind, on Monday, so we thought this would be a good chance to make some distance back south.  We had met a few people along the way who had said good things about Hornby Island, just south of Comox, and that became our objective for the day. 

Once again, the promised wind did not materialize, so we motored most of the way down, with 
a bit of help from mailsail and spinnaker.  

Shoelace lessons on the foredeck

It was a long trip, and we arrived in time for a quick walk around the small settlement of Ford's Cove, and dinner back on the boat.  I rowed ashore after Emily was in bed to take advantage of the store's free WiFi, and take some sunset shots.  

It was a dark, moonless light, and as I rowed back out to the floating breakwater where Rio Dorado was tied, I saw some of the strongest bioluminescence I have ever seen as the oars disturbed the water.  For those unfamiliar with the phenomenon, the water lights up like millions of tiny stars due to a chemical reaction in some of the microorganisms living in the sea.  It can be very strong, and on past trips I can remember looking down into the water and seeing the glowing path of fish swimming by.

Rio Dorado in Ford's Cove

In the morning, we went back ashore for showers and to let Emily ride her bike for a while. We talked to a few locals at the little store who convinced us that a stop at Tribune Bay, on the south side of Hornby, would be worthwhile, as it has one of the nicest beaches in the area, and is also close to the largest concentration of shops.

We moved the boat around the island, and anchored off the beach.  Alter a quick lunch on board, we took the dinghy into the beach, and after a quick wander there, we headed off down the trail to the various shops.  It was further than expected, and after a quick look around and a bit of grocery shopping, we hurried back to the beach, as we were becoming concerned that we had passed low tide, and soon the dinghy would be starting to float off the beach.

Our dinghy was still on the beach when we got there, but it was starting to get late in the afternoon, so we decided it was time to get going over to Lasqueti Island, our next planned stop.    We felt bad we hadn't given Emily more time on the beach, but we knew there would be more beaches coming.

Cortes Island

With the forecast for strong winds on Sunday, we planned on staying a second night, so we had the day to go out exploring.  The main settlement was several miles away, so once again were stuck out our thumbs.   We quickly were picked up by a nice couple that took us right where we wanted to go.   After lunch, Sara did some grocery shopping, while Emily and I explored the nearby community garden, which was also home to a number of chickens. Emily found them quite amusing when they all came over to visit us.

As Sara re-joined us, the owner of the chickens arrived home.  Axel was yet another friendly islander, who invited us into his home (a small camper trailer) for a visit.  Originally from East Germany, he was Cortes Island’s chimney sweep, and judging by the trophies, a very accomplished ping pong player.  Although he didn’t say so, I have images of him growing up in a soviet era ping pong academy back behind the iron curtain.

Emily and Axel

 After a trip to the nearby beach, we hit the road the get back to Squirrel Cove.  Being late in the day, there was very little traffic heading in our direction.  Sara was convinced we would be walking the entire 6 km back to the boat, but I had hope.  Sure enough, within 10 minutes a vehicle came along heading our way, and true to island form, stopped for us.  We hitched 4 rides that day, and in every case, it was with the first vehicle that came by that had space for us. 

Desolation Sound

We lingered in Lund until after lunch, sadly missing most of the wind for the day.  Once we had cast off the dock lines, we motored up and around Malaspina peninsula, and into a deep bay called Grace Harbour, which is at the southern edge of the Desolation Sound area.   Despite its name (given by a George Vancouver, who at this point in his explorations was deeply depressed by his inability to find the Northwest Passage), it is a beautiful region of mostly unspoilt wilderness. 

 We shared the anchorage with only one other boat, and Emily and I headed to explore the rocky shoreline while Sara stayed on the boat and read.

After dinner we all headed off in the dinghy to do some fishing around the corner.  We had the excitement of landing a fish, but it seemed too small to keep, so we let it live.  Emily, somewhat surprisingly, was very disappointed that we weren’t going to kill and eat it.

There were Gale warnings starting the following afternoon, so the next day we headed off to Squirrel Cove on Cortez Island, which has a very good harbour.  The wind picked up nicely, so we raised the sails, and I gave Sara a workout tacking the boat upwind to the entrance to the cove.

The crew raising the mainsail

We entered the inner harbour through a narrow passage, and it looked like we had the place to ourselves.  We picked out the perfect spot to anchor, but just as the anchor chain started to lower, it stopped.  I had Sara drive the boat in slow circles as I tried to figure out what was wrong, but we eventually decided we should get to a secure dock for the night, before the gale hit.

Fortunately, there is a public wharf nearby in the outer harbour, and we were safely tied up 15 minutes later.  There was another sailboat docked there as well, and the owner Dave had a voltmeter he lent me so I could sort out our anchor issue.

While I was working on the boat, the girls went off exploring the small settlement there.  Sara called after an hour or so, suggesting I join them for dinner at the small restaurant down the beach.  It turns out the place is quite renowned in the region for its excellent food, and we had the best meal of the trip so far.

Rio Dorado, in front, at Squirrel Cove

Happy Mother's Day!!!

We will likely be "off the grid" on the official day, so we'll take this opportunity to wish all our mothers a very Happy Mother's Day.  We love you all!

Happy Mother's Day from Lund!

Sunshine Coast North

After leaving Princess Louisa, we motored down Jervis Inlet, with our planned destination being the Harmony Islands, a small marine park just below the bottom of Jervis inlet.  Owing to our early start, we were there in plenty of time.  The guidebooks describe them as a beautiful place, but they also have some concerning comments about anchoring.  Typical of this part of the world, the water gets very deep very fast.  The separation between the islands and the mainland is maybe only 200 feet or so, but the water is 60 to 100 feet deep for most of this distance.  Even with a stern tie, I wanted 200 feet of anchor chain out.  We made a few attempts, but found that the anchor was struggling to get a good bite in the rocky sea bed.  We finally got it to stick, but after being unable to get a stern line at the correct angle, we decided to give up, and fired up the engine again, and headed to Saltery Bay, where the ferry terminal to the upper Sunshine coast is.

We tied up to the dock, and headed out in search of food.  The only restaurant of sorts was the "Snack Shack" a divey looking roadside burger stand.  The food was surprisingly good - it turns out that the owner is a highly trained chef, and had just moved to the area and took over the dilapidated stand.

Fort building on way to Lund

I was in need of an office day, so we headed off fairly early for Powell River.  The marina there supposedly has good WiFi, so we headed straight there, motoring a couple of hours on one of the only rainy days so far.    The marina WiFi turned out to be non-existent where we were docked, so I headed off in search of a coffee shop with Emily, while Sara cranked out a few loads of laundry.

After my work day was done, we headed back down to meet Sara.  We stopped for a while to watch a couple of sea otters frolic in the marina, before heading to the boat for dinner and an early evening.

I was back at the "office" by 7:00 the next day, to finish off my various business commitments, and to keep things moving forward on the planned purchase of Arctic Tern.  Sara and Emily came and collected me for lunch, before walking up to the grocery store to stock up on food for the next week, and then returning to the boat.

Powell River had a good feel to it.  What had started out as an industry town has morphed into the sort of town not unlike Fernie, where people of all walks of life have moved to be close to nature, and to escape the exorbitant cost of living in the lower mainland.

We got away late afternoon and headed up to Lund, which is the northernmost village you can drive to up the coast.  We really liked it when we were through sailing when Emily was one, and had a very relaxing day here.  So relaxing that we couldn't muster the necessary energy to pull away the next afternoon, and stayed a second night.  As soon as I finish this blog post, however, we will be releasing the dock lines and heading up into Desolation Sound.

Another day at the office - note the palm tree!

Princess Louisa Inlet

One of the truly spectacular areas on the west coast is Princess Louisa Inlet, located about 30 miles up Jervis Inlet, that cuts deep into the mainland halfway up the Sunshine Coast.  I sailed there about 10 years ago, and wanted to make it a part of this trip as well.  I had originally thought we would go in on our way back south, but given the stable weather, it seemed to be a good time to do it after Pender Harbour.

The little town of Egmont is the usual launching point for the trip in, so that became our destination for Friday.   There was little wind, so once again we motored.   Emily had come down sick overnight, so Sara and I alternated being down below with her, while the other stood watch.

Egmont Marina

We were able to grab the last 40' of open dock space in Egmont, and had a few hours to roam around, and take advantage of the marina's showers.

The entrance to Princess Louisa is through Malibu Rapids, which are described as being a fearsome river, other than a brief slack period when the tide turns.  As luck would have it, on the day we were going in, slack tide was around noon, which required us to get an early start for the 5 - 6 hour trip in.  Sara briefly got up with me to help me get safely away from the dock, and then went back to bed with Emily, while I enjoyed the sun rising as I motored up Jervis inlet into the mountains.

Approaching Malibu Rapids

According to plan, the rapids were beautifully calm when we entered the inlet.  

I have been trolling a fishing lure for much of the trip so far, with no interest shown yet from the fish. (although in my defense we have been going faster than recommended for trolling).  Today I had been pulling a lure with a large silver flasher several feet in front of it.  Not long after we had entered Princess Louisa inlet, I watched with horror as a beautiful bald eagle passed over my lure, and turned to dive towards it.  Fortunately I was close to my reel, and hit the release, letting out a bunch of slack, allowing the lures to sink quickly out of sight, before the eagle could strike. A pretty cool thing to witness, and fortunately it ended well for the eagle.  More fuel for Sara's jokes about my fishing however.

We were all on deck enjoying the amazing scenery as we motored to the back of the inlet, and the base of Chatterbox Falls.

We shared the dock with 2 other boats Saturday night, both of whom were gone by the time we got up.  We were looking forward to the tranquility of being alone in this beautiful place, when the buzzing of aircraft started.  There must have been 5 float planes come and go over the next few hours,  none staying for more than 30 minutes.  Kind of cool in small doses, but I was glad when rush hour was over.

We decided to spend a second night there, and had a generally lazy day on Sunday.  Emily was still not feeling well, so we spend a bunch of time (unsuccessfully) trying to get her to take a nap.  I finally broke away and went for a hike up to an old trappers cabin, through the beautiful old-growth rainforest.

We were joined by 3 other sailboats for the night, and we headed out first thing in the morning, to make it through the rapids for the first slack tide of the day.