May 25 to June 1, 2013, To Princess Louisa Inlet

Cruise to Princess Louisa Inlet

First Installment:  May 25 to June 1, 2013

La Conner moorage to Silva Bay, BC, anchorage

Approaching Rainbow Bridge, La Conner

     Time for a serious cruise!  Our brief trip to Roche Harbor, a couple of weeks previously, had whetted our appetites to get back out on the water.  We were well provisioned, cleaned up, and all systems were in operating order.  May 25 was our departure date for an extended cruise to Princess Louisa Inlet in British Columbia.  The morning dawned calm but overcast and high water slack in Deception Pass, at the south end of Swinomish Channel was due at 1000.  We figured we needed about an hour to cruise from our moorage in La Conner, so we weren’t even required to make an “oh-dark-thirty” departure!

     We had not yet been to the south end of Swinomish Channel and were curious to see what the results of the multi-million dollar dredging project that began in September 2012, had been completed in January.  According to the Port of Skagit’s newsletter, American Construction Co. Inc., of Tacoma, removed about 220,000 cubic yards of material from the channel bottom.  The dredging reduced (increased?) the depth of the channel to -12 feet MLLW (average of the lower low water height of each tidal day). 

     Because we cruised through the channel at high water slack, the depths we saw were quite comfortable…around 14 feet.  Since our boat draws 4.5 feet, we had lots of water under our hull.  The channel wasn’t any wider though.  The mudflats in this photo aren’t that far off!

We did have a little current pushing us down the channel.  Usually we cruise at 8 knots/1400 RPM.  This gauge shows that we were doing a whole lot better than that!

We could see the channel markers tilting over in the current too!

     Our transit through Deception Pass was just as we like it…slow and boring.  We know that some boaters, especially those with powerboats that cruise at 20 knots, don’t worry about a transit through this narrow pass, but we aren’t one of them!  Our maximum “pedal to the metal” speed is somewhere around 15 knots, 

so if we got caught in rapidly moving water, we could easily be challenged in a whirlpool or an eddy.  We quickly learned to look at tide tables, evaluate the currents, and use all those printed and electronic resources available to us to make a safe passage.

     Our anchorage on May 25 was Garrison Bay, on the west side of San Juan Island. 

     We chose to cruise across Rosario Strait and up Haro Strait, along the west side of San Juan Island.  We had great hopes of spotting J pod, San Juan Islands’ resident pod of orcas, but no such luck.  They’re often seen in the vicinity of the light at Lime Kiln point, but they weren’t there on this day!  This light is one of the nicer ones in the San Juans and we think a road trip to the island is in order this summer to explore the park that is there.

     On the bank of Garrison Bay is San Juan Island National Historical Park, and is the site of the famous Pig War.  Within the park are the sites of both American and British camps, set up in 1859 in response to a border dispute triggered by the killing of a pig. The camps were occupied for 12 years, until the Treaty of Washington was signed, negotiated by Kaiser Wilhelm I of Germany, which permanently established the boundary between the US and Britain in the Northwest.  

     Today this bay is a popular cruising destination for boaters from NW Washington and British Columbia.  We found it to be a pretty anchorage with lots of boats in the bay.  Anacortes Yacht Club had several boats rafted together in the bay.  Apparently they brought with them a contingent of pirates who cruised the bay, looking for buried treasure…or beer!  A family with two little girls in pink life vests were spending the weekend on Grandma and Grandpa's boat.  These little ladies were thoroughly taken with the pirates!  Of course my imagination took me to a few years hence when we might have our own little ladies on our boat...

     The sun finally broke in the afternoon and we sat in the sun in the cockpit reading and enjoying cocktails.  You know it’s a peaceful afternoon when we are “out 

and about" in our slippers!  Next time I take a shot like this I'll have something a little more cerebral in my lap than a book by Janet Evanovich!

     While we sat there, we saw a deer swim across the bay, right behind our boat.  We’d heard stories of boaters spotting deer swimming between the little islands, but we’d never seen it ourselves.  The deer was a pretty good swimmer and it was apparent he had done this before. 

     Sunday May 26, we were off again, ready to cross Haro Strait and moor in Sidney, BC.  Our friends, Jim and Christie Caldwell on NOETA were due in Sunday afternoon as well.  Sidney is their homeport and we looked forward to exploring this pretty city.  We planned to wait here for a good weather window to cross the Strait of Georgia and make our way north to Princess Louisa Inlet. 

     Crossing into Canadian waters meant clearing customs.  The process began with a phone call from Garrison Bay to the Canadian Border Patrol.  I was delighted to learn that, since Jerry and I both had Nexus cards, we did not need to stop at the customs dock in Sidney.  (From the Canadian Border Services website:  NEXUS is designed to expedite the border clearance process for low-risk, pre-approved travellers into Canada and the United States.  The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are cooperating in this joint venture to simplify border crossing for members while enhancing security.)  When we’ve crossed into Canada with visitors with only passports, we make an extra stop at the customs dock before we can tie up at our assigned slip in the marina.  It was lovely to avoid that extra step.

   The Port Sidney Marina was in a well-protected harbor surrounded by high-rise condominiums and apartment buildings.  We heard that Sidney is the retirement community for BC!  The weather is fairly moderate, by Canadian standards, and the city is pretty, clean and full of flowers.  Unfortunately for us, the weather decided to give us four days worth of rain.  We explored the city a bit, but it just wasn’t much fun in the rain.

     Our slip was very close to shore, so we could watch the tides rise and fall, see the shorebirds scavenge through the mud flats and listen to the eagles overhead.  This blue heron was there every day to see what she (?) could find for dinner.

     While we were in Sidney we caught up with the Caldwell’s and met some of their friends who live here and/or keep their boats here.  We had dinner one evening at the Sidney North Saanich Yacht Club, as hosts of the Caldwells’ friend Anne.  What a beautiful clubhouse!  It was formerly an elegant old home sitting on a point in Tsehum Harbor and sat directly across from Van Isle Marina.  We’ve been at the Van Isle Customs dock several times but had never gained this level of appreciation for this area! 

     We left Sidney on Thursday, 5/30/13, and pointed the boat toward Telegraph Harbor on Thetis Island.  We left the Caldwell’s and NOETA behind, since they were awaiting the arrival of company on Saturday before they could join us.

    As you can see from the photo, Telegraph Harbor was crowded with mooring buoys and anchored boats, lining a rather narrow fairway.  We were able to find moorage for one night at the dock, but they could not accommodate us a second night as we had originally planned.  Friday they were expecting 75 Hunter Sailboats to come in for a rendezvous.  I cannot imagine where they put 75 boats!

          Our one night’s moorage put us just across the dock from this 50’ Carver named “Bare Naked Happy Dance”!  What a great name, but I always wonder what it would be like to call a harbormaster for moorage:  “Telegraph Harbor Marina, Telegraph Harbor Marina, Telegraph Harbor Marina, this is Bare Naked Happy Dance, Bare Naked Happy Dance, Bare Naked Happy Dance (Yep, you’re supposed to repeat each name 3 times!)  We had a delightful conversation with the couple, Lynn and Joe, of BNHD and found out she was a retired nurse, who had originally graduated from a diploma school in Ontario in 1968, taught nursing, and loved to knit!  My long lost sister!!!  We asked about the boat’s name and Joe said it was a standing family joke.  Whenever something good happened, a “bare, naked, happy dance” was required!

     Telegraph Harbor was a delightful spot and we plan to return.  If we had been able to stay two nights, we would have taken the short walk across the island to the ferry landing and ride the ferry to the town of Chemainus on Vancouver Island.  This old logging town has reinvented itself as a quaint restaurant and shopping town, all set to greet summer cruisers!  Next time!

    

     The Telegraph Harbor marina office/restaurant/store had put out their hummingbird feeders and the porch was quite a “zoomy” place!  I’m rather proud of capturing several in this shot:

     On Friday, May 31, 2013, we left Telegraph Harbor about 0730, so that we could transit Gabriola Pass at slack water.  This was another area similar to Deception Pass, where a lot of water must pass through a narrow channel in a short amount of time.  The charts do not call this a “rapids” or a “narrows”, but a note on our charts said the tide can run at 8 knots.  A rose by any other name….  We travelled through the passage about half an hour before slack and found about a 1-knot current of ebb and had another boring transit.  Yay!!  As

we approached the passage though, we saw several log booms rafted on the northeast shore of Valdes Island.  Log booms meant trashy, log-filled water.  No napping here!  Hitting one of those logs would just ruin the whole day!  We've heard lots of horror stories from boaters who have hit logs and bent propellers, damaged hulls, and even broken motor mounts!  We are the epitome of caution, believe me!

      We arrived in Silva Bay on Gabriola Island about 1000.  It was a run of only 17 miles. 

Staying here positions us to cross the Strait of Georgia when Caldwell’s arrive.  This was another popular cruising destination and the bay was full of boats anchored and swinging on mooring buoys.  It took us two tries to set the anchor safely amid all the boats to be certain we had enough swinging room.

     This is another spot where floatplane service is heavily relied upon for contact with the outside world.  We have seen 6 

or 8 floatplanes from Tofino Air land in the bay and taxi up to the little dock.  What a ride that must be!

     Sitting in Telegraph Harbor, sipping a gin and tonic…or a beer in Jerry’s case…listening to beer can chicken snap and pop on the barbecue, as we watched another beautiful sunset…yep, life doesn’t get much better!

          As I end this installation, it’s 4:30 PM on Saturday and Caldwell’s are due in about 7 PM.  Weather for the Strait of Georgia north of Nanaimo doesn’t sound promising.  Environment Canada is predicting NW winds to 20 knots tonight and tomorrow.  Winds from that direction at that velocity will make for a very bumpy crossing across this big body of water.  Perhaps we’re anchored here for another day!  Until next time….