If you are wondering, how is it better to sit outside on the flybridge verses sitting outside on the dinghy? Believe it or not, that windshield cuts ALOT of the wind. It was still cold, I bundled up in a blanket.
It was sunny but chilly yesterday, so we weighed anchor and took the tour down Saanich Inlet to McKenzie Bight on Miss Marlie. (refer to the map in yesterday’s post) I looked up bight – it is a curve in the coastline. It was a nice day for a little cruise – We saw the Malahat Skywalk and a thundering waterfall. We came back and anchored in approximately the same spot. Now we have anchored twice successfully. Wow, the MUD though that came up from the bottom. We used 10 gallons of our fresh water trying to wash it off and we weren’t successful. It’s raining hard today, maybe it helps to wash some of the mud off! I didn’t take a photo, but I will when we leave this idyllic spot.
We aren’t clear where this amount of water is coming from, we aren’t see any snow on mountain tops around here.
Unfortunately, when we took our cruise, we forgot to turn off the Starlink. You aren’t allowed to use it while underway. So we will probably get “the letter“. We know a few folks that have gotten it. It is a warning that it is illegal to use it while moving and if you do it again there will be consequences. That needs to be part of our pre-cruise checklist. Because we weren’t using it underway!
This is one of the top ten attractions on Vancouver Island. We saw this advertised from the highway when we were here last November. If you want a ticket, it will set you back $36.95 CND – ($27.43 US) Kids are free this week for Spring Break. There is a slide, food vendors and gift shop as well.
There are literally millions of jellyfish in this anchorage. They thrive in low-oxygen environments. In 2017 they planted 1800 eelgrass shoots, but more must be needed. You can’t anchor near the shoreline in an effort to help preserve them (the eelgrass). You wouldn’t think you would have to say that, but it does seem like a few of these boats are awfully close to shore.
Cool in an aquarium, kinda creepy in your anchorage.
Moon Jellies
After our little cruise, Jim worked a bit on the solar panel installation and I knocked a few things off my list.
It was a sunny afternoon and some teenagers came to the park, took off their clothes and jumped in this frigid water! They were wearing their bras and underwear, but one gal’s underwear of choice was a thong. A family with small children was sitting nearby and you could tell the dad was super uncomfortable. I get it. One time, when the kids were little, we took them to Jerry Johnson hot springs on Mother’s Day. There were a lot of men sitting in the pools naked. I told the girls not to stare. We tried all the pools with no success. At the last pool, a thoughtful pair of gentlemen asked if we wanted to get in, they would put their swim trunks on. We thanked them and said yes, please. They laughed and said we were doing them a favor, being naked in a rocky hot pool was not all it was cracked up to be!
The winds are supposed to pick up this morning and then calm down again later. I’m glad that it will be in the daytime the first time we are experiencing this at anchor. At night you can only rely on your chartplotter and anchor alarm app to see if you are staying in place. And that only slightly reassures you, what if someone else isn’t staying in place!
Not sure what is on the agenda today, better talk to the Captain.
Talk Soon.
Those guys didn’t like slimy hot spring moss in the butt ? 😂
I think they liked the slimy hot spring moss, just not the sharp rocks 😛