Friday, June 22, 2012

Prideaux Haven to Toba Inlet






Even though the weather was drizzly and grey we had a nice evening at Prideaux Haven. Here is a picture of me on the boat in the afternoon of Tuesday June 12th. I think I wore this sweater most of the time on the boat!




The next morning was much bright and we hauled up the anchor and headed north - up the Waddington Channel which is between West Redonda Island and East Redonda island. We ( Jim ) did most of the steering of the boat from the flybridge. There was a much better all around view from up there and most of the time the weather was nice enough to be up top and the binimi kept us fairly dry when it was raining.
We took a little side trip up Pendrell Sound.




This is the screen shot of the chart and the route we took on Wednesday.
After motoring up Pendrell sound we went Back to Waddington Channel and continued north towards the Wildernest Resort where we had planned to spend the night.
Walsh Cove - a little anchorage in Waddington Channel




A boat stern tied and anchored in Walsh Cove.




That was a very pretty little spot to anchor. It looked like they had been there for a while. There were some pictographs on the rocks in Walsh Cove so we went in for a closer look.
Coming out the gap between West and East Redonda islands.




Wildernest Resort is a small little spot that sits on the mainland just where Pryce Channel - Homfray Channel and Toba Inlet meet.




We were able to dock the boat - successfully!! And get off and go for a little walk. It was a lovely little spot with a beautiful waterfall that the owner had used to build his own little hydro plant.




It was almost hot and the sweater came off. The owner - Kyle and Jim and I were the only people there.




Walking up to the waterfall








Such a beautiful spot to spend the night.




And we had a visitor as we were cooking prawns for dinner on the boat.



We think it is a River Otter.


Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Desolation Sound

It has been a very busy and eventful spring. I am still having a problem with my ankle - but that is a long story.

Jim and I have been taking some boating courses. We took the Canadian Power Squadron course in the fall and then in May we went to Boating University at Trawlerfest in Anacortes in Washington. I took a two day "Women and Boating" course from Captain Carol Cuddyer. Great course!! Carol was very encouraging and knowledgeable.

So ---- on June 10th we dipped our toes in the ocean ( so to speak ) and we rented a boat out of Comox B.C. and headed off to Desolation Sound.







The boat was a 40 foot boat called a Grand Mariner. We spent a few hours on Sunday getting orientated to the boat. I was lucky enough to snag the anchor on a cable on my very first time dropping the anchor. Luckily we were still in the harbour and help was close by. That was a bit of a concern but after that I figured it would only go up from there.



The first day - Monday - we motored off across the Straight of Georgia. It was a little scary at first but we were able to put all of our new found knowledge to use and realized we really could do this. Even though I had never EVER done anything like this in my life! Jim has spent a lot of time on fishing boat - although not in the captain's chair.

After we made it safely across the Comox Bar and the Straight of Georgia we spent our first night in Squirrel Cove on Cortes Island.





We anchored in the very calm and pretty little cove. The day was overcast and grey but not raining. We were able to drop the anchor and pull the anchor for the rest of the trip without incident. It is amazing to me that the anchor can hold the boat in a very confined area without having the boat float away. I would frequent check that we didn't move. Even during the night I would wake up and try to check our position. The first night after we got back home I would wake up and look out the sliding glass door and see the flashing light that marks a rock on Bowen Island and think " okay - good - the boat hasn't moved".

The following day - Tuesday - was a drizzly, wet and grey day. We decided to not do a long day of site seeing and motoring as the clouds were so low the visibility was very poor. We headed out late morning and went directly from Squirrel Cove to Prideaux Haven. A very popular and pretty anchorage.





This is a picture from the boat anchored in Prideaux Haven - looking out towards Melanie Cove. We were hoping to anchor in Melanie Cove but there were about 8 boats - mostly sailboats - already anchored there. We did about four loops around Prideaux Haven before we settled on a spot. I'm sure we provide a little afternoon entertainment for the rest of the inhabitants!

We had a very nice evening on the boat. We were beginning to get more comfortable. We used the little deck BBQ in the rain to cook up some Lamb sausage ( won't take lamb sausage again - very hard on the BBQ and Jim had to work hard to get all the lamb grease off it.).

I am going to end here and pick up on day three from the computer where I have most of the pictures. I needed a few pictures that I took with the IPhone.

Pam.


Posted using BlogPress from my iPad