Cruise to
Desolation Sound
August 18 – August
28, 2013
We thought we would cruise north to
Desolation Sound with boater friends Knut and Gerry Frostad on their new
Kady-Krogen, “Salty Dawg”. They had
taken ownership of their new boat in mid-July in Seattle and were ready to head
to Alaska. You may remember that we
sub-let our first slip in La Conner in 2010 from Knut and Gerry. We used their slip all that first summer,
since they were in Alaska. We’ve become
good friends and they’ve been wonderful mentors to us. Their route through British Columbia would
pass right by the turn to Desolation Sound, so our plan seemed perfect. Of course, as it goes with new boats, they
had a couple of minor equipment problems and had to delay their departure and
we left without them on Sunday, August 18, at 0600.
It felt wonderful heading north down
Swinomish Channel, under the route 20 twin bridges and past the railroad swing
bridge. We chose to follow the ferry
route down Guemes Channel, past Anacortes, and through Thatcher Pass. I’ll bet we saw 8 ferries in the San Juans
that morning! As you can see from the
photo, we didn’t depart in bright sunshine, but we didn’t care. We were under way!
Four and a half hours later we crossed
the US/CA border and I made a phone call to Canadian Customs. With our Nexus cards, clearing customs is an
easy telephone call, plus a quick stop at a customs dock to physically check in. We chose Bedwell Harbor, since we’d not been
to this dock before and quickly departed 10 minutes later. Although a little frustrating to stop, it was
a good review of tying up to those nasty bull rails that are so popular in
Canadian marinas.
We obviously had “first-day-out-itis”
and chose to travel all the way to Silva Bay Marina, through Gabriola
Pass. As we cruised north up Trincomali
and Northumber-land Channels, we lots and lots of sailboats…certainly more than
we had seen in the San Juans. Wonder of
wonders…some of them were even sailing!
Usually we see sailboats motoring along, slightly slower and usually
right in front of us.
As we approached Gabriola Passage we
were on the lookout for logs and trash in the water, having seen lots of junk
in the water the last time we cruised through this area. This channel, just south of the passage is a
popular collecting point for log rafts, awaiting a cruise across the Strait of
Georgia to the pulp mill in Powell River.
Sure enough, around a bend we found three tugs working away to assemble
another log tow.
We like to go through these narrow
passages as close to slack water of with just a little current with us. Our timing was perfect! Gabriola Passage was an easy transit and we arrived
in Silva Bay, just around the corner, about 1510.
We had stopped here before crossing the
Strait of Georgia on our way to Princess Louisa Inlet and knew this to be an
easy stop with a good restaurant at the head of the dock. Since we’d last been there, a marina accident
had occurred. According to the sail
boater moored next to us, an 85’ motor vessel had backed into the dock and done
some serious damage. Although this was unfortuante for the marina,
we had a double slip to ourselves.
That’s a good thing in this little marina!
Monday morning, August 19th,
we were underway at 0730 to cross the Strait of Georgia before the winds kicked
up. It can take 3-4 hours to cross this
big body of water and a strong SE wind can make for an uncomfortable, “beamy”
ride as we point NE. We listened to the
Canadian weather report to hear the status of “Whiskey Golf” restricted
area. According to Waggoner’s Cruising
Guide, “Whiskey Golf is a deepwater range operated by the Canadian and US
Navies, and is used to test torpedoes (always unarmed) and various ships’
systems.” When testing is underway, commercial
and pleasure boats may not cross the restricted area, and, of course, it’s
right on the route from Silva Bay to Malaspina Strait, our mainland
target! We’ve heard more than one
cruiser being reprimanded on the VHF radio and being ordered to divert their
course to an island to await further instructions. Yikes!
At least they did not become a torpedo target! Luck was with us, though and Whiskey Golf was
active far to the west of our route. Our
crossing of the Strait went off without a hitch. Rather than watching Washington State ferries
dart about, we watched the big, beautiful BC ferries.
Malaspina Strait is the body of water
between Texada Island and the mainland and is better protected than cruising NW
up the Strait. This part of the BC
mainland is known as the “Sunshine Coast” and is another popular weekend
boating destination, especially for Canadians from Vancouver. The passage up Malaspina Strait was a little
choppy and this fishing boat had his stabilizer fins in the water to ensure a
smoother ride.
As we approached the north end of
Texada Island, the big quarry came into view.
We’ve passed this spot many times and this big eye-sore landmark tells
us that the traverse of this long, boring waterway is soon to end. The other landmark is on the mainland
side…Powell River. This community came
to life when the huge pulp mill was established here and is the last, big town
on the Sunshine Coast. Hard to miss this
one!
Originally we thought we would try the
anchorage in Blubber Bay at the north end of Texada Island, but the weather was
beautiful and we still had lots of daylight, so we decided to push on to Galley
Bay in Desolation Sound. The next waterway
to cross was Thulin Channel, among small islands and a marine park. The smaller, narrower waterways are always
more interesting, so my camera is out watching for the next shot. What amazing
views!
The photo shows Sarah Point
where Desolation Sound begins and the parade of boats headed that direction. You can see that the “vacation boat” ahead of
us has just zoomed by and cut in front of us.
Some boaters are just annoying…
I’ve talked a lot about Desolation
Sound and our eagerness to explore this area.
You might wonder why such a grim name for such a pretty place. Let me quote once again from Waggoner’s
Cruising Guide:
Captain George Vancouver had it all wrong when he visited and
wrote about this area during his cruise in 1792. He named it Desolation Sound, saying “there
was not a single prospect that was pleasing to the eye.” Granted, his crew did have a challenging time
with the weather, fleas, and even shellfish poisoning. In reality Desolation Sound, located
literally just beyond the end of the road, is a place of extraordinary
beauty. It’s one of the Northwest’s most
dreamed-about and sought after cruising destinations.
Our first night’s anchorage was in
Galley Bay, a spot recommended by La Conner marina neighbors. Although not the prettiest or roommiest place
to drop the hook, we found a little cove next to a sailboat and settled
in. Not wanting to squander beautiful
warm, sunny weather, we were soon out on the front deck with our books,
cameras, and a cocktail. We found an
open wifi here and I was able to post a message on Facebook and hear from Knut
and Gerry. They had left Seattle early
this morning and wanted our itineray, with hopes of catching up with us on
their way north. I even had a phone call
from my sister-in-law, Becky, to report on her first day back to school! She reminded us of just how good our retired
life is!
Eager to explore as much of the area as
possible, we pulled anchor the next morning and ran a huge 5.4 NM to Grace
Harbor in Oekover Inlet. This anchorage
proved to be larger, more protected and more interesting. We saw several boats anchored with a stern
tie on shore and had expected to do the same.
Stern tying prevents the boat from swinging around on the anchor and
allows for lots more boats to come in and park.
We dutifully dropped our anchor reasonably close to shore, got a good
set, and decided no stern tie for us.
Lots of room to swing around us.
Yay! One less hassle!
The first thing that caught my eye,
once we were settled were all the little jellyfish in the water…thousands of
them! This must be a happy place for
their reproduction. The water is
relatively warm here…68 – 70 rather than 55 – 58 in La Conner! The little jellies seemed to move closer to
the shady banks and out of the sun and were fascinating to watch as they did
their little umbrella-squeeze through the water. I like this photo! If you didn’t know what you were looking at
you could imagine a sky full of flying saucers!
We had all day to explore further up
Okeover Inlet, so we got the dinghy down and went to see what we could
see. We were in the heart of Desolation
Sound Marine Park and were surprised to see lots of homes lining the
hillsides. We were also surprised to see
how heavily logged the park had been.
But, most disgusting of all was the plethora of fish farms and
aquacultures in every little cove and bay.
We had expected the marine park to be more pristine and protected. In Oekover Inlet we saw at least 10 of these
enterprises. Perhaps this was good place
to raise commercial oysters or mussels but it sure mars the beauty of the area.
One of the happy things we found was
Okeover Landing and the Laughing Oyster Restaurant. Seemingly in the middle of nowhere (although
the road to Campbell River is just on the other side of the ridge), this little
marina and delightful restaurant are doing a booming business. Since it was about 2 PM and we had not yet
had lunch, stopping seemed like a great idea.
At the next table were folks visiting Gillies Bay on the west side of
Texada, Vancouver, and Ontario. They
were very friendly and curious about our travels.
When we got back to our anchorage in
Grace Harbor, we’d gained a few neighbors.
I think by the end of the evening I counted 32 boats in this little
spot, including these four boats. We saw
several instances of three or four boats rafted together and stern tied. This anchorage was so calm that I’m sure it
worked quite well.
Wednesday, August 21, was another
sunny, beautiful morning and we hauled anchor once again to continue our
explorations. Today’s destination was
Prideaux Haven, a little harbor that was reported to have the most spectacular
views of the park. As we’ve cruised
south from northern BC in previous summers we’ve seen “The Thumb” from many
angles and know it to be a significant landmark in this area. .The Thumb and the U-shaped valleys around us
had us talking about glaciation and how these peaks were formed. It is quite evident here that the last Ice
Age was no trifling matter!
As we cruised past a small anchorage on
Mink Island a float plane swooped in and landed off our port side. He must have been delivering passengers to one
of the yachts anchored there. That would
be the only way to get new visitors to your boat in here. The end of the road is at Lund, quite a
distance away. The road that ends at
Lund begins at the south end of South America…Tierra del Fuego!
We anchored in about 40 feet of water
and easily set the anchor. Although the
prime view spots were taken, we could still see the amazing peaks to the
east. This is a very popular spot to
visit and we were probably one of 40 or 50 boats. Some were shore tied and some were not…no
problem! There were acres of room.
We soon had the dinghy in the water and
went exploring. There were many little
nooks and coves in Prideaux Haven and at least one or two boats have parked in
each one. Like us, many folks were
wandering in their dinghies. We saw many kayakers and realized that this would be a great place for kayaks! Gotta get us some!
We saw lots of people swimming near
their boats. Amazing! The dinghy’s Garman told us that the water
temperature was a chilly 68. Not warm
enough for me! Even on a warm day in
California I didn’t get in our pool until the water temperature was 80! We did see this person warming his/her
backside in the sun, though… Didn’t even
look to see us go toodling by! Yep,
always pays to bring my camera.
Although we hadn't seen a lot of wildlife on this trip so far, we were surprised at the number of oysters clinging to the rocks on the shoreline. We spotted this intrepid little oyster catcher searching for lunch.
We stayed two days in Prideaux Haven,
and got bored. Without kayaks we had no
way to get any sort of exercise and wandering around in the dinghy got
old. We got so desperate for something
to do we started cleaning. My galley is
sparkling now! We did have wonderfu TV
reception here though, but it just seems wrong to sit and watch TV in the back
of beyond!
After we picked up the dinghy on
Thursday afternoon, we tried hailing Knut and Gerry on Salty Dawg, estimating
that they should be in our area this afternoon.
Sure enough! They were headed for
Squirrel Cove, planned to go through Hole in the Wall on Friday, and anchor in
Waiatt Bay in the Octopus Island.
Fabulous!! That was our plan for Friday, too! We went to bed that night with thoughts of a
new and interesting destination and the excitement of visiting with friends.
Friday, August 23, we pulled the anchor
at 0720 to cruise for awhile and eventually be at the Hole in the Wall Narrows
at 1200. The waterways in this part of
British Columbia are full of narrow passages where the water can run 10-12
knots on a spring tide. Cautious people,
that we are, we always calculate to arrive at these spots just before slack, so
we travel through with a little current in our favor. Other more experienced boaters tell us that
cruising through the narrows only requires that the current be in your favor
and have passed through some of these spots at 15 knots! I think we’d have a heart attack.
Homfray
Channel gave us lovely views of the moutains once again, as well as a few
pretty little resort cabin on shore. It
would be “trains, planes, automobiles, and boats” to get to these places! We saw lots of logs floating in the water and
this cluster of logs with a seal pup.
The passage through Hole in the Wall
had us a little psyched out! We imagined
a narrow crevice with high walls through which we could barely squeak. Not so!
It was a wide open fjord with lots of room, steep walls, trees and calm
water. The narrows
are at the SW end and it is here we arrived to pass through during slack water.
We spent two nights at anchor in Waiatt
Bay in the Octopus Islands. The first
night we were parked near Salty Dawg and had a great visit with Knut and
Gerry. Their boat is lovely and we sat
and watched the Seahawks on their beautiful 37” high def TV ON THEIR BOAT! Amazing!!
We awoke to rain and overcast on
Saturday morning, August 24. Salty Dawg
had departed at 0600 (we weren’t quite up!) and the bay was quiet. We decided to spend another night so did a
lot of reading and knitting and watching our neighbors. A small cruiser anchored behind us had two
dogs aboard, which they periodically needed to take to shore. I snapped this photo, telling the young man
that I liked his dogs. He later stopped
to offer us some crab…nope, Jerry is allergic!
Sunday,
August 25, our destination was Rebecca Spit which would take us down Okisollo
Channel and through Surge Narrows – yep, another timing issue. We pulled anchor at 0715 and departed the bay
to find fog in the channel. Rats!! Not a deal breaker for us, since our radar
works well, but it is a little disconcerting to not see where we’re going. As the sun climbed above the cliffs and the
air warmed the fog dissipated so that by the time we arrived at the narrows,
with just a little current behind us, we had great visibility. We got in line with several other boats and
transited easily.
Rebecca
Spit is another Canadian Marine Park and is quite popular with weekend campers
and kayakers. Herriott Bay, where we
anchored, is huge and rather open, so it wouldn’t be a great place in a
gale. As we searched for the perfet
anchorage we spotted “Spirit”, the Selene owned by Patrick and Miriam
Gill. We’d met them in Alaska last year
and became well acquainted in Sitka.
We
took the dinghy down and “went to town”.
This was the first chance we’d had to get off the boat and go for a walk
in days and it felt really good! The inn
at Herriott Bay has been there for a long time…and apparently still uses the
original dock! It was in rather bad
shape, but easily accommodated the dinghy.
When we returned to Cosmo Place we
called Patrick and Miriam on the VHF.
They soon were sitting in our salon and regaling us with their
travels. They, too, had chosen not to go
to Alaska this summer, but had travelled through the Broughtons. Patrick and his son had been to Nepal last
fall to hike the trail to the base camp at Mount Everest. We joined them for dinner on “Spirit” and saw
his amazing photos and movies.. His
photos showed hiking to 17,000’ up and down rocky terrain and across heart
stopping swinging suspension bridges!
Often they followed a “convoy” of yaks, who sometimes balked at the
height and ruggedness of the terrain.
Yikes! I cannot imagine doing
what they did but the stories were remarkable.
I couldn’t resist snapping the photo of
this guy and his dog as they paddled by us in Herriott Bay. Travelling with a dog must be quite different
than travelling with Smokey. We’d have
to staple her feet to the paddle board to get her on one of those things!
Moday, August 26, we hauled anchor once
again to make the short run across Sutil Channel to Gorge Harbor Marina on
Cortes Island, where we had a moorage reservation. The day dawned bright and sunny, but we
definitely had the wind in our face as we pointed the bow toward Uganda
Passage. This route was easy to follow
and well charted, but did require alert navigation and understanding the
channel markers. We watched the sailboat
pass BETWEEN the two green buoys, designating the boundaries of Shark Spit,
rather than keeping both to starboard.
Fortunately he incurred no damage, but, once again we shook our heads at
the ignorance of some boaters.
Gorge Harbor marina also had a resort
and was another place to take a hike and explore. The resort had pulled an old float
house up on the bluff above the marina and converted it to a restaurant, where
we had a lovely dinner. We hadn’t had
dinner out since we left La Conner, so it was delightful to be waited on! Back on Cosmo Place, we spent the night
listening to the wind and the rain, thankful that we were well secured in our
moorage. Smokey, asleep in the pilot
house, didn’t seem to mind the stormy night at all.
Since Gorge Harbor marina had wifi, we
could check the marine weather on the Environment Canada website and knew that
a big storm was headed for the Strait of Georgia. We debated about staying put in Gorge Harbor
for several days to wait it out, but chose to depart early on Tuesday and try
to get ahead of the weather. So, up at
oh-dark-thirty and underway by 0620.
As soon as we left the protection of
Gorge Harbor, we had a SE wind on our bow at 25-30 knots and about 3 foot
seas. Yuck and double yuck! Since we were facing into the weather, rather
than taking it all on our beam, we adjusted our route to keep the brunt of the
weather on our bow and steamed ahead. We
had quite a trip down Malispina Strait to Secret Cove Marina, that day! I’m not sure we could have done this three
years ago, but we’ve toughened up some!
Water flying over the pilot house, the boat rising and falling into
three foot seas, and wind up to 33 knots were uncomfortable but doable! We discovered that when we hit a particularly
rough patch, the bell that hangs just outside the pilot house starboard door
rings all by itself, giving the expression “that’s a bell ringer” a whole new
definition. Needless to say, Smokey
spent the day on my lap! The only ones
enjoying this weather were the sailboats we saw in Malispina Strait.
After a run of 8 hours and 56 miles we
arrived at our reserved moorage in Secret Cove.
We had chosen to stay here since it puts us in good position to travel
across the Strait of Georgia the next day.
We were tired, but happy we’d raised the bar on our cruising
skills. A quick walk around the marina,
and we were settled on the boat. You can
see from the photo that it was gloomy and overcast, although not raining. Once again we had wifi, so could connect with
the world. I think dinner that night was
beer, gin and tonic, and popcorn! Yep,
sometimes food just doesn’t seem all that important.
Wednesday the weather prediction for
the Strait of Georgia was good enough to travel, so we were off at 0625 with
the destination of Montague Harbor.
We’ve anchored here before and knew it to be a wide open harbor with
lots of room and things to do on shore.
We stopped here last year with Beth and rode the blue bus to the
Hummingbird Café…a quirky, Canadian tourist event! We had beautiful, calm water, no wind, and an
easy crossing. As we cruised through
Porlier Pass at the end of the ebb we saw our first fall colors. Autumn is on its way!
We passed the Montague harbor entrance
at 1215, and realized that we could actually be in La Conner in another 6
hours! We had good weather, lots of
daylight, so, like a horse headed to the barn, we went for it! We passed Turn Point light, just a few miles
into US waters, about 1345. This light
on Stuart Island is a great landmark to let us know we’re back in the US. We hiked out to this light with Ardith, Jon
and Norma back in June.
We tied up our dock in La Conner at
1820, tired and happy to be home!
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