We left the docks at Nanaimo just before 6:00 a.m. for the long cruise north to Campbell River (about 75nm). The forecast for the Strait of Georgia was quite good, so we figured we’d skip our planned stop in Comox and have a long (but hopefully calm) day on the Strait of Georgia. The downside to the calm conditions is smoke. Visibility was about one mile most of the day. … Read more
We’ve started another flotilla, and will be circumnavigating Vancouver Island over the next four weeks! Our group met on Sunday at Roche Harbor in the San Juan Islands and headed for Nanaimo in the morning. The wildfire smoke has been pretty bad for the past few days, but today seemed like the worst so far. We left Roche Harbor by 7:00 a.m. and the sun was just a faint orange … Read more
The day we left Victoria also happened to be the day of the 2018 Victoria Dragon Boat Festival in Victoria Harbour. The dragon boats began racing at 8:00 a.m. and would continue all day until about 4:30 p.m., so getting out of Causeway Floats between a race (every 11 minutes) took a little bit of planning with harbour security. We got instructions and an escort for part of the way … Read more
Bamfield to Sooke Harbour is a long cruise–about 73nm. The forecast was wind light, becoming west 10-20 knots in the afternoon, with some fog. We left Bamfield at first light…about 5:30 a.m. The sky (and thus, the water) turned bright pink as we headed out of Trevor Channel. Amazing! Â There was a thick fog bank out toward sea, but our cruise was clear and gorgeous! We arrived in Sooke Harbour … Read more
Airship left Effingham Bay a bit ahead of the group (around 10:00 a.m.) for the 9.5nm cruise to Bamfield. It was foggy leaving Effingham Bay, but it eventually cleared as we got closer to Bamfield. We had reservations for everyone at the government dock on the west side of Bamfield, but there’s no full-time harbormaster to direct boats where to tie up. We thought it would be nice to have … Read more
We left Joe’s Bay around 10:00 a.m. and cruised the very short distance (less than 4nm) over to Effingham Bay. Most of our flotilla went right in and anchored, while Airship went out to Meares Bluff to do a little fishing. Meares Bluff is right around the corner from the anchorage, and since there were quite a few sport fishing boats with lines in the water, there was at least … Read more
We left Ucluelet and cruised the short distance (11nm) over to Joe’s Bay, just north of Turtle Island in the Broken Group. Unfortunately, we had one boat fewer than normal. Throughout the trip, Mana Kai (a Kadey Krogen 44), has been experiencing intermittent engine problems related to the suction control valve on the common rail system. No amount of fiddling with filters or resetting computers has fixed the issue, and … Read more
We left Tofino in the morning and headed for Ucluelet. The sky was mostly gray but not foggy. Wind was light, with a low, lazy westerly swell and light chop on top, making for a very pleasant cruise. The biggest challenge was avoiding crab traps—hundreds of them, and several crab boats actively fishing! We arrived in Ucluelet by about 11:00 a.m. and got space in the Ucluelet Small Craft Harbour. … Read more