We awoke the next day to a bright and cloudless sky. Up to now it had been a troublesome summer with frequent
rain and clouds. But today dawned brightly and fueled our optimism for a delightful two weeks to come. As you
can see, we had pancakes for breakfast afterwhich we pulled up the anchor and headed north up through the Gulf
Islands. Our goal was to make it to Nanaimo if the current allowed us to get through Dodd Narrows. We could
tell from the current charts that around our anticipated arrival time, the current would be against us so we might get
stuck on the Gulf Island side of the narrows. Fortunately, we made pretty good time getting through the islands so
while the current was clearly against us, we were in fact able to get through.
The islands were gorgeous. While I am quite familiar with the San Juan Islands, the Gulf Islands are uncharted
territory. I had no idea what to expect. They do indeed have a different flavor. Unfortunately I don't know how
to characterize that flavor. The seem considerably less populated and perhaps a bit less moist. There are many
unusual land forms. The aids to navigation, while similar were also quite different than what I was accustomed to
in the United States. All in all, as we passed through them on our way to Princess Louisa Inlet, I couldn't wait
to get back to explore these islands.
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Spencer enjoying the early morning sun with his breakfast |
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The chart table with our, very important, current book |
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My breakfast... dining in the cockpit was absolutely delightful |
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Looking back toward the U.S. on our way north after leaving South Pender Island |
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Sometimes I felt sorry for the boys... I think they had more free time than they knew what to do with. |
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Jack giving me a "stink eye" |
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Looking across the Strait of Georgia in the direction of Vancouver through one of the breaks between the islands |
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View of Dodd Narrows from orbit... looks like it's flooding |
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Oh oh... Dodd Narrows... We kept hearing about how scary passing through the Narrows could be. |
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And we were getting there about an hour after slack. You can start to see the rapids in the narrows even from here. |
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Here we are inching our way through the pass. |
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Oy! |
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Nanaimo off in the distance through Dodd Narrows |
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Looking back... |
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The green marker indicating the left side of the channel when enterering a port |
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These guys had it easy... they were going with the current |
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This is the "Dinghy Pub". Folks anchored out in the bay would "dinghy" up to the bar for a nightcap. |
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The "pirate's" boat. This was a boat painted all in black with a wild man for crew. We dubbed him "the pirate" and started doing things "pirate style" for the rest of the trip. |
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Nanaimo through the boats anchored around us... |
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The boats anchored behind us... I was quite worried about swinging into them during the night. |
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Jack started sleeping in the cockpit. This was my favorite place to sleep when I was younger. Unfortunately later in the trip, Jack wasn't able to do it as much because we started experiencing a great many mosquitos. |
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Spencer popping his head through "his" hatch. This was the hatch into the cockpit over the boyze's berth. |