Ain't that the truth! More than 60 years sailing this coast and I got to Sturt Bay in 2018. I wonder if I'll see them all before I go. Not likely I guess but I'm going to try.
360 Vancouver Island 2020 Cruise Closed SEE 360 Vancouver Island 2022 Cruise
- Thread starter jssailem
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Claire and I are planning to join for the first two weeks of the trip on Tosca. We need to be back home for work (still that!) around July 6, so we'll turn around and head south when the time seems right. We are both new cruisers and hope you will share your expertise.
I'm free again at the end of July and depending on the trip's progress could rejoin as crew for someone on the return down the outside.
Mike
I'm free again at the end of July and depending on the trip's progress could rejoin as crew for someone on the return down the outside.
Mike
That should get you to the top of Vancouver Island if you're prepared to rush the homeward trip. On the other hand ,leaving earlier would give you time in the Discoverys and Broughtons. I know that once you've been up there you will come back.
Worth another visit to Sturt Bay. We rowed way back into the lagoon when we were there last. Very remote and the succulents were abound and delicious.
Sturt Bay is one of stops when we head south, its a nice sail from Campbell River. Good holding in mud and lots of room.
More than 2 for sure. The Rudder is the only piece left to buy.
Les, I hope you like your auto prop as much as I have for the past 20 years. The only problem that I have ever had was vibration when the Penn Cove mussles deside to grow on the blades.
I love that I can back out to port, starboard or straight, (my choice).
Terry, where would you clear customs going into Canada. . . Crescent Beach?
Usually a very nice reaching sail across Georgia Strait from White Rock to Porlier Pass or Active Pass.
We often go from Maple Bay to Nanaimo via Gambier or Keats or Bowen or Granville Island. Thus 2 times across the Strait and 2 days of blissful sailing.
Well the time has come to get down to serious planning for this trip..
A BEGINNING:
Well that is the first couple of days. Our stop over in Nanaimo will give crew one final east side join up opportunity. As we get closer to the departure time, I will prepare access to our chart data and an overall map of our trip.
I look forward to any comments or suggestions.
A BEGINNING:
- June 12: With anticipation of a good weather window for the Juan D"Fuca strait, untie the lines and push off from Everett Marina. First night stop will be in Port Townsend a 5 hour cruise up the Puget Sound. This will give me one more look at the weather in the strait before entering that big water expanse. If conditions are sketchy, then an alternate more protected route is possible up the East side of Whidbey Island and thru Deception Passage and the San Juans.
- June 13: Morning of the 13th will be a 30 mile crossing, aprox 275 degrees Magnetic to Victoria. The Waggoner's guide provides a good "Go - No Go Checklist" for boaters on crossing the Strait of Juan D' Fuca.
- Go-NoGo Decisions
- Check Wind Direction in relation to direction of travel
- Are you prepared to clear Canadian Customs
- Is there a wind against wave or current situation
- Are the more protected, but longer, alternate routes a better option.
- Go-NoGo Decisions
- Victoria - Customs checkin, and then a Marina tie up. I have enjoyed the Coast Victoria Hotel/Marina on previous stays. Any folks planning to join me on the 13, let's discuss options and arrange for space. I just love this seafarers city.
- The 13th 14th 15th should be the days for any crew to find their way to the boat. Victoria has an international airport. If you are thinking about this adventure it will be on a your boat or first come first serve basis on one of the boats that will be accepting crew. Please PM me and let me know your thoughts. Several SBO members have expressed interest. Our postings here on the forum will give all interested SBO members the opportunity to follow along with this Pacific NW adventure.
- June 14: Set out from Victoria to begin our east side cruise, the protected side of the island. After leaving the crowded Inner Harbor with the float planes, ferries, boat taxies etc. weather and winds permitting we will raise sails and head east around the south east tip of Vancouver Isle.
- One of the exciting opportunities for this adventure are the navigational challenges that abound. Greeting us in the first hour of our escape from Victoria will be the shipping lanes for commercial traffic coming south out of Haro Strait, and then the group of islands and rock that dot the waters off of Oak Bay. While passage is thru these islands like Discovery Island (Discovery Island Marine Park) and D'Arcy Island (part of the Gulf Islands National Park - and home of BC's first Leper Colony 1891-1925) if visibility is limited or the currents thru Baynes Channel and Plumper Passage are contrary then adding an hour and skirting the islands to Port is safer, giving the islands a 0.5NM buffer to avoid any kelp forests or rocks. On a clear day this is a good spot for possible whale activity so cameras should be on the ready.
- Turning to Port to a course of 330º magnetic will take us up thru Cordova Bay and channel towards the Port of Sidney Marina.
- A stop in Sidney is a chance to have a great shower, make any final provisioning decisions, board any crew and enjoy the ambiance of this seaside port.
- June15: Morning departure has us entering the Southern Gulf Islands of BC. Set in the lee of mountains on Vancouver Isle, these gems receive much sunshine and little summer time rain. Taking up a course of "North" we wind our way through the island channels heading for Montague Hbr. on Galiano Island. It is a 16NM cruise dodging the frequent BC Ferries and the occasional sub surface rocks that affect our passage. Our stop in Montague Hbr is to meet up with Mike Davis, his wife Bev and experience the islands Hummingbird Inn Pub, also what I am told will be a memorable ride from the Harbour on the Hummingbird Bus.
- June 16: We continue our cruising NW on the Trincomali Channel through the islands about 28 NM to Nanaimo BC, at the northern end of the Gulf Islands. We will experience our first the major tidal passages known as "narrows". "Dodd Narrows" is a deep channel sitting between Mudge Island and Vancouver Island. Currents run to 9 knots. We will make the passage in slack water. Key is timing of passage, patience and preparedness.
Well that is the first couple of days. Our stop over in Nanaimo will give crew one final east side join up opportunity. As we get closer to the departure time, I will prepare access to our chart data and an overall map of our trip.
I look forward to any comments or suggestions.
.
John you can transit the narrows before slack by 30 min as long as you are going with the flow. You may notice others doing this and other will wait for slack I've done it almost an hour before but the ride was something else.
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