Van Isle 360 2011

July 6th, 2011
Day 1 of the great adventure

Left home at 0530 to catch the 0900 ferry from Anacortes to Friday Harbor. Traffic that early in the morning was non existent so the trip was an easy one. Chris dropped me off and I walked on to the ferry with just one backpack since I had dropped off most of my gear on the boat last week.. Foggy crossing as usual through Thatcher Pass but the sun broke out on the other side and it was simply a perfect day.

I met Jeff and Fran at the marina and within 10 minutes of arrival we were underway for the fuel dock. Picked up a paltry 22 gallons of diesel to top off the tank. I am jealous, I will fill up with over 250 gallons when I get home in a few weeks. My bill will be significantly different. Fuel was 4.11 a gallon, at least back home it is below 4.00.

We crossed over to Poets cove where we checked in with customs and got a clean bill of health. The Customs dock of old is gone. Rumor has it that a very large boat with a crew, somehow failed to stop and tore out the entire float in the process. The captain decided to go below deck to check the engines or something and the rest of the crew did not know how to take it out of gear or slow it down. Better find out who that was and stay clear of them. The entire dock, pilings and all is simply no longer there. A couple of orange floats mark the spot where pilings are apparently broken off just below the surface.

We continued north to Clam Bay doing a bit of motor sailing along the way. Clam bay is a very nice if not secluded anchorage. We took the dink through the shallow channel between Clam Bay and Telegraph harbor and found the only rock in the entire channel with the prop. Looks like we spun it on the hub so when we get to Campbell river we will need to find a new prop.

Started the evening with fresh shrimp and crab that Fran caught for us in town.


July 7th, 2011

Got up early and headed north to catch slack water at Dodd Narrows. Weather is supposed to be a bit cloudy with chance of rain and strong wind warnings in the straights of Georgia.
We made it through Dodd without any problem then headed out past Nanaimo in 15 to knot winds out of the NW. Big 3 to 4 foot rollers for the first hour then the tide changed and everything died out. The water flattened out as the tide was now going the same direction as the wind. By the end of the day the water was relatively calm with only a light chop to contend with. Unfortunately the wind was right on our nose so sailing was not an option since we had a long way to go to Tribune bay on Hornby Island. We made it at 1530 as predicted and the anchorage was quite nice. Would not want to be here in a southerly wind but it is fine with the normal NE wind pattern for this time of year.

On to Campbell river tomorrow.