We’re already in Shearwater, BC! In the last two weeks, we’ve wasted no time traveling 400 miles to this northern village. What’s the rush, you might ask? Well, Haida Gwaii off the northwest coast is our first main destination and we want to get there. No dawdling.
We put in some long days (77 miles was the longest). But unfortunately, we’ve flown by some places with interesting history I wanted to check out, like Alert Bay and Sointula, and Goose Bay beyond the Cape. I’ve been promised we’ll catch them after Haida Gwaii, before we head down Vancouver Island’s west coast.
After Jedadiah, we went up and around the top of Texada Island to Westview/Powell River—a nice, low-key little place. I went for a run along the shoreline and then through town, and happened upon the local yarn store—Great Balls of Wool. Too bad I don’t carry cash when I run.
We’ve enjoyed some nice anchorages, like Drew Harbour on Quadra Island along Rebecca Spit. While there, we went to the historic Hariot Bay Inn & Pub to watch the Ontario vs. Pittsburgh Stanley Cup playoff game. The food was great and Penguins won, so our group was happy. The locals? Not so much. (The photos above were all taken while we were in Drew Harbour.)
Our next anchorage was Deer Cove on Helmcken Island about midway up Johnstone Strait once we went through Seymore Narrows. Clay and I stayed in Deer Cove last summer on our way back to the states. It was just as lovely this year and provided an amazing sunrise starting point for our next passage to Port McNeill. After a quick stop for fuel, water and a few fresh groceries, we continued on to Blunden Harbour, our staging anchorage for the next day’s journey around Cape Caution. A fog bank and unexpected wind made the trip across Queen Charlotte’s Strait interesting.
Fog greeted us again when we woke early the next morning, Cape Caution transit day. It wasn’t too thick, though, and dissipated as we traveled on. Unfortunately, a nasty, nauseating headache greeted me that morning, too…just what I needed before riding through the sea swells that come in from Queen Charlotte’s Sound. Even though I took preventive measures by applying acupuncture seeds on my ears and took small portions of Dramamine every hour, I felt sick and spent most of the trip on my back, trying hard not to lose my breakfast. I never did, thankfully, as I hate puking.
Knowing our run of good weather was about up, we strategically anchored in Fry Pan Bay on Penrose Island. We stayed there three and a half days, waiting for the gale-force winds to subside (it was only rainy one of the windy days—bonus!). It was a beautiful place to be. Clay and Chris caught a few fish, I paddled around in my kayak, worked, knitted and played guitar. Can’t beat that.
I’m also studying weather with the help of the Onboard Weather Handbook by Chris Tibbs. I also want to take the online Boat U.S. weather course, but need WiFi to do that, so until we have connectivity for a longer period of time, I’m trying to make sense of weather charts downloaded from Chris’ Ocens WeatherNet program, accessible by satellite connectivity, and comparing them against what I’m reading. I don’t think Kathy Sabine, popular weatherwoman from KUSA-TV in Denver, needs to worry that I’ll provide competition any time soon.
Another run of good weather prompted us to leave Fry Pan to keep on heading north. Codville Lagoon was our next anchorage. Again, Clay and I stayed there last year, for three days during a rainy gale. Yesterday, we actually saw the lagoon’s surrounding beautiful mountains, and hiked up to Sagar Lake and along its sandy beach.
This morning we left Codville in pretty dense fog and motored to Shearwater where we’re to taking care of business—laundry; fixing leaks in Lightfoot, our inflatable dinghy; working with WiFi; taking on fuel and water; and picking up a few more fresh groceries.
The sun’s out and our spirits are high!
What lovely scenery! Zack has gotten the sailing bug, too. He’s been sailing with his father-in-law off and on since January. Headed now from Colon, Panama, to Cartagena, Colombia.
You’re welcome to join us anytime! No one has gone swimming unexpectedly yet! And I was talking about you last night…about the Christmas card you sent with the photo of you all crossing Abbey Road. Such a great shot.
Gee whiz! You guys have really traveled. Nice job.
Thank you for the update and the beautiful pictures. Keep living the dream!! It awesome to travel with you through your blog.
Thanks for following along!
Beautiful pics, Kim! Sounds like a great trip.