Adventures of Time To Play

Day 101, 8/8: Headed to Port Neville in the rain. There was about an inch predicted and I think they got every ounce, we had rain all day. There was a narrow that we went through along with passing several fishing camps. Once we got to Johnstone Strait it was lumpy but not to bad given, we didn’t have far to go. Once at Port Neville we went into the second bay and anchored in shallow water. The big hazzard for the day was seaweed bullwhips. We had to run through a thick patch in the narrows that literally slowed the boat. Then in our anchorage there were a lot more that we had to navigate through along with crab pots.

Day 102, 8/9: Our planned path was to go back through Dent rapids the way we came up but with Johnstone Strait having a good forecast we decided to go through Johnstone Strait to Campbell River. Near Campbell River is Seymour Narrows and slack was at 1:00 PM. As soon as we left Port Neville there were a few boats going in the same direction and roughly at the same speed. As the day went on we picked up more boats heading for the narrows. As luck would have it, we got a big push most of the day from the tide so we all were reducing RPM so not to arrive too early at the narrows. We got to Seymour Narrows a little before 1:00 PM and went through with no issues. Even at slack all of the narrows have eddies that will throw the boat around a little. We were able to get a spot at Coast Marina for the night. Did a little shopping across the street and had dinner at the hotel also across the street. Our spot was right next to the ferry terminal, fortunately they stop running about 10:00 PM

Day 103, 8/10: The plan was to go to Comox about 33 miles down the Strait of Georgia but once we were close, we decided to keep going. The strait was calm and getting a place to stay is turning into work with all the other boaters around. Once we decided to continue the wind picked and the water got lumpy, so much for calm water. There are very few places to anchor between Comox and Nanaimo. The best looking bay we would have had to call the military for approval so we kept looking. We decided on Northwest Bay that has an active log boom operation. It turned out to be a good anchorage and we had fun watching the life size Tonka toys playing with logs.

Day 104, 8/11: We are getting good at changing the plan on the fly. We decided not to go into Nanaimo and go to Tod Inlet near Butchart Gardens. Dodd Narrows is just on the other side of Nanaimo about 22 miles from our anchorage so we started out late to catch slack at 2:18 PM. There is a military exercise area called Whisky Gulf that was active today. Listening to the radio was great fun with all the boats blindly entering the restricted zone and being told to exit immediately. When they call a boat and say this is Canadian War Ship 76 it gets your attention. We drove by the Nanaimo harbor on the way to Dodd to kill time but we were still early. Sitting and watching many boats had gone through early. Two power boats passed us announced their intentions to go through and I decided to go with them. It was a little turbulent but a lot of it was the wakes from the boats in front of me. All went well and we got through 1.5 hours ahead of slack. Later we made another pivot not to go to Tod Inlet so we anchored the night in Burgoyne Bay.

Day 105, 8/12: We pulled anchor and headed toward Friday Harbor. Mid way we called Customs using the ROAM app. This time they did a video conference (one way they could see us). She asked about food and the only issue was eggs. She said we could boil them or bring them to customs in Friday Harbor. Carolyn opted to boil the dozen eggs on our way. Surprisingly we called for a spot and got one right away, I expected we would need to anchor since it was Saturday. The next boat that called the harbor was told they were full and had to go on the waiting list. Did a little roaming around in town and did lunch but more to do in the following days.

Day 106, 8/13: Looking at the weather for the coast it looks like it will be next week before we want to transit but we will look every day. The weather causing it to be so hot at home is getting the winds and seas going on the Pacific. We had dinner on another couple’s boat that we met in Alaska. Had a great time sharing the ups and downs of long cruises and what we would do differently next time.

Day 107, 8/14: Watching the weather but still not much change. In the mean time getting chores accomplished and seeing our first hot weather this year with 90ish temps. This is the first time I wish we brought the air conditioner with us that we bought last year.

Day 108, 8/15: I didn’t think it had been so long since I did an update. Still in Friday Harbor, I know we should still be out exploring but I think most of our exploring is done for the year. It is all about getting down the coast and getting home. That said, we did explore more of Friday Harbor today. All shops need to be shopped, I enjoyed Ace Hardware.