Destination Desolation

Tuesday July 18^th – Our trek north continues. Leaving Poets Cove at 8:20 am we needed to get to Nanaimo on the east side of Vancouver Island. Nanaimo is a great stopover point before heading out across the Strait of Georgia. The Strait of Georgia is a large body of water that can get extremely rough at times. It’s usually best to leave very early in the morning and Nanaimo provides a great jumping off point for the 15nm crossing.

But first we had to get to Nanaimo and that requires transiting Dodd Narrows. This is a narrow (1 boat at a time) passage that flows a lot of water. It can look exactly like a raging river with tall standing waves if wind opposes current. We timed it just right to hit the narrows around slack water so we didn’t have to deal with the fast current. As you approach the narrows and just about to enter, it’s proper etiquette to announce your passage on the VHF radio so opposing traffic will know your intentions. The announcement goes something like “Securite’ Securite’, (Securite’ is VHF radio talk for a message concerning navigation is about to be announced) 52’ power vessel entering Dodd Narrows north bound, any concerned traffic come back channel 16”. Skylar was a little nervous but I made him make the announcement over the radio. After a couple practice runs he did a fantastic job.

We made it through Dodd unscathed among shore side onlookers who were watching all the boats go through. We continued on to first get some fuel in Nanaimo then tied up on the huge commercial dock, our punishment because we didn’t have reservations. Todd & Tami were right behind us.

All 8 of us had lunch at Penny’s Palapa, a semi famous tiny Mexican restaurant right on the dock. After lunch we walked through the town then re-provisioned some essentials at the grocery store for the last time before heading to Desolation Sound.

Wednesday July 19^th – After getting a favorable early morning “light wind” forecast the day before we decided to make our run across the Strait of Georgia pulling away from the dock at 5:40am.

We motored out of the harbor and got our first look at the strait, the kids still asleep in their bunk and our friends right behind us. At first glance things looked fine but then they started deteriorating quickly. Soon we had 4 & 5 footers with the occasional 6’ wave on our aft quarter. We couldn’t head straight into them due to our destination so the boat was rolling pretty good. Ava was trying to sleep but kept getting rolled out of her bunk. She was exhausted and didn’t feel great, so she went back to bed in the master stateroom where the bed runs the opposite direction.

After a while we started getting somewhat used to the motion and continued on for a long 76.4nm day arriving in Prideaux Haven in Desolation Sound at 1:00pm. So far we have traveled 240nm (that’s 276 regular miles) north of Tacoma.

Todd’s parents (Bruce & Gloria) were already anchored in the bay so Todd and I both rafted to him. Bruce had a bit of a mishap. While anchoring a line got caught in his prop and wrapped around the shaft causing the engine to stop. He was glad to see all of us willing to dive under the boat to cut the line free. Skylar, Zach, Todd and I all took turns diving under the boat to cut free the tangled line. The kids were excited for the adventure and did most of the work. It took at least an hour or more but after a whole lot of dives, Bruce’s boat was free.

That night we all had a great dinner together.