Silverado Blog
August 16th, 2023
Bob and Dina


In closing……
Everything comes to an end, but we mustn’t stop looking ahead.

We arrived in Victoria on August 10th. We were not able to find a slip at any of the Inner Harbor Marinas, so we made a reservation in Oak Harbor which is just a 15 minute drive to downtown. Norbert and Dana would have a rental car and they graciously volunteered to drive us back and forth.
The Oak Harbor Martina is very charming. It mostly serves resident boats, thus the restricted schedules for showers and laundry were a bit difficult for us but we made it work thanks to the kind staff who accommodated our needs. Our friends met us in the evening shortly after landing in Victoria and we all went to dinner at the “Snug Pub” in the gorgeous historic old Oak Bay Hotel nearby. The grounds were beautiful, meticulously kept and the Pub has a beautiful view of Oak Bay.
We spent the next five days touring and enjoying the fabulous NW cuisine, but my favorite food was the Salmon Chowder and Halibut Tacos at Fisherman’s Wharf. Yum!
One day, we drove to Sooke which is a nearby historic town on the tip of Vancouver Island. There is a Regional Park in East Sooke with gorgeous beaches and trails that we visited.
The weather in Victoria was hot and dry and many deer could be seen in town seeking water. Yet, the gardens are still something to admire everywhere in Victoria.
At the end of five fabulous days we said goodbye to our friends and sailed across the Strait of Juan de Fuca yesterday towards Port Townsend, arriving in the evening safe and sound. With this we wrap up another wonderful summer in the Pacific NW aboard our beloved Silverado. We plan to return next year and perhaps reach SE Alaska.
Thank you all for following this blog and sending your thoughts and love our way.
Dina and Bob

Silverado Blog
Bob and Dina
August 12th, 2023

A Challenging Day
Not everyday is perfect on the water.

After enjoying our last anchorage in the Golf Islands (Princess Bay), we got up to an overcast sky and a SE breeze. The barometer dropped, the wind picked up and a swell set towards mid-morning in the anchorage. The weather report said to expect winds from the SE 15-25 Kt diminishing towards the end of the day and changing to NW 10-15 Kt. With that in mind, we set off heading SW towards Sydney, though Bob wanted to continue on to Cordova Bay. We deployed the head sail and with the ebb current in our favor, we were traveling at 6 kt.
Once we got in Haro Strait, the wind picked up quickly blowing 18Kt and gusting to 25 Kt. Bob changed course, which I didn’t know and when the “go to waypoint” alarm sounded, I put it on “Auto” just as Bob hollered “NOOOO.” Suddenly the boat heeled rapidly to port, the rail was lost to the water, everything fell on the floor, the dingy batteries missed my feet by a hair,. I quickly changed the mode to Standby and Bob was able to straighten the boat. We reduced the sail but the wind was still too strong. The pressure on the sail was so strong that we ran out of furling line, leaving a good chunk of the sail still deployed. Meanwhile the water was getting choppier by the minute and the waves taller. Silverado was happy as she loves to jump the waves.
At this time we had gone past Sydney so we decided to wait for the wind to diminish at Saanichton Bay across from James Island. We looked for protection from the SE wind throughout the bay but it wasn’t much. We anchored off shore in about 20 Ft. We swayed and turned for a while. Bob figured out a way to furl the sail all the way and the swaying stopped. After an hour or so the wind finally diminished to 15 Kt and we got underway again, only to encounter a “stirred up” ocean in Haro Strait and changing wind. “Time for the Stay sail.” I love that sail because when the conditions get rough, it stabilizes the boat, it is self-tacking and everything is better.
We continued on our way and towards late evening we anchored in Cadboro Bay. The bay was “covered” by small sailboats from a sailing class. It was so interesting to see how the instructor (on an inflatable dingy) controlled the tiny sailboats, checked and helped everybody. There were sailboats of different sizes; in addition, a race was also going on! The wind continued most of the night but our anchor held well. However, we were swinging too close to a nearby boat and at 10 pm Bob decided to move the boat. With these “captain orders” we both got out of bed, got our jackets over our pajamas and proceeded to raise the anchor. A weird noise came from the windlass and the chain didn’t move. Our windlass was not working! This was only the second time in 14 years that it failed. Being so late, we had to trust, and verify throughout the night, that our anchor would hold. Thankfully it did!
The next day, Bob used his big drill to work the windlass and raise the anchor. This was our last anchorage of the summer. We plan to moore at the Oak Bay Marina for the next five days while we enjoy the Victoria area with our friends and then we plan to sail straight to Port Townsend across the Strait of Juan de Fucca, weather permitting, of course.

Dina.

Silverado Blog
Bob and Dina
August 11, 2023

The Golf Islands are a group of 8-10 islands and many more smaller islets located off the southern tip of Vancouver Island. These islands have lots of beautiful anchorages, marine parks and cute welcoming towns. The weather is mostly sunny and warm in the summers, making them a very popular destination for cruisers. We have traveled these Islands over the years but we still have many new places to visit and explore. Traveling south of Nanaimo, our first stop was Lady Smith Harbor (on the Vancouver Island side) where Bob had anchored on his way north last June. The Harbor has two main anchorages plus two Marinas but we decided we were just going to anchor and save on moorage. Besides, the anchorages were beautiful. During my usual kayaking time, I was impressed by the amount of shellfish on the shores. One could just dig for clams and pull oysters off the rocks. There were people on kayaks and paddle boards (which are also being used as a kayak with people sitting on or straddling the board while paddling). Beautiful homes surrounded the head of the bay which always make me dream about how wonderful it would be to enjoy a place like that during the summers.
The next day we headed for Montague Harbor on Galiano Island. The Bay is very popular with boaters and I counted about 70 boats anchored in the bay, not including the ones in the marina. Float planes were coming and going bringing guests to the various private yachts cruising the islands. There is a small peninsula (Gray peninsula) which is a Marine Park with trails, a lagoon and a beautiful white sandy-rocky beach on the north side. We got on our dingy and first headed for the marina store to get much needed ice. The marina was so crowded, we did not stay long. After delivering our ice to the boat, we headed for the Marine Park where we spent a couple of hours walking the trails and exploring the beach at low tide. There were interesting huge rock formations that were only visible at low tide. The park had also a nice campground and picnic facilities. It provided us with much needed exercise.
From Montague Harbor we continued south and found a beautiful anchorage on the south side of Portland Island called “Princess Bay” because it is in front of Princess Margaret Marine Park. This was our favorite anchorage in the Golf Islands. The anchorage is very small and shallow but we arrived early enough to secure a place with swinging space without having to stern tie. The anchorage is exposed to the south but the weather was settled then. The story of this island is that Canada donated it to Princess Margaret in the 1960’s who later deeded the island to BC. It is now part of the Golf Islands National Park Reserve. The park has multiple trails around the perimeter and across the island on fairly flat ground which was good for Bob’s knee. We took a trail across the island that was not well maintained, consequently quite overgrown. We did not encounter any other hikers on this part of the trail which made it a little bit “concerning” for me. We guessed there would be no bears in this small island and did not carry our can of bear spray with us. The trail finally joined the perimeter trail which was much more traveled. On this trail we found an old orchard with pear trees and apple trees and tons of blackberry bushes with “almost ripe fruit” which we sampled. Back at the boat we cooked a good piece of fresh King salmon for dinner accompanied by mushrooms, zucchini and Jasmin rice (for me!). The evening was beautiful and invited a Kayak paddle around the small bay, so I jumped on my kayak and went to visit the seals that live on the islets at the entrance to the bay. I tried to be very quiet so I could get close to them but one of them noticed me and pretty soon the male sea lion adopted a look of alertness that told me I needed to leave STAT! When I got back to the boat, I noticed that a sea lion was splashing around the bay with force so loud that I hollered at Bob to help me get back on the boat. Was he showing me his strength and telling me to stay away from his island? I don’t know. But he stayed there for hours making sure we all saw him.
Tomorrow August 9th,we will leave the Golf Islands and head towards Sydney and then Victoria on August 10th to meet Norbert and Dana.

Dina

Silverado Blog
August 6, 2023
Bob and Dina


Comox Harbor to Nanaimo


We left Campbell River at slack before the flood, accounting for the change in current direction in Campbell River. However, south of Campbell river, the tide flows north, so we had to go south on a north flowing flood current. Thank goodness for the NW wind that came nice and steady, thanks to it we made pretty good time to Comox. When we arrived at the marina that evening all the transient docks were occupied and we had to anchor out for the night. The sunset was gorgeous and we sat at the bow relaxing after a long travel day, me with a glass of wine, Bob with a cup of tea.
Next morning we got up and took watch for boats coming out of the marina so we could come and take a spot. Towards late morning we were able to dock with only inches to spare. Lyneita came and picked us up and we spent the day at the Swanson’s enjoying the quietness and beauty of their property in a warm sunny day. Lyneita had tomatoes, kale, zucchini, carrots and parsnips growing in her garden, not to mention tons of wild blackberries.
After showers and laundry we sat and chatted all afternoon and planned our meal which consisted of King Salmon with aioli, Ribeye, fresh corn from the valley, green beans and a delicious salad of avocado and Lyneita’s cherry tomatoes with basil and feta cheese. A meal to remember especially when shared with good friends. That evening we said good bye again to Doug, Lyneita and Banjo and spent the night aboard Silverado for an early departure to catch the south Ebb towards Nanaimo.
Unfortunately the winds did not cooperate with us and instead of a NW 10-20 Kt winds as predicted, we had no wind and choppy seas. For the first time during this trip I started to get seasick. Eventually a SE breeze came and our Staysail kept us from rocking too much. Our original plans were to anchor across from Nanaimo for the night, but since we arrived early, the captain wanted to make it past Dodd Narrows at slack which was 8 pm. We took temporary anchorage at “False Narrows”, cooked hamburgers and other fixings and after dinner, we were feeling so tired that we decided to change out plans and spend the night there and cross the narrows the next morning at slack. Just as we were talking about this, a tug boat came over to tell us we had to move because another tug boat carrying a “very wide” load of logs was on its way and we were in his path. When we saw the width of this tug boat we went into “first gear”, picking up everything, stowing our “dining table”, putting dishes in the sink, moving the bbq and pulling the anchor. It was 8 pm. We could still make it through Dodd Narrows. So we ran as fast as Silverado and his captain could to the narrows encountering a 3 Kt current on our favor, making 8 Kts through the narrows just 15 minutes after slack.
It doesn’t get dark here until after 9 pm, so we still had another hour to find an anchorage. We headed south and anchored in Boat Harbor for the night with calm seas and a SE breeze which kept us cool overnight. Boat Harbor is privately owned so we could not use the mooring buoys that were in the Harbor, but our anchor held well in 40 ft.
We plan to spend the next four days exploring the Golf Islands, heading towards Thetis Island today and then anchoring in LadySmith Harbor for the night.
Bob is looking forward to his Sunday’s huge Ribeye steak before fasting on Monday.

Dina

Bob and Dina Millikin
August 3, 2023


Drew Harbor to Campbell River
Quadra Island to Vancouver Island

From our beautiful secret anchorage in Village Bay we headed south to Harriott Bay (Quadra island). The bay is quite small and very busy with two marinas and a Ferry dock as well as many boats tied to private mooring buoys. Both marinas were full and anchoring was out of the question. In addition, being Monday the restaurant at the Harriott Bay Historic Hotel was closed. So we headed around the corner to Drew Harbor which is huge and has plenty of anchoring space. Drew Harbor is surrounded by a thin and long stretch of land called Rebecca Spit. The entire spit is a park with picnic tables, trails and even a campground. People anchor in front of the spit and play in the water or go to shore to swim, beach comb or walk. It was a lovely and fun place. There were lots of families and groups having a great time but everyone respects other people’s space and tranquility. We took the dingy to shore at low tide because there is no place to land at high tide as the entire shore is protected by logs. I set out on a walk of the spit on a beautiful trail that goes all around it while Bob waited for me at the beach; he was afraid the dingy would get away from us with the rising tide and didn’t want to drag it on the rocky beach. It’s amazing what a beautiful walk can do to the soul.
I convinced Bob to go to Campbell River since we needed “services” and was time to re-provision, catch up with Internet communications, etc. In addition, we decided to book a fishing trip from Campbell River on line. Luckily we were able to find one spot for two nights on the dock at the Discovery Harbor Marina just one finger away from our fishing charter. The next day we crammed grocery shopping and laundry in the morning and went fishing in the afternoon. Our captain was great. He had a beautiful comfortable fast boat and he took us around Cape Mudge in front of Campbell River where the currents and the fish fly through. Within the first 30 minutes, I caught a good size 18 lb Chinook (King Salmon), my first one ever! Bob caught another Chinook and a Coho but had to let go the Coho due to regulations. This is another reason to go fishing with fishing charters, because the fishing regulations are difficult. The Department of Fisheries used to publish a booklet every year but now the information is only accessed on line which makes it virtually unaccessible without cell service or satellite Internet.
We returned to the boat happy with our catch. Our captain cleaned the fish but could not legally process it, so armed with a fish knife, a box of freezer bags and paper towels Bob marched to the fish cleaning table in the morning and got the job done! Our freezer is now full of salmon and steaks (of course). We are looking forward to enjoying our catch in the last couple of weeks of our sailing adventure.
It is now time to head south towards our home port of Port Townsend with a five day stop in Victoria to meet Norbert and Dana, our loyal NW travel companions. They have been joining us somewhere along our route since 2014.
We are currently underway, taking the Vancouver Island coast route, waiting for that NW wind that was predicted for the Strait of Georgia. We plan to stop tonight in Comox to see our dear friends Doug and Lyneita and have a chance to share an evening with them and a delicious meal of freshly caught King salmon.

Dina

Bob and Dina
July 31, 2023


The Octopus Islands and
Newton Lake

Octopus Islands Marine Park was quite crowded. The anchorages around the many islets that are great to explore by kayak are few and far between and were all accounted for. As we do not carry a stern tie aboard this year, we anchored temporarily in the middle of the small bay long enough for me to go for a nice long kayak around the small islands while Bob watched the anchor.
The NW wind picked up in the afternoon and we decided to head to the protection of Wyatt Bay where there was plenty of anchoring space, able to take the same anchorage we had a few weeks ago. Suddenly, out of no where, Jill appeared on her paddle board with her cute little dog Flint. Don and Jill, whom we met in Blind Channel were anchored a short distance away from us. Another pleasant surprise!
After dinner we took the dingy to their boat and chatted for a while, making plans for a hike the next day to Inner Inlet and probably Newton lake (further away). As we are both traveling in the same general direction, we decided we could spend the morning on the hike and leave at 3 pm to catch the slack current in Surge Narrows.
Bob decided his knee wasn’t good for the hike so I took the Kayak, Jill on her paddle board and Don on his kayak and paddled to the head of the bay at low tide. The beach was rocky and there were thousands of baby crab running around the rocks. We all tied our “floating devices” to the rocks (some of us up the beach) and headed for the trail. Jill had a bear whistle and I had bear spray, Don carried a radio. I knew the first half mile of the trail that leads to the Small Inlet already but we decided to keep going towards Newton Lake which was another mile of uphill climbing from Small Inlet for a total of 3 miles round trip, though these were upward! My back behaved well on the way up to the lake and I thanked my hiking pole to help me climb the trail. After a while we got to the steepest part which was challenging but doable with a little bit of care. The trail then turned narrow but it didn’t bother me much as there was plenty of vegetation that disguised the drop next to the trail. Flint, the Cavapoo was with us having a great time on the trail and revealing his hidden talents to his owners who were still carrying him up the steps of their sailboat when he whimpered!
When we finally reached the lake, it was magnificent and we were sweating! Don decided that the best place to swim was going down the huge boulders to the water. If you know me, that’s where I drew the line and could not follow them down the rocks to the water. Even if I had, I probably wouldn’t have gone in, as the water was pretty cold for a “desert gal” like me. There was a young group of people jumping into the lake from the rocks having a great time. The water was clear and beautiful but Jill saw a leach and quickly got out. Flint also went for a short wim and then climbed up without a glitch while Don and Jill climbed the rock in all fours. Thanks but no thanks!
The hike down was uncomfortable for my back and I needed to stretch it from time to time. Once down, my back troubles stopped but I could feel my legs needed a break as this was the longest hike I’ve done this summer. It was after 2 pm and we needed to leave the anchorage at 3 pm so we hurried back to the beach where we found kayak, paddle board and paddles floating in the water and Don’s kayak in deeper water still tied to a rock underwater! We were able to free my kayak and Jill’s paddle board from the shore and we paddled to Don’s kayak which was in 6 ft of water. As we were unable to free it, Jill had to cut the painter line with pocket knife and soon we all began the paddle back to the boat. Bob was ready to leave after having a day all to himself keeping busy with mechanical tasks aboard. Jill and Don still had to pull their anchor manually since their windlass was not working. We were tired but happy after a great and challenging day.
After a warm “sponge bath” and a snack I crashed while Bob piloted the boat through Surge Narrows and headed south to find a lovely anchorage in Village Bay (East coast of Quadra island) where we were all by ourselves. Bob cooked his usual steak and mushrooms with blue cheese and I had a piece of fried chicken with home made vegetable soup that tasted wonderful.
This little bay is a great find. There is some cell service and we were able to make a couple of phone calls from the bow. Next day we woke up to low tide with only 2 feet below the keel! There was a family of sea otters on the nearby islet and I quickly got on my kayak and paddled to see them. They were so interesting. As soon as the mom saw me, she quickly took her pups to higher ground, hid them behind a rock and stood guard looking at me. On the island shore, I saw lots of clams and purple star fish living in the crevices. A great blue heron was feeding on the shore and in the distance a couple of seals were having breakfast. As I type this blog in the cockpit of the boat, I can hear the unique call of a “Loon”. It doesn’t get any better than this!
We plan to move south to nearby Drew Bay/Hariot Bay and Rebecca’s Spit in Quadra island this afternoon, hoping to have lunch or dinner at the Hariot Bay Hotel and relive our memories of the place from previous years.
Dina