Tonight, millions of people across the world will be hitting bars, restaurants and parties to ring in the New Year.  There’ll be hats, noisemakers and cheap champagne to celebrate along with several versions of Auld Lang Syne playing in the background.  We’re no different and will be joining in the revelry; but before we do, we thought it would be nice to give one final tip of the hat to...

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Sailing across the Strait of Georgia at the beginning of the season. When we lived in New Zealand, we would watch boats return from the islands – Tonga, Fiji, Vanuatu, New Caledonia or some other exotic location in the South Pacific – every October only to tie up for the summer, completely ignoring the beauty of the Bay of Islands in favour of a concrete jungle.  I couldn’t,...

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Cambria tied to the dock in West Sound, Orcas Island. The warming trend finally arrived on Sunday, just in time for our passage to Orcas Island to visit our friends, Bill and Sylvia.  Over the course of four days, we wined and dined while we caught up on the news of the summer and discussed what next season might hold.  We’re both considering circumnavigating Vancouver Island and would...

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Turn Point Lighthouse, Stuart Island. We checked back into the US on Monday and, for once, had a good experience where neither one of us was threatened with the loss of life, liberty or boat.  It helped that we were on our best behaviour, having learned a thing or two from past experiences, but the officer who helped us recently transferred from the Tijuana border where she was...

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Cambria tied to a mooring in Montague Harbour. With our windlass out of commission, we’re no longer able to anchor unless we want to haul our ground tackle in by hand, which we don’t (or with David’s continuing shoulder issue, I should say which I don’t).  Fortunately, there are several marine parks along the way, so we’ve been using moorings to take us south from Pender Harbour to Pender Island. ...

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A chart of Pender Habour showing where we were anchored (Purple) and our final set (Red). It was a dark and stormy night.  Too dark.  And too stormy.  But these things always seem to happen that way.  We knew it was coming.  The forecast was for an intense frontal system to move across Central and Northern waters and a trailing cold front to cross Vancouver Island yesterday bringing...

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The city of Westview/Powell River. There was never going to be a good time to leave Desolation Sound … there never is.  But we upped anchor yesterday morning and left Prideaux Haven for the city of Westview regardless.  It was a quiet day on the water; the sun was shining and the sea was still.  David’s shoulder continues to be an issue, so he stayed down below and...

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Taking Sally to shore in Prideaux Haven. The weather continues to be beautiful, but a change is on the way.  The barometer is slowly falling and the extended forecast is for southeasterlies on Thursday.  At this point, they’re only calling for 10 – 15 knots, but it’s a sure sign of what’s to come.  On the bright side, the heater worked much more efficiently this morning and without...

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The guts of the Hurricane II Hydronic Heater. The mornings are quite cold now and the thought of plugging in and running the heater 24/7 is starting to sound more and more appealing.  The thought of being tied up to a dock and back in civilization, however, does not.  And as long as the days continue to be sunny and nice, we’ll stay. The solar panels continue to...

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I took Sally to the head of Melanie Cove this morning so she could stretch her paws along the trail and discovered two boats anchored in the bay – we’re not alone after all.  We walked along the trail that leads to Laura Cove, one of us more reluctant than the other, until we came upon a small pile of bear scat.  It wasn’t fresh but it wasn’t...

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Tied to the Government Dock in Squirrel Cove. The first of October has arrived, a time we’re normally discussing moving south, if we haven’t started already.  But with the continued beautiful weather, all we’re thinking about is getting to Squirrel Cove for fresh milk and pipe tobacco.  David believes we can live without both, but I would hate to be around if he didn’t have any milk for...

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An albino slug. The past few days have been a blur of activity, thanks to the crew of Sarita: Richard, Jude and Katya. After stopping by with a freshly-baked loaf of bread Thursday morning (who wouldn’t love neighbours like that?), they came over for a cup of tea which led to an invitation to join them for dinner.  It was a fantastic night!  The wine and the conversation flowed...

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The view from Mt. Llanover. For the last fifteen years, hiking has been one of my favourite pastimes.  And though I spent most of those years in the company of Sally, whom I greatly miss on these adventures, I love the solitude it offers.  But hiking in British Columbia is a far cry from the canyons of Southern Nevada and today I came up with the hair-brained idea...

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Cambria at anchor in Roscoe Bay The great thing about living on a boat is that once you get tired of your current neighbourhood, you can easily move.  Which is exactly what we did this afternoon – nine nautical miles down Waddington Channel to Roscoe Bay.  That’s not to say that we don’t like Walsh Cove.  We do.  And we’ve had a really nice time over the past...

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Cambria alone at anchor in Walsh Cove. After going to shore together as a family so David could see the rapids at the lagoon and the stage for the rave, we upped anchor yesterday and moved over to Walsh Cove, asmall but sheltered anchorage on the east side of West Redonda Island.  I would have liked to stay longer in Carrington to explore the trails, but I was...

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Ebb tide at the lagoon entrance in Carrington Bay. Rick, Gerri Lee and Morgan were only out for a couple of nights, so we left Rebecca Spit yesterday and travelled north along Sutil Channel to Carrington Bay in Cortes Island, a new anchorage for all of us.  It’s exposed to the prevailing northwesterly winds so it’s not a place we would have chosen ourselves, which is a real...

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The weather’s been settled with clear skies and highs in the mid-70s since last Tuesday and, according to the latest NOAA discussion, there’s a 60% chance of above average temperatures for the next eight to fourteen days and a 50% to 80% chance of below average rainfall.  It’s not what we’re used to seeing this time of year but, I promise you, nobody’s complaining.  With the fine weather...

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Rebecca Spit Marine Park Jeff and Karry left for Rebecca Spit yesterday morning while we stayed in Gorge Harbour for two reasons:  (1) the weather was still a little unsettled and Rebecca Spit is somewhat exposed, and (2) David was in a considerable amount of pain and wanted to make a couple of trips to the hot tub throughout the day.  He woke up feeling better this morning,...

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