Anchored at Silva Bay
05 July 2011 | Gabriola Island, BC
We arrived in Silva Bay after a long run south in the Straight of Georgia. Conditions were not the best...12-15 knots of wind right on the bow causing a
chop of short period wind waves. It was an 8 hour day and we are glad to have the hook down. We had two options for today's
destination...Nanaimo or Silva Bay and since we had not been to Silva Bay before, we opted to check it out. Silva Bay has the only services for
boaters on Gabriola Island...there are two marinas here and our cruising guide mentioned a wonderful small store. We were running low on a few
things and the store sounded like a good idea. But after rowing ashore, much to our dismay, the store was closed down last fall! So no groceries!
Guess we'll be eating out of cans for the next little bit. While ashore, we stretched our legs with a 4 mile walk along a nice island road. It was a pretty
day with a mostly sunny sky. Silva Bay is another bay in which a number of locals have filled up the anchorage with mooring bouys. We have found
it pretty common in Canada...apparently there are no regulations against anyone placing a private mooring bouy any place of their choosing. So
many choice anchorages are full of local boats on mooring bouys. Many of these boats are either "project boats" or downright neglected derelicts.
Visiting cruisers like us have a hard time finding room to anchor among the moored boats.
While on the subject of Canadian boats...we've noticed that many (even most?) of the boats registered in Canada don't fly their national flag. Kind of
sad actually...it's a tradition to fly your national flag from the stern of your vessel. We also have noticed many names on Canadian boats that will
have a II or III or IV or V after them (Roman numerals). This is because if a vessel is registered in Canada that already has the name that you would
like to use, you have to add the numeral after it. Just an observation, but I know if I have a boat that is "my boat" I would not want to share a name with
anyone else and would be very hard pressed to come up with a name that is unique and custom to my own vessel. Where is the sense of creativity
for a boat name?
Oh, and finally, it seems that it must be customary for many of the boaters here to leave fenders hanging over the side of their boats. We sure have
seen them that do just that while underway and at anchor. Not sure why that is?