It was a blustery morning at Whaleboat Cove. But even so, when we pulled up the anchor to move on, it was with great reluctance.. We didn't really have any specific plans. We just started sailing south. Maybe we'd try Maple Bay or something else if it looked inviting. As we motored away from the island I grew confident that there was enough wind to move us through the water reasonably fast so we put up the sails. It was fun to have the peace and quiet for awhile but very soon it became clear that we just weren't moving all that fast. This wouldn't have been a problem if it had just been us grownups but I knew that we were on a short leash with the kids and had only a limited time to get to some land destination to keep their attention.
There wasn't much of note about today's travel. After clearing the southern end of Pylades Island we turned West towards Vancouver Island. I knew there were some relatively shallow places in the main channel and wanted to stay clear but had some sketchy moments when I realized that I had mistaken navigation aids and wasn't quite where I thought we were in the channel. Got everything under control and we cleared Thetis Island comfortably to the north. Now it was time to turn south. There were some inviting harbors (Telegraph Harbor) on Thetis and Kuper Islands but we just didn't feel like we had gone far enough yet so kept going. The wind kept coming and going so we kept putting the sails up and taking them down accordingly. It seemed like we were doing way too much motoring this trip and I was determined to reverse the trend.
Saltspring Island began to dominate the view ahead. It is a very large, tall island so we had been able to see it for quite some time. I had heard wonderful things about how lovely the island was so was anxious to see it for myself. It was indeed large... and had a number of high places. There was getting to be quite a lot of boat traffic as we came further south. Had to keep my eyes open all the time.
Soon Maple Bay came into view. The boys seemed like they'd had enough for one day so we decided to go in and check it out. After a quick review of the harbor descriptions in our books, we motored in. I guess I didn't really understand the harbor descriptions as well as I though cuz I went into the first place that I came to. It was a fuel dock and I thought it was the place we wanted to be. Everyone was nice but we discovered that it was a pretty long walk to the showers and laundry facilities that were available further south in the Maple Bay Marina at the extreme south end of Bird's Eye Cove. We had stopped at the first marina which I think was called Bird's Eye Marina. Ooops! Of course I had to endure the usual "I told you so's" but then we figured out how to deal with it. After some initial exploring we all returned to the boat. Donna and I then took the dinghy back to do the laundry and take showers. And everything worked out. It was a pleasant evening as Donna and I sat outside the laundry room reading and folding (poor Donna was doing most of the folding) as we waited for everything to be done. Oh yes... I have to say a word about the showers here.... they take great pride in these showers being the nicest and cleanest showers that you can get anywhere in the Gulf Islands. I have to agree with them too. I chatted with the woman who took care of the shower rooms and there was a lot of personal pride in the job.
After returning to the boat (via dinghy), we had dinner, played our usual game of cards, buttoned the boat up against the mosquitos and went to bed.
We weren't in any hurry the next morning. We weren't even sure where we were going that day. So we had a leisurely breakfast in the morning sunshine then prepared the boat to leave. This was a wonderful way to live. I think that we were finally getting into island life a little. Inevitably we had to tear ourselves away from the dock to get on with the day's adventures. But first we made a quick fuel stop and then were off.
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Sailing toward Vancouver Island |
Even Donna drove... I had to take a picture |
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Jack making one of his special sandwiches |
Spencer passing the time... there was lots of time to just fool around when we were ports |
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A terrorized Donna at the wheel |
Salt Spring Island in the distance |
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Jack teaching mom how to tie a bowline |
Entering Sansum Narrows |
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Entering the yacht basin in Maple Bay |
This was our fuel dock |
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Jack in pirate attire |
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Sail La Vie at rest |
The owner of the fuel doc's boat in it's boat shed |
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Leaving Maple Bay |