Archives for August 2019

On Aug 2nd we left Ucluelet and headed into Barkley Sound where the Broken Group and Deer Group islands are.

We anchored in Joes Bay next to Walsh island. It was protected and calm and we spent the next morning exploring the various shallow channels by dinghy on a zero tide. We saw all sorts of underwater critters that fascinated the girls, including: kelp and red rock crabs, bat stars, leather stars, different types of fish, urchins and sea cucumbers.

August 3rd we headed over to the Deer Group to meet up with Murray, Anouk and a group of their friends who had come out kayaking for the long weekend. We passed through a thin line of fog that enveloped the Broken Group but as soon as we got into Imperial Eagle Channel the visibility was clear. We anchored in a lovely two boat spot between Sandford island and the Ross islets with good views and a beach close by.

We spent the afternoon on the beach and let the girls stretch their legs. It’s a chance for them to expend all the pent up energy after being contained on our boat. We enjoy it because we get to relax!

Murray, Anouk and their friends arrived in their kayaks to camp on the beach we had been at earlier. We invited them onboard later for a drink. Then our friends from Ucluelet Angela and Matt arrived on their sailboat Island Wind and anchored near us. That evening there was 6 of us visiting in our cockpit after the girls were asleep, our largest gathering so far!

We were grateful to finally have some summer weather and we spent the next morning playing in the hot sun at beach. It was close to low tide again and we found lots of sea anemones and sea stars on the beach.

On Aug 4th Murray, Anouk and their friends kayaked to another beach for the night so we sailed close by and anchored in Dodger Channel. We cooked dinner on Arctic Loon and then took the dinghy over to the beach so we could join them for dinner and a beach fire. We all had a great time!

5 Aug / We headed to Bamfield for two nights at anchor and watched the weather closely in preparation for the final leg of the voyage down the Juan De Fuca Strait. This allowed us time to explore the waterfront community of West Bamfield, do a bit of reprovisioning and walk to Brady’s beach for a morning.

7 Aug / We left Bamfield at 0630 to head down the Juan de Fuca Strait with a forecast of light winds increasing to strong westerly late in the day. Juan de Fuca Strait is the 4th and final crux of sailing the west coast of Vancouver Island. If the weather got bad there is nowhere to hide and no safe port until reaching Port Renfrew. At first the wind was non-existent but as we approached the entrance to Port Renfrew a westerly wind quickly kicked up to more than 20kts.

8 Aug / Finally we had a perfect west coast sailing day from Port Renfrew to CFSA in Esquimalt Hbr (53nm) sailing downwind with the spinnaker almost the entire way. This completed our circumnavigation of Vancouver island after 78 days and covering 986 nautical miles.

– Ellery & Chari

We left Tahsis and headed back to the west coast, to Friendly Cove on Nootka Island. This is where the Nootka Island Lighthouse is located. I love seeing the lighthouses on the west coast. They are a beacon of safety, which I have appreciated immensely as we make our way down the west coast. We were still buddy boating with SV Kyrie at this point and so we decided to raft up in Friendly Cove. The kids love going on each other’s boats and us parents enjoyed visiting in the cockpit. After our girls were asleep we spent the evening on SV Kyrie sharing salty tales and killing a bottle of wine.

We were watching the forecast as we planned to head south and round Estivan Point soon. The weather is so changeable and when we saw the forecast for the following day was ok, we along with SV Kyrie decided to go for it and head to Hot Springs Cove on the other side of Estivan Point. Estivan Point is crux number 3 because it juts out quite a few miles into the Pacific Ocean.

When we headed south for Estivan Point the next morning, the conditions did not seem that bad at first but they worsened throughout the day. It turned out to be a rough passage. We had one reef in the main, winds were SE 15-25 on the nose, seas had 4 foot chop on top of 2 m swell and heavy rain! It was awful but we got through it! Amelia is the only one who vomited. Maddie played happily below in the cabin, oblivious to the conditions.

We were so grateful to finally make it into Hot Springs Cove. We were exhausted and soaking wet. It had rained so hard that water was getting into our boat in various places. We spent the rest of the afternoon drying out with the heater on in the cabin and relaxing, while enjoying some homemade soup that Ellery made. SV Kyrie headed out to the hot springs that evening but we had to get the girls to bed and decided we would go first thing the next morning.

We left our boat at 0730 and stopped by SV Kyrie to say goodbye. We knew they were heading onto Ucluelet and we wanted to wish them well. We tied up the dinghy at the public dock and started the 2km trek along a boardwalk to the hot springs. I carried Amelia, hoping she would catch a quick nap and Maddie walked along with us asking about all of the carvings on the boardwalk. For many years boaters have been carving their boat names in the boards. Apparently this practice is no longer encouraged as many of the boards need replacing. It is cool to see and we found the name of a boat Ellery’s family used to have and a board Ellery and his friends carved when they kayaked to Hot Springs Cove years ago.

We arrived at the hot springs at 0820 and were the first ones there! In fact, we had it to ourselves until we left at 0930 when the first tour group was heading in! Having it to ourselves was great because the pools are pretty small! It was low tide, so all three pools were quite hot but the lowest one was less hot, more like a really warm bath. Ellery and I took turns taking care of the girls so we could lay in the water and have a good soak. We let Maddie go in up to her bum with frequent breaks and Amelia really just got her feet wet. We were lucky with the weather too because it was sunny and already felt warm. There is also a warm/hot waterfall which Ellery and I took advantage of. Like most adventures with kids, going to the hot springs was a lot of work but totally worth it.

The hot springs were a good start to a rest day and we enjoyed spending the rest of the day relaxing, cleaning up and drying out more of our stuff from our wet sail the day before.

Hot Springs Cove is quite a tourist destination and we watched as boats and float planes came and went all day. The girls saw so many float planes that they got tired of rushing out of the cabin to see them!

From Hot Springs Cove, we decided to head to Tofino via the inside route and check out an anchorage recommmended by SV Cariba. We call it Obstruction Anchorage because it is off Obstruction Island. We enjoyed a lovely, quiet sail and were thrilled with the calm, secure anchorage. We slept so well that night, it was one of those nights where I forgot I was even on a boat because it was so calm. The next morning, I took Maddie out for a paddle to explore the anchorage and chat with the other folks anchored on a power boat nearby.

Upon leaving obstruction anchorage, we were headed to Tofino but we saw a large fog bank and decided to stop by Ahousat at the store.

We were able to sail most of the way to Tofino, through calm inlets and passages. We saw a couple of sea lions along the way. SV Cariba had said they anchored just around the corner from Tofino in Browning Passage and we thought we would try it. We anchored, had dinner and took the dinghy into Tofino to take the girls to the park. We were stoked to see a brand new playground in Tofino and the girls were happy to run around.

We decided to spend the next day in Tofino because we needed another rest day. It is also interesting to explore a town from the water. We see things from the water that we never see when we arrive in a town by car. We also realized that we don’t often go into the town of Tofino, but rather just stay out at the beach and we found that it had grown immensely.

We spent the morning at the playground, while we did our laundry at the local laundromat. We met a lovely family at the park with 3 kids from Kelowna. They were camping in their campervan so we were swapping stories on living with children in small spaces.

It was also Ellery and I’s 8th wedding anniversary so we decided we should all go out for fish and chips for lunch. We have been so busy with this trip and had not found each other a present and or even written in our cards. Maddie must have heard us discussing this because she said “you didn’t write in your cards but they are still filled with love.” She knows it. We certainly couldn’t survive this trip without a lot of love.

We explored a bit more of Tofino and then headed back to Arctic Loon just in time for the rain to start. We were also a little surprised to find quite a strong current ripping by our boat. Needless to say, we didn’t get the best sleep that night and were happy to weigh anchor in the morning.

The next morning, we left Tofino early to sail to Ucluelet. We were rewarded with beautiful views of Tofino as we sailed by. It was interesting to see all the beaches we like to walk and surf when we drive out this way. The winds were light and the seas were calm. Off Long Beach, Ellery noticed a fin flapping in the water and upon closer inspection we realized it was a sunfish. We circled the boat around to get a closer look and then headed on our way, only to see another sunfish. The second one was a bit closer to our boat and were able to get some better photos. The girls were both napping but I did wake Maddie to ask her if she wanted to see a sunfish, but she said no! Oh well. Ellery and I thought it was super cool!

The rest of our passage to Ucluelet was pretty uneventful and I enjoyed seeing yet another lighthouse. Amphitrite Lighthouse is just before you round the point and head up the inlet into Ucluelet. I had been looking forward to going to Ucluelet for quite some time. I think for me, I knew that it meant that we were almost back home. I have really enjoyed sailing the west coast but it sure has been more challenging than the inside passage. I also knew that the aquarium in Ucluelet was awesome and I couldn’t wait to take the girls there. https://uclueletaquarium.org/

We tied up to the public dock in Ucluelet and paid for 2 nights. We knew there was a storm coming the next day and it seemed like a secure place to ride it out. Not long after we tied up, we headed into town to the aquarium. This is the best aquarium I have been to with the girls. The main reason is that they have lots of touch tanks full of creatures from the intertidal zone. The aquarium is the first catch and release aquarium in Canada.

The next day we headed out early to buy groceries and supplies so we could return to Arctic Loon before the deluge of rain came that was forecasted. We decided to buy a tarp to cover to put over the boom, covering the cockpit in an attempt to keep us dryer and allow less water to make its way in. We are sure glad we did because starting that afternoon, it rained so hard for at least 8 hours! We were glad we spend the morning out, at the aquarium again because we spent the whole afternoon cooped up in the boat, hiding from the rain.

Luckily we had dinner plans with some old friends, Angela and Matt who live in Ucluelet. They came by Arctic Loon first to check it out and then we all walked in the pouring rain to the Floathouse Restaurant right near the public dock. Dinner out with toddlers is always crazy but it was worth it once again!

Next post: Barkley Sound and home via the Juan de Fuca Strait

– Chari

Along the west coast of Vancouver Island, there are 4 cruxes. Cape Scott, Brooks Peninsula, Estivan Point and Juan de Fuca Strait.

Our next next crux was Brooks Peninsula. Brooks Peninsula juts 20 km or 12 miles out into the Pacific Ocean. It was untouched by the last ice age and has a mountainous landscape with a rugged coastline and sandy beaches. It is a provincial park and can be accessed by boat or float plane.

Solander Island is an Ecological Reserve 1.5 km or 0.9 miles west of the Brooks Peninsula. It is closed to the public to protect the habitat of nesting sea birds. It is here that we heard we may be able to see puffins.

We planned to sail around the outside of Solander Island. The day we left Winter Harbour, we saw 6-7 Orcas playing in the waves just off Quatsino Lighthouse. It turned out to be so calm that we came close enough to Solander Island to see a huge colony of fur seals on the reefs nearby. We luckily had a flock of 20-50 puffins fly around our boat a couple of times so we were able to get a good view of them with the binoculars.

We anchored in the Bunsby Islands that night and had a peaceful night sleep after a beautiful sunset. It is here that we saw prominent sea stacks and sea otters. The following morning we woke up to a calm bay, that I decided it was time to get the stand up paddle board out again and take Maddie exploring. Not far from Arctic Loon, we found a huge Lions Mane jellyfish, which we watched for quite a while as it slowly came up to the surface. Maddie was fascinated.

From the Bunsby Islands, we headed to the Community of Kyuquot in Walters Cove. We had heard good things about Walters Cove and wanted to check it out. Sue from SV Cariba told me that there was a restaurant/cafe there with wifi so that is what I was looking forward to. Bob, Ellery’s father used to fish out of Kyuquot many years ago and so I think we were all interested in seeing the area.

As soon as we arrived in Walters Cove, we saw SV Kyrie, the catamaran we had met in Winter Harbour with kids onboard. The youngest kid on SV Kyrie was a nearly 5 year old named Megan, who Maddie had befriended and was super excited to see again.

It turned out to be a pretty rainy, windy day so we decided to stay at the dock in Kyuquot, tied up alongside SV Kyrie. We explored the little village, went to the store to get some fresh groceries and checked out the cafe but unfortunately it was closed that day. We saw a sea otter sleeping by a dock so we watched him for while. We spent more time hanging with the crew on SV Kyrie, which was great for the kids and inspiring for us as they are sailing down to Mexico and beyond.

From Walters Cove, we headed to Rugged Point Marine Park the following day to spend some time on a sandy west coast beach. We anchored in a sheltered bay and rowed the dinghy ashore, then walked a short trail to a lovely sandy beach with some small waves crashing onshore. We had lunch on the beach before walking back through the lush rainforest back to our dinghy.

Next we headed to the Nuchatlitz and anchored nearby SV Kyrie. The next morning we met up with the crew of SV Kyrie on the beach and shared some brownies we had made. Maddie loved playing with Megan and Rachel, as they caught crabs and collected shells. Maddie is really collecting her own treasures these days, which she keeps in a yogurt container.

At this point, we decided that we needed some more fresh food, showers and laundry so we decided to head to Tahsis. This meant that instead of going on the outside of Nootka Island, we would go through the inlets to Tahsis. SV Kyrie was also heading to Tahsis so the kids would get to play together again, which was totally a plus.

We tied up to the marina in Tahsis, which turned out to be our most expensive night ever at a dock. It was worth it though for a few reasons. The marina is a hub for sport fisherman and so there was lots of opportunity for Maddie to see various fish. They also had a touch tank, full of all sorts of ocean creatures like sea stars, urchins, sea cucumbers and crabs. Maddie and the kids from SV Kyrie spent a lot of time in there, wet up to their elbows. There was also a restaurant on the dock where we all enjoyed beer and nachos. We had showers, did laundry, got a few fresh provisions and got some wifi! Then, the morning we planned to leave Tahsis, Bob decided he needed to leave us and was able to hitch a ride back home. We are so grateful for his company and he sure bonded with the girls!

From Tahsis we headed to Friendly Cove, back out on the west coast!