Sum It Up Sunday the Inside Passage

Sum It Up Sunday: Going Nowhere Fast

Sunday, June 01, 2014TheCambrians

Cambria at anchor in Hardy Island Marine Park.

This past week has brought us from Pender Harbour, along the Sunshine Coast, to Sally’s favourite anchorage – Rebecca Spit Marine Park near Desolation Sound.  It’s only 60 nautical miles on paper, but it feels like we’ve travelled much farther.  Sally’s been struggling a bit and that always makes for longer, harder days.  But we slowed things down and made a few adjustments to her schedule which seems to have helped and we feel comfortable about moving again. 

The main goal we have while cruising the Pacific Northwest is to see as much of the area as we can, and that means visiting new anchorages whenever possible.  Last week, it was Hardy Island Marine Park (sometimes called Musket Island Marine Park) near the mouth of Jervis Inlet.  We’ve always given it a pass in favour of nearby Ballet Bay because it looks somewhat exposed on paper, but we found it to be good anchorage despite its rocky bottom. The granite quarry on Hardy Island, surprisingly, adds a dramatic backdrop to this already picturesque anchorage.  And with only one other boat anchored in a back bay, it was our first taste of solitude since last year – we’ll definitely be back. 

From there, we moved directly up to Rebecca Spit where we’ve been floating around most of the week waiting for a reasonably timed morning slack tide to transit the first set of rapids that separate us from the Discovery Islands.  The days haven’t been difficult to fill, come rain or shine, and we’re settling back into life at anchor easily . . . a little too easily.  In fact, we’re getting lazy.  David prefers to think of it as unwinding, but trust me when I say it’s pure sloth. 

The weather, for the most part, has been settled, especially for this time of year, and the predictions for a hot summer seem to be right on track.  The days have been warm and we’ve already seen several 75+ degree afternoons, which has only increased our self-imposed stupor. 

But all good things must come to an end, and it’s time to shake it off and start moving again.  So, early tomorrow morning, we’ll make our way up through Beazley Passage (Surge Narrows) to the Octopus Islands Marine Park where we’ll spend a couple of days kayaking and hiking before transiting the second set of rapids and moving on to Shoal Bay. 


Sooner or later, we’ll get to where going for this season, though neither one of us knows exactly where that may be.  

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