Bowen Island

Canadian Thanksgiving is approaching.  We plan on going over to Bowen Island for a short cruise to spend a couple of days.

It's always a hassle going downriver past the Sandheads to go out into the Straight of Georgia and up to Bowen, but such is life.  We like the marina and a fresh water berth is not bad.  We just have to ensure we do things at the right time both going and coming back or progress can be really slow for a sailboat on auxiliary power.

Update

We've been quietly at the dock now since late July.  Work and school as well as a death in the family has made the months of August and September fly by quicker than any of us wanted.  We traveled by car to Edmonton for the funeral of the family member and then drove back.  It's a beautiful drive, but the circumstances made it tense and unenjoyable.


The weather has been mixed and we have had a few days of high winds.  It becomes a little "rolly" with our slip on the outside finger of the marina.  We bought a couple of Polyform buoys to act as additional fenders against the dock.  They work quite well.


Work has been extremely busy for me although the office in Vancouver could use considerably more work.  We are organizing internally to go out and shake the trees to see what falls out.

More Cruising

Taking up where we left off.....


We met our friends from Halifax at Port Sidney Marina which is about a 5 minute cab ride from Victoria International Airport.  We stayed in Sidney that evening, but set out for a few destinations that our friends might like to see:  Saltspring Island, North Pender Island and the waters in-between.  Here are a few pictures of the 3 day cruise:

Fishing equipment in hand:  the young lad gets

some pointers from a pro

snacks for the fishermen...

...and audience

OK -  back to the serious stuff...

...local seal retreat on the rocks

Ganges Harbour - Saltspring Island

Coffee shop

Walking around Ganges Harbour

Ganges Harbour

GH views

GH - anchored boats

..ye ole fish market

..more than impartial observer

Small cafe and eatery

...off to North Pender Island

North Pender Island - Port Browning

Tranquil and sheltered Port Browning

ditto

Moored at the marina

With this view on the port side

Back to Sidney By The Sea

No wind...so trolling instead

Dinner dockside

Port Sidney Marina

And a farewell to our friends as they return to the other coast.

Ahhh..Finally Cruising

We so looked forward to getting away.  We left Vancouver on June 26th to sail across the Georgia Straight to meet our friends from Halifax.  We spent the evening of the 26th in Montague Harbour:

A boy and his dog

Under sail across the Georgia Straight

Smooth sailing

Reading en route

Across and in the Gulf Islands

Countdown

I haven't made many posts the last while because of work deadlines and travel.  However, my calendar shows a bunch of red "X"'s counting down to our summer cruise.  We are readying the boat and have to go out this weekend and buy a small outboard for the dink.   Although the rowing is good exercise, taking the dog for his walk rowing a RIB  (which rows poorly) at least twice a day at an anchorage really hurts after a while, so outboard here we come.


So we'll have posts on the trip starting next week!!

Travelling

I haven't had a chance to update things the last while.  Closely spaced deadlines and travel across the country has made it a bit difficult.  However, vacation time approaches and it will be fun posting the sailing.

June Already

Life is busy at work and the marina is quiet.  Lots of boat maintenance going on, but I have yet so se people head off to sail.  We will be in late June and the blog will pick up a few entries then - hopefully with photos.