One Dinghy Short
Tuesday August 16th – We pulled anchor from the shallows of Sidney Spit to make our way south through Haro Strait then turned west into the Strait of Juan de Fuca before making our way into Victoria’s inner Harbor. The weather was perfect with calm seas. Our friends Todd and Tami left Sidney Spit well after we did but due to their superior speed soon caught up to us.
We docked our boats at the Warf Street Marina on a long dock that accommodated both boats. After a long discussion with the marina office over the dates of our 3-night stay (they had everything screwed up) we all took off to explore the city. Our mission was to see the city and do some school clothes shopping. Its always fun seeing new stores, restaurants and other items not offered in the USA.
That night all 8 of us had dinner at Pagliacci’s Italian Restaurant. Its not fancy and you can’t even make a reservation, but this little place is famous and fun. Many celebrities have visited, and the line usually runs out the door and down the sidewalk all evening as they pack them in this little place. The food was good, the drinks were great, but the staff and atmosphere were fantastic! We all had a great time!
The next couple days brought more city exploring and shopping but always a favorite for the kids is The Bug Zoo. They had so much fun learning about all the bugs and holding some of them. Our tour guide was fantastic, she was super knowledgeable and everyone learned more about bugs than they ever wanted.
The days got hotter as our stay continued so we decided to take a little day trip in our dinghies. There is a long inlet running from the Victoria inner harbor inland that we wanted to explore. Its about 4 miles long, gets really shallow in some spots and has a set of rapids in one spot that may be tricky to navigate depending on water flow but we were up for the challenge.
We grabbed some adult beverages, rafted our dinghies together (that doesn’t sound good) and set off on a slow pace with county music in the background. Zach and Skylar wanted to get pulled on the tube but with only a 3 knot speed they only got drug through the water. They played all kinds of games and tricks on the tub falling off in the water several times. The water got warmer and warmer as we got deeper into the inlet but 6’ was the deepest we could find and the water got pretty nasty with seaweed. We didn’t really care by that point and all jumped off the boat to cool down.
We towed the kids all the way home and Tami even took a relaxing ride with Ava on the tube. It was a seriously fun adventure!
The final day greeted us with calm conditions but with a forecast for wind later in the day. I woke up, made some coffee then went out on the back deck. Todd was on his boat and calmly said “I think my dinghy got stolen”. His dinghy, that was tied to the stern of his boat, was no where to be found. It took a second to sink in but the cut line was a sure sign. The dirty B@#$&$#! didn’t even have the decency to untie the line before taking off with the boat, they just cut it with a knife leaving evidence it was truly stolen and didn’t just float away.
Todd called the Police and filed a report. They said there is almost no chance of finding the boat. Apparently this is somewhat of a thing lately in the harbor. They take the boats in the middle of the night, pull them out of the water and later sell just the engine. The worst part is that its not even Todd’s boat, he was borrowing it from his dad.
One dinghy short, we left Victoria and headed north to Todd Inlet near Buchart Gardens.
