A black bear foraging along the shoreline. Though my least favourite days, there's a special beauty to be appreciated when it rains in the Pacific Northwest.  There's a vividness that doesn't exist when the sun is shining: The trees are a deeper green. The moss appears more golden in colour. The granite glimmers from the moisture. And the sea reflects all of these images down to the low-hanging...

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With another beautiful day in store, I had BIG plans (none of which involved sitting around the boat) to enjoy the great outdoors before the next weather system moves into the area.  Our days are limited.  The barometer's dropped from a high of 1028 MB yesterday morning to 1013 MB today.  But, according to Environment Canada, it should continue to be descent through the weekend.  We'll keep our...

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Alone at anchor in Prideaux Haven. We woke up to a beautiful morning – no wind, sunshine, blue sky all-around – and a high of 1028 MB on the barometer, a long way up from the 993 MB we saw just a few days ago.  There's no doubt.  Whether they plan to stay in Desolation Sound or move south, everyone, ourselves included, would be leaving Grace Harbour today. Phil...

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The upland lake in Grace Harbour. Though much shorter than they were only a few weeks ago, the days seem longer and more difficult to fill.  Long gone are the hours spent lazing about in the kayaks exploring new anchorages, only to have been replaced with hiding out below decks from the wind and rain listening to the weather. The wind was forecasted to die out this afternoon,...

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It's been a difficult day aboard and we're both feeling battered and beaten after all hell broke loose in Malaspina and Johnstone Straits.  According to Environment Canada, there were hurricane force winds over the central waters.  What exactly they mean by "central", we're not sure.  But it implies inside around the Discovery Islands, which is just north of where we're anchored, rather than outside along the West Coast...

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The barometer dropped dramatically overnight . . . down to 993 Mb which explains the incredible pressure we felt in our heads before we went to bed.  It reminds me of our time in New Zealand.  Hardly a week would go by during the equinox that the barometer wouldn't take a dive.  Once again, the wind blew and it rained throughout the day and night, but all's well...

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The Emmens eating apples fresh from the tree. By nine o'clock this morning, the rest of the boats in the anchorage were gone leaving only Cambria and Salubrious behind – the others taking advantage of a lull in the weather before the next system comes through which promises to be "a repeat performance or worse".  The season's clearly coming to an end, but we'll stick it out a little longer – we...

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The first day of fall started off with a bang and fizzled out with rain as a deep low over northern Vancouver Island made its way south.  The wind picked up about 9 o'clock last night and David was up, off and on, until three in the morning keeping an eye on Cambria and the other boats anchored around us.  It was blowing from different directions as it came down...

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Together again: Salubrious and Cambria at anchor in Grace Harbour. The rain began last night and continued throughout the day as we watched the barometer fall from a high of 1021 MB earlier in the week to 1009 MB as the first of a series of major weather systems approached the area.  It's difficult not to feel a little nervous.  Grace Harbour looks good on paper, but you...

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An empty Isabel Bay. With another full day ahead of us, we left Ballet Bay at 9:30 am in hopes of gaining a bit of help in our travels north with wind (predicted to be blowing 20 knots out of the southeast) and current.  The wind hadn't filled in yet, so we had to motor, but we did see a one knot push most of the way north. ...

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For the first time, we left Pender Harbour the day after the festival but not before most of the other 30 or 40 boats that were anchored here.  Only going as far as Ballet Bay and with a small tidal change to be concerned about, we took our time getting ready to leave Pender Harbour and upped anchor around noon.  The forecast was for southeastelies which would have...

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Along with good days and bad days on the water, there are places you choose and places that choose you: Pender Harbour is a little bit of both.  We first came here three years ago for the Jazz Festival and, little by little, have fallen in love with this small, but vibrant community.  And even though we were both loathe to leave the comfort of  Desolation Sound, even...

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There are good days and bad days on the water.  Whenever you sail to a schedule, you greatly increase the chances that you'll see a bad one.  And today was one of those days. It started off inauspiciously when we were raising the anchor which kept tripping out the winch making me wonder if we were fouled on an old piece of logging equipment left in the water...

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Salubrious leaving Roscoe Bay. It was raining again in the morning so we waited until 4 o'clock, once the tide was high enough to safely clear the shoal which protects the entrance to Roscoe Bay, to up anchor -- both Cambria and Salubrious.  But this time we parted ways as we moved south to spend the night in the Copeland Islands and they went to Refuge Cove on the opposite side...

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Black Lake, Roscoe Bay Marine Park. I'm beginning to wonder what it is about Roscoe Bay that always seems to bring the rain when we're anchored here.  Though there's a certain beauty to be appreciated when it drizzles, after spending the past month enjoying warm, sunny days the change has been too abrupt and is unwelcome.  I've been saying that summer's over since the early part of August...

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Cambria in Roscoe Bay. There's been a change in the weather overnight and a cooler and stronger breeze is coming from the west which would make kayaking more work than fun so, with only one more afternoon to explore Prideaux Haven, we went for a tiki-tour by dinghy before reluctantly upping anchor and making way for Roscoe Bay with Salubrious following closely behind. Roscoe Bay, formerly known by the more...

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Chatting with Bill and Sylvia in Homfray Channel. David feels like he's spent more time working on Salubrious than in Prideaux Haven, so the two of us spent the afternoon paddling around in the kayaks discovering more breathtaking views up Homfray Channel.  As a bonus, Sylvia lent him her kayak which is longer and more stable in the water making it easier to paddle and more efficient so we were...

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A beautiful, peaceful morning in Prideaux Haven. While out on deck for his final smoke of the evening, David saw theNorthern Lights last night glowing faintly over the Coast Mountains, like a city off in the distance where none exists.  It wasn't until this morning when talking to Bill and Sylvia, who had seen the same thing, that he realized what the lights were.  And while they were...

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Our pal, Morgan, on the trail between Laura and Melanie coves. It's not difficult to pass time in Prideaux Haven, and today was no exception.  Having done enough work yesterday,  David took the day off and we went kayaking in the morning and later joined Bill and Sylvia for a hike.  Melanie and Laura Coves were once home to the legendary "hermits" of Prideaux Haven: Andrew “Mike”Shutter, who...

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The Coast Mountains. Sally hurt her paw again while on our morning walk in Gorge Harbour yesterday when she flopped down on the ground to roll around in the grass, something that brings her endless pleasure.  Sometimes the flop can be pretty awkward, as it was yesterday morning, and she's back to limited shore trips until the limp is gone.  So with a little extra time on my...

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