the Slowboat Team 
This morning we cruised across Queen Charlotte to Blunden Harbour, one of our favorite staging points for rounding Cape Caution. The weather looked decent, but winds were forecast to build as the day progressed, so we got an early start. Overnighting in Boughey Bay had given us a nice route out to Queen Charlotte without having to revisit the peril of Johnstone Strait again. We were about half an hour … Read more
Today was the day to make miles down Johnstone Strait while things were good. Johnstone can be a serious menace, and we had favorable current from 6AM until noon. We figured if we popped out right at 6, we could ride the current all the way down to our turnoff from Johnstone. As a bonus, winds were predicted to be mellow (unusual for this stretch). It all turned out to … Read more
Early (5am!!) departure today, and a long day to boot! We cruised just over 60nm from our anchorage at Tribune Bay up past Campbell River, through Seymour Narrows (timed perfectly, of course), and onto Kanish Bay. It was a bit lumpy out, with some current against us as we headed north in the Strait of Georgia. We had three-foot wind waves on the bow for four hours or so. Not … Read more
The Environment Canada forecast didn’t look all that great for the Strait of Georgia this morning, but after discussing the hourly reported condition (Windy.com, buoy reports, looking at the hourly trend, etc.) with Laura via the group chat, it looked like a little chop was likely the worst we’d get, so the group pulled anchor and left Clam Bay around 8am this morning, headed for Dodd Narrows. The plan was … Read more
This morning we left Ganges a little before the 11am checkout time (after wandering up the hill to a nice bakery). We’re of course watching the weather forecasts for the Strait of Georgia, and we were greeted this morning with this, for both south and north of Nanaimo. Waterspouts?? Waterspouts are not on our Flotilla Bingo cards. At all. Next year maybe we should make a limited edition “Catastrophe” version … Read more
Day 1 is always a very busy day. Clearing Canadian Customs, arriving into Ganges, provisioning for a week without groceries, and then meeting for our first group dinner out…it’s a lot. Which means photos from Day 1 are often a little scarce. Airship at Bedwell Harbour for clearing Canadian Customs: Instead of clearing by phone with Nexus as usual, Airship stopped at the dock at Bedwell Harbour (with a non-Nexus … Read more
Today was an exciting day on Airship as we left to meet the group for the beginning of the 2026 Flotilla! We got an early start out of La Conner to get ahead of the weather. The forecast called for some strong winds in the afternoon, and we wanted to get across Rosario Straight before conditions got dicey. We had a send-off committee waving goodbye from the dock as we … Read more
We left Taku Harbor around 7:30a.m. and headed north in Stephens Passage toward Juneau. We had a gorgeous view up Taku Inlet before entering Gastineau Channel. There was only one cruise ship in port when we arrived, and the clamor of float plane/tour boat traffic felt pretty quiet comparatively. We all got settled between Harris Harbor and Aurora Basin, and spent the day doing boat chores, exploring town, and enjoying … Read more