happylife

Gulf Islands Cruise 2006 / Day#5

On this day, we left Winter Cover in the late morning and sailed to Telegraph Harbor. With the help of a moderate tail wind, we enjoyed comfortable sailing. I could take a pleasant nap on the bow deck which is my favorite place on a sailing boat. After four hour sailing, we finally arrived at Telegraph Harbor. Although we intended to get only water and to anchor around the harbor but the man at the fuel station told that we couldn't get any water unless we stayed overnight. Without any options, we stayed there by paying more than fifty dollars. I don't like docking because it is noisy, but we could enjoy taking a shower. At the head of this harbor, there is a super shallow, artificial passage, and we can get through to Clam Bay by dinghy which is the opposite side of Telegraph Harbor. It was high tide when we passed the passage, and we couldn't see the narrow canal unfortunately.

Gulf Islands Cruise 2006 / Day#4

I was a little bit sleepy because I had to watch the anchor during the night. Waking up in the midnight is usually a hard work, but the night sky was so clear that I could see the Milky Way and some shooting stars. Even in the sea, I could see luminous insects when I peed. We enjoyed kayaking by turns in the morning. Sure two kayaks and one dinghy were bulky for our 37-foot vessel, they were quite enjoyable. We started sailing in the afternoon to Winter Cove, which looks very interesting in the chart with a super narrow passage called "Boat Passage." We approached to the point by dinghy and then from land. When the incoming stream decreased a bit, we tried to get through the passage by our small dingy. The current speed was almost same as our dingy which was of course at the full throttle. Our dinghy could proceed only by centimeter, but finally we could get to the other side of the passage which is the part of Straight of Georgia. The sea was calm and the sky was so clear that we could see Mt. Baker in the U.S.

Gulf Islands Cruise 2006 / Day#3

It was Saturday in the long weekend, and we wanted to go to Ganges Harbor which is one of the most popular harbors in the Gulf Islands. In order to get a good dock place, we got up at 6:00 and left Montague Harbor. The Trincomali Channel was so calm that the sea surface looked like a mirror reflecting islands and the sky. It was around nine when we arrived Ganges Harbor. I had never seen such busy Ganges Harbor; almost all the docks were full of boats. It looked too crowded to stay overnight there, I decided to stay temporally to get water and power, fill up diesel and take a shower. Unbelievably, we had run out of a 200L water tank for less than two days. On the other side of the dock where we parked, divers were struggling to salvage this half-sank house. After late afternoon lunch, we left Ganges Harbor to Prevost Island. It took time to be anchored though, we could enjoy more pleasant night in the cozy cove open to west. I prefer to stay in a quiet cove to noisy and busy harbor.

Gulf Islands Cruise 2006 / Day#2

We came across three problems in the morning. The outboard engine for the dinghy still wouldn't work. The windlass, which is set to wind up and down the anchor chain, didn't work either. And the engine, once started, didn't stop! We wound up the anchor by hands, and moved to the mooring buoy which was set in the better area in Montague Harbor. It was a super short sailing, just 0.2 miles long. After hooking at the buoy, we solved all the problems in an hour. The key for the engine and windlass problems was literally the key. By setting the main key in the ON position, the engine could be stopped and the windlass worked again. During opening the outboard engine cover and releasing some bolts and tightening again, the outboard engine worked again, too. The plug might have been wet. Anyway, we could solve all the problems so far, and we enjoyed kayaking, sunbathing, and hiking around the Gray Peninsula. This boat, anchored at the center of Montague Harbor, was a bakery. Unfortunately, I forgot the name of the boat, but I heard that it used to be a car ferry, and now, it is run by an old couple as a bakery on the sea. The cinnamon bun was marvelous.

Gulf Islands Cruise 2006 / Day#1

We met together at the marina in Coal Harbor around 6:30 before casting off at 7:00 o'clock. As we had finished loading yesterday, we could start the cruising very smoothly. With a strong NW wind, our sailing boat had to proceed against numerous moderate swells. All the crew except for one, more or less suffered from seasick, but after we passed through Porlie Passage, we were all fine with the calm sea and peaceful scenery. We sailed towards Montague Harbor along the Galiano Island. It was around 15:00 when we arrived Montague Harbor, which was super busy because of the long weekend. It was so busy that we couldn't hook any mooring buoy and we had to anchor among numerous boats. After a few trial and error, we anchored at the east area of the harbor. As the outboard engine for the dinghy didn't work, we couldn't land and enjoyed this beautiful sunset from the sailing boat.