Special contribution from guest blogger: Happy XXXXXday, Bruce!

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Very busy day. Too busy to blog. Notes for future:

Wind shifted to NW mid night
So we had anchored in Pirates Cove, which is totally protected from the SW winds that were blowing when we went to bed. So of course the wind shifted to the north. Seems we didn’t take the weather reports into account. So all of us were up several times during the night to check the anchor in fear that we were slowly dragging onto the concrete dock astern of us. We found out later Tim was just as concerned as we beginners were. Eventually it was morning, the anchor hadn’t budged and we awoke officially to start the day in the choppy little bay.

Anchor issues
After a quiet breakfast we went to raise anchor. Leslie was at the helm and I ran the windlass. Unfortunately it was almost impossible to keep the boat head into the anchor and then the chain started to pile up in the locker, preventing me from raising it the last 8 ft or so. Eventually we got everything shifted around and finally could head out the narrow entrance to the cove, directly into the wind.

Motor in 3 ft seas to Degnen
Tim lives on Gabriola island in Degnen Bay; he has a marina there (all permanent moorage). We decided to visit, so after we weighed anchor in the windy cove, which was a bit of an exercise, we headed north into the wind. The waves were crashing over the bow as Leslie wound her way upwind. Lots of fun!

A Little Talk
As we headed back towards Gabriola Island, we discussed some of the issues we’d been having and the importance of being aware of weather, tides, etc. Apparently Tim had been nervous about whether our anchor would hold in such strong winds and the usual solution (letting more rode out) wasn’t available to us since we were already too close to the concrete dinghy dock. If it wouldn’t have been equally problematic, we probably should have hauled the anchor out in the dark and moved the boat.

Motor to Telegraph
After putzing around the Gabriola Passage and Degnen Bay we headed back out and set a course south for Telegraph Harbour between Thetis and Kuper islands. It was pretty quiet there but between the stage fright and a bit of a head wind I royally screwed up the docking. I blame it on the fact the helpful marina owners came down to help and ruined my concentration, but frankly it was probably just a bad job of docking.

 

Lunch ensued. We took a brief walk around, used the washrooms and boarded again to practice some more. After a much more successful docking practice session (Leslie is kickass at this stuff) we exited the Harbour and headed across the strait towards Ladysmith. Tim had recommended a restaurant there since we had decided to eat out that night. About halfway across we called ahead and found out the restaurant is closed on Mondays, so we decided to abandon that course. We changed course to 225 degrees into Chemainus.

On the way there it started to rain. One of the boat deficiencies we had already noted when Leslie was covering the windshields with spray earlier in the day, was that the windshield wipers weren’t worth shit. Thus we were left to enter a strange harbour in rain and poor visibility. To make it worse one of the ferries was just astern of us, and while I had the right of way we decided it was prudent to bear away and circle in behind him. Since the government dock is right beside the ferry dock, the ferry led us right in. That was the good part of the ferry.

We docked right behind a huge catamaran on the outside float with the hope we could shelter in his lee. Didn’t help. We were exposed all night to the NW wind and every time the ferry came in his wash would toss the boat around a bit to keep us alert.

So we had some wine. It pretty much solves everything.

We invited Tim to join us for dinner and headed into town. The skipper of the cat kindly lent us the shower key and told us the gate code so we were good to go until tomorrow when the Harbour Master was due in. We wandered up into town but it was pretty dead. The first restaurant we saw open was Odika, so it won by default. Perfect choice! The food was delicious. My salmon Wellington, Leslie’s soup and mussels, and Tim’s African-style lamb were all superb and accompanied by a great bottle of BC red. We finished off with some terrific desserts and wandered back to the boat stuffed and sated.

Sleep was good, but our breastlines were too taut and we didn’t have the right length of ropes for spring lines. This means that the boat is basically banging and rubbing on the fenders all night as the wind drives the waves against our stern…where L’s and my cabin is … loudly banging … oh, and did I mention it was freezing cold?

Let’s see, three nights on board, freezing cold each evening, two with waves smacking loudly on the hull and the boat bouncing like a berserk roller coaster. Yah, we’ve been sleeping well, why do you ask?

 

View Boating 2013 April 29 in a larger map

Time to get up!

I hopped (inasmuch as I ever hop) out of our warm bed and headed for the new kettle. I fired up the gimballed stove and made tea and coffee and then roused the holiday bed slug.

We turned on the VHF to the weather and listened to wind warnings and rain forecasts. Hard to credit given the beautiful sunny morning we are enjoying but I guess I will believe them. Anyway it looks like we are destined for the Gulf Islands unless we want to deal with a Georgia Strait passage in strong-gale winds.

Next up was a shower so I packed my kit and headed for shore. On the way I enjoyed our morning greeting committee of thousands of tiny jellyfish.

A quick cleanup and it was back aboard to tidy up while we wait for Tim. Tim and his wife Donna showed up and, after a nice chat, we got down to business. We walked through most of the bits of the boat and talked about a lot of theoretical stuff. Eventually we headed up to grab some charts (looks like Gulf Islands) and headed back to the boat. We cast off and Tim demonstrated the maneuverability of a twin screw as we weaved our way out of the marina.

We headed at idle to the public docks and after a brief tour I took over and tried docking the boat a few times. Overall, I was pretty successful although I failed at three tries on docking on the leeward side of the dock. Leslie took over and did pretty good too. Afterward we headed over to the park across the harbour at Newcastle Island to try out some mooring buoys and a bunch more docking on the finger docks there.

Eventually we decided to get the show on the road and headed south. We talked about Dodd Narrows but the current was around 9 knots. Tim decided to take us through False Narrows instead, because it had transits and the current was 50% of Dodd Narrows. UNder his watchful eye, I piloted us through the 9-13 foot narrows without running aground and then Leslie took over and took us into Pirates Cove on the south end of DeCourcy Island for our evening anchorage. She stayed at the helm while I dropped the anchor and we were snugged in for the night.

Dinner was sausage and pasta with a bottle of red. Leslie and I unshipped the dingy and headed ashore for a walk around the marine park and Tim washed dishes. The windward side of the island has three-foot waves and whitecaps, but our anchorage is almost completely still .

Back at the boat a bit of chat and a bit of reading and that was that.

The Internet is really flaky so pictures will have wait.

View Boating 2013 April 28 in a larger map

5:30 a.m. Zzzz

Up and off to the airport for our annual checkup (or is that pat down?) and then we start the glorious hurry up and wait game that is modern air travel.

We hit YVR from ocean side, almost flying over our final destination of Nanaimo on our approach. We were at the front of the plane so were off in a jiffy. Then we wandered down the terminal exploring before deciding Bruce needed a morning weiner. After a satisfying hot dog, we headed to tarmac level just in time to hear our names paged at our gate. Seems they had finally assigned our seats on the Dash 8 and we needed to pick up our new tickets.

After a brief wait we boarded and 14 minutes at 4000 feet deposited us in Nanaimo. Lorraine, our contact from Nanaimo Yacht Charters, was there to pick us up. We soon grabbed our luggage and headed to Stones Marina, a stone’s throw from Departure Bay ferry terminal.

Lorraine handed over our goodies: a bottle of wine, keys to both the boat and their courtesy car and a pair of free hats. In turn we grabbed our log books and signed away our lives. She then walked us down to the boat, the 32 ft Bayliner At Last and bid us adieu.

This boat is way bigger (taller) than it looks online and very intimidating. After we snooped around a bit, Ian (another partner in the business) dropped by to check us out on the electrical and heads. We unpacked and then wandered around the marina and ended up at the pub for lunch.

Afterwards we zoomed off in the Toyota Echo loaner and stopped in at Save-On Foods for supplies. Tired, a bit dozy and not at all confident we fumbled our way through. I really should’ve had She Who Cannot Be Named do up the menu. Better yet, dragged her along to cook. Anyway we survived the experience and likely will have enough to eat for a few days yet. Next up was the booze store but we tried to keep it calm and down to just a few bottles for now.

We popped into the dollar store in search of a cheap kettle. The At Last didn’t seem to have one. No luck. I have to say that the dollar store’s already esoteric clientele is all the more odd here in Lotus Land. Strangest group of customers I ever did see.

Back in the car we headed downtown looking for a bank. We found one and a London Drugs, which rendered up a kettle so we can now have tea. We cruised back to the marina to unpack. Leslie opted for a nap (it was 4 o’clock after all) and I went for a walk snooping at boats.

Marinas are really crowded. Not so much in the neighbours-are-too-close way but more in the how-the-hell-do-I-get-this-boat-outta-here way. I have to say my confidence is a lot lower than it was yesterday. But Tim Melville, our instructor, shows up tomorrow at 9 so I suppose it will all get better.

After everyone rose and shone we talked boating and looked through our books and generally acted all nautical.

Then we wandered over to the Beefeater for dinner: Leslie had fresh seafood cannelloni and I went for meat skewers. I had a glass of Copper Moon Shiraz to go with and it was delish. So now it’s 9 pm BC time and we are zonked. So we made up the aft cabin and it’s nighty night.

Nighty night…