The view of the Coast Mountains from Isabel Bay. After spending another night in Susan Islets, we moved a couple of miles over to Isabel Bay (still in Lancelot Inlet) Monday morning and anchored in the southwest corner behind Polly Island leaving the other boats to the northern anchorage.  Yet another beautiful area, Isabel Bay is dotted with small islets begging to be explored by kayak and offers...

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The head of Theodosia Inlet, Desolation Sound Marine Park. Tempted by the promise of a spectacular view of the Coast Mountains, we left Wooten Bay this morning and went into Theodosia Inlet where the cruising guides disagree – there's either tranquil surroundings to enjoy or nothing at all – but the view is undisputed as being stunning, so off we went. The entrance to Theodosia Inlet is narrow,...

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Cambria at anchor in Wooten Bay. At the north end of Grace Harbour there's a grassy clearing with campsites and a half-mile trail that leads to an upland lake – one of the reasons we chose this anchorage.  The days continue to be warm with temperatures in the boat reaching 79°F by late-afternoon but, as tempting as a freshwater swim is in this heat, we opted to stay...

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The gods at sea always seem to have a way of leveling things out and this morning was my turn to be up early when Sally woke me at four by pacing back and forth along the boat and staring at me – very loudly.  I thought she was just stressed from the heat, so I tried to ignore her.  But I was wrong.  As it turned out,...

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The newlyweds We left the Copeland Islands Friday morning and motored south to Westview to fill up with fuel and water.  They're still in the process of adding new docks for temporary moorage and the new fairway is extremely narrow – limited to one boat at one point because of a shallow extending out from the seawall – but because of its convenience, worth the extra aggravation. Thirty...

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Sunset in the Copeland Islands. We upped anchor this morning after taking Sally to shore and made way for Copeland Islands Marine Park – a miniature archipelago in Malaspina Strait reputed to be a kayaker's haven and a new destination for us.   On the way over, David turned on the water-maker to fill the tanks but, during the process, the intake pump failed –the same one we...

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Hague Lake, Mansons Landing. Mansons Landing Marine Park has a lot to offer, locals and tourists alike, and can be a busy place with boats scattered throughout the large, but somewhat unprotected, anchorage.  And with a couple of nice days in store, the park was hopping with people lining the white, sandy beach with towels and ice chests while cooling off in the warmer water of the lagoon....

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Rebecca Spit Marine Park. With another three days spent at Rebecca Spit, it was time to up anchor and part ways with Salubrious who have a local electrician coming out tomorrow to (hopefully) fix their issue once and for all. Our time in Quadra was short, but well spent.  Thinking I needed a dayout (and there was probably some merit to that thought), David planned a trip to Campbell River...

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Salubrious under way in Cordero Channel. Salubrious left yesterday morning and rounded the corner for Blind Channel for a second time ... and then came back again.  This time the volt meter was reading 16 volts.  David pulled some troubleshooting information off the internet regarding the Next Step regulator, printed it out, piled his tools back into the dinghy and went over with Bill to see what could be...

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The Phillips River Today was our turn to go up Phillips Arm and we easily talked Bill and Sylvia into coming with us, so we left Salubrious in Shoal Bay and slowly motored up inlet aboard Cambria as we made water and had lunch.   An hour or so later, we were securely anchored at the head of the bay, so we jumped into our dinghies and made way to the mouth...

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Cambria and About Time at anchor in Shoal Bay. Yesterday began innocuously enough with boats coming and going out of Shoal Bay (our friends, Bill and Sylvia, among them).  And ended with one of the neighbours being evacuated by helicopter to Campbell River. To start, Bill and Sylvia arrived in the early afternoon and I took them on a tour of the place before sitting down on the...

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David performing at the Shoal Bay International Music Festival. With the Shoal Bay International (that's the US and Canada) Music Festival on Saturday, we upped anchor late Friday morning, waved good-bye to Bill and Sylvia and slowly jogged up Nodales Channel arriving to an entirely different view from out last visit:  The dock was completely full with boats rafted up to each other two to three deep and...

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Anchorage Lagoon With another beautiful day in store, we upped anchor early this morning and made our way through Upper and Lower Rapids, down Okisollo Channel, into Discovery Passage, up Nodales Channel and to Thurston Marine Park on Sonora Island with Salubrious following behind.  We dropped our anchors in Handfield Bay, a quiet spot just north of the major passes, and were welcomed by a lovely pastoral view with gently...

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Kayaking in the Octopus Islands. We left Rebecca Spit on Monday along with Salubrious and slowly made our way north to Hoskyn Channel which separates Quadra and Read Islands.  It was our first time travelling through Beazley Passage –another set of rapids located in Surge Narrows where “narrow” is the key word..."narrow” and “busy”.  Transiting was like playing chicken with large boats travelling south or risk hitting the rocks on...

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