Our three nights at the dock in Victoria were wonderful but that was enough time to get done what we needed to do and get out of the city. We headed north through the beautiful and familiar waterways of the Gulf Islands up to DeCourcy Island which has a lovely park. We don’t like to take the deep drafted rocket ship into Pirates Cove with it’s shallow and narrow entrance so we kept to the south end of the park and anchored in a nook where quite a few other small boats were on Ruxton Pass. There wasn’t much space but we asked where another boats anchor was and determined there was space. Greg maneuvered us in there, I dropped the hook, and we set it backing up towards shore. Leaving the engine running, we quickly changed gears and drug the dinghy out of the garage, inflated it, found the stern tie line, and I hopped from the dinghy onto shore to tie up to a dead tree. A perfect spot with room for more boats to do the same. We looked silly as the biggest boat tucked into the smallest space but apparently we’ve gotten over caring about these sorts of things.
We saw on No Foreign Land (boating app) that my friend Maureen and her husband Barry were on their awesome boat in the Pirate’s Cove anchorage and we arranged to happy hour with them the next day. Then, Billy, a friend who we had met in the Marquesas who lives in Victoria, messaged back and said he and his wife were also in Pirate’s cove. That was too much so we hopped in the dinghy, zoomed around to the narrow pass, and found them on shore at the park. It was great to meet his wife and we had a fun walk catching up on adventures since we were last together.
I love walking around on the islands in the summer. The smell of the forest, the dry grass, salal berries, the raven’s deep cry, eagles swooping, baby seals, and so much more make me feel right at home. Feeling so familiar with our surroundings is strange!
We had an idyllic 3 nights there where it was dead calm, warm enough to be tricked into jumping into the water (I couldn’t even see the propeller from the stern!), we got caught up on sleep, and used to having a still boat.
Our Canadian cruising family was trying to figure out how to get out on the water to see us. Julie, who had visited us in the Tuamotus and gone to Toau with us, was spearheading getting everyone behind a plan but things kept changing. Suddenly, we saw that it made way more sense for us to just come to them. We picked up anchor around 5pm and headed out a pass and across the very calm Straits of Georgia towards Bowen Island where Julie’s parents, Sandy and Marg, and her sister Heather live. We anchored just as it was getting dark after waving to them on their porch as we went by.
The next morning we got cleaned up, dinghied over to the marina, and Heather picked us up for the short trip to their house. Sandy had been tracking us our entire trip and it was great to catch up with one of my “sailing dads”. Their daughter/sister in law Sheli and just turned one year old granddaughter/niece Lily were there visiting so when the three of us showed up and later Julie and her son Luke too it was a grand party. The next day there was an even bigger party with more family and we celebrated Lily’s first birthday. What a trip to be with so many people we know!
One afternoon John and Jess came over to visit and the ended up giving us a fast ride back to West Vancouver where we met Julie and Lee and a cousin and went out to a yummy pizza dinner in West Van near the training gym Julie works at. Small steps into civilization are just right. Later, Luke and Lee gave us a ride back to Rocket Science, this super fast run-about boat thing sure is convenient!
From there we went to the WVYC outstation in Center Bay, just around the NE corner of Bowen. Julie’s family came up on their Grady, Heather and Julie spent the night on Rocket Science, and we had a few days in a row with lovely weather, walks, swims, and fun there.
After Center Bay, we stole Julie and headed back to the Gulf Islands. We anchored in Montague Harbor and caught the crazy bus to the restaurant down the road. Funny how we’re so content going to all the “big” anchorages this year. It’s so exciting to see people and be able to buy some lettuce and milk whenever we want! We walked around the park and ate salal berries until our mouths were purple, Griffin and Julie watched and learned about some baby sparrows on the dock, and enjoyed the just ripening blackberries whenever we were on shore.
Julie caught a seaplane back to Vancouver from Ganges and we decided to push down through the Gulf Islands to Bedwell Harbor to make the next trip a little shorter. We left late in the afternoon and there were some nasty clouds to the SE. The sky was a solid dark grey and almost purple, it rained big hard drops off and on, and far in front of us we saw many lightning strikes. Then, channel 16 blew up. Sucia Island, the WA state park, wasn’t too far away and a seaplane had just crashed in front of an opening to a bay. Boaters anchored there were the first responders and they found all 11 people before the plane caught on fire. Griffin could see the plane’s path on his plane tracking app and it was easy to see the storm’s influence and it’s 180 degree turn before aiming for where it landed.
The next morning was bright and sunny so we went for a quick walk on shore before pulling the hook and heading towards the USA. Checking in with Nexus was a quick phone call after a long hold. They just asked how long we’d been in Canada… easy!
We made our way down through familiar waters to a spot near Double Island in West Sound on Orcas Island and dropped the hook. Across from us was the West Sound Yacht Club where our sailing buddies Jimmy and Robin were racing their J70 in the Friday night races. We met them and other Orcas Island sailors there after racing, what a nice time. Also there was a big catamaran called Lyrae that Jimmy and Robin had helped deliver to the the Marquesas a few years ago. Lyrae is also friends with our Taco Tuesday/G dock friends on Impossible. Love the small sailing world, it was fun to meet them and their four kids. But wait, there’s more! Nearby on the North side of Shaw island was Shawn who Greg has raced with on Hamachi, a great guy. He came over to visit and we went to his place a few days later and enjoyed and amazing meal with his wife and friend too. Also, our good friends Tim and Kathy came over from Anacortes and anchored nearby, Tim was an instrumental part of Greg’s career as well as in us getting Rocket Science. Lastly, through the invitation to our open boat party in Shilshole in a few days, I found out a good rowing friend was on Orcas. Kris came and picked me up with a local pastry and coffee to do go on a walk around Turtleback Mountain and get caught up.
Yesterday, the weather was lovely and the current was with us so we came out Cattle Pass, across the straits, waved at our friends in Port Townsend, and anchored in Kingston. I walked for some groceries and glue to patch up an oyster cut in the paddle board and then we went out to dinner for some delicious pizza. What conveniences!
Griffin can hardly look across the sound at our real world and while going back to normal life is daunting we’re also really excited to be home again. We’ve all changed in ways we’re not even sure of yet and I’m looking forward to figuring that all out. Optimistically as always, I’m pretty sure it’s going to be fine. I have in mind to do a blog post about some things we’ve learned in the last year so if we ever are lucky to set off again I’ll have them written down, stay tuned.
Meanwhile, we’re having an “Open Boat” Party this Friday 7/31 from 3-7:30 at Shilshole Marina, G dock, hope to see you there!
