Just Keep Going

Friday August 7^th & Saturday the 8^th – 6am the alarm goes off.  Time to get up and head north to Nanaimo BC.  We had to leave at 6am to catch the slack water at Dodd Narrows – a tiny waterway you have to navigate to Nanaimo.  Current in the waterway can run like a river, so with our slow boat its best to transit at slack water.  The problem is that everyone else is doing the same thing (going both north and south) and even though two boats could fit through at the same time, its not really ideal.  We hit it just right as we shot through after announcing our north bound transit on the VHF radio, all lined up with the other boats doing the same thing.

Our plan was to stay in Nanaimo tonight then take off early in the morning to cross the Strait of Georgia.  The strait is a large body of water that can get really rough.  After checking the marine forecast we learned that high winds were coming in tonight and tomorrow.  This would delay our crossing so we decided to just keep going today and get across the strait.

Just as we got into the strait a scary call came across the radio.   “Mayday, Mayday, Mayday, I think my husband has had a stroke, he is not responding”. The coastguard got on the radio and sent a rescue boat out to their location and a doctor and nurse who were out on their boat offered assistance. What a scary call!  We all said a little prayer for the couple in distress.

The strait was still a little rough but we got across without any problems. Once on the mainland BC side we pulled into Pender Harbor traveling 65.76nm.  Pender is a maze of little inlets and bays with many different marinas.  We tried to get into one of them but they were all full.  Normally we would have made reservations a few days before but this was a last minute decision.  We had to get food and water so our best bet was to get tied up on the government docks because they are close to the grocery store.  After talking to them on the phone they said they might have something open up in an hour or two so we floated around in the bay for a while, until we saw some dock space open up.  Just as we got close, a big boat stole our spot, stayed there for a few minutes then took off again.  Julie called the marina and the nice man had kicked them out for us!  We settled in then and went to dinner in Garden Bay.

There were strong winds forecasted for the next day, so we decided to stay a 2^nd night giving us time to re-provision the boat and avoid the wind.  We woke up pouring rain so we had a lazy morning sleeping in.  As the rain slowed down late morning it gave us the opportunity to wipe down all the salt spray off the boat.  We got a boat load of groceries, stocked everything away and made reservations at the Painted Boat Marina for dinner.  The picked up again just in time for the 10-minute dinghy ride to the the restaurant.  Julie, not wanting to be wet for dinner, rode all the way there with an umbrella.  I was a little embarrassed, but she stayed dry.  Dinner was fantastic and we all had a great time.  Tomorrow we will be in Desolation Sound, swimming in the warm waters!

Trip Log – 200.88nm