Around Vancouver Island 2013

Day 24 - July 24, 2013 Sunday

Today was not a quick start as our destination wasn't far off. We planned to travel to Bodega Cove on Kendrick Island, just a few nautical miles away down Tahsis Inlet. Per the norm, Moe was up before me and had to make some noise around me before I roused myself from sleep. Once up, I made some pancakes for breakfast which were a resounding failure. I used a mix and vow to make some very good pancakes from scratch tomorrow morning!

We thought we might make a quick trip into town (and hopefully not draw the attention of the local gendarme) to pick up some items that we missed yesterday, but when we went to the marina, the car was already is use. Oh well, we can live without what we missed purchasing yesterday. I quickly uploaded the post for yesterday and then we were off with a fond farewell from the dock crew. We had some wind to deal with so Moe asked another boater for some assistance, which he gladly gave. Moe did an excellent job of manoeuvring us out of this tricky marina and then we were on our way. He immediately put up the jib as we were heading downwind with the current going our way. Sadly, that lasted only a few minutes as the wind suddenly, without notice, switched from the stern to the bow! We could have chosen to tack back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, down Tahsis Inlet, but didn't. Instead, we motored straight into the wind, which continued until we reached our destination and long after.

Just after noon we entered Tsowwen Narrows. Moe felt a little bit of current as he steered Reborn, but it was negligible. As we were traveling against a flood current, it took us a whole ten minutes to transit the narrows. This may be the most uneventful day yet!

Our entrance into Bodega Cove was a little tricky, but I had plotted our course well and my skipper handled it very well. By 1:30 we were safely anchored and had the bay to ourselves. I mentioned that, because of our long day yesterday, we likely got a good jump on our circumnavigating companions and would probably not see anyone in this quiet and protected anchorage. We endured a lot of wind during the entire day, not really strong, but steady. It was not enough to make us uncomfortable in our anchorage, but certainly kept the clothes on; no sunbathing today! We did our respective things, Moe read and napped (no chores!) and I read and played ukulele. It's nice that, on our small quarters, we can still find our own space and do our own thing. Eventually, I disturbed his napping and then started dinner. Tonight we have Harry`s Curried Chickpeas. This usually requires some sour cream or yogurt, of which we had neither. I had to come up with something else and decided that a white sauce would be a reasonable substitute and it was, indeed, quite acceptable!

After dinner was done and the galley cleaned up, I set about learning the best way to enter Tofino. That place is no piece of cake to get to, whether you are driving or boating; though I do think that boating is way harder. Finally we concurred about the couple of ways we could get there safely.

I had challenged Moe to a crib game after dinner, so once our chart work was done, we started our game. At about the halfway point, I looked out from the galley and made a comment to Moe that we had done a 180 turn from the time we set our anchor. The wind had settled by now and was not the predominant influence on our boat. Moe stepped outside the galley and then motioned for me to come look. Lo and behold!, there was 'Porpoise' anchored in the bay with us! We didn't even hear them come in. Though we didn't mind having the cove to ourselves, we were quite happy to see 'Porpoise' had joined us. We continued our crib game and, again, I was the victor. Another dime (maybe the same dime) was in my possession. This time, Moe gave me a good run and proved he could compete quite well in this game.

With our game done, he retired to read 'Fall of Giants' and I to my journal and then good night to all.