Fall 2005 sailing trip – Seattle to Gulf Islands

Miscellaneous trip and provisioning notes from our 2+ week sailing vacation in the Gulf Islands in British Columbia.  Unless noted, all meals prepared on the boat – a 1988 C&C 38 sailboat named ‘Sleepwalk’.

Thursday – 9/8

Departed Shilshole Bay Marina, Seattle @7:00 pm

Motored the whole way in pretty choppy seas, swells; wind 15-20 knots.  As we occasionally glimpsed wave crests go by in the darkness above our heads when we were in troughs, we speculated that it was good that it was already dark.  J

Arrived @ Port Ludlow on the Olympic Peninsula at about 12:00 midnight.

Anchored in about 40ft off the marina

Dinner = frozen lasagna, cooked & eaten underway

Friday – 9/9 – day 1

Stayed anchored at Port Ludlow

Spent the day organizing, stowing provisions & gear – had intended to this on the way up Thursday night, but it was too rough to be down below for very long, plus we were tired and needed a day of rest, Thursday was a long day.  Started plowing through the entire Patrick O’Brian book collection.

Brunch = sausage, potato & egg scramble, lattes.  Italian stove-top coffee makers work great for boat lattes.  Fundamental part of the daily routine for the entire trip.

Dinner = chicken & squash curry & rice. 

Saturday 9/10 – day 2

Departed Port Ludlow @ 10:00 am

Stopped at the fuel dock to fill up (8.35 gals diesel)

Crossed the St of Juan de Fuca in totally flat, calm, sunny seas.  No wind at all; motored the whole way.  Baked zucchini muffins during the passage.

Arrived @ Victoria Inner Harbour 6:45 pm

Cleared customs (by phone @ the customs dock), then moored at the city dock in front of the Empress Hotel and the Parliament buildings.  Provisioned wine (beyond the good stuff we brought with) & liquor at The Strath on Douglas Street – nice wine selection. 

Surprisingly quiet night for being right in the middle of the city.  The marina was busy, but everybody was pretty mellow.  Great location.

Breakfast = yogurt, lattes

Lunch = grilled turkey, cheddar & tomato sandwiches

Dinner = sushi @ Japanese Village on Broughton Street in Victoria.  Sammy the sushi chef is The Man.

Sunday 9/11 – day 3

Departed Victoria 11:00 am (after the final water-taxi ballet show of the season in the harbor in front of the marina.  Who knew?)

Went east around Discovery Island, then north through Sidney Channel & John Passage.  Sailed most of the day.  Superb sailing all day, rarely less than 7 kts of boat speed.  A bit hairy at the end – we probably waited too long to drop the mainsail, and the wind was up and we didn’t have quite as much maneuvering room as we would normally have allowed.

Arrived at Royal Cove, Portland Island at about 7:00 pm. 

Trip log = 106 nm.  GPS = N 48°44.063’ ; W 123°22.327’

Anchored in 14-20 feet (saw a low of 9.9 at low tide – cutting it a little close for a 7.5’ draft) and used a stern-tie line to tie to shore (convenient metal loop anchored into the rock on shore). 

Nice spot, some rollers from passing ferries, but not bad at all.  3-4 other boats in the cove.  Shore tie worked well, but may want to get some more line (would have been easier if the line was a little longer).

Breakfast = Starbucks in Victoria, lattes & scones

Lunch = oven toasted ham, cheddar & tomato sandwiches.

Dinner = teriyaki flank steak, fried rice, sautéed swiss chard.  Turley 2002 Dogtown Vineyard Zinfandel.  Mmmmm.

Monday 9/12 – Day 4

Departed Royal Cove at 10:30am

Arrived at Tod Inlet, Vancouver Island at 3:15pm. 

Anchored in 25 ft (+10 tide)

Trip log = 119 nm.  GPS = N 48°33.569’ ; W 123°28.091’

Nice easy, lazy sail in light air with flat water down the length of Saanich Inlet.  Good current push made steady 3 – 3.5 knots even with half that in boat speed.  Amazing slow motor into Tod Inlet.  Great spot.  Butchart cove also looked good, but very small and all the mooring buoys were full.  Tod was definitely the nicer anchorage.  Looked like there are trails on shore that can take you to Butchart Gardens, but we didn’t go ashore.  This turned out to be the most picturesque and sheltered anchorage of the trip.

Removed the 2^nd jib halyard & topping lift, messenger lines in place.  This cleaned up unused lines that we were always moving from one place to another on the foredeck.

Breakfast = zucchini muffins, lattes

Lunch = grilled steak, cheddar & tomato sandwiches (leftover teriyaki steak)

Dinner = pork chops, new potatoes, tomato grits

Tuesday 9/13 – Day 5

Departed Tod Inlet at 10:30 am

Another sunny day.  Motored up Saanich Inlet & took showers while underway.  Then sailed most of the way – Satellite Channel, Swanson Channel, Trincomali Channel. 

Arrived at James Bay, Prevost Island at 5:15pm.

Anchored in 34 ft (+9 tide)

Trip log = 141.4 nm.  GPS = N 48°50.461’ ; W 123°23.865’

Very mellow sailing all day, mostly off the wind at 90 – 120 degrees.  Surprisingly breezy when we arrived in James Bay, but very quiet by dinner time.  Two other boats in the bay, some campers on the west shore who appear to have arrived by kayak. 

Breakfast = zucchini muffins & lattes

Lunch = chop salad w/ tuna

Dinner = gnocchi with chicken & tomato sauce, creamed spinach.

Wednesday 9/14 – Day 6

Departed James Bay at 11:15

Arrived at Ganges, Saltspring Island at 12:15

Topped off diesel & water, unloaded trash, got terrible lattes, bought a few groceries and more beer (Granville Island Brewing, English Bay Pale Ale.  Good Vancouver microbrew.  J)

Departed Ganges at 2:00

Arrived at Princess Bay, Wallace Island at 5:40.

Anchored in 35 ft (+9 tide)

Trip log = 161.7 nm.  GPS = N 48°56.597’ ; W 123°33.355’

Nice mellow broad reach sailing up Trincomali Channel in the late afternoon.  The shore along Galiano Island is so deep that you could get close enough to get fouled in the trees before you saw shallows (we didn’t get quite that close).  The bay was fairly crowded.  About 8 other boats in Princess Bay, a couple tied to shore with stern ties.  We anchored toward the head of the bay.  It might have been nice to get a bit further in, but we preferred not to anchor right in the middle of a crowd.  Interesting that most other boats don’t bother with anchor lights, so makes them very hard to see once it gets dark.  Overall a very nice spot.  Conover Cove is right next door to the south; supposed to be a popular spot, but a little shallow.  Classic beautiful Gulf Islands sunset.  Mostly full moon through broken clouds.

Breakfast = cantaloupe, toasted bagels, lattes

Lunch = leftovers (gnocchi, steak)

Dinner = beef stroganoff and green salad.  DeLille 2002 Doyenne Syrah.  Mmmmm.

Thursday 9/15 – Day 7

Departed Princess Bay at 10:45

Arrived Herring Bay, Ruston Island at 2:45

Anchored in 33.8 ft (+9 tide)

Trip log = 178.3 nm.  GPS = N 49°05.003’ ; W 123°42.848’

Very light winds until the afternoon, finally sailed under genoa alone in the north end of Stuart Channel, right up to Ruxton Passage, while eating lunch.  The boat goes surprisingly well with just 1 sail.  Quiet anchorage, one boat on a mooring buoy plus several other buoys with dinghies tied up, and just one other boat anchored.  Not quite as calm as last year when we were here, got some swells coming in from the channel.  Started to sprinkle after dinner and rained most of the night, but dry by morning.  Good to see the overnight rain – the boat was getting grungy.

Breakfast – instant oatmeal & lattes

Lunch – toasted ham, turkey and salami sandwiches.

Dinner – chicken cacciatore and Polenta.  Finished the Doyenne.  Mmmmm.

Friday 9/16 – day 8

Departed Herring bay at 1:30pm

Arrived at Mark Bay, Newcastle Island at 4:45

Anchored in 30 ft (+14 tide)

Trip log = 193.4 nm.  GPS = N 49°10.845’ ; W 123°55.957’

Hung out at Herring Bay for the morning, to wait for the slack tide at Dodd Narrows.  Baked banana bread, worked on some boat chores.  Went through Dodd Narrows at 2:43pm.  Slack tide was reported to be at 2:50, and just 7 minutes before the calculated slack we were seeing 2.5 knots of push from the current, and pretty good swirling eddies on the north side of the narrows. Motored all day today. Had showers while under way. The coolest day so far, as it was overcast (our only really overcast day), but it was dry and the clouds had cleared by the time we anchored in the evening. Touched our northernmost point on this trip as we rounded the top of Newcastle Island.  Mark Bay is a nice anchorage.  It’s busy, lots of boats, many of which look somewhat permanently anchored, but we had plenty of room.  It was quiet and calm all night and it has a great view across the bay to the town of Nanaimo, on Vancouver Island.  Clear night with an almost full moon.

Brunch – fried eggs, potato pancakes, bacon, cantaloupe, lattes

Dinner – meatloaf, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy. Concannon 2003 Pinot Noir.  Not bad.