Skip to content

Email: TheCrew@missmarlie.com

Musings aboard Miss Marlie

Living the dream. Writing it down to remember it later.

  • Home
  • Gulf Islands, Saturna
  • Lyall Bay – Saturna Island

Lyall Bay – Saturna Island

Posted on April 15, 2024April 15, 2024 By Debbie Kochel
Gulf Islands, Saturna

We woke up to glorious sunshine yesterday. I baked a loaf of bread. After church online, we hopped in the dinghy and cruised through the cut to Port Browning. This is such a gorgeous area! We then headed over to Poet’s Cove to the market. We had a flat white and pastries and basked in the sunshine. It is still chilly enough that sitting in the sun feels good. You can tell that once upon a time it was a primo facility, but now it is getting severely run-down.

Our friends, Hans and Debbie, emailed us that they had moved over to Lyall Bay on Saturna Island. It is one of their favorites. We told them that after we explored we’d head over there too.

Scene of the crime, yuck that pool is gross! From the market balcony at Poet’s Cove, some folks take their boat under that bridge! We followed a boat about our size through. No way! We just took our dinghy.

Right before we had taken off on our dinghy exploration, I made sure the door was closed on the swim step. I forgot my life jacket, so I ran back inside and left the door open. I also left the Lazarette hatch open. We came back to crab carnage all over the swim step. We’re sure it was otters. Since I left the swim step door open, they invited themselves into the cockpit and took a look around. There were footprints all over. Boy howdy do they smell awful. We were scared they were still in the Lazaratte and would attack us, but it was all clear. I’m sure we scared them away when we returned because it didn’t look like they quite finished their meal. Lesson learned! Make sure the swim step door is closed!

The orange line is our cruise from Van Isle to Bedwell Harbor. The Purple line is from Bedwell to Lyall. Look how close we were to Stuart Island on our cruise. We had a lot of great times there! While you are allowed to cross into US waters and not check in (as long as you do not anchor or dock) we are not allowed in Washington waters for 2 years, so we were quite careful to not cross the line.

We weighed anchor and had a lovely cruise over to the next island. There are only 3 boats anchored in this lovely harbor. The wind had died down, it was so peaceful. We headed over to Hans and Debbie’s for happy hour. (Jim said, what? Are you inviting yourself over? I said, yep! Second-guessing myself, I called and Debbie said of course! C’mon over! We had a lovely time.

Freshly baked bread, Our view in Lyall Bay, Our next-door neighbors, Hans and Debbie on Bella Rose.

There is a ferry terminal at the head of the bay, but the wakes are not uncomfortable – and seldom.

We had an easy dinner. Grilled cheese from the bread I made earlier in the day and a salad. After, we put on a movie. The sunset got more and more glorious. I paused the movie and we sat in the cockpit and watched it for a good half hour. It was so still outside. There were a ton of tiny fish jumping out of the water, it sounded like rain.

At 9 we still had an hour left for our movie. We decided to finish it later and headed to bed.

Today is pretty overcast. Not sure what is on the docket. Time to at least get dressed!!

Talk Soon.

Tags: Canada Gulf Islands liveaboard Nordic Tug PNW Saturna travel blog

Post navigation

❮ Previous Post: Bedwell Harbor – South Pender Island
Next Post: Lyall Bay – Exploring with Don Yonko ❯

You may also like

Gulf Islands, Saturna
Last day at Saturna
April 17, 2024
Gulf Islands, Saturna
Lyall Bay – Exploring with Don Yonko
April 16, 2024
  • Meet Miss Marlie
  • September 2025
  • August 2025
  • July 2025
  • June 2025
  • April 2025
  • March 2025
  • February 2025
  • September 2024
  • August 2024
  • July 2024
  • June 2024
  • May 2024
  • April 2024
  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  1. Phill Guay on We’re home!August 8, 2025

    Beautiful place and day!

  2. Phill Guay on We’ve come full circle – Montague HarborAugust 8, 2025

    Congratulations and welcome home!

  3. Greg Kleven on The only thing running was our imaginationAugust 5, 2025

    Debbie, Whoa. That was some adventure. Sorry you had to go through this. Marlene and I were sitting in our…

  4. Debbie Kochel on Blind Channel Resort – Squirrel Cove – WE DID IT!!August 1, 2025

    Hi Phill, A gate is when the water makes progress difficult or even impossible. Rapids need timed properly, it's best…

  5. Phill Guay on Blind Channel Resort – Squirrel Cove – WE DID IT!!July 31, 2025

    As usual, great pics and descriptions, What is a gate?

Copyright © 2026 Musings aboard Miss Marlie.

Theme: Oceanly Premium by ScriptsTown