Friday July 20th – Our schedule today had us leaving Vancouver headed to Howe Sound, just to the north east of us. Howe Sound is the closest semi remote destination for vessels leaving Vancouver and there is a huge vacation home community on Bowen Island. It’s an area we have always wanted to see but have never been in there. The Union Steamship Co. marina we wanted to check out was full, so we decided to find an anchorage.

The wind forecast didn’t look good especially given the fact that we would be exposed to the Strait of Georgia much of the way. It called for the wind dying down in the early afternoon, so we waited until about 1:00pm then left the dock, got fuel and headed out to English Bay. The seas just kept building as we made our way out to open water. Suddenly 4-5’ waves were stacked due to the wind against current. We secured the boat but a little too late. A couple large stainless-steel cups in the galley zipped off the counter denting the wood floor and sending water all over.

We slogged through it, taking lots of spray over the boat. The motion of the boat didn’t agree with Julie and Ava. They were feeling terrible, especially Ava got pretty sick.

We decided to anchor in Gambier Island’s, Port Graves. Even in the anchorage the wind was still blowing a steady 15 knots. After waiting a while to make sure the boat was secure, we took the dinghy to shore for a walk in the woods. A beautiful trail showed signs to Lost Lake but no telling how far it was. We kept going and going up the mountain until our “walk” turned into an unplanned hike. I got out my phone map to try and figure out how much further. It Looked quite a bit further, so we turned around (Skylar was not happy). Turns out the lake was about a 6-mile round trip ordeal. Our walk in the woods turned into a 4-mile hike, but it was fun!

The wind calmed down late in the evening for a restful night sleep. Only problem now is the wind forecast is about the same for tomorrow and we have to make our way up the Georgia Strait.

Wednesday July 18th – Thursday 19th. After a quiet and rest full first night in Vancouver it was time to check out the city. So many things to do here that we decided to add a 3rd night to our reservation. We were lucky that the 130’ boat who’s spot we were occupying, was not due back for another 2 days.

A little water taxi shuttled us to Grandville Island (not an actual island) where we checked out all the little shops and market. Brian, a friend of mine in the coffee business who owns Blendz also has a tea and kombucha bar in Vancouver called o5. It was 1 mile away from our location, so we decided to make the trek. This is not your ordinary tea bar. It’s very high-end tea and all the kombucha is brewed onsite. I knew Ava especially would love the experience where the vibe is slow, relaxed and fancy. We tried a few different teas, some fancy snacks and had the best kombucha ever. Ava had so much fun, leaving she said, “I will remember this experience forever”.

We had Dinner on the boat that night as we watched all the people walking our dock to get to the water taxi pickup station.

The next day we grabbed a taxi and headed for the aquarium in Stanly Park. Very busy with kid groups but what an incredible aquarium. A few days ago, we saw a dead sturgeon floating in the water in the Gulf Islands. We had never heard of sturgeon in these waters and figured someone must have caught it in the mouth of some river then chucked it overboard. However, we confirmed at the aquarium that there is indeed White Sturgeon in these here waters. We had lunch in the only restaurant in the park then took a taxi to Gas Town to check out more of the city. After a delicious dinner in Yale Town we prepared for our departure northbound tomorrow.

Monday July 16th – After a lazy morning in Roche Harbor we stocked up on some provisions and got the boat ready to take off. Our friends Todd and Tami left before we did heading to Nanaimo BC. We waved our goodbye from the dock then pushed off ourselves on our way across the border for a night in Bedwell harbor on South Pender island.

We stopped along the way to fish for salmon off Stewart island. No luck but it sure was nice floating along in the current in a beautiful area. We all cheered as we entered international waters then got in the long lineup to dock the boat for customs. Usually it’s a quick process but this time there were a lot of boats wanting in the country. Clearing was a simple process once docked then we went just around the corner and anchored in Bedwell harbor where the wind was blowing. This area is known for a micro wind tunnel that usually settles down in the evening.

Sure enough it did, so Skylar and I took Julie and Ava to the beach while we went bottom fishing. We didn’t catch anything except a rock, a sea cucumber and a Dog Fish.
After studying the weather and tides we decided the long run to Vancouver would be perfect tomorrow but will take some good timing to get through Gabriola Passage.

Tuesday July 17th – We left Bedwell and set our cruise speed through the Gulf Islands to arrive at Gabriola Pass at 1:30. The current through the pass would still be running 2 knots against us but I felt that was doable. No problems as we zipped through the narrow pass and out into the open Strait of Georgia. The strait was flat calm, and we had a wonderful cruise across this large body of water into English Bay. This is the first time we have been to Vancouver by boat, so it took some planning and new navigation, but we made it into False Creek’s Quayside Marina.

It was later in the evening when we finally got tied up, but we had to check out False Creak by dinghy. We cruised the waterway checking out all the sights getting familiar with the city.