Week 4 – Home Stretch

Looking at the weather for Tuesday, July 28, there are high winds in the strait in the morning, but it looks like they are going to drop off in the afternoon and that the wave height should diminish when the current changes direction. We are ready to leave Secret Cove so we decide to wait until the afternoon and then just go for it. It could be a rough ride, but Nootka can handle it. Let’s be honest, Nootka can handle more than we can. We raise anchor and head out. It is a bouncy ride to start with as we head South through a channel between islands and we decide that when we turn to head east across the strait that we are going to raise the sails! When the sails come up, the ride smooths out and we are able to quarter the waves better. There is wind, but not quite enough to go hull speed so Jess gets impatient to cross and we motor sail. It was a first for me to be heeled over sailing with the engine running. It works because we hold 6 knots of boat speed across the strait. As we get closer to Nanaimo the wind drops off so we drop the sails and motor the rest of the way.

After several weeks away it is strange to suddenly be in a city! Nanaimo is a busy place and there are boats everywhere! We were a little worried about finding a spot in the anchorage, but it was worry for nothing as we found a spot immediately and were settled in just a few minutes. There were a lot of boats, but it is a large anchorage near Protection Island. Protection Island is home to The Dinghy Dock Pub. There is a ferry that goes from the city to the pub and back. We take the dinghy to the Dinghy Dock Pub. It is a floating restaurant and a fun place. We sat in the sun and enjoyed a margarita and dinner. I had sweet potato fries and some cheesecake. I am on a health kick, I guess. It is crazy to think that just a few hours ago it was pouring down rain and blowing hard and now it is calm, sunny and warm. We watch the sunset from the cockpit. Life is good.

The next phase of the journey south is to go through Dodd Narrows. It is a gate and requires us to go through right at slack tide because the current can run 7+ knots and our boat doesn’t go that fast! Dodd Narrows is about an hour from where the boat is anchored. We check the tides and see that slack is at 5:40pm. It is a beautiful, sunny day and Nanaimo beckons. We figured that we just had to take a few hours off work to go explore for a little bit. I called the marina to inquire where we could tie up Troy for a few hours and off we went. It was an interesting dinghy ride to the marina as there were boats of all sizes moving around, ferries and seaplanes coming and going. We passed a floating gas station on the way. We are used to seeing fuel docks and not full on gas stations!

Troy was safely tied up on the dock conveniently by a cute restaurant with tacos and margaritas! It felt important that we investigate immediately. I am happy to report that my tacos with local snapper were delicious. The salsa was also delicious and worth the trip. After lunch it was time to hit the town. I had done some research to see if I could locate a gluten free Nanaimo Bar and I found a bakery within easy walking distance to get one. Seems criminal to come to Nanaimo and not have a Nanaimo bar. We took care of that! After that we wandered without a real agenda. We went to a book shop and then eventually found ourselves on the waterfront at the community park – which was completely packed full of people with lots going on.

We sauntered down the waterfront, stopped for ice cream and then found a bistro on the water to have a beer/cider before heading back to the boat. We were on a time table to hit slack water and we wanted to make sure that we were poised and ready to get through safely. We easily got underway as we have had a lot of practice over the last several weeks. I haven’t mentioned this in previous blogs but we have a minor issue in the chain locker that requires one person to flake the chain as it comes in (I use BBQ tongs) or else it piles up and jams the windlass. It used to be very stressful because as soon as the anchor comes off the ground the boat moves with the wind and current and no one is at the helm! So Jess (on the bow) yells down that I need to run back to the helm. In tight quarters it was stressful. Now, I have a better system of flaking the chain fore and aft so that there is a big area for the chain to pile up while I stroll back to the helm. I also know, just by looking, how much chain is left to pull up. The point is … getting underway is MUCH easier now.

Dodd Narrows. Nervous Nellies that we are we arrived well in advance of slack tide. We were lined up with 10 or so other boats. The protocol is that before you go through the narrows you call on the radio to let people on the other side know that you are going in. The current was running south to north and then switching north to south after slack so usually the people headed north are allowed to go first before southbound traffic can proceed. Apparently, if you have a big, fancy motor boat then the common etiquette does not apply to you and you just do whatever you like. I get that it makes sense to faster moving traffic to go first but I am sure they could find a way to do that without being so rude. Not all MV traffic was rude but all rude traffic was MV. (Motor Vessel). Dodd Narrows at slack tide is not a big deal at all and it is very short. After we got through the current was with us and we scooted right along to our destination for the night – Clam Bay on Thetis Island. Once we arrived with anchored without drama, watched a show and went to bed.

From Clam Bay there is a cut that you can take a dinghy through and get to Telegraph Harbour on the other side. There is a coffee shop there and we both had a break in our meeting schedule and figured it would be a nice change of pace to get off the boat for a quick trip to get some coffee. As we were going through the cut we could not help but notice that it was quite shallow. We took it slow so we didn’t run the motor aground. I figured that we would be quick getting some coffee and that the water wouldn’t go down much more. I was right about the part where we were quick getting coffee, but wrong about the water levels! So we ran aground once. No big deal. We had to row through a skinny part but we made it back to the boat and I wasn’t even late for my meeting.

After a full workday we set sail (yes – sail) for Galiano Island and Montague Harbour. The wind was coming directly from the place we wanted to go. Jess calls those noserlies because it blows right on the nose. The fastest way to get where we wanted to go was to motor directly there but we had plenty of daylight and we wanted to sail. Sail we did – upwind. We tacked back and forth for a long time and managed to get 2 miles closer to our destination before the wind died. It was such a pleasure to be under sail. And … with the boat heeled over we managed to find a pretty serious leak we didn’t know about. Turns out there is a hole (large enough to put your thumb through) on the back side of the drain pipe from the sink in the aft bathroom. Add that to the list of things to fix! When the port side went underwater (from heeling) sea water rushed in – which made it easy for Jess to find when he went down below to see what we missed when we stowed for sailing. There was a loud crash when his keyboard crashed to the floor and when he went down to check he saw the flood. Oh boy.

The rest of the journey was without incident and we arrived at Montague, anchored and then played games in the cockpit until sunset. We are now back in familiar territory as we have been here twice before. Friday is our last work day of our trip. The weather is perfect and we are conveniently located close to the charming restaurant ashore (The Crane and Robin) and they have yummy hummus and tacos. It is a good day to get some work done and do a little crabbing on the side of the boat. People are coming and going (including a sea plane) and it is a delightful spot.

Saturday we have to take Nootka back to Semiahmoo. The journey is over. We could stay longer but we have company coming every weekend in August and we need to get the boat ready to host. The aft cabin has been serving as our garage and won’t work for guests. And the rough day at sea crossing the strait has coated the boat in salt water that needs to be cleaned off.

To get from Montague to Semiahmoo requires us to go through Active Pass and we need to do that at slack tide. Slack on Saturday isn’t until 1pm so we have a leisurely morning. The winds in the anchorages are gusty but we have gained a lot of confidence in our anchoring and 20 knots of wind is really no big deal. It does mean that the crossing could be a rough ride! Lots of ferries come through Active Pass and they can come through really fast. As we approached there was a ferry coming and out and one going in. Two more came in while we were in there. It is wide enough so that isn’t the worry. Some of the ferries have huge wakes and they all move so much faster than we do.

We get through Active Pass without incident and head out into the strait. To our delight there is wind and it is coming from a favorable angle and the waves and current are with us!!! Such a rare coming together of elements. We decide to sail with just the headsail because the wind is almost directly behind us and if we put up the main we have to either use a preventer or sail carefully to prevent an accidental jibe. Who needs the stress when there is enough wind to just use the jib and sail comfortably. It is glorious. When we get half way across the strait, the wind falls off and our boat speed drops. Jess checked us in on the customs app and when the customs agent calls we have to throw our lemon and lime overboard. Lesson learned for next time. I just forgot about them. A few miles of motoring and the wind picked back up so we unfurled the sail and turned off the motor again. We were able to sail all the way into the marina on a single tack.

The wind had picked up and the current was running quickly and we decided not to bring the boat back to the dock but to anchor in Drayton Harbor instead. We can bring her in when the situation calms down. About 8pm the wind seems to die down and the current is much slower so we pull the anchor and head to the dock. As soon as the anchor was off the ground, the wind picked back up! Oh well. We are just going to do it. 16 knots of wind blowing off the dock. I guess we will see how much better my boat handling got. Well … it got much better … docking went very smoothly. Well done, us! Sunday we spent the day cleaning up the boat and getting her ready to host for all of August. I scrubbed the deck and Jess worked on the aft head – which I now realize I forgot to mention earlier. The aft head was clogged. He found the problem – a blocked hose. It was very blocked. How was it even working? So he has a fun plumbing project before we go back out. We removed all the “extra” stuff on the boat to make more room for company and filled the water tank.

Even though it would be nice to be on this adventure as a vacation, I have to say that we have been able to work without a single hitch. Jess has a desk and I was using the big table, but now I have managed to put together something that works even better with a smaller table and some stacked boxes. It is a comfortable set up so that I have have two screens and a full keyboard. For the most part we have shifted our work day to start much earlier with the intent to end much earlier. Sometimes it doesn’t work out, but several days we have been able to finish work in the early afternoon.

We are both a little sorry that the month is over. We learned a lot, gained some confidence in ourselves and our boat and saw a lot of beautiful places (which are truly in abundance in this part of the world). The good news is that we are headed back out every weekend in August to share this with our friends and family. Thank you to Hillie, Rodney and Nadine for reading this blog. I was thinking that only Jess and I would read it, but it is nice to know you are following along. I have found that I am more likely to write if I don’t bother to proof read and edit so these are pretty raw. More to come!