by Clay
The west coast of Vancouver Island. I have read about the challenges, remoteness and solitude to be experienced. So far it has been a walk in the park (although we have had excellent weather) and if you like the scenery of logging’s desecration of vast swaths of forest, then the west coast is for you.g
Cape Scott
We rounded Cape Scott and anchored in the northeast section of Winter Harbour, then went around Brooks Peninsula and stopped in Columbia Cove where we found very beautiful sand beaches sprinkled with lots of commercial fishing trash.
The forecasted weather called for several days of gales, so we moved to a quaint little anchorage in the Bunsby Islands that we felt would offer better protection. We were welcomed by a wolf family complete with a litter of pups and a bear. We also shared a beach dinner of lingcod and roasted vegetables with our cove neighbors Bob and Dina of s/v Silverado (a scaled down Slocum Spray made famous for the first solo circumnavigation by Joshua Slocum in the late 1800s). Bob is an over achiever who not only learned how to weld so he could build his own aluminum sailboat, but taught himself how to sail as he singlehanded his vessel from Mexico to Hawaii and then Hawaii to Alaska! It was fun spending time with Bob and Dina, and hearing of their adventures.
Wolf pups
Bear on the beach
Quentin, one of our clowns from Belgium, and I fished hard for two days in the wind and sun. We filled the freezer with lingcod. Amandine and Quentin made a video of my fishing exploits. Check it out here.
Lingcod
Next, we went in search of food, fuel and water in Tahsis, BC. Unfortunately, the smoke from mainland wild fires was so thick that it obscured the view of the surrounding mountains.
Smoke in Tasis Inlet
We choose Tahsis due to the high praise given to its Westview Marina by Waggoner’s Cruising guide. We won’t go there again. First, as we approached the fuel dock, the waiting attendant said she’d been trying to hail us on VHF06 to see if we had a reservation and wondered why we didn’t answer. Kim replied that we monitor VHF16, as all mariners are required to do. That seemed like news to the attendant.
Next, after spending nearly $150.00 for fuel and fishing gear, Kim was told by the owner that she couldn’t fill our water tanks at the dock because there was a small power boat waiting (which pulled in behind us and filled up without a problem). Kim replied that she was handed the water hose by his attendant, at which point the owner went inside and chewed out the staff who then came back outside to Kim and said we needed to move to a different dock to complete filling up with water. Apparently our spending $150.00 didn’t qualify us as elite paying customers. So while Waggoner’s touts Westview Marina as being cruiser friendly, I would guess any vessel longer than our 41’ boat better have bow thrusters to maneuver inside of their breakwater. We backed out without an issue, but I would not recommend this marina to anyone but recreational fisherman and small fishing boats. Waggoner’s has let us down in the past with information that supported their advertisers over unbiased accuracy; they failed us this time also.
Sea Otter
Next stop: Hot Springs Cove and its popular hot springs which provided a welcome warm bath and our first encounter with real civilization again since leaving Nanaimo back in May. The down side is there are a lot of fast boats and planes coming in and out of the cove during the daylight hours hauling crowds of tourists. So if you want to bathe with at least a couple dozen of your closest friends, you’ll enjoy that spot.
From there, we bumped over to Tofino to celebrate BC Day with the locals. We made some repairs to the autopilot and cleaned house. We also say goodbye to our friends Amandine and Quentin who took to the road again to hitchhike to Cuba. We will miss their company, but will also enjoy our first real time together all summer!
Next up: the south end of Vancouver Island, Juan de Fuca Strait and Victoria!
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Sundown Sailing Adventures 