Pierless Sailing Adventures

After untying from the mooring ball in Mark Bay, we travelled north through the channel between the park and Nanaimo.  This passage gives you a view of the city and waterfront features.  We stopped at the end of the channel to fuel up our tanks (water and diesel).  There we met a nice couple in a power boat at the fuel dock.  This is one of the enjoyable aspects of cruising:  You meet many interesting people along the way. After leaving Nanaimo, we passed Hammond Bay.  This was an alternate anchorage we considered using.  There is a nice lagoon and park (Pipers Lagoon).  There is a small community which lives on the small islands just off the lagoon with an interesting history dating back the whaling days and the great depression.  For more information:    http://thenav.ca/features/shack-island-the-little-island-that-could/ Continuing on, the day was warm and sunny.  There wasn't much wind, but we did manage a short sail under ...

Leaving Selby, we proceeded up the west side of Galiano Island heading for Porlier Pass between Galiano and Valdes islands.  This is a narrow passage that leads to the Strait of Georgia.  Our destination was Nanaimo.  The more direct route to Nanaimo is through Dodd Narrows.  This narrow passage has dangerous currents during tide changes and must be timed carefully.  Our projected arrival would put us there at the wrong time to enter the narrows, so we chose the outside path in Georgia Strait.   After transiting Porlier Pass, we passed the Valdes ferry terminal and eventually rounded the top of Gabriola Island and the lighthouse on the east side. Lighthouse off Gabriola Nanaimo is a busy harbor with a fair amount of traffic.  Ferries, fishing boats, pleasure craft all converge here.  We passed a couple ferries and other traffic on the way in. Entering Nanaimo There is a small island/marine park next to town called Saysutshun (Newcastle) Islan...

After a great night at Canoe Island, we slept in a bit.  Yesterday had been somewhat hectic and launching is always stressful.  Sleeping in really felt great. Winds did pick up during the night, but we had very good holding.  We hoisted the anchor around 10:30 and headed north up San Juan Channel toward Bedwell Harbor on South Pender Island, BC.  We motored and sailed and motor-sailed along the way, arriving at Bedwell and the customs dock around 2:30 p.m.  The customs folks were very nice and helpful.  We had to eat several apples, but the rest of our produce was fine.  We poked around the harbor a bit.  There is a nice hotel and restaurant, but not much more.  The customs official was busy pouring Pine Sol on the edges of the dock to discourage Otters.  Apparently they don't like the smell and Pine Sol is relatively benign.  Bedwell Hbr Leaving Bedwell Harbor, we headed NW along North Pender Island, making our way up to Prevost Is...

 Day 1, June 11: It has been a frustration 10 days...  One of the pre-launch projects was to install a new propeller shaft.  There were several problems with how the new shaft was manufactured and after three attempts we decided to just go with the old shaft and deal with the new one after the trip.  This change in perspective was thanks to Tracy when we told her we were likely to cancel the trip entirely.  Her wise comment was "why not just put the old one back in?  It got you here from Mexico."  Sometimes you can get too close to a problem and need a little independent perspective...  Pre Launch Due to tides, our launch was scheduled for 4 p.m.  No problems with the launch (leaks, engine, etc.), so we headed out of Anacortes determined to make as many miles as possible before dark.  We selected a few possibilities to choose from, depending on our speed along the way.  Our hope was to make it to Canoe Island near the east side of S...