We left Princess Louisa inlet with 5 other boats on Saturday morning. Seven were waiting to get in. Everyone got on channel 68 and made a plan. The current was with the outbound, so they had the right of way. Frankly, I think the sailboat in front of us took waaay too long to get through. We all safely made it out and the others in.
We were expecting 1-2 knot winds and a nice cruise down Jervis. Au Contraire! The winds were howling and we had substantial chop for 3 of our 6 hour cruise. A rainstorm came through and we drove from downstairs and warmed up. After the rain, the sun finally came out the winds died down (sort of) and we went back upstairs. We followed What Odds and Ceadrus down the channel. We all ended up going to Pender Harbor.
We saw some sea lions mid-channel and some more around the entrance to the harbor.
When we got here, our “spot” was taken (this is our 3rd time here) so we had to choose a new one. We did pretty well, when I got out the range finder we were 138 feet from every boat in all directions. It was still breezy, we sat up on the flybridge and played some games, dinner was short rib pozole. I made my first loaf of sourdough bread from Sophie’s starter. YUM.
On Sunday morning, we watched church online and took a spin on the dinghy. Last time we went to shore here, we noticed that you can pay to get rid of your garbage. YES! We gathered up all our recycling, and garbage and off it went. It was $5 for a large bag – $2 for a small. Free for the recycling. I feel like that is fair. I’d gladly pay every place we stop. I guess it will get harder and harder the further north we get.
There was a sailboat race in the harbor. It was quite comical watching the race, and the other folks trying to dodge them (a seaplane, fishing vessel, kayaks and a couple of pleasure craft). It was mayhem. This place is absolutely gorgeous and worth a stop.
We are waiting for a window to cross the big water – the Strait of Georgia. We noticed that What Odds was gone when we were out on our dinghy ride. I texted them and asked how their crossing was. They said that it was supposed to be light winds in the afternoon but ended up being 25 knots! They said they were okay but poor Munchkin is scarred! Our window is today. I REALLY hope our light wind forecast holds true.
We plan on going through Gabriola Passage and on to Clam Bay. We need to be at Gabriola Passage at 1601 for slack tide. We have reservations at Van Isle Marina on Wednesday. We are going to do some maintenance, laundry and one last Costco run for dry and canned goods. My countdown timer is 15 days until we take a ferry to Anacortes via Tswwassen. We are going to stay in our friend John’s mother-in-law apartment, attend the Nordic Tug Rendezvous and take a quick trip home – drop off the truck and fly back to Victoria and then we are headed to Alaska!! I cannot believe how quickly this time is flying in the interim.
Time to get crackin’.
Talk Soon.