Sailing

At the end of our last post we had just completed our circumnavigation of Vancouver Island and were tied up at our home club in Victoria. It was very tempting to just pack up the boat and go home. We still had more than a month left of free time and although the lure of long hot showers, a big bed, lots of living space and other modern conveniences were waiting for us at home, we decided to keep cruising. We reprovisioned at our home club and set off again for the Gulf Islands in the hopes of a slower pace with no particular agenda other than some beach time rest and relaxation.

It soon became apparent that we still needed a plan for our Gulf Islands cruising vacation in order to have something to look forward to and to keep the kids entertained. First we committed to staying two nights at every anchorage. Second, we contacted everyone we knew in the local area who lived at the waters edge to arrange visits and social time. This included stops in Cowichan Bay and Maple Bay. Third we attended our sailing clubs summer rendezvous held at Port Browning. Finally we used our reciprocal privileges at the SaltSpring Island Sailing Club and Maple Bay Yacht Club to make going ashore a little easier.

Maddie exploring the “shipwrecks” in Port Browning

We finally returned to our slip at CFSA on Sunday 24 August, stayed onboard that night and promptly put our girls in daycare the next morning. This genius plan hatched by Chari allowed us to unpack and clean the boat without having the kids in the way.

Statistics 2019

Total number of days living onboard 95. Total distance traveled was 1135 nautical miles and daily average of 18 miles when we moved. The longest one day passages were Cascade Harbour to Winter Harbour – 66 nm, Refuge Cove to Shoal Bay 54 nm and Port Renfrew to Esquimalt 53 nm. We stayed at 18 different docks and 41 anchorages. We were at anchor 67 nights and tied to a dock for 28. Highest winds felt at anchor 30+ kts at Mansons Landing, underway we had winds of 25+ kts rounding Hesquiat Peninsula. We also navigated 11 different passes that had potential max currents of over 5kts.

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!

I apologize for the delay in blogging but it sure is the wild west coast out here! This is the case for numerous reasons: watching the weather and route planning have become full time jobs, we are exhausted at the end of every day and there is barely any cell service or wifi to be found.

When we left Port Hardy, we planned to spend one night at Bull Harbour and round Cape Scott the following day.

As we were doing our planning to cross the Nahwitti Bar and round Cape Scott, we realized all the factors that had to align. We needed a weather window, calm seas and light winds. We needed to cross the Nahwitti Bar at either high water or low water slack. Finally we needed the conditions at Cape Scott to be reasonable for rounding.

A tricky part was that high water slack is the best time to cross the Nahwitti Bar but it was around 0200 or late afternoon. This means we would need to weigh anchor and head out in the dark around 0100 or wait around all day and leave at 1400. We didn’t want to leave in the dark but we also didn’t want to leave too late in the day because it was a 32 mile run to the nearest safe anchorage in Sea Otter Cove.

We ended up having two weather days before meeting two other sailing cruisers, Max on Maggie May II and Pete on Eagle Wing. We decided to try catching high water slack at 0200 and travel together with them around the cape. I guess you could say we were keen to get going. Bull Harbour is very protected but there is nowhere to go ashore so we all felt pretty cooped up. So we weighed anchor at 0100 and hit several logs in the dark as we headed out of Bull Harbour. We had just turned into the main channel when we decided to turn around as the seas were so very rough and unpleasant. We headed back into Bull Harbour along with Max and Pete who also turned around anchored once again and went back to sleep by 0300.

We woke up and decided to give it another go at low water slack this time, around 0900. Again, us along with Max and Pete headed out of Bull Harbour. It was better this time but once we were able to see the Nahwitti Bar, we were shocked to find big breaking waves straight across the entire channel. The other sailboats were ahead of us and we were watching them and chatting on the radio to see how they found it. This time we came just onto the Nahwitti Bar before we decided to turn around because the conditions were just too lumpy. We said goodbye on the radio to the other boats that were continuing on. At this point we thought we might not try again and ran east down Goletas channel and Bate pass.

Since we had attempted at low water slack, that meant once we turned around we had the current with us so we sailed downwind with the spinnaker, while the current helped us along. We decided we couldn’t stomach another night in Bull Harbour and we were not sure what our plans were so we headed to Cascade Harbour on Nigei Island, where we knew we would be able to get the kids out on shore. At this point, it had been 3 days since we had been ashore.

Once anchored in Cascade Harbour, we enjoyed a walk along a boardwalk across a small island to an unoccupied house overlooking Queen Charlotte Strait.

That night we looked at the weather for Cape Scott again and after some more planning, we decided that we would give it one more shot the next day. If the conditions were not good, then we would head back down through the inside passage. If it did work out, we planned to anchor in Sea Otter Cove on the west coast.

The next morning we were delighted to watch 3-4 Humpbacks as we headed through Bate Passage towards Goletas Channel. Both girls were napping so I took the opportunity to get out our good camera with our zoom lens to attempt to get some photos of the whales. I was in my element here and decided that no matter what happened that day, it was going to be a good one!

When we came to the Nahwitti Bar, it looked manageable so we kept going and ended up crossing it no problem, all while the girls were still sleeping.

We had 3-4 foot waves on the bow as we approached Cape Scott but once we were off the cape, it was glassy and sunny! We finally had our chance and picked the right weather window!

It turned out the wind was too light to fully sail so we motor sailed most of the way. It was beautiful and we continued to have calm seas all day so we passed Sea Otter Cove and continued onto Winter Harbour.

We were grateful to have Ellery’s father Bob onboard as he helped with cruising duties and with the girls. I’m not sure we would have even attempted this without him.

We were pretty excited to get to Winter Harbour because we would be able to tie up to the dock, go ashore, have showers and hopefully find some wifi.

Just as we were coming into the harbour, the two cruisers we had met in Bull Harbour and attempted the Nahwitti Bar with, saw our boat and radioed us to say hi. It can be a bit isolating out here so the VHF radio is our lifeline to connecting with other boaters and we love running into familiar boats and faces.

A couple of minutes later, we saw SV Cariba, a boat we were actually hoping to meet up with in Winter Harbour. We met Sue and Brian on Cariba a couple of times last year out cruising and then we saw them in Poet’s Cove on Pender Island at the beginning of our trip this year. They planned to sail around Vancouver Island clockwise by going up the west coast first. We were following their progress on their blog S/V Cariba up the west coast and hoped to meet up with them at some point and were so happy to see them in Winter Harbour!

Needless to say, we had a great couple of nights at the dock in Winter Harbour. We joined Sue and Brian onboard Cariba for an evening of drinks and salty tales.

We also met another cruising boat, a catamaran called SV Kyrie. More about this boat in the next post because we ended up cruising with them for a bit because they have kids on board!

We have spent the last week and a half exploring the North Island. Our first visit to Port McNeill We arrived after a dense fog crossing from Hanson Island. At the worst, we had only 1-2 boat lengths visibility. I found it a bit nerve wracking but there was no wind, the seas were calm, it was early in the day so there was not much boat traffic and we sounded the sound signal every 2 minutes. Amelia actually slept through this which was amazing! The fog finally started to thin and lift as we came into Port McNeill harbour.

We tied up to the public dock for 2 nights so we could do all our reprovisioning and a few repairs. Port McNeill is an excellent place for provisioning as the grocery store is only a short walk and they let you roll the cart back to the dock. There is also a marine store and a cafe close by. We stocked up on dry goods for the next 4-6 weeks. Ellery repaired the hole in our dinghy for the third time and did an oil change on our engine. We also dealt with our garbage, recycling and filled our water tanks.

It was a busy couple days but we did find some time for fun with the girls. We walked up the hill to the pool one warm afternoon last week and enjoyed a swim in the outdoor pool.

We did take the ferry to Sointula on Malcom Island from Port McNeill as well. It’s a short 30 minute ferry ride and we were lucky enough to see a Humpback Whale breaching multiple time right in front of the ferry! Once in Sointula we asked at the visitor centre where the closest playground was and we headed straight there. It was a large fenced area with heaps of different play toys and climbers. The girls played for over an hour and we met a couple local families as well. I love talking to other parents and getting the scoop on the area. We had just enough time to find lunch before getting on the ferry back and we enjoyed delicious fish tacos at Coho Joe’s.

After our busy couple of days in Port McNeill we headed back out to our favourite anchorage on Hanson Island. Here we spent more time out in the dinghy looking for whales and saw Humpbacks, Transient Orca whales and more Dalls Porpoises. We also had another beach fire one afternoon. The girls are loving being on the beach. Amelia spends her time at the waters edge while Maddie is always off in search of treasure. There continued to be fog every morning so we enjoyed slower mornings.

Our second trip to Port McNeill we left after the fog had already started to lift and had better visibility. We headed to Alert Bay on Cormorant Island and tied up to the visitor dock for a couple of hours. We walked to the First Nations Burial Ground to introduce the girls to the history and culture of the area, including seeing the Totem poles. We found lunch and then headed back to Arctic Loon so we could make it to Port McNeill in the mid afternoon.

We anchored on the north side of the bay for three nights. It was a short dinghy ride across to Port McNeill so we went into town to do more errands and visit the local playground, pool and the library. The main reason we returned to Port McNeill was to get Amelia her 18 month immunizations at the health clinic. These few days in Port McNeill were cool, rainy and we used our diesel heater often to keep the cabin warm and dry.

Our last day in Port McNeill we ran into our cruising friend Victor and we invited him to come over to Arctic Loon later that evening. He did and brought us a bag of frozen prawns he had caught! It was great to catch up and the prawns were sure yummy when we cooked them up the next day!

Before heading to Port Hardy we anchored for one night in Beaver Harbour which was beautiful and calm. We had a view out to Queen Charlotte Strait and to a couple shell beaches nearby.

We spent the afternoon at the beach in Beaver Harbour and really enjoyed ourselves. The girls find things on the beach like shells or crabs and are entertained for quite a while. This gives us a break too!

Now we are in Port Hardy to get some final provisions before we head around Cape Scott and down the West Coast of Vancouver Island.

Ellery’s father Bob is meeting us in Port Hardy and will join us as far as Ucluelet. We are excited to have him onboard to help with all parts of cruising, including taking care of the girls.

When in Port Hardy, we walked from the public dock in Hardy Bay to the main street in Port Hardy. We passed the elementary school on the way and stopped so the girls could play. Afterwards we continued into town and found Cafe Guido, an eatery, gallery and bookstore. Best part was the bookstore had a kids area with a bin of duplo! Maddie was content but Amelia just wanted to play with all the books.

We have a few more errands to run but we are almost ready to round the cape!

I will update you with our progress down the coast as much as I can, as wifi and cell service allows.

– Chari

We made it to the Broughton Archipelago a week ago. This is much farther than we went on Arctic Loon last year and we are so excited and proud to be here.

It is now day 45 of our sailing trip. We have covered 485 nautical miles. We have spent 35 nights at anchor, 9 nights tied up to the dock and had 15 rest days.

It took us 3 days to get to the Broughton Archipelago from Refuge Cove and a bit of planning beforehand so we could navigate the various rapids and narrows safely.

We left Refuge Cove early on the morning of June 25th to head up through Lewis and Calm channel to the Yulculta Rapids, Gillard Passage and then through Devils Hole at Dent Rapids in Cordero Channel. We had made friends with another couple on SV Aeolian back in Lund and they met us in Refuge Cove the day before to head up to the Broughtons with us. We choose this day to head up through the rapids because slack current (when the flow of water changes direction) was late morning and because it was during a neap tide cycle so the max ebb and max flood would not be as strong and the period of slack tide would be longer. Together Ellery and I checked the currents, tides and the weather to come up with a plan. Ellery went even further to figure out time gates so we knew whether or not we were on time. Our planning worked out well and we went through the rapids when they were almost glassy.

We finished this day in Shoal Bay, which had a large grassy lawn that the girls could run around on and Maddie tried flying her kite. We also joined a group of cruisers who were playing music and singing on the dock. I love spontaneous moments like these and I know Maddie loved hearing the music.

The second day, we had to make it to Greene Point and Whirlpool rapids near slack to go through safely. These two rapids are ten miles apart but slack current happens at nearly the same time for both. This meant we had to hit Greene point rapids an hour early pushing into an opposing current, then at Whirlpool rapids we were an hour late and got pulled through with the strengthening ebb current. We anchored in Forward Harbour that night and rafted up stern to bow with our friends Todd and Maya on SV Aeolian. We spent the afternoon at a beach near the boat with the girls and they were so happy just throwing rocks in the water and looking for treasure.

The third day of our transit up to the Broughtons would mean going north up Johnstone Strait for 12 miles and then transitting the narrow and shallow Chatham channel, followed by the Blowhole (another narrow and shallow pass), which would take us to Lagoon Cove for the night. Lagoon Cove Marina had a neatly manicured grassy lawn with a few games to play and a swing so the girls were happy to have some more freedom to move their bodies.

We anchored in Lagoon Cove for one night and then headed to Village Island the next day. This is when we really felt like we were in the Broughtons, it felt very familiar from our days of sea kayak guiding.

Village Island is the former location of a First Nations community called Mamalilaculla (‘MI’MKWAMLIS) during the late 1800s and early 1900s it was a thriving village with a schoolhouse. The village has been continually inhabited for many thousands of years as is evident by the large midden. However in the 1920s most of the village relocated to Alert Bay. It is very overgrown now and the totem poles have fallen over but from the water we could still see the old house posts. We did not go ashore because we did not see anyone around to ask permission from first. We did enjoy exploring the area at low tide in the dinghy and listening to all the bird songs and raven calls.

The evening we anchored it was still raining and I used the opportunity the scrub the decks. It had been bothering me for a while that they were dirty but it never seems like the right time. It was so peaceful and calm while it was raining and I was scrubbing the deck, when I heard a blow, the sound a whale makes when it exhales at the surface. I turned and saw the large back and small dorsal fin of a Humpback Whale. I quickly called Ellery to tell him to come up but the whale never surfaced nearby again. It felt like a gift, seeing that whale. It reminded me why we came to this area and what we want our girls to experience too.

From Village Island, we headed to Echo Bay on Gilford Island, another place we had been before. Echo Bay was occupied by First Nations people for thousands of years until the smallpox epidemic devastated the community and those who survived moved away about 150 years ago. Around 1910, pioneers and their families came and settled here, building a store and fuel dock. Today there is a busy marina with a store selling groceries, which is one reason why we came here.

We planned to anchor in Echo Bay but on arrival we realized how small and shallow the bay was and saw a sailboat washed up on the beach with a ‘no anchoring’ sign so we thought we better not chance it. We tied up to the cliffside dock at Echo Bay, which was slightly cheaper than the main side because it was not connected and we had to dinghy across. We were not bothered by this and were actually happy to be further away from all the hub-bub. While alongside Echo Bay we did some laundry, used the wifi and bought some fresh fruits, veggies, dairy and eggs.

Another reason we came to Echo Bay was to visit Billy’s Museum. Billy Proctor is 84 years old and has lived on Gilford Island his whole life while working as a commercial fisherman. He has collected a lot of stuff, or ‘junk’ as he calls it, over the years and has a museum for people to come and visit. Ellery and I had visited together about 10 years ago and we were excited to go back and see Billy again.

The morning that we planned to leave, we got up early and hiked about 25 minutes (toddler pace) over to Billy’s Museum. He wasn’t there when we arrived but we were able to look in a Trapper’s cabin that he had built and a cabin made to look like the old Echo Bay schoolhouse. Billy arrived as we were having our morning snack, we chatted with him and then went into his museum to explore. We found the history interesting and Maddie enjoyed looking at all of Billy’s junk. She has recently started collecting her own treasures everyday, she puts them in a yogurt container and pulls them out everyday to look at them. It must have been amazing to see all the stuff Billy has collected over his lifetime.

A sailing friend of mine said her husband tends to ‘work the marina.’ What she means is that her husband goes to help other boaters tie up their boat and then gets chatting and doesn’t return to his own boat for quite awhile. At the time I didn’t think Ellery did this but I realize now that he does in his own way. Ellery will see a boat he likes and then go chat with the owner. He loves to get invited onboard. If this happens, then Ellery can be gone for awhile. I have figured this out and now ask him to take Maddie with him, which actually seems to get them invited on more boats!

Ellery really wanted to do a spinnaker run so he suggested we head up to Tribune Channel and sail downwind to Kwatsi Bay. We had not planned on heading further north but we also love the fjords up here with the steep mountains that plunge right into the ocean. We had a lovely downwind sail with the spinnaker almost all the way to Kwatsi Bay. At one point Ellery jumped in the dinghy while we were sailing along and zipped around the boat a short distance away to take some photos of Arctic Loon under sail.

We were pleasantly surprised to see our friends on SV Aeolian tied up to the dock in Kwatsi Bay. We decided to anchor in the bay with a stern tie ashore but we went for a dinghy ride to the dock after dinner to say hi.

After Kwatsi Bay, we sailed into the wind back through Tribune Channel tacking back and forth into a fresh westerly breeze with full sail up. We wanted to anchor in the enticing Burdwood Group but there was just too much current running through the anchorage which made for tricky anchoring. After two tries we changed course and headed into the shelter of nearby Shoal Harbour for a peaceful night at anchor.

The following day we motored through Arrow Passage to the open waters of Queen Charlotte Strait. We were hoping to sail down to Hanson Island but the wind died just as we were approaching open water and we were left motoring on glassy calm waters. This enabled the girls and I to hang out on the bow of the boat while Ellery navigated. It wasn’t long before we were seeing blows from Humpback Whales all around us. We kept watching and finally they were close enough that we could see their backs with dorsal fin when they came up for air and we were able to point them out to Maddie. We saw a couple tail flukes and that was easier for Maddie to pick out so she was happy to see those! Amelia was more interested in walking around the deck. After seeing quite a few Humpback Whales, we headed to Hanson Island where we planned to anchor for a few days. We were in need of a couple rest days and hoped to see more whales.

The morning of our first rest day we had a slow morning before heading out in the dinghy to explore around Hanson Island. We saw a couple of Dalls Porpoises not far away but when they did not come closer Ellery started up the dinghy and we headed back to Arctic Loon. Then out of nowhere, 2 Dalls Porpoises started bow riding and surfing in our wake. It was amazing! We could clearly see them swimming in the water under and beside our boat. Maddie was pretty excited about this and afterwards kept asking, where are the Dalls Porpoise? Like they were going to be with us for ever now!

In the afternoon we circumnavigated Hanson Island in the dinghy. The first 15 minutes or so the girls were pretty fussy and would not sit still but then they fell asleep and napped for a hour while we enjoyed the beautiful Broughton Archipelago.

It is noticeably cooler up here and we have enjoyed returning to our boat and turning on our diesel heater to warm up the cabin.

Our second rest day, we took the dinghy across Johnstone Strait to Telegraph Cove in the morning. I had really wanted to go to Telegraph Cove with the girls because we have been there many times before and I thought Maddie would really enjoy seeing the Whale Interpretive Centre. We did not want to take Arctic Loon because it is a very small harbour with little room to manoeuvre and we would have had to call ahead to see if there was a slip available big enough for our boat. It was just as easy to dinghy the 5 miles over there and the wind was calm so it was a pleasant ride. Amelia napped almost the whole way.

Telegraph Cove was almost the way we remembered it. We tied up to the dock and called the Dockside Marina to see if that would be ok. We ended up paying to tie up for 4 hours so we could do laundry, have showers and dispose of our garbage. It worked out super well because at the top of the ramp, there was the Seahorse Cafe, which had a kids area with a bunch of toys! I got a coffee and watched the girls while Ellery did the laundry.

We all went over the Whale Interpretive Centre and I am so glad we did. They had done a bit of a reno but they still have quite a few cetacean skeletons, including a large Fin Whale skeleton that hangs from the ceiling. Maddie was interested in all sorts of things. We were able to show her the skeletons of the a Dalls Porpoise and a Humpback Whale, which we have recently seen in the wild.

Then in the afternoon, we went to a beach not far from where Arctic Loon was anchored and made a campfire on the beach. It was such a good time. Maddie collected treasure (mussel and crab shells, rocks) and tried catching fish in her net. Amelia threw rocks into the water and tried to chew on some driftwood. Ellery stoked the fire, while I got out the snacks. Ellery and I took turns chasing Amelia because she kept trying to walk a bit too deep into the ocean (she was wearing her life jacket of course) but we did not want her to get too wet.

We had already found some garbage on the beach and picked it up when Ellery had an idea that every beach we go to, we should do a mini beach clean up. I bought a children’s book for Maddie in Lund called Ocean Champions by a local author Michelle Mech and the book is about the problem of plastic garbage in the ocean. We ended up finding a fair amount of garbage on the small beach. Maddie now wants to pick up garbage everywhere!

Check back in to hear about our adventures as we continue to head north to Port Hardy.

Here I am sitting on the deck of Upcoast Summers in Refuge Cove drinking a beer and trying to pump out another blog post. It sounds lovely and actually I am taking some much needed time by myself off the boat. I had hopes of posting more than once a week but here I am barely writing once a week. It is partly due to the lack of cell service and also because we are actually quite busy!

You might be wondering what life is really like onboard our sailboat with two little girls. It’s fun and crazy all at the same time! I heard this once and now I totally believe it: the highs are higher and the lows are lower.

I think the reason for this is that we are not on a holiday, this is our life right now. We didn’t sail off into the sunset and live happily ever after. We are still living our normal life except we are on a sailboat. Our life is relatively simple. We eat, sail, play, clean, sleep, repeat. Not always in that order.

An example of the highs being higher is what happens when everything just lines up and things feel almost effortless. For us, this was yesterday. It was a rest day at Teakerne Arm. We were all up early as usual and planned to hike the short trail from the head of Teakerne Arm to Cassel Lake for a fresh water swim. We were not sure how the hike would go because although it isn’t long, it is a little steep and sketchy (especially for toddlers) in parts. We also didn’t know if the girls would want to go for a swim and how we would manage them because the bathing rocks by the lake are also steep.

We ended up just going for it and it all worked out really well. Maddie hiked nearly the whole way there and back herself with only a little help along the way. I carried Amelia on my back. Ellery carried our swim suits, towels and snacks. Days like these when the girls are up early actually work to our advantage because we were at Cassel Lake by 0830. Ellery and I took turns swimming, while Maddie sat just at the end of the water watching the little fish, wearing her lifejacket of course. Amelia wanted to go in the water too, so Ellery held her while she splashed around. The water temperature was quite comfortable and it was so peaceful as we were the only people there. We could hear some loons although we did not see them. We all felt fresh afterwards and had a yummy snack before hiking back. We were back home (on Arctic Loon) by 1030. We felt great as if our cups had been filled up once again.

Lowest lows, those are a bit harder to share. We experienced this last week. It involved so many factors. We had been in beautiful Pendrell Sound for a few days swimming and using the stand up paddle board but we hadn’t gotten off the boat on land for at least three days. When we finally did get off the boat, we were in Refuge Cove and we decided to let the girls have ice cream cones when they really should have been napping. This led to epic tantrums and left us scrambling to rein in the day.

We anchored off Refuge Cove that night even though it was a bit windy. I didn’t get much sleep because of the sound of the anchor chain moving on the rocky bottom. I woke up sleep deprived, then we had a busy day sailing to Mansons Landing and to cap it off, the wind really picked up. I didn’t sleep well again because although the rational part of my brain knew we were safely anchored, I just felt concerned about the winds and gusts up to 25 knots. I felt burnt out and exhausted. Ellery and I talked about this and we started to question why we are even doing this trip with such young girls. Some days just feel so hard and we start to question our sanity.

It is hard to articulate but for us, sailing on Arctic Loon is our attempt to slow down, disconnect and bond as a family. We love being together as a family, exploring new places, meeting new people and challenging ourselves.

Questioning our motivations for this trip is not something we do everyday but when it comes up, we have to really dig deep to figure out how to keep going and how to make this work for all of us?

We have to keep it simple. Just like at home when we have too much going on, things fall apart. Out here, I find that the weather can throw off our plans and we need to focus on places that will appeal to the girls so that we don’t feel like we have to be ‘on’ all the time. Just keeping the girls occupied and safe on the boat is totally all consuming and exhausting. Life feels a little bit crazy right now but that is our life.

We try to remember the peaceful, fun and fulfilling moments because those are the ones that keep us going. Like how this morning when both girls crawled into our bed, Maddie pulled Amelia on her lap and started reading to her. Or how Maddie loves playing with her net at the docks, trying to catch fish. Amelia is saying new words everyday and when Amelia cries, Maddie consoles her.

These are some of the moments that keep us going. Our girls are the ones that help us find the joy and make us laugh during a hard day.

After our couple nights of little sleep, we decided to head to Gorge Harbour where we could anchor and use the facilities of the resort: swimming pool, laundry, store and restaurant. This would allow us to feel like we were on a wee vacation. It was still windy but the waves were less and we finally got some restful sleep. We also took some naps, swam in the pool and ran into a cruising friend from last summer. Gorge Harbour was just what we needed to relax.

The funny thing about sailing with young kids is that people often ask us if the girls like sailing. I am not sure Amelia really understands what we are doing and although Maddie does, this is just her life. She likes it because her family is with her and we do fun things together. To her this is normal. In fact, I think Maddie sometimes forgets she is on a sailboat. She certainly doesn’t realize that this is a pretty special experience to have at the age of three. The boat can be moving quite a bit in the water and the girls just keep playing or sleeping, neither are bothered by the motion or are worried for any reason. I try to remember this when I feel overwhelmed because to them everything is totally fine. This is our main goal, to stay safe and enjoy ourselves. Easier said than done.

– Chari

We left Van Anda on Texada early Monday morning and were excited to sail over to Lund. The light winds disappeared shortly and we ended up motoring all the way to Lund. As we motored into Lund Harbour and were about to manoeuvre into our assigned slip to tie up for the night, we suddenly lost propulsion. The engine was still running but we couldn’t go into forward or reverse.

Luckily we were already in the harbour, it was not too busy and there was no wind. Ellery radioed the harbourmaster so she knew the situation and that we’d be tying up on the inside of the floating breakwater. Ellery quickly jumped in our dinghy with a long line tied to the bow and motored to the floating dock and hauled us in by hand. I made sure the fenders and tie up lines were on the port side so that when Arctic Loon came alongside we were ready to tie up. Once we were all tied up and safe we could assess the situation. Thankfully after a quick check in the engine room there was no ingress of water and no catastrophic damage at first glance.

Fairly quickly Ellery radioed the harbourmaster again and asked if we could move over to a slip at the main dock so it was easier for us to get ashore. She assigned us an easily accessible slip and we made a plan for how we would get the boat over. It turns out that other boaters were listening on the radio and heard we were having engine troubles. Another sailor who was tied up on the floating dock heard and came over to offer help. Ellery and this man both got in their dinghys and tied up to either side Arctic Loon at the stern. They used the dinghys to slowly move Arctic Loon over to our assigned slip where the harbourmaster and other boaters were waiting for us to help us tie up. I was on the boat, moving fenders to the starboard side and throwing tie up lines to the people waiting on the dock. The girls were below mostly happy playing together, while eating cheerios. The whole evolution went very smoothly and by noon we were tied up to the main dock.

Ellery immediately got into the engine room to see what the problem was. He found all four of the rubber bushings in the flexible coupling between the transmission and the propeller shaft had let go and would need to be replaced. A few other boaters came by to see what the problem was and if we needed anything. Ellery went up the road about a three minute walk to the local marine mechanic shop and was able to order the exact part we needed and was told it would be here in 2 days.

Overall, it was pretty much best case scenario. We were never in danger, we didn’t need to radio for help or get a tow, it wasn’t a huge problem, and Ellery could fix it once the new parts arrived without needing to hire a mechanic. We were in a little community which had everything we needed for a few days. We were grateful and I was happy that Lund has a great bakery and cafe where I could escape for some “me” time.

Our parts didn’t arrive until Friday morning but we made the most of our few days in Lund. Lund is a bustling little village where cruisers share the public dock with commercial fishermen. Every afternoon we saw fishermen unloading crates and crates of live prawns onto the dock and then using a dolly to haul them up the ramp to a waiting truck.

When we are anchored or tied up we have multiple and sometimes conflicting priorities. Ellery needs to do boat maintenance. I need to occupy the girls and make sure I get some alone time. Then we need to also find time for laundry, showers, groceries and boat cleaning. Finally, we always make time to do something as a family. Of course we also get to have social visits with the other cruisers we meet.

It turned out to be a bit of a heat wave while we were in Lund, so we also needed to all stay cool. We stumbled into a sprinkler watering a grassy area and that was a hit with all of us but especially the girls. We also walked the 1km Lund Loop, checked out all the shops and businesses, had afternoon appies at the Boardwalk Restaurant and of course spent a lot of time at Nancy’s Bakery, which had free wifi.

We even had a friend Jill-Marie and her 5 year old daughter Lily come visit us on the boat and then we all went to get ice cream. It is always great to see old friends and Maddie loved having another little person to play with.

We also had a friend of a friend John offer to have us stay in his cabin just a short drive from Lund. We really appreciated the offer and if our engine parts had taken much longer we may have taken him up on his offer.

We were ready when our parts arrived Friday morning as we had already filled the water tanks, picked up a couple provisions and got rid of our garbage and recycling. We exited Lund harbour at 1130, 30 minutes before the 1200 check out time. We were excited to finally be heading back to Desolation Sound and were excited to stay somewhere new for the night.

– Chari & Ellery

We have spent the last week sailing up the Sunshine Coast and we have been reminded on a daily basis of some of the challenges that come with sailing and this cruising lifestyle.

Our first reminder was when we were sailing out of English Bay after leaving Vancouver. The seas were a little lumpy and uncomfortable and Amelia vomited all over me while she was sitting in my lap. Not long after we got us all cleaned up did Maddie say the dreaded words “I’m not feeling well.” Ellery took Maddie below and tucked her in with a blanket and told her to close her eyes and have a nap. Both girls did end up napping thank goodness and we eventually arrived at our anchorage for the night in Halket Bay, Gambier Island.

Halket Bay is a small anchorage with a large charted rock underwater in the middle that we were careful to avoid when anchoring. No sooner had we anchored when we watched as another sailboat weighed anchor and motored right into the rock 100ft off our beam. Hearing a boat hit a rock is about the worst sound you can hear while out cruising. It was a huge crunch and the sailboat came to a very sudden stop. This sent my heart racing as I felt panicked for them. I reminded myself that we were safely anchored and we would help them if need be.

Ellery immediately jumped in the dinghy and raced over to provide any assistance. The couple were in shock so Ellery coached them through their next steps: Check keel bolts, check engine mounts, check bilge for water. Luckily everything seemed ok and the tide was rising so a few minutes later the Beneateau slipped off the rock and the couple motored away, thanking Ellery and saying “wish us luck.” This was a stark reminder to be careful, use your navigation program and look out and up with your eyes. This couple did have electronic navigation and a depth sounder but for whatever reason they were distracted or not paying close attention to their position. Ellery reassured them that this happens and they now have a little more salt (A.K.A. experience) on their shoulders.

Next it was our chance to make a mistake. Halket Bay is open to the SW which makes it vulnerable to the inflow winds blowing up Howe Sound. The anchorage was lumpy due to the wind waves and the wake from passing BC ferries. Our dinghy ended up getting wedged under the self steering windvane but we didn’t notice until later when we saw the bow section of our dinghy was deflated. There was a tear about 1 inch long and Ellery spent the evening repairing it on deck. It’s not perfect because the dinghy is still losing air and we need to top it up with air a few times a day but it’s good enough for now. The lesson learned is to tie the dinghy up alongside when at anchor instead of letting it drift about near the stern.

A couple days later we were anchoring in Buccaneer Bay and forgot to shorten the dinghy painter line as is standard practice when coming to anchor or up to a dock. The result was the dinghy painter getting wrapped around Arctic Loon’s prop and snapping. Luckily it was very obvious what just happened and I quickly grabbed the end of the remaining dinghy painter and tied it off before it floated away. After we were safely anchored Ellery easily unwrapped the painter from the prop while leaning over the side of the dinghy with a mask and snorkel. I was pretty disappointed that we had made this mistake and so we discussed how to improve next time. We realized that part of the problem is that the girls were distracting us as we were coming to anchor. Now we have a better plan for occupying the girls at critical times such as dropping and hauling up the anchor.

A couple of days later we headed to Deep Bay, Jedediah Island. We anchored here twice last summer and loved it for its calm and peaceful anchorage. Deep Bay is deep and small so it’s best to stern tie to shore using the rings provided in order to accommodate multiple boats safely. I was nervous about anchoring in Deep Bay because in my memory it was a very narrow bay. Our memories are not always accurate and thankfully the bay is not as narrow as I thought. I dropped the anchor while Ellery backed us into position and then jumped in the dinghy to attach our stern line. A couple years ago, another boater showed Ellery a few tips to make stern tying easier. Since then executing a stern tie has been a slick and mostly painless evolution despite having a sailboat that manoeuvres terribly when going astern.

Throughout our 3 nights at anchor we saw a couple boats come into Deep Bay and then leave even though there was lots of room. I started to wonder if maybe people were uncomfortable with stern tying in a small bay. I mentioned this to Ellery and he ended up helping 2 boats stern tie. Jedediah Island is so beautiful that it seemed like a shame if people couldn’t visit it because they were not comfortable with stern tying.

These are just some of the cruising challenges we have encountered on this trip so far and we haven’t even mentioned parenting 2 little girls on a boat! With each challenge, we learn something and try to improve going forward. Ellery really enjoys helping other boaters out and it’s a chance to chat and learn something new as well. One of our favourite parts of cruising is meeting new people.

We ended up thoroughly enjoying Jedediah Island again. We hiked to Home Bay and the girls got to see the old homestead and the wild sheep which roam freely on the island. We had a lovely picnic in the sun next to the homestead. The trail is well worn and mostly flat so the girls hiked most of the way on their own, picking up treasures along the way.

I’m so grateful that Jedediah Island has been designated a park for everyone to enjoy. It is a gem on the coast that I’m sure we will visit again in the future.

– Chari