Orca's

We had another fun trip up to Desolation Sound in September. Saw a small pod of Orca's around the Copeland Islands

Prideaux Haven is now a new favorite place.

I am trying out a new blog app for my phone - so thus is a test.

Jim is not an Orca!  I can't quite figure out the photo upload in this app -- Jim and I went swimming in Prideaux Haven.

A bit of a Video–taken by a bit of an amateur !!!!

Not a great video but it shows a bit of our adventure!

Up Toba Inlet and back to Prideaux Haven

 

Toba Inlet is a very pretty little inlet just north of West Redonda Island.  We had quite the grey and overcast start to the morning but it got much brighter in the afternoon. 

 

 

Jim got to  have a little break from the steering as I took the wheel for awhile. There is a LOT of water up there and it is very – VERY deep and I was pretty sure I wouldn’t hit anything – and I was right!

We didn’t travel too far up Toba Inlet before we turned around and went back down Homfray Channel – which is on the west side of West Redonda Island.  Our plan was to just go up Toba Inlet as far as we wanted – there isn’t really anywhere to anchor at the end of the Inlet.  We were off to spend another night at Prideaux Haven – we were going to try to anchor in Melanie Cove. 

We saw some pictographs on the rock walls in Homfray Channel.

 

The sun came out and the water was flat calm in Homfray Channel.   Such a beautiful day!

 

 

Approaching Prideaux Haven – a much different day than the first day we went there in the drizzling rain and fog.

 

We did not get to go into Melanie Cove – it was full of sailboats – so we ended up in the same spot as the previous day.

Once we were set up and anchored Jim decided we needed to take the little dingy out for a spin about.

 

I didn’t take the camera with me in the dingy – not sure if it was sea-worthy – and I’m still not sure!  It required frequently bailing!! It even came with a little plastic bailing jug!  But we went around the shoreline and looked at all the oyster beds. 

 

 

Back on the boat – plotting tomorrow’s route.

And the end to another day of our adventure ---as the evening sun is casting long shadows and reflections in the water. 

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.


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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.


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Snowy Owl

I was a Guide leader when Jessica was in Girl Guildes and my name was Snowy Owl!


There has been a large number of Snowy Owls spending the winter in the Ladner B.C area so today we took a drive out there to see them. It was wonderful to see them! We saw about 12-15. We heard that last weekend there were 30-40 out there.



We got a few great pictures.  They were just sitting along the drift wood along the beach.  We think this is a female as she has a bit more grey/brown on her and the males are mostly white.  Isn't she beautiful - and they are quite large birds.  We also saw a couple of other brown owls - I think they were called Short eared owls.




This eagle was sitting on this pole when we got there - and was still on the pole when we were leaving.  I think she was finding all the activity quite entertaining!


There were hundreds of people out there!  It was amazing.  When Jim suggested we go out there - I thought it would be a lovely little walk along the dyke to see the owls - just the two of us!  Oh the people - and their cameras!  Oh my goodness.  Most of the people there had cameras with lenses the size of a small car!!  Good heavens.  Look at all the cars!!



Jim brought the spotting scope - which was nice to have.  The binoculars were good but you could get an even better look through the spotting scope.  Quite a few people stopped as we were looking and we let them look through the spotting scope as well. 




And here is a quick quilt picture.  I have finished it completely now and it is for the neighbours who had a baby girl (Charlie) in November.  Jim keeps telling them -- Pam has something for you!!  I had decided to do a little stitchery of a bird for the label - so typical me - I am slow!  I hope to get the label finished and sewn on this weekend.  I have never really done any embroidery - maybe one item as a young child.  So I decided to jump on the bandwagon - because I need another "something" to shop for!!

Last weekend we were at the boat show in Seattle.  That is a blog post in itself!  But those photos are on another camera. 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

I thought I should post some Christmas pictures –  "what we have been up to lately pictures" ......
I started off this Christmas Season getting my fabulous notions holder and a few extra goodies from Carole – Quilting Adventures. 




Then I spent a day making Biscotti – 25 dozen.





We put up a tree ---- a very nice little tree..............


Decked the halls – sort of………….




Eric and Darla came for Christmas Eve dinner.




Cadence the Grand dogter – has come to spend the Christmas holiday while her mummy and daddy get to spend Christmas in Hawaii.  Can you see the look on Jenny’s face – she is wondering when we are going to send this dog back home!

Christmas dinner --- Saddle of Lamb.
We have been watching  “Upstairs, Downstairs” – and they eat a lot of Saddle of Lamb – so Jim decided we needed to search that out – so…. here we have Christmas dinner of Saddle of Lamb – Gordon Ramsay style.




First you have to trim it off the bone.




Could I have a little bit there Jim?  Huh – just a little??






Then you add a few sage leaves…………






Then the spinach and mushroom stuffing.




Roll it and wrap it and bake it in the oven..





Ready to carve and enjoy for Christmas dinner.




Could we have a little there Jim…. just a taste??





Just the tiniest little taste?  Please…………

So on that note I thought I would add this picture of me - peering over my glasses at Jim - as I take a lot of pictures of Jim - peering over his glasses at me - it's only fair I guess. Merry Christmas.... to all - and Happy New Year!

After a year like this - its best to laugh out loud!!