Follow along with us on our 2023 trip
2023 / #12 Gulf Islands to Shilshole
Monday, August 7. The day started calmly enough. Gabriola Passage was just around the corner from our anchorage and slack was a bit after 9:00 so everything was set for a leisurely start. Once we were through the passage we headed south. There were lots of boats,...
2023 / #11 Desolation Sound to the Strait of Georgia
Monday, July 31. We were glad to leave Bickley Bay. The smoke from the wildfire across the channel was spreading and we had to drive through it to escape – our destination, Small Inlet. In addition to being a Provincial Marine Park, Small Inlet is not heavily used...
2023 / #10 Cape Caution to The Discovery Islands
Monday, July 24. Overnight in Fly Basin there were periods of heavy rain with occasional breaks. We didn’t have far to go so we took our time over breakfast and weighed anchor during one of those breaks; I was very grateful since I’m the outside person when it...
2023 / #9 Squally Channel to Smith Sound
Monday, July 17. The day almost started with a bang. After Karen took us out of Farrant Island Lagoon with no problems, we entered the northern part of Squally Channel and saw a humpback whale breach with its whole body out of the water. Since it was almost...
2023 / #8 Turning Around
Monday, July 10. The wind and waves in Principe Channel continued all day. From our sheltered position in Colby Bay they looked the same as the day before, that is, unpleasantly boisterous, so we decided to stay where we were for another day. A free day means boat...
2023 / #7 Weinberg Inlet to Principe Channel
Monday, July 3. Weinberg Inlet is only six miles north of McMicking, still Campania Island, but is completely different in character. Where McMicking had been a single long straight inlet, Weinberg has two entrance passages into a labyrinth of channels formed by...
2023 / #6 Racey Inlet to McMicking
Wednesday, June 28. We didn’t particularly care for the weather forecast, especially the part that said rain, but we decided to travel anyway and started off in almost calm, and dry, conditions with a slight swell from the west. On the way we had to cross Laredo...
2023 / #5 Pruth Bay to Aristazabal Island
Tuesday, June 20. We left Fury Cove on Tuesday to find a 2 foot chop in Fitz Hugh Sound so we headed north to put most of the waves on our stern. Our destination was Pruth Bay. Pruth is one of Karen’s favorite places. After anchoring, you can park your dinghy at...
2023 / #4 Around Cape Caution to Fury Cove
Wednesday, June 14. We’ve spent two nights in Blunden Harbour, mostly being blown around. The wind has been severe, even in the Harbour. Karen thinks we’ve been hanging on by a thread. And we haven’t been alone; on Monday some nice folks came in out of the waves...
2023 / #3 Broughtons to Blunden Harbour
Tuesday, June 6. It has been windy, especially in the afternoons, so we have kept our journeys short and among the islands. We’ve encountered current and wind but no waves. Our first stop, Waddington Bay is one of the most popular anchorages in the Broughtons and...
2023 / #2 Strait of Georgia to the Broughtons
Monday, May 29. Just before dawn there was a red stripe along the horizon in the eastern sky with gray clouds everywhere else. And Mark Bay was perfectly calm. By 8:00 it was getting breezy and time to check the forecast. It called for winds northwest 10-15 knots...
2023 / #1 Seattle to Nanaimo
Wed, May 24, 2023. Hooray, we are away from the dock. It has been a difficult winter and spring getting to this point, with much frustration over boat projects that just didn’t want to go right. But finally, everything works and we are off. We had a nice current...
Welcome to Our New Website!
May 2023 We travel to many remote places but, at last, we expect to have reliable internet on our travels, thanks to the new Starlink setup we just installed. It now makes sense to send out our posts through a website instead of directly through email, which was...
Read posts from our previous trip in 2022
2022 / #13 Back to Shilshole
Monday, September 26 Last night we had a spectacular sunset with wide open views to the west and northwest followed by wonderful phosphorescence in the water, the best of the trip. Sidney Spit definitely had its high points. The boat traffic, and consequently the...
2022 / #12 Gulf Islands
Thursday, September 22 I just happened to be up and saw the sunrise with waning crescent moon. Shortly after breakfast the wind started picking up and blew right into our little bay. It’s a good thing we were planning on leaving. We checked out another bay right...
2022 / #11 Strait of Georgia
Sunday, September 18 Last night at bedtime we went on deck to look at the stars and saw a straight line of lights, a dozen or more, rise in the vicinity of Arcturus and slowly follow each other across the northern sky, each of them vanishing in turn in the area of...
2022 / #10 Desolation Sound
Wednesday, September 14 Since the full moon’s conjunction with Jupiter the evening skies have been cloud-free and I’ve watched the waning moon rise later and smaller each night as if slowly being consumed by its endless and futile pursuit of the king of the...
2022 / #9 Discovery Islands
Saturday, September 10 Fog rolled into the bay just after dinner yesterday and by sunset the sky was completely obscured - no sun, no moon, no stars. But it was calm so we had a delightful night. By 7 am the visibility in the bay was down to 100 yards so we went...
2022 / #8 Port McNeill to Broughtons
Tuesday, September 6 We were tempted to stay another day but there really isn’t much to do in Port McNell. The main diversion is to take the ferry to either Sointula or Alert Bay and be a tourist. But we decided against it so after fixing, I hope, a minor...
2022 / #7 Exiting Nakwakto
Friday, September 2 During the night the wind started to blow over the gap to the South and the fog formed but left the water level clear. Morning certainly wasn’t as picture perfect as the night before had been. But we were in no hurry and had a delightful...
2022 / #6 Entering Nakwakto Rapids
Monday, August 29 Yesterday it rained all afternoon, evening and night in Allison Harbour so we never left the boat. Late in the day two other boats came in and anchored. They didn’t follow us in the morning so they must be going somewhere else. One of them, a...
2022 / #5 Queen Charlotte Strait
Thursday, August 25 Being plugged into shore power at the dock provides for a number of indulgences that we don’t allow ourselves when we are limited to the ship’s batteries or don’t want the noise of the generator. Last night was movie night - fresh baked...
2022 / #4 Broughton Islands
Sunday, August 21 Today we decided to stay put and enjoy the Warren Islands. There isn’t much to kayak to and the wind picks up around 3:00 but it’s the site of a fairly recent logging operation which has finished and closed up. This leaves the roads so we...
2022 / #3 Johnstone Strait
Wednesday, August 17 Another calm night with a bright moon led to a calm, sunny, warm morning. Clearly it was going to be a hot day. We wanted to go through Surge Narrows to Octopus Islands but needed a period of slack water. We were too far away to make the...
2022 / #2 Gulf Islands
Saturday, August 13 Saturday in August in the Gulf Islands means - lots of boats. We left Sidney and headed North, deciding to anchor in James Bay on Prevost Island. James is open to the North and has a ferry that crosses its entrance but in spite of that it is...
2022 / #1 Leaving Puget Sound
Wed, August 10, 2022 We are finally away from the dock. We hauled the boat out of the water in early May for some fresh bottom paint but problems were found with the propeller shaft and then one problem followed another until we managed to get the boat back in the...