July 25 – Westscott Bay to Anacortes, 29 miles

As we were having breakfast this morning, we noticed a tall ship come into the bay and anchor, up at the entrance. It was the Hawaiian Warrior. We saw both it and the Lady Washington last year while we were traveling with Trav and Barb, as we entered Maple Bay in the Gulf Islands. And, sure enough, not too much later we saw another tall ship come in and anchor and it was the Lady Washington. We took a few telephoto shots, and planned on taking some close-ups as we left the harbor. We had some extra entertainment when they fired their cannon – it was towards us, but no cannonball came flying overhead.

Yesterday morning, for some reason, the starboard engine was a little cranky about starting up. It eventually did start, but because we had to crank on it quite a bit, it belched a lot of smoke on some neighboring boats at Roche Harbor. So, I thought it would be a good idea to start a little early, just in case some tinkering would be required. It wasn’t – it started right up. We raised the anchor and slowly cruised out, doing a full 360 circle around the Lady Washington as she lay at anchor, snapping photos all the way around.

I had plotted a course on the computer to take us to Anacortes. We hadn’t stopped there in many years so thought we’d see what was new. Our computer software includes ETA and Best-Departure-Time features. All the current stations along the way are automatically linked to the route’s waypoints, and given a date and time range and expected cruising speed, the best and worst departure times are calculated. Today some more than average tides were occurring, which begets a little higher than average current speeds through the various passageways throughout the islands. Of course, for today’s trip the best departure times would have been about 4:30 in the morning or 3:30 in the afternoon. We left about 45 minutes before the absolute worst departure time, so had reduced headway much of the time due to oncoming currents as the tide ebbed and the water flowed out of the islands and into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Our trip through the islands and across Rosario Strait was uneventful, and although some legs seemed to take quite a bit of time as our forward speed was reduced from 8.5 knots down to under 5 knots at times, in total only about 45 minutes extra time was added to our journey.

We arrived at Cap Sante Marina in Anacortes around 1 o’clock, and the drill here is to tie up to C dock to get a slip assignment. A small sign on the breakwater gave the hailing channel for the harbormaster, and I called as we were approaching the dock. Just as Erin and Ray were tossing our lines to someone standing on the dock, I received an assignment to a slip on D dock, and away we went, with our lines being hastily retrieved. If only they could assign slips in Sidney that quickly.

The last time we were here with the boat the docks were wood, old and rickety, with some individual floating boat houses along the way, so we were agog at how much the harbor has changed. The docks looked brand new, and we found out at the office later that they were upgraded just last year. The boat houses are gone and the shore side facilities are all new.

The weather was sunny with temperature in the low 80’s, and we quickly closed the sun side curtains and set up our fan for maximum cooling effect inside the salon. We watched from our shady location as other boaters came in and quickly went about their business of hosing off any salt residue from their hull and railings. A little later Erin and I took a walk over to the Safeway store a few blocks away, and although we have only two days left on our trip and much more food than that on board, we managed to come back with a selection of goodies.

Later in the evening we were treated to quite a light show, as a thunderstorm approached from the southeast. For the first hour or so it was just bright flashes and loud thunderclaps, but eventually the rain hit. Ray and I were up on the bridge watching, so quickly put in the side curtains, then congratulated ourselves on our previous laziness as the rain washed away any salt residue. Erin hastily deployed our drip bowls, as we have an assortment of interior leaks. Some reliably occur in the same place and others pick new locations to manifest themselves. We’re hoping that planned maintenance with sealers and new topside paint will stem most of it. We’ve been fortunate to have mostly dry weather on the trip, but on the other hand, that also makes any open seam that much more open and more prone to leaks. We have work to do when we get back.

We’ve got a good wifi connection here at the dock, and we were pleased to see an update on Craig and Kristine’s travel blog that they were successful with their run to Bellingham for repairs to their alternator. Actually, the alternator was shot; they got a rebuilt one and returned to the San Juan Islands Friday afternoon.

We had hamburgers and salad for dinner tonight, along with some steak fries we picked up at Safeway, but probably should have left there.

July 24 – Westscott Bay, 3 miles

Ray found the package of cinnamon rolls that Erin requested he make the other day, so that was incorporated into breakfast today. We all slept in a bit, if 7 o’clock is sleeping in.

After breakfast, Erin and I walked ashore to the sculpture garden for a walkaround. We saw several pieces we liked – especially the mobiles and of course the turtle art. All the pieces here are for sale and range in price from a couple thousand dollars up to $25k and more. I don’t think they’re moving them very fast.

Checkout time was at noon, and we were in no hurry to leave earlier, as we’d decided to go anchor at Westscott Bay, a 3 mile cruise just around the corner. By the way, all the references to miles in this blog are nautical miles, not the statute miles we’re all familiar with on land. Nautical miles are 6,076 feet.

We pulled away from the dock just before noon, idling out of the harbor towards Mosquito Pass. This pass runs between San Juan Island and Henry Island, and leads out to Haro Strait. About two thirds of the way through southbound, one can turn to port, or to the east and enter either Westscott Bay or Garrison Bay. Mosquito Pass is pretty straightforward if you pay close attention to your chart, but many who have attempted to cut a corner short have run aground here. That would especially be the case today, as we passed through on a minus 2 foot tide. We saw no one stranded today. Other than a run into the bay about 16 or 17 years ago in a rented skiff, we first came here last year to rendezvous with Trav and Barb on the Bar-T-Na. This year there were nearly as many crab pots scattered about as last year, but nowhere near the anchored boats. Many of the pots are being checked, I think, by people zooming in here from Roche Harbor.

After such an arduous journey, of course we kicked back for a little relaxation. But, soon I lowered the dinghy, and Ray and I went for a spin around the bay. We checked out the aquaculture pier, which appears to be an oyster farm of some sort. They have a bunch of black buoys running in several lines around the pier. On the dock are a few that have been pulled up, and we can see thin mesh cages, about the consistency of shrimp pots. They were round, about a foot and a half in diameter, but cylindrical – several feet long as they hang down under the buoys. The ones up on the dock appeared to contain oyster shells, and there were also some plastic milk crates with oyster shells.

We continued on to the head of the bay, where we saw a small sign on an upright stick, about 50 yards from shore. Of course, we had to approach it to read it, as the font was very small. It was a warning that we were now entering an eel grass preserve, and to keep out.

Erin and I went for a ride a little later in the afternoon, with Erin doing all the motoring, including landing at our swim step upon our return. We cruised along the shoreline, and tried to find the viewpoint in the sculpture garden where we could look out at the tide flats of this bay. We could only guess where our viewpoint was this morning.

Our dinner consisted of pork chops, corn and the remaining new potatoes we had picked up at Ganges some time ago. They tasted extra good, maybe because we weren’t supposed to bring them across the border.

I was able to find an unsecured wifi signal after dinner, and was hoping to see an update to Craig’s blog to see if they had a successful day in regards to getting their alternator problem resolved. No update, but we’re hoping for a good outcome. The wifi was a one bar weak signal and is gone now, but may come back when we swing around. If so I’ll post this this evening – otherwise it’ll wait.

Tribble is finally coming around to taking on the roll of a boat cat. The past two or three days she has spent very little time under the couch, and has joined us up on the bridge while we’re underway. Today she ventured out onto the deck when no one was watching, exiting via the back side curtain and walking the length of the walkway. Erin spotted her as she passed in front of the salon side door. She was in her typical cautious nervous cat slink, but continued on out to the foredeck, checking out the closed hatch there. She stopped to look over the edge several times, but must have intuitively known it wasn’t a good idea to jump down. We brought along our salmon net for just such an occurrence – fortunately it wasn’t needed. She returned back to the rear side curtain, bypassing an entrance into the salon, to come back in the way she left.

After a chill wind off the strait early in the afternoon, the weather has settled down and we are enjoying a sunny, calm evening swinging on the anchor at Westscott Bay.

July 23 – Sidney to Roche Harbor, 10.5 miles

We also picked up a couple of cinnamon rolls at the Sidney Bakery yesterday, and that became our breakfast, along with eggs over easy, courtesy again of Ray’s galley handiwork. Afterwards, all four of us went for a walk into town. Erin and Mary headed for the bakery to procure some fresh butterhorns. Ray and I went to that marine store that Craig told us about yesterday, just to browse through the stuff. We got there about 8:30 and they were not yet open. There were no hours of business posted, so we decided to take a walk down the street towards the water, where there was a fishing pier at the street’s end. From the pier we could see not only our harbor, but also the ferry landing for the Anacortes ferry that comes here once or twice a day. We were blessed with another sunny day and we could see all the way across the straits to Washington, even though a thin fog was developing.

We returned to the store at 9 o’clock and found them just opening up, hauling odds and ends out on the sidewalk for display, including some large ball fenders and a full sized wooden pirate. Inside were rows and bins of all sorts of paraphernalia, similar to the Second Wave store in Seattle, only with aisles closer together. Outside was a yard with fuel tanks, a canoe, exhaust manifolds, teak ladders – you name it, they probably had it somewhere. But, it turns out we didn’t need any of it, so we came back empty handed.

Erin and Mary almost came back empty handed as well. The bear claws were not quite ready at the bakery and the clerk suggested they come back in a half hour. They shopped in some nearby stores and returned a half hour later, only to discover someone had come in and bought their entire stock of fresh bear claws. They did manage to come back with a box full of butter horns, though.

We had planned on leaving at about 11, but hearing that fog had formed in the strait around that time yesterday we backed away from the dock a bit early, around 10:30. As we were headed down the fairway towards the exit, we saw Craig and Kristine aboard the Elsa, also heading out. “Adios Potentate”, they radioed, as they were headed south towards Cadboro Bay.

We set our course for the tip of Sidney Spit, and then a direct shot across Haro Strait to San Juan Island and Roche Harbor, where we could clear U.S. Customs. Because we left a little earlier, the tide was ebbing quite a bit faster. It was to our advantage for the first half of the crossing, boosting our speed over the bottom up to 11 knots in some places. It also created quite a bit of turbulence, but it didn’t approach the level of a pounding and we only took a few sprays up over the bow. Midway across we entered the ebb flow coming out of Spieden Channel on the U.S side and our speed over the bottom dropped dramatically, to as low as 4.6 knots. The water was much smoother, though – a fair trade for the reduced headway.

We passed Battleship Island and entered Roche Harbor just before noon and headed towards the marina and Customs. We expected the usual 20 or 30 minute wait for a spot on the Customs dock and were pleasantly surprised to see an opening large enough to accommodate us and then some. We cruised right on in and tied up. I gathered up our papers – passports, registration document, customs decal number, Canadian clearance number and Tribble’s medical records and went into the office to declare our arrival. That all went smoothly, and today the agent came out to the boat – not to board it but to compare everyone’s face to the photos on our passports. We were done in less than 10 minutes.

The agent asked us to shove off as quickly as possible, as other boats were now waiting. We had decided to stay here for the evening, so I contacted the marina on the radio and we were assigned a slip. About an hour later, Mary, Erin and I walked ashore to investigate while Ray stayed on board. As we were walking past the store, who should we see approaching but our friend Craig, who had been heading south from Sidney when we both departed the marina. They had encountered an electrical problem with their alternator or voltage regulator as their battery voltage was dropping rather than increasing as they cruised. They decided to divert here in hopes of finding a quick repair somewhere in the San Juan Islands. They had just cleared customs, and Craig had found a marine store a couple hundred yards beyond the old lime kiln area here at Roche Harbor. He had inquired there about repair facilities, and found that nowhere in the islands is there a place that repairs alternators. They typically ship them out to Seattle or Bellingham. With the shipping turnaround time he’d be looking at several days of waiting.

After hearing the story, I said “we have a spare alternator on board the Potentate, from when we upgraded to a higher capacity alternator a few years ago. Maybe you can use that.” Craig and I returned to the Potentate while Erin and Mary continued on their walk. We found the alternator in our sea chest after a bit of rummaging around, and carted it off to the Elsa, which was tied to the visitor area adjacent to the Customs dock. It looked like it would fit, but it had been a few years since I removed it, and I wasn’t certain which terminal was which. We decided to walk back to the marine store for advice. We got the straight story there on battery lead, ground and switchable field connections, and headed back. We even hitched a ride on a harbor service golf cart for part of the way, a good break. Craig began removing his alternator, and I went to the Potentate to retrieve a coil of wire that we could run from an ignition switchable terminal to the voltage regulator (his was configured differently). We thought we were in fat city with all the bases covered. Then Craig noticed that the mount for our alternator was the opposite configuration from his. His alternator has a couple of ears on it that go on either side of a mount on his engine. Mine had a solid mount on the alternator made to go onto ears that come out from the engine. We thought there might be a way to make it work, but without a supply of different size and different length bolts and a few other things, it just wasn’t going to work. We were bummed, especially because it took away a few hours of travel time in hopes of getting it fixed. Craig resorted to his original plan, which was to cruise either to Anacortes or Bellingham this evening in hopes of getting a quick fix tomorrow. He can last a couple days without the alternator, but will have to go to a dock with shore power for recharging at least every other day. We’re hoping to hear a successful update to this story soon.



Dinner this evening consisted of cheese dogs that Erin and Mary picked up at the store here, along with some baked beans and chips. Afterwards Erin and I walked a few docks, admiring the boats. The Thea Foss, a classic from the 1930’s and originally John Barrymore’s boat, was here and in pristine condition. We admired and photographed it, walked a few more docks and returned to the Potentate for the evening.

July 22 – Cowichan Bay to Sidney, 13 miles

As usual, Ray was in the kitchen looking for breakfast fixin’s, and came up with pancakes and eggs. We could get used to having an onboard chef.

After tidying up a bit and topping off the water tank, we pulled out at about 11 o’clock, destination Sidney. The wind was blowing in the 15 to 20 knot range and we had whitecaps, but it was a relatively smooth ride all the way as we crossed Satellite Channel and entered Colburne Passage. This leads to Swartz Bay, a major B.C. ferry terminal. We saw one of the jumbo ferries leaving the bay while we were still a few miles out, and could see another approaching in the distance. A third, smaller ferry coming from Saltspring Island followed us into Colburne Passage, but turned off to the terminal before catching up with us. We chose John Passage, between Coal and Goudge Islands, to round the point and take us towards Sidney. This is a small narrow passage with marked rocks at each end. The passage between them is clear but requires a zig in the middle. We entered just in time to avoid the wake of the third oncoming jumbo ferry, the Empress of British Columbia.

The main harbor at Sidney is at the foot of Beacon Street, the main drag, and has been upgraded in recent years to accommodate hundreds of boats. It is surrounded by a huge rock breakwater. Last year, when we came here with Trav and Barb, we learned that they are quite disorganized in the manner they track and assign slips to visiting boaters. We radioed ahead before approaching the breakwater to get a slip assignment for one or possibly two nights, and found that the process was equally disorganized this year. We circled outside for 10 or 15 minutes standing by the radio for a slip. Finally, we were assigned slip F18, but then informed that the vessel there that was supposed to leave was still there due to the low tide, so we’d have to wait an hour. “Okay, where can I wait?” I radioed back, still circling. After a few minutes of unintelligible chatter at low frequency on the dock radios, we were informed we could proceed to slip F17. We entered through the breakwater, jockeyed past a boat aiming for the customs dock and headed down the F dock fairway. I was close enough now to hear the dock attendants radios, and heard that there was another boat in F17. We were rerouted to F13 and told we could stay there for two days if we liked. As I registered at the office later, I learned that the owner of our slip would be returning tomorrow, so we’d have to move if we wanted to stay a second day. That’s not a big deal, except checkout is at 11 and check in time for new slips isn’t until 1 o’clock. I’m sure they’d work around that, but we’ll probably be on our way tomorrow anyway.

The facilities here are top notch, with new, wide docks and lots of room – other than at the entrance, that is. Every piling, and there are a lot of them, is decorated with two hanging baskets, overflowing with flowers. When we arrived, the baskets were far overhead, but now, at high tide, they’re just 3 or 4 feet above the dock. Each basket is watered automatically from a coiled hose that has enough slack in it for the tidal changes. The only design flaw I can see is that the basket drips right onto the electrical stanchion where we connect to shore power. At the head of the dock is a large two-story floating building. The lower area is a lounge with laundry facilities and the upper floor houses the marina office and souvenir store. The grounds along the shoreline are impeccable, with wide paver stone walkways, manicured lawns and nautical looking fencing with chains and ropes.

A little later in the afternoon the four of us went for a walk into town. Erin had a craving for some fresh bear claws and butter horns from the Sidney Bakery, a longtime institution here. When we arrived there we found the cupboard relatively bare, but did get some sausage rolls, donuts and cookies. We walked back towards the water to an incredible view of Sidney Spit. Beyond the spit, across Haro Strait we could see Spieden and San Juan Islands, our next destination – back in the USA.

As we were leaving on our walk we came upon Kristine from the Elsa at the lounge area at the head of the dock. They had arrived here an hour or so ahead of us and she had a load of laundry going already. Their plans on to head down to Cadboro Bay tomorrow for a stay there before returning back to home waters. They plan on meeting their daughter and her boyfriend next Monday up at Samish Island.

The rest of the afternoon was taken up with some reading, napping, art work by Erin and a couple rounds of Canasta between Mary and Erin. We planned on dining on leftovers today to clear out some space in the refrigerator, so no major preparations were necessary there. Erin and I walked some of the docks, including D dock, where the Elsa was berthed. Craig was busy barbecuing some chicken for dinner so we only chatted for a few minutes.

Tomorrow morning we’ll make another trip to the bakery for some fresh goodies, and I’ll take a look at the used boat store Craig told me he found earlier today. He said it had quite a few old Chris Craft parts and other funky stuff – just what we may need to see. After that we’ll probably head out across Haro Strait, back to the good old USA. We plan on visiting another Craig and Kristine recommendation, the sculpture garden at Roche Harbor.

July 21 – Cowichan Bay

It’s another beautiful day in the neighborhood. The skies are clear and the weather is sunny. A breeze developed later in the morning, which helped keep us cool throughout the day. Ray fulfilled his morning duties of preparing breakfast, baking some orange flavored rolls accompanied by eggs over easy. I topped up the water tank, which was almost empty from several showers and laundry loads, and Erin ran another load. Other than that, we mostly spent the morning watching harbor activity and catching up on some reading.

Ray and Mary decided to walk through the town rather than take the dinghy down to the Maritime Museum and around 12:30 we set off into town. We browsed through a couple shops before arriving at our first destination, the Rock Cod Café, home of purportedly the best fish and chips you can find in this hemisphere. We all ordered the two piece cod fish and chips plate. The only quantity choices on the fish were one piece or two pieces and we figured we could take home some leftovers. We sure did. Each piece was literally a slab, an entire filet and a big one at that. The pieces were quite a bit longer than the plate and were folded, giving the appearance of four huge pieces on each of our plates. We did our best but still brought back more than we ate there. I’m not sure about the entire hemisphere, but Trav and Barb can take note that it beats the Dinghy Dock Pub in Nanaimo hands down.

Adjacent to the café was the Maritime Museum. It consists of a shop and a 350’ pier with three buildings or “pods” along its length. Each pod housed exhibits of various elements of maritime history. In the first pod we saw some old dugout canoes, and they were remarkably similar to those we saw being paddled around our anchorage at Dunsmuir Island across from Ladysmith the other day. I don’t think I mentioned it in that day’s log but those canoes were being manned by natives, one with two persons and two with one each. They were paddling in earnest, no doubt preparing for some sort of regatta or meet. The canoes were long and narrow and hewn from a single piece of wood.

The next pod housed several examples of antique outboard motors as well as exhibits of lap strake boats and their construction techniques. It was slightly disturbing to find as a museum exhibit a 2 hp Elgin outboard very similar to what we had as kids. To share the museum similarity wealth, in the shop there was also a Sea Horse 22 hp outboard of 1930’s vintage, a twin to Jim’s 22 hp Johnson outboard. Also on display was an Indian outboard, made by the same folks who made Indian motorcycles. Only 2000 of these were made in 1930 before the depression hit, so they’re relatively rare now.

The last pod at the end of the pier housed several meticulously made model boats from several eras, including the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria. The accompanying blurb pointed out that the real Santa Maria was built in 1462, so was already 30 years old when relegated to Columbus for his quest to find a new route to the east. Also on display was a 1/64th scale model of the HMS Victory, an 18th century ship of the line in the Royal Navy. The actual HMS Victory is the oldest naval vessel still commissioned, currently in dry dock in Portsmouth, England serving as a museum. Several models of tugboats and other workboats from the late 19th and early to mid 20th century were also on display. Most of the models were built by local retired ear, nose and throat surgeon Ewald Dwersteg, who says: “I worked with fine instruments in surgery and this hobby requires a similar coordination and spatial orientation with your hands”. Although the doctor had an extensive knowledge of shipbuilding and naval history, he was a landlubber who would sum up his opinion of sailing thusly: “He who goes to sea, goes to Hell for a pastime”. Seventeen of the models on display are his handiwork.

A boatbuilding class was in progress in the shop on shore. They were building a 10 foot dinghy of mahogany, oak and cedar. One of the museum staff told me that if a class member paid for the materials he could then take it home, otherwise they would raffle it off. A previously built model was on the floor to be raffled, with tickets $5 each. It takes from $1500 to $2000 just for the materials they use. Outside on the street side were some other exhibits, including a couple of vintage diesel engines from old tug boats.

By the time we got back to the boat we were all ready for some ice cold drinks and relaxation. It was somewhat cooler inside, thanks to the sun shield of dish towels devised by Erin. Our future plans include a more formal window dressing for these front windows, but for now we’re cool inside, whether we look cool or not.

July 20 – Ladysmith to Cowichan Bay, 21 miles

Before retiring for the night, we announced we would be leaving around 8 o’clock in the morning for the best currents heading south and through Sansum Narrows. Ray and Mary must have taken that to heart, because they were both up way before sunrise. They blamed it on the apple-rhubarb pie. In any case, when we got up around 6, Erin’s tea was ready and we had breakfast before leaving, rather than while underway.

It was already warm when we left, and the side windows were coming out before we got too far away from the anchorage. Our cruise south was uneventful, which is a good thing. We arrived at the narrows around a half hour after slack and encountered only the slightest of turbulence. Cowichan Bay is just around the corner from the southern exit of the narrows, across the bay from Genoa Bay. While we have never cruised into Genoa Bay, we drove there last year with Trav and Barb when we rented the car out of Maple Bay, the harbor on the north side of the narrows.

We’re on the government dock at one end of town, and are delighted with both our moorage and the town itself. The main street runs along the waterfront for about a quarter mile, with a mixture of shops, floating homes, restaurants and shipyards along the way. Craig and Kristine told us we could get the best ever fish and chips here, and a couple from Victoria who moored their boat ahead of ours about an hour after we arrived offered the same advice, unsolicited. We plan on having some fish and chips tomorrow. We also plan on staying for at least a second night so we’ll have some time to look around.

When we arrived, the tide was low and the ramp was quite steep. Erin and I went into town to look around while Ray and Mary stayed on the boat. The maritime museum, which we all want to see, is situated at the other end of town and would be quite a hike for Ray and Mary round trip, so our plan is to take the dinghy to the other end of town for an excursion tomorrow.

We took several photos of the waterfront here during our initial walk, and I’ll post a few here. There are two or three unsecured network connections here, so hopefully we won’t have any problems posting some updates to the blog.

July 19 – Telegraph Harbour to Ladysmith, 6.9 miles

Last night I wrote in the log while up on the bridge, but because we still had the helm seat turned backwards I sat on the back seat with the computer on the small teak table. When I attempted to connect to the Thetis Island Marina wifi for Internet access, it was not to be found. I finally held the laptop up over my head and was able to get the signal. Needless to say, I just briefly checked email and uploaded this text. Photos will have to come some other time. I attempted to connect again this morning before we left, but the “try it free for a few minutes” button did not appear this time. I either wore out our welcome, or more likely needed to wait 24 hours for the next freebie.

Telegraph Harbour Marina hosts a Sunday Market from 10:00 until 12:00 and we had planned to check that out before getting underway. It had skipped my mind until Craig and Kristine stopped by on their way. We enjoyed both their visit and the reminder. Erin, Mary and I went ashore to peruse the market while Ray remained aboard with a good book. There was a small variety of jewelry, produce, Indian art and baked goods to choose from. Erin picked up a nice bracelet and earrings, while I found a nice homemade apple-strawberry-rhubarb pie for us. The lady told me it would last three days without refrigeration – I told her it wouldn’t last that long. At another station, an elderly lady was offering free plums. She had a basket full and some plastic bags and said she wanted the basket to be empty by the time she went home. I thought the least I could do was help out so I bagged a couple dozen or so to take with us.

Before heading back to the boat we walked back to the observation area for the small boat channel to show Mary what it looked like at low tide. The bottom was exposed and covered with the same starfish (yes, I’m sure they were the same ones) as the day before. I went down and took a few pictures from the channel bottom.

While visiting with Craig and Kristine they suggested Cowichan as a nice place to visit. It has a main street that runs along the waterfront and a maritime museum. It’s not such a hot anchorage, but there are several marinas and a government dock, so we’re pretty sure we can find moorage there. We have never been there in all our cruising around this area, so it’ll be a new adventure for us.

We left the dock just before noon, on a rising tide. Craig asked me to sound our horn as we passed by on the way out of the harbor and I was more than happy to oblige – Erin was tolerant.

We decided to head over to Ladysmith today, then to Cowichan in the morning for a better chance at a dock space. Although we’re within the boundaries of Ladysmith Harbour, the actual town of Ladysmith is across the bay from our anchorage here behind Dunsmuir Island. Ladysmith’s waterfront is mostly commercial, and the small government dock there is usually full of local boats. The town itself is a stiff hike up a steep hill, and all the cruising guides recommend taking a taxi. Our anchorage is quite peaceful, other than the occasional rap music that spews forth from one of the houses on shore. We plan on barbecuing some chicken for dinner and will get an early start tomorrow, heading out around 8 o’clock to take advantage of favorable currents going through Sansum Narrows.