We left Thetis Island on Friday morning and crossed the 20 mile wide Strait of Georgia to Vancouver on Friday. What a great sail! Once we got out of the islands, the wind came up to about 15 knots and we sailed close hauled all the way to the city at about 8 knots.

We recently installed a Hydrovane and used it for the first time while crossing. For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, it is a unit that we use to steer the boat without using electricity (a valuable asset even WITH solar panels!) The Hydrovane worked well.

We entered English Bay and approached False Creek in downtown Vancouver just as a big hail storm hit! I’ve never been sailing in hail before. We couldn’t even see the front of the boat! Made for an exciting entrance when we were in a narrow, congested waterway.

We found a small spot to drop the anchor and then headed over to the welcome center to check in. You have to get a permit to anchor here but it’s free. You are allowed to stay for 2 weeks each 4 week period.

On Saturday we took our folding bikes to shore and biked all over Vancouver for 8 hours! We went everywhere. The farmers market, downtown, China Town, Gastown, the fishermans dock (where you can buy scallops, prawns and crab right off the boats) all around False Creek and its many parks. It’s a very bike-friendly city with lanes dedicated for bike use.

Today is Sunday. We took the bikes to shore again for a little more exploring. We can’t get a good internet connection on the boat so we are sitting at Starbucks using their free Wi-Fi. There is a supermarket across the street so we’ll do a little provisioning there.

There is so much to do here and the city is very friendly and extremely clean. I don’t remember it being like this. Did they clean it up for the Olympics?