August 25, 2005
Darzee sends his apologies for monopolizing the writing time of Rikki-tikki’s crew with his running about. In contrast to the many nautical miles traveled in one long leg at a time off the West Coast of the USA, distances between stops here in British Columbia are much shorter. There is much to do, people to see, shore visits to enjoy. In these first three weeks, we’ve spent a few days at a time in some anchorages, not because of nasty weather but because it was pleasant! Quite the change, and a much welcomed one. We've done much running about.
We must have crossed some demarcation line at the border in the middle of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, because the weather has been just lovely since we arrived in Canada. We know it’s August, reputedly the best month for cruising BC, but we are enjoying it immensely. It has actually rained only once, kindly at night, and Rikki-tikki was given a much-needed freshwater rinse.
Back to our Canada arrival... We were excited to learn that, after our long journey, some truly wonderful friends were close by in Sydney Harbor! So, the day after we were made official visitors, we took Darzee for his first runabout under outboard engine power around to Sydney's lovely marina, filled with fancy yachts, in search of Valhalla, a Catalina 34 that has seen sixteen summers cruising in British Columbia. We found her without crew aboard, so we left our card and wandered off to explore the flower-festooned town on foot.
We had the most fabulous lunch at a cute little place called “Fish on Fifth”. Everything about the food was outstanding– its presentation was artful and beautiful, the flavors unique and yummy, the price excellent. We had fish ‘n’ chips– choosing cod, chips replaced by salads. The ambiance was fun and colorful, just like the garden salad. We gave this establishment a score of 11, on a scale of 1 to 10. Wow– no ordinary fish ‘n’ chips here! Back on the docks, we visited with Johnie, Bev and guests, grandaughter Alica and friend Carly, on Valhalla. We all drank a toast to Rikki-tikki-tavi and his upcoming adventures. We made it back to Tsehum Harbor anchorage just at sunset in little Darzee.
Our chance meeting held much significance for us all. Our friends and supporters through the entire building of our trimaran, and friends of Nina's parents when they sailed a Catalina 25 back in the nineteen-seventies, Johnie and Bev were the first fellow sailors to greet Rikki-tikki-tavi in Canadian waters. They brought Valhalla into Tsehum, rafting next to Rikki, and stepped aboard in unison. What a terrific way to end a journey and to begin a new one. We are so grateful for a safe journey and for such good friends.
We spent the next day in Darzee exploring every nook and cranny in Tsehum harbor, then prepared to leave for Saltspring Island and the harbor of Ganges, where we would meet both Valhalla and friends aboard Bankrupt for cocktails. We had just started the engine to leave Sunday morning when a dinghy arrived carrying a fellow asking if we were friends of Dave and Marcia. Yes, we said, and he climbed aboard. Shortly, another dinghy arrived with a fellow asking the same. It was great fun meeting Adgard and Jim, both of whom had been told to keep a lookout for us. Jim even brought us some smoked salmon, though not the white King salmon from Neah Bay we had longed for. Two hours later, we motored out of Tsehum, bound for Ganges under sunny skies.
We rowed Darzee from our anchorage into Ganges Marina, climbing aboard Bankrupt to enjoy more hugs and warm greetings from Dick, Sharon, Spud and Betty. After a lively dinner, we hunted for Rikki out in the dark harbor full of anchored boats. We'd forgotten to hang out the anchor light! Bankrupt and crew came over to tie next to Rikki next day on their way to Montague Harbour Provincial Park on Galiano Island. We followed later after visiting with Mark, another trimariner anchored nearby on a Piver design. While at Montague, Johnie and Bev went over their well-used cruising atlas and pointed out some good spots for us to stop along our journeys.
We stayed another night and then headed back to Ganges for groceries and internet access. The Saltspring Island Public Library has free wireless access and everything in the little town is within walking distance from the dinghy dock. There is a very nice grocery store, two liquor stores (you can't buy liquor in a grocery store in Canada), pharmacy/drug store, little specialty boutiques, galleries, bookstores, a hardware store, coffee shops, and, on Saturday, a street market. Everything a cruiser needs. The laundromat at the Ganges Marina only has two washers and two dryers though. Luckily, we've learned how to make less laundry– high tech fibers that dry quickly and using a synthetic chamois instead of a bath towel help tremendously. We have better things to do than sit and wait for the dryer!
Ganges Harbor dinghy dock with the usual crowd. Just putt right in, shove the other dinghies aside! Large boats have large dinghies that take up a lot of dock space, like the three on the left. The big yacht at the top of the photo was called "Attitude Adjustment". Its uniformed crew off-loaded three motorcycles using a crane that came up from inside the foredeck!
Using the free wireless in Ganges to send/receive email made it possible for family to coordinate a visit with Nina's mom from Sacramento and aunt in Vancouver. Our Cingular GoPhone, we discovered, didn't "go" in Canada, but we found some prepaid phone cards at the drug store with very low rates to call the US. Between the two, we set the meeting for the following week on Galiano Island, where Betty has a home overlooking Montague Harbour. After adding more groceries to the ship's stores, we took off to explore some likely wintering spots.
We were looking forward to some fair winds for a day's sail to Maple Bay on Vancouver Island, but we had to motor over smooth water under a sunny sky. Oh, the tribulation we've had to endure while here in BC! Maple Bay Marina turned out to be a charming place– pristinely kept, a lovely nature walk, very nice washrooms and showers. But there was no room on the docks for Rikki-tikki for the winter there. Anchoring-out was still a possibility.
Next day, we continued down Sansum Narrows to Tod Inlet, where we anchored at the very head of the narrow bight beyond any other boats. It was so warm that I went swimming! Clark watched from the deck as he prepared to row out a stern anchor to keep Rikki-tikki from heading over the really shallow parts when the tide went out eleven feet. Tod Inlet is part of another BC Park. It has trails and a dinghy dock. We walked the trail along the head of the inlet, picking juicy blackberries along the way. One of the trails leads up to the road that ends at the main entrance to the famous Butchart Gardens. We walked up to the entrance gate to find out the fee to go in– $22 each. On our way back to the boat, we stopped to talk to Nick on his pretty junk-rigged wood boat. We took this photo as we left the next morning.
Tod Inlet would be a very protected anchorage for a winter. There is bus service around Vancouver Island. No place to keep a car though, if we were to bring ours from California for some winter land cruising. Motoring back to Montague, with another stop on the way for water at the Ganges public wharf, we had a heck of a time getting Rikki-tikki off the dock when a brisk beam-on wind sprang up while we were ashore for one hour. The adrenaline surge lingered after we barely escaped unmarred, so we elected not to sail across to Galiano even though we now had enough wind. Montague was glassy calm the following morning when we took Darzee ashore to meet Mom and Betty.
The years of patience for the time when family could board Rikki-tikki-tavi in Canada were awarded with gleeful smiles. Betty's grandson, Gareth, had explored every locker and cubbyhole before the ladies could get below! He was everywhere at once, but I managed to grab a photo of him as he popped up from a deck hatch– like the critter in the carnival game, Whack-A-Mole.
With Batty, Gareth and Mom, we motored a calm circumnavigation of Prevost Island, stopping for lunch in a bay where we watched the big BC ferries go by between Swartz Bay, Vancouver Island, and Tsawwassen on the mainland. That evening we celebrated Clark's birthday at the Hummingbird Pub for dinner, then enjoyed some St. André cheese and Silent Sam vodka (thanks for introducing us to this, Karen!) as we watched the sunset from Betty's deck up at the house.
Mom joined Rikki-tikki's crew for three nights. It was lovely having her aboard and, even though she and Dad didn't explore the Gulf islands in their many trips on boats to BC, she said it felt like "home". First, we took Rikki up Trincomali Channel, Houstoun Passage, Stuart Channel, to Telegraph Harbor. We anchored him near the mouth of the inlet because it was pretty crowded inside. We watched the seaplanes take off next to us, covering our ears from the noise, then a full moon filled the sky.
On our way north to Ruxton Passage Cove, we went into Ladysmith Harbor, where we hoped to find the boat canvas ladies we'd been told about. Rikki-tikki still needs his cockpit enclosed before the winter rains come. We arrived a half-hour after they'd left for the weekend, plus the harbormaster wanted $10 just to tie up the dinghy, and the grocery store was a long uphill hike into town. Ladysmith was awarded "Most Beautiful Community" on Vancouver Island. The waterfront apparently wasn't considered, because it's industrial and ugly, with very limited access for recreational boats. Log booms fill a large portion of the harbor and we spotted a large deadhead among the many errant floating logs. A deadhead is a log that has sunk on one end, becoming vertical in the water, and gotten itself stuck into the bottom. It was low tide when we spotted this one and its top was a foot above water. When the tide came in, well, that deadhead would still be there waiting to rip into any boat that had the misfortune to hit it. We went dead slow on our way out, making sure we followed our GPS track to avoid the now-unseen danger.
After a quiet night in the cove at De Courcy Island, a short hike ashore to stretch our legs, we timed our arrival at the south end of Dodd Narrows, where the current runs up to nine knots, for slack water. Other boats were assembling for passage at either end. Powerboats were coming through before slack but we waited until the first crush of boats had passed before we announced on the VHF that we were entering northbound. We'd spotted a barge on the far end and hoped he would also be waiting. It was low tide, which makes the Narrows even narrower, and it narrows even more at its north end. Luckily, there was only one small powerboat entering from that end as Rikki-tikki reached the very narrowest part. As we exited, the tug pulling the chip barge announced he was going through.
On to Nanaimo, a bustling city with numerous ferries, seaplanes, shipping, and LOTS of other boats– every size and persuasion. We anchored across from the city in front of Newcastle Island, another park, on the fringe of the expanse of other boats. It was windy and choppy, but it didn't look like any space big enough for Rikki was farther inside. Clark and Mom launched Darzee to hunt for better conditions. Space looks real big from Darzee, but when Rikki gets there, it has shrunk! But Rikki took a spot closer in where the water was a bit shallow. We hoped the wind didn't shift and blow us toward shore. I was still concerned, so I set the anchor alarm and placed the depthsounder where I could see it during the night. Winds gusted up to 15 knots but remained from the northwest; we were okay.
The BC Ferry to Tsawwassen would take Mom back, the end of her visit. We expected there would be a bus to the ferries from the marina. No such thing in Nanaimo. One might suspect that the taxi lobby holds a monopoly on getting foot traffic to the landings. So, we hugged goodbye and loaded Mom into a cab. Still a bit concerned about Rikki out there in the stiff breeze, we made a very quick trip to Thrifty Foods and splashed Darzee back.
We've been hanging out at Newcastle Island now for four nights, catching up the blog, prepping photos, meeting new friends, watching boats come and go, and making trips into Nanaimo for food, propane, water and internet access at Literacy Nanaimo– $1 for all day. We bought 600 feet of floating poly rope on a spool for a stern line. When we get to Desolation Sound in September, most boats anchor off the bow with a line tied to shore from the stern.
We will be heading north again soon, stopping at French Creek to visit the fellows we met while confined in Noyo Harbor, then meeting Dave and Marcia at Rebecca Spit, Quadra Island. Johnie and Bev on Valhalla, dubbed "Mother Duck", are headed there also with friends Wes and Patti aboard. It will be fun tagging along. We'll be flying our duckling pennant!
