Canada Trip

Tuesday and Wednesday July 29-30th 2008

We left Von Donup Inlet with WindDancer and headed north towards Hole in the Wall Passage. We had to time this just right due to the currents that flowed through here with the tides. We did not have that far to go and the wind was behind us, so we sailed most of  the way there.

This also marks the furthest Spot north and the furthest from home that we would be on this trip.

We got there a little faster than we thought we would, so we had to circle around just shy of the Passage for about an hour. We watched a few power boats muscle their way against the current. They were really fighting it, so we decided to hang back a bit longer. WindDancer nosed up to it but circled back, on thier second attempt we headed through ourselves.

There were no rapids like the entrance to Princess Louisa Inlet. But the current gets pretty heavy, something like 8 or 9 knots. It’s not as narrow either, but still it’s always a little nerve racking going through passages like these for the first time.

Once we got through, we only had another mile to go to our anchorage in the Octopus Islands. These islands were very cool. Today also marked the start of the rains that would hang around for 3 days or so.

On Wednesday we decided to go for a hike. The first place we stopped at looked like it might be cool to explore, but other than an old torn down cabin and a slightly less old camper that looked like the scene of serial killing, we did’nt find much else of interest.

When we got to the head of the bay, it was raining and it was low tide. We did not feel like dragging the dinghy all the way up to the high tide mark. So we tied it to a short cliff on shore. We scrambled along the rocks for about 200 yards trying to stay out of the muck of low tide. Originally we had only planned on taking a short hike over land to another bay called Small Bay. The trail there was well marked and an easy hike. Actually it was a little too easy. So we decided to continue hiking, despite the rain. From looking at the map before leaving the boat we saw a lake that was supposed to be really good for swimming.

Once we left Small Bay and headed up hill towards the lake. The hike got a little harder, but not too bad. It was only 2 or so. Once there, the one good swim spot was taken up by some hikers that had come from the other direction from their car. They had a very cute, but insanely annoying dog. So we decide to hike on to find another rock to swim off of.

The water in this lake was not the warmest lake we’d swam in, but it was impossibly clear. The rain stopped just as we got to the rock and the sun came out.

The hike back was uneventful, however, once we got back to where we left the dinghy, we got a bit of a surprise. Since we were gone alot longer than we had planned the tide had come completely in. And we now had 200 yards of water between us and our dinghy that was tied to a small cliff in 1 foot of water and we could walk to the spot we now stood. But since the tide had come in, The dinghy was still tied to that same cliff, but was in 8 feet of water and the mud we had walked on was now 6 feet under water.

We had to climb along this cliff to get to the dinghy, not a bit deal, but I’m sure the people anchored out had a good laugh watching us climb out to get out dinghy.

About half way back to the boat the rain started again and did’nt stop for awhile. The storm that blew through was a doozy. A tree was struck by lightening about 100 yard away from our boat. Talk about loud and bright. We took the rain as a chance to work on our scrabble skills and reading. We also checked out tide pools and did some exploring by dinghy till we left.

Sunday-Monday July 27-28th 2008

Woke up to a grey cloudy day, but no rain. Not very much wind either. We motored out of Teakerne Arm and turned north. Our trip today would take us half way around Cortez Island. As we left Teakerne Arm, we were only about 2 miles from where we would end up at the end of the day, but since the boat does not have 4 wheel drive, we had to go north and around the island to get there. We were headed to Von Donup Islet to meet up with Ghost and WindDancer to celebrate Angie’s B-day.

Once out of Teakerne Arm the wind picked up, but it was directly out of the north. The channel we were heading up was fairly narrow, and we really did’nt feel like tacking for hours to make our way up. So we motored till we got to the northern end of the channel then put up the sails.

Once we did get the sails up and we started tacking our way north against the wind. The wind was only blowing about 12 knots or so, but we were having fun. And since the cliffs would drop almost straight down into the water. We could carry our tacks almost right up the shore before tacking a back again.

We also squeaked past the northern tip of Cortez Island, with only 20 feet to spare between us and the island. That may or may not have been the smartest thing to do, but it was fun!

As we rounded the point, we fell off to a beam reach as the wind picked up to around 15-18 knots. We turned downwind and headed for the entrance of Von Dunup Islet. By now the sun had burned through the cloud layer and the day was bright and sunny.

The entrance to the inlet was very narrow and partially blocked by a giant boulder. At low tide there would have been less water and a narrower channel, but the boulder would have been exposed and easy to see. We however were coming in at near high tide, so the boulder was covered by about a foot of water. Tawn took lookout on the bowsprite and I steered the boat around the rock, hugging the oppisite shore as closely as I could. The charts had it marked pretty well so we got past it with no problems.

Once inside the inlet we found Ghost and WindDancer tucked away in a corner of the bay anchored togather. We circled them and got things set to raft up to WindDancers port side.

Tied up next to Ghost and WindDancer, Palarran looks so small.

We did some dinghy exploring all around the inlet and into some of the small little coves that were inside the inlet. One of these little coves had a very small entrance. At high tide it looks open, clear and wide. But at low tide their are HUGE boulders that stick up, blocking the entrance. No way to get in by dinghy. We waited till a little after low tide, till more water had come in and dinghied in and spent the afternoon checking out the shoreline and hiking around a small island that was in the middle of the lagoon. On way back out, the tide was REALLY flooding in! It was like being in a whitewater mountain river. We had to be extremly careful, in motoring out, because if we aimed wrong our prop would have hit one of the huge boulders. The amount of water flooding in was amazing. We got out alright, but it was a hell of a ride.

The photo below was taken on the small island we were hiking on. Its all three crews of Palarran, Ghost, & WindDancer. From left to right: Zack, CB, Tawn, Curtis, Ellie, Cynthia, Angie, & Scotty.

One of the other reasons all got togather again was to have a little B-day party for Angie on Ghost. We had a great dinner onboard Ghost, some booze (of course). Then moved the party over to WindDancer to played some games. We also fired up the laptops and watched all the movies and pictures we each had taken on the trip so far.

The crew of Ghost had to start heading south the next day so they could meet up with Scotty’s mom and Dad in Naniamo, BC. They are retired and are doing the RV thing down in Mexico during the winter and Canada during the summer.

Speaking of the crew of Ghost. Below are pictures of  the rugrats that live on Ghost. Zack & Ellie:

Friday 25 July 2008

MAP of trip.

We left Roscoe Bay on a rising tide, so we could get out over the bar at the entrance of the bay. Once out of the bay we tried to do a bit of sailing, but there was not a lot of wind. Actually, the wind started out not too bad, but quickly died to nothing.

Our final destination today was Squirrel Cove. But first we planned to stop off in Refuge Cove to pickup some supplies (Fresh veggies, Beer & Ice).

As we rounded Hope Point and entered Refuge Cove, the first thing that entered my mind was that old ’80s Robin Williams movie “Popeye”.Remember how that town looked? All the shacks built up aroun the waterfront. That is exaclty how Refuge Cove looked to me as we motored up to the docks.

We loaded up on fresh veggies and beer at the store. Had lunch at a little cafe up one of the boardwalks. This little outpost has a pretty sweet operation going. They pretty much provide all the boaters with just about everything you need to resupply while up here. Of course the prices reflect that, but not to bad.

So with the fridge and beer cooler topped off and our tummys full, we just had one more mission to accomplish. And this one is usually the hardest. We had a bag of garbage to get rid of. I fully realize that this does not really sound like a big deal, much less warrant the title of mission. But trust me, when cruising it usually turns in to a mission. Mostly due to the fact that anywhere that there may be a dumpster, you have to pay to use it or it’s locked up. This of course is due to the fact that somebody has to pay to have it hauled away.

Fortunatly for us, here in Refuge Cove there is a guy named Dave that will take your recycleables for free and charge you a nominal fee to take the rest of your garbage.

How do I know his name is Dave you ask? See below:

Prior to leaving Seattle we had planned for the difficulties of getting rid of garbage by unpackaging most of our supplies and getting rid of a crap load of cardboard boxes and plastic bags and shit. It was actually amazing how much extra crap there is in a months worth of groceries.

So with that out of the way and after Tawn rowed back to the boat. We headed over to Squirrel Cove. It was only 3 or 4 miles from Refuge Cove to Squirrel Cove. We were over there and anchored by 1pm.

As we pulled into Squirrel Cove we spotted Ghost anchored over near a small island. We motored around and found a little spot of our own to anchor. No need to stern tie here. Just a regular old anchorage.

An added bonus of where we anchored was a small, small floating blue house, that turned out to be a floating bakery….mmmmmmm! There was a closed sign on the door when we dinghied over. But the sign assured us they would be open again at 4pm to take orders for fresh cinniamon rolls and pies, that would be hot fresh and ready for pickup in the morning! So with a couple hours to kill we decided to head over to the Community of Squirrel Cove.

The main reason we went here was that while we were in Refuge Cove, I forgot to get fuel for the dinghy. We also stopped at the little store and got some bacon and licorice….both of which were total impulse buys. But who can say no to bacon? Not I! And as it turns out the prices at this store were alot cheaper than at Refuge Cove, but live and learn.

Now back to that little floating bakery.

The little blue building is the bakery, and the old beat down building to the left is the orginal bakery that has seen better days. We stopped and talked to the little old lady that runs/owns the bakery. She lives on the other side of the island and stays here in the bakery during the summer months. She takes bakery orders from 4pm till 8pm, then gets up ass early and starts baking so everything is ready to go around 8am for pickup. We ordered a couple cinnamon rolls from here. Ghost got a pumpkin pie. It was all very good. Doubly so, just due to the fact that it all comes from this super nice lady in her little floating house.

With our orders placed, we headed over to see what ghost was up to, and made plans to have a bonfire on shore. Scotty promised to make “hobos” on the campfire for dinner. After establishing we weren’t going to be killing and eating homeless people for dinner, we set about gathering firewood for the cookout.

We only spent the one day here in Squirrel Cove. Tommorow we break off from Ghost again and head north to Teakerne Arm.