Pender Harbour to Squirrel Cove, 4 ¼ hours, 42 miles

Our 26^th Anniversary!

We woke up to pouring rain.  We have a long trip of 42 miles today.  There is no wind so our trip up Malaspina Straight was peaceful.  We passed the entrance to Desolation Sound and anchored in Squirrel Cove.  There are about ten boats here.  However, it is a huge anchorage. There is too much rain and clouds to see the mountains.  What a shame.  This afternoon I am working on my journal and sorting photos while Fred is organizing things in the engine room. 

Nanaimo to Pender Harbour, 3 hours, 32 miles

The weather is clear and we have about a 10-15 kt wind.  The weather report says that the waves are about 3 feet out in the Straight of Georgia.  We need to cross this large body of water that divides Vancouver Island from the mainland.  It is approximately 30 miles across.  We have crossed when the water was flat, that will not be the case today.  Fortunately Emerald Star handles very well.  The wind and current are from the south so we expected a little push on the way.  Unfortunately our autopilot does not handle a following sea well at all.  Fred had to “drive” the boat the whole way across.  He likes the challenge but it can be very tiring.  I am not comfortable driving the boat in these conditions.  We gratefully enter Pender Harbour safely and anchor in outside of Garden Bay Marina.  We arrived a little after noon time.  We had lunch then took the dinghy ashore at Madeira Marina.  We know where to get a great latte and a muffin.  Of course we ran into a lady who has 2 Cavalier King Charles Spaniels and we visited and shared stories. We meet the nicest people while traveling with a dog.  I was able to do some last minute shopping and we went back to the boat for dinner. 

Sidney to Nanaimo, 5 hours, 45 miles

We walked up to Starbucks for a latte before leaving. We are not in a big hurry to leave because we are only heading over to Bedwell Harbour.  We got off the dock at 11:05 am.  The weather is partly sunny, less than 5 kts wind and the sea rippled.  Just perfect!  Since we are in a bit of a hurry to get to Alaska so we then decided to pass Bedwell Harbour and go to Montague Harbour.  As we reached Montague I check the slack time at Dodd Narrows and the next slack is at 3:40 pm today.  Since we are traveling at about 9 kts, we are going to go through the Narrows and spend the night instead anchored in Mark Bay, Nanaimo. 

Sidney, BC

We went over to the chandleries by Van Isle Marina to look around.  Never know when you might find something one really needs.  We went over to Fish on Fifth for a late lunch.  We had their fish ‘n chips.  Very good but not as good as Hyland’s on Resthaven. When we got back to Emerald Star we divided and conquered.  I cleaned the boat while Fred finished the laundry and then he changed the engine fuel filters and cleaned the water maker primary filter.  We are going to leave Sidney tomorrow in great shape.  We returned the rental car in the late afternoon.  Unfortunately they couldn't give us a ride back to the marina.  We took a taxi instead.  Most of the taxi’s here are Toyota Prius’.  We’ve never ridden in one before.  They are really quiet.  No wonder pedestrians have to be careful because one can’t hear them coming.

Sidney, BC

The girl’s finished getting ready and packing up to leave today.  We are all a little sad.  Guests add a bit of chaos but it really nice to share this lifestyle with others.  Our plan is to take the Budget Rent-a-car shuttle to the airport and then rent a car to go shopping.  The shuttle arrived on time and we all headed to lovely Victoria International Airport which is charming.  It is very nice but quite small. They only have 12 gates. This airport is about 10 minutes away and located in Sidney, not Victoria. We had coffee and hung around until the girls had to go through security.  We then headed to the local Costco. We are going to get the products that we could not bring through Customs when entering Canada (produce & meat).  We spent $500 for food to last us for 3-4 months.  I love having a freezer aboard!  The bad part is that when we get back to the boat I have to portion the meat out and vacuum seal it for freezing.  This took about 4 hours.  I was about  to take the 4 lb package of hamburger and portion it out.  I knew Merlin was too quiet!  I found him eating the meat.  I think he must have consumed at least ½ lb.  I had no idea what this might do to a 19 lb dog.  I called the pet Poison Control Center for advice. Fortunately the vet said the worst it could do is give him vomiting and/or diarrhea.  We watched him carefully and he did not have any adverse effects from this dietary indiscretion.  We sure hope he doesn't think he getting fresh meat every day.  Bless Fred’s heart, he did the laundry.

Tod Inlet to Port of Sidney

From Heather's Blog posting...

Of course we wake up today to no rain, which would have been great if it were yesterday. After hanging for a little bit in the cove, we took off back to Sidney. It took about 2 hours, and unfortunately no whales to see. Although we did see 2 more seals as we were coming into the harbor. There were 2 guys from the marina waiting to catch our lines as we approached, which was very nice. After getting hooked up to shore power and taking Merlin for a walk, Monica and I headed into town. We decided to have lunch at a small corner restaurant called the 3^rd St Café. I had the Eggs Blackstone, which was a variation of Eggs Benedict but with bacon. I would go back there, it was tasty. We walked up and down Beacon St and I bought a couple of UK newspapers, a new travel toiletry bag, some unique candy and a few other things. We decided to stop at Starbucks on the way back to the boat. While we were in there, it decided to start raining heavily. We started to head back to the boat and ran into my Mom. We wandered a few more shops then headed back to the marina. We chose to go to the Rumrunner Pub for dinner right at the marina. Really cute place right on the water, fireplaces, etc. Plus our waiter was a hottie. We wanted to take him home J I had the fish and chips and we started with the crab, artichoke and spinach dip. Yum! We chose to walk into town after to get some ice cream. By this time, 7:30pm, all the ice cream shops were closed. But the market was open, so we wandered in there to pick some up. We walked along the water to head back, and saw a full rainbow in the distance. We went by the back side of the aquarium and checked out the pool of water with all the star fish and crabs in it. Once back at the boat I checked a VM from earlier and it was my bank confirming strange charges on my card, since I rarely leave the country. Nice of them to check. We got our suitcases packed, had some ice cream, burned all our photos to DVDs and just relaxed. We are sad to be leaving.

Ganges to Tod Inlet, 24 miles, 2 ½ hours

From Heather's blog posting...

This morning we headed out of Ganges for Todd Inlet. It was about 23 miles away, so our longest cruise of the trip, at just about 2.5hrs. The weather was not so great today, and there were some small swells in the channel. But it was fine. Entering Todd Inlet from Brentwood Bay was a little scary at times as the depth ranged from 8ft to 20+ft. luckily the 8ft areas came and went quickly. We found a place to anchor in the small cove and had tuna, cheese, bread, crackers, etc for lunch. Between all the bread and sweets we have been having, Monica keeps joking about all the carbs we have been eating. She and I never have this much bread and sweets at home. Monica had been fighting off a cold this whole trip, and she looked like she wanted to take a nap. The rain was coming down pretty good, so we debated chilling for a while, or just braving the rain and heading into Butchart Gardens. We decided to go for it. Fred took us to the back entrance via the dinghy dock, paid the $33 and headed in. It was still raining, but we had our rain gear on and umbrella and just explored the place anyway. I was last there in ’05 and it looked the same, and still beautiful in the gloomy weather. We explored for about 3 hours, as Fred was scheduled to swing by and get us at 5pm. We stopped at a café and had a pepperoni roll, which looked like it was a long skinny roll covered in cheese and assumed had slices of pepperoni in it like a pizza roll type thing. But it really had a pepperoni beef stick in it, more bagel dog style. It’s funny how much they are into these beef sticks and beef jerky up here. I have no problem with this J Then we stopped at the Blue Poppy food place in there and had a chocolate mousse. This was more to add to the high carb and sweets list. After getting drenched in the dinghy on the short ride back to the boat, my Mom put dinner in the oven. We checked out the photos I took from the day, then had pork loin, red potatoes and onions and a fresh green salad for dinner. After dinner we watched ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ which I brought up, and then headed to bed soon after. I was ready to just fall asleep on the couch.

Montague Harbour to Ganges, 12 ½ miles, 1 hour

We just hung out and had breakfast, and headed out around 12:30pm. We arrived at Ganges (Salt Spring Island) about an hour later. We watched sea planes take off and land left and right. Must be rush hour ;-) We decided to head to shore to have lunch since this was more like a little town than we have seen in a few days. I was last here in 2005 and it looks pretty much the same. We stopped at a place right above the marine call the Oystercatcher. Great place. I had the halibut tacos, which were fresh and awesome. For dessert, they had these homemade doughnuts with caramel and strawberry sauces, which sounded intriguing. But after we saw the neighboring table order them, we had to have some. Delish! After lunch, we headed back to the boat, so Monica and Heather walked around for a few hours. There are many shops, galleries, etc to walk around in. They called Fred (the taxi) to go get them from shore. As they were heading back to the boat, a sea plane was just taxiing away from the dock and was heading the same way we were. Looked like they were racing. We fought with our internet connection for a while tonight to try and check our e-mail. But other than that just chatted and watched the boats all bob back and forth in the cove. At dusk, we start seeing a large boat heading our way in the distance. As it got closer, Fred recognized it as the ‘After Eight’, which he has seen over the years up and down the coast. It is a 150’ mega yacht. Very nice as we watched it come it to dock and the 4+ crew that we could see, all bustled around to tie up the boat and get them settled. That doesn't even include what I would imagine to be a chef, butler, wait staff, housekeeping, etc. We looked the ship up online and it said it can house a crew of 12. Must be nice. Heather, Monica and I had some dessert and just chatted for a while before heading to bed.

Irish Bay to Montague Harbour, 10 miles, 1 hour

Heather & Monica got up around 9am to have breakfast. They want to take the kayaks out. This was our first time taking them out on this new boat, so we had to figure out the best way to do it. The swim platform is a bit higher out of the water than our previous boat (Aquila), so we thought it would be a challenge. Not a big deal though. You sit your butt on the platform, swing your legs over into the kayak and plop your butt over. Worked well. Monica went next and piece of cake. They kayaked about 90 mins around the cove. They floated over many types of kelp and plant life and many crabs and sea stars among it. They spotted something in the water, and assumed it was a seal, but then it got out on land, and it was a river otter. It walked up the hill and made its way to a rock and rolled around and sunbathed as they watched it. Very cute. After their little jaunt, we had a lunch. After lunch we pulled anchor and headed the 9 miles to Montague Harbour.. First we took the dinghy to the regular dock and browsed the store and got ice cream. After, we took the dinghy to shore and walked along the beaches for an hour or so. There are lots of tide pool like areas with a ton of tiny crabs all over the place. One stands there long enough and it looks like the ground it moving below you. We walked over to a second beach on the other side which is white from it being covered with broken and crushed clam and other shells. Heather joked to Fred on the way back that one beach should be named Romeo’s beach and the other, Juliet’s. The Montague reference had never occurred to Fred before. After our walk we headed back to the boat. We BBQ’d salmon on the upper deck and ate out back in the sun and fresh air. We watched ‘Royal Pains’ and some other random TV.

Bedwell Harbour to Irish Bay, 7 miles, 1 hour

Today the plan is  to take the dinghy from South Pender Island to North Pender Island . I stayed back because I have strained my back, but Monica, Fred, Heather and Merlin headed over to Port Browning. They docked the dinghy and walked about half a mile up to a little area of shops. Fred & I love this little café that makes fresh scones. So they headed there. They only had 2 scones left, so Heather ordered them up for Fred & I so no one else could snag them. Heather bought a huge chocolate mint cookie and a lemon crinkle cookie to share later. They  headed back to the boat, and swung by the Poet’s Cove dock one more time because Heather forgot to take a picture of the boat ‘Dock Holiday’, which we thought was a cute play on words. We pulled anchor at 1:00 pm to head to Irish Bay on Samuel Island. We saw a whale watching boat zip by, so we were hoping to see if they had any luck finding orca.  No luck.  Once we got to Irish Bay, we had some egg salad sandwiches and baby carrots while looking at the view. We took the dinghy to the next bay over, Winter Cove. We cruised by some rock islands and maybe 30+ seals sunning themselves. They were all watching us as we were watching them. As we got close, but not too close, they started diving in the water. Then it was a bunch of seal heads bobbing around J On one side of this cove was Samuel Island, which was private property. On the other side of the cove was Saturna Island which is a marine preserve. So we docked the dinghy and went for a short .5 km walk to the point between the two islands. It was a really pretty view of the water rushing between the 2 islands, and we passed many Canada geese, marsh land and pretty forest on the way. After a quick stop at an outhouse, we headed back to the boat.  We started watching a club of about 9 sailboats all coming in to anchor at Winter Cove.  I made pork chops, mashed potatoes and asparagus for dinner. We decided to watch ‘High Road to China” which Heather brought for us to watch (love that movie) after dinner. The sunset was very pretty tonight as the sky was covered half with clouds, so of course Heather had to get up every few minutes to take pictures.

Sidney to Bedwell Harbour, 1 hour, 10 nm

Monica was flying from Seattle to Victoria today after her short trip there visiting friends and watching the Giants series. She flew out pretty much on time and Heather and I took the rental car to the airport to meet her. The Budget people were very nice and gave us a ride back to the marina in the Courtesy Van.  Once we got back to the boat we had a simple lunch as we decided to head over to Bedwell Harbour on South Pender Island. The cruise wasn't very long, as we anchored in the cove outside of the Poet’s Cove Resort. We took the dinghy to the marina to head in to get a coffee at the little store. We hung of the beach a while and let Merlin run around on the beach. He would go knee deep in the water to retrieve a rock, take it to shore, drop it and repeat. Strange dog J  Monica and Heather went up to the Spa and got gift cards for Fred & I. That was so sweet!  We will use them on our next trip north. We decided to head back to the boat and sat on the aft deck in the very warm sun. It turned out to be beautiful day. We saw 2 harbor seals swim by. We’re hoping to spot some orcas or Dall porpoises this trip. We shall see. Heather gave me my early birthday present while we were sitting outside… a Walking Dead action figure (it’s our show we watch together), a locket with dog, anchor and Mom charms in it, and the movie ‘Marilyn Hotchkiss Dance and Charm School’ (which has Robert Carlyle in it I from ‘Once Upon a Time’). After dinner we decided to watch the movie I had just gotten for my birthday. It was different, but we really enjoyed it. We had the dessert that Heather and I bought to in Victoria, while watching the movie.

Victoria, BC

Heather and I headed out for a day in Victoria. Fred had no desire to go into all the shops, etc. that Heather & I like.  Victoria is 22 miles or so from here, and there is nice countryside to look at. Finding the waterfront was pretty easy. We parked in the garage under The Empress and headed up to the hotel. There wasn't really as much to walk around and see inside but it is beautiful. We just started walking up the street and wandering through the tourist shops. We hadn't had breakfast or lunch yet, so we just wandered looking for a place to eat. We stumbled upon this place called Nautical Nellies and decide to eat there. It had a view of the harbour and   was really nice inside with a nautical feel, fish tanks, figure heads, etc. I had the crab burger with yam fries, and Heather ordered the blue crab mac and cheese with arugula salad. Wow, were we impressed. The service was great, and that was one of the best meals we have eaten in a LONG time. Even if it was about 2 days’ worth of our calorie allotment. ;-) After lunch we decided to head down to the water to see about taking a harbor cruise. There are these small boats that are called pickle boats because they are green and oval, you get the idea. They had a 45 min tour leaving right away for $22/pp, so we hopped on. It toured the marina, the bay, by the houseboats, cruise ship dock, etc. We saw a few seaplanes take off, and got a great view of the waterfront. Once we returned, we wandered up by the Parliament building, and looked at the statues and the Sequoia tree that California gifted to B.C. in the late 1800’s. We saw horse drawn carriages, and after inquiring and found out it was $50 for a 15 minute ride. We passed. We decided to stop for coffee instead... and a piece of tuxedo cake. YUM!! We sat and people watched and the wind whipped through the area. We had a lot of sun, and the temp was great, but it was a windy day. We wandered a few more shops on the way to the car and headed out of town.  Heather saw of the map that just a couple miles away was this "castle" that she had wanted to see, so we took a detour to Craigdarroch Castle. It was closed, but we walked around and took pictures, which was fine. So we just headed back to the boat, gave Fred a few things we brought back for him, watched a little TV and relaxed. We are ready for another full day tomorrow as Monica flies in. Then we'll either head out on the boat, or if the wind is too bad, maybe stay one more night and head to Butchart Gardens.

Anacortes, WA to Port Sidney Marina, BC

We think everything is in working condition now and we are heading into Sidney, BC with very little time to spare before Heather’s flight arrives. Fred called Canadian Customs at 12 noon and we were given our Canadian Customs # for the boat, 20121680630. We entered Canadian waters at 1257 PM and were able to go right to our slip at Port Sidney Marina  instead of meeting a Customs Officer (they reserve the right to inspect any boat at any time).  I finally ordered a cab at about 2 PM and went to the airport to wait for Heather to arrive.  I arranged to rent an economy car for a couple of days. Heather arrived on time at a little after 3 PM and we went outside to get the tiniest little Mazda I have ever seen.  It was cute but gutless.  Thank goodness this is not a hilly area.  We grabbed the rental car, a Mazda-2, and headed back to  the marina. We were on G-7 dock.  We got Heather settled and went out to our favorite fish & chips place, Hylands.  The food was as good as we all remember.  We dropped Fred back off at the boat and did grocery shopping for the week. Came back, put them away and just relaxed the rest of the night.  Heather was busy taking pictures of the boat and the docks.  We had fun chatting until bedtime.

Friday Harbor to Cap Sante Boat Haven, 2 ½ hours

On a day that we had planned to enter Canada fate had other ideas.  This morning our Inverter/Charger died.  That means we have no 110 volt power on the boat unless we have the generator running or are on shore power.  So no power to the refrigerator, freezers or outlets.  Fred left a message for our new best friend, Jim Rovang, to troubleshoot.  We have headed back to Cap Sante Boat Haven in Anacortes.  Jim came over and bypassed the inverter so we could power our 110 system while we are on shore power.  He fit us in as an emergency but does not have time to install a new inverter.  Since this system was just installed about two weeks ago Fred called the store where it was purchased.  Fred talked to Dan at West Marine in Alameda, CA.  Dan says that we should take this one up to the local West Marine and return it.  West Marine has a very liberal return policy.  Even though this was defective, we could have returned it just because we want a different one.  Unfortunately the store where the merchandise is returned takes the hit of a return there even if it was purchased out of state.  The good news is that they have another inverter in stock that meets our needs.  It is much less expensive than the last one so we got a nice refund from West Marine.

Friday Harbor, San Juan Island

Well, our beautiful blue skies are gone.  The temperature is in the high 50’s so it isn't too cold.  Fred is trying to make our “High Powered Marine WiFi” work.  We purchased the system when we owned our previous boat.  We were able to get it work on Emerald Star last year with little problem. However, we purchased a new laptop this summer and we cannot get the computer and the WiFi to talk to each other.  This is a big deal because phone service is very spotty in British Columbia (where we travel on the coast) and we rely on email to stay in touch with family and friends.  This problem is not resolved yet. We are waiting for tech support to return our call.  We took the dinghy back into Friday Harbor and had a nice walk around.  We found two pet supply stores that Merlin & I had to visit.  When we were done we had a latte at the “Doctor’s Office”.  Apparently it used to be a doctor’s office but now is a little sweet shop.  We sat outside on their porch and watched folks come and go.  We then went for a walk down on the docks to admire other folk’s boats.  We saw real beauties.  There is a great fish store down on the docks.  Right next to it in the water we saw Popeye.  He is a harbor seal who is blind in one eye.  He hangs around here because people buy him sardines or some other small fish and he gets fed.  Merlin was leaning over trying to get a good look at him when Popeye swished water with his fin toward Merlin.  Merlin took exception to this and started barking.  OK, time to move on. We filled up the tank on the dinghy (4 gallons) to the tune of $19.  Back at the boat Fred is still trying to make sense of all the wires behind the TV. Tech support and Fred spoke about our WiFi for the boat and we were told that our system cannot be repaired and should be replaced.  The allocation of “boat units” (i.e. $$) does not support that expenditure at this time.  At least our Ocens email works great now.

Deer Harbor to Friday Harbor, 1 hour, 10 miles

It is a lovely sunny day and we were pulling up the anchor about 11:00 am.  We thought we were just caught in some kelp or something, put we could not pull the anchor up.  We were getting ready to call Vessel Assist (like AAA on the water) when a fellow came over in his dinghy from another boat at anchor.  He said that a boat anchored where we were was hung up on the mooring chain of a large mooring buoy about 100-200 feet away.  Thank goodness we pay the annual fee for this service.  Phone service here is terrible here so we wound up speaking with Puget Sound Coast Guard to call them for us.  Vessel Assist is out of Friday Harbor to they will be here in about 45 minutes.  We sure aren't going anywhere this way.  The boat arrived around noon and a diver prepared to dive down and un-stick our anchor.  They took our card and then called Boat US to see what our coverage takes care of since this would be expensive with a diver, etc.  Well, we have excellent coverage so we didn't come out of pocket for this $425/service.  Sure enough, a huge chain was lying on our anchor.  These folks are going to put a maker here so no one else anchors here and gets stuck again.

Friday, June 8 - Deer Harbor

We have never been to Deer Harbor before and had heard that it is a nice little village.  Well, emphasis on the little.  They have a dock office/grocery store/snack bar located at the head of the dock. They  have battery powered bicycles to rent.  Really cool since this island is not flat.  We saw bicycle that had been modified with a single cylander gas engine.  Notice the yellow fuel tank… (pic to come) There is pretty good sized marina that is only about half full.  Fred checked to see what the marina costs and found out it is $1.55/foot and that doesn’t include power!  We are quite content on the anchor thank you.

Thursday, June 7 Deer Harbor, Orcas Island

The wind made a lot of  waves hitting the hull most of the night.  Fred has trouble sleeping when we are anchored anyway without the extra noise.  He was ready to go back to bed for a nap by noon.  Instead he dived into a new problem.  When he looked at the dashboard he noticed a hole where the oil pressure gauge for the starboard engine belongs.  Oh goody, a new project.  We haven’t seen what lies under the dashboard before.  Fred had to lift the captain’s chair out of the way and then remove the lower panel under the dashboard.  Actually we were surprised to see the wires ties up in an orderly fashion.  He found the oil pressure gauge and saw where the plastic ring around it had been screwed down too tight and it gave way releasing the gauge. Fred fixed it good as new.