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| Sydney - boring, but a good place to get stuff done on a boat |
So we left March 20th to Sydney, after saying goodbye to some friends on the docks (specifically Nick and Gail, who have lived in Friday Harbor for over 10 years, having done a lot of trips to Alaska and back, and who had a ton of info on where to go, weather maps, etc.).
It was a cold North easterly, and we were bucking a head wind until we got around the top of San Juan Island. Once we got around and had some clear wind, I unrolled the big jib (a 150 genoa) and got a lot of horsepower from just that sail alone (remember, I couldn’t use the mainsail, as it was ripped and I didn’t want to rip it anymore). But since I didn’t leave until 12:30 on a Sunday (to have the tide run with me), I needed to get to customs before they closed as well as the marina to check in. So I kept the engine on, but at my economic speed and moved along at 7-8 knots through the water.
Got to Sydney, checked in with customs (the lady there gave me a hard time for being single-handed, and I just told her it was a challenge…), and got checked into the Sydney Marina. The biggest problem was that I couldn’t turn off the engine…the electric push button wouldn’t work, so I ended up having to open both hatches in the main cabin (which entails unscrewing the table from the floor) to turn it off.
The next day, I called UK sailmakers and they quickly had a guy down here to help me unroll the main, pull it down and fold it up, and he took it to the shop where they replaced the rotten Dacron along the leach with sun-resistant Dacron and resewed some stitching, doing a nice job, but costing an arm and a leg.
That day, I also turned the engine on and could then turn it off using the switch. Don’t you just hate it when problems are intermittent? It makes one feel like a fool. I still called a mechanic to come down and check it out. He fixed a problem that I was having with the engine throttle control in the pilot house, but he couldn’t find anything wrong with the engine electrical cut-off switch, but he did mentioned that I had a mechanical shut-off switch located in the starboard cockpit locker…duh! Did I feel stupid. But even more stupid, the next day I found out that the cable for the manual shutoff was frozen and would need to be replaced. Oh well, I can probably do that myself when I get to a place that has parts (Nanaimo). In the meantime, I set up a lanyard system where I could shut off the engine with just opening one hatch, which didn’t entail taking the cabin apart.
Boats. They can be frustrating.
A few observations about Canada:
Canadians, at least in British Columbia, are really nice. Since I’m a “foreigner”, I’m required to fly the Canadian flag on my mast (called a courtesy flag), and show the US flag on the stern. When I dropped into Tsehum Harbor, just a little north of Sydney, to pump out my sanitation tank, there were at least 2 people who waved to me from their boats and say “welcome!” Like the English, they are quick to give directions. And in shops and restaurants, they are unfailingly polite.
Because the Canadian dollar is the same as the US dollar, I’m getting blasted with sticker shock…now it costs $50 a day to stay at a marina. I told the Sydney West Marine manager (yes, West Marine even has stores in Canada) that staying at a marina costs as much as staying at a motel (of course, my idea of a motel is Motel 6). He laughed and said, “Not if you compare it to our motels!” Everything is expensive here, including food. I will need to watch expenses, giving me plenty of reason to anchor out as much as possible, and staying away from marinas as much as possible.
What irritates me about Canada is its insistence that it be a bi-lingual country (English and French). Normally this wouldn’t affect me, but it does tweak me when I’m listening to the weather report on the VHF…half of the time, they talk in French, which means it takes twice as long to hear the weather report. Oh well, at least they have good weather reports.
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| Otter bay marina/resort - BB is way over on the other side of the bay |
March 23: After studying the charts and looking through some cruising guides, I decided to dive right into the Gulf Islands and head towards N. Pender Island, to anchor in Otter cove. It was a beautiful sunny day…almost warm! What a nice change! Maybe Spring is just around the corner. But it was bad timing, tide-wise, as we were bucking against some wild currents ranging .5 to 2 knots. We still made it by 2:30 and anchored towards the south side of the bay. Otter Cove has a pretty marina/resort on the north side. I took the dinghy over and walked around a bit. There were lots of activity, getting ready for the season, as they were busy doing roadwork, and remodeling their store, which was closed. There looked to be a lot of rental houses or look-alike vacation homes along the cliff side. At anyrate, it wasn’t all that interesting and I got back to BB to relax and read. The ferry landing is just right around the north point, and the ferries leave small wakes, which rocked the boat a bit, but not enough to bother me.
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| With sunny weather comes nice sunsets |
March 24: Our next stop was to Provost Island to a sheltered narrow little cove called Shelby. The cove is surrounded by cliffs, with one house perched on the west side. It barely has enough room to swing on an anchor (I guess when it’s crowded, people tie their sterns to shore). Luckily I was the only boat here. Very quiet, very scenic, very cold. Time to catch up with my reading, which I did until the NW wind started coming up, blowing right into the cove. I decided I was bored (I remember it takes at least a year to climate myself to the point where boredom and time passing is not an issue, but I’m not there yet), so I upped anchor and went across the channel to Ganges Harbor (on Salt Spring Island), a sizable town up a large fiord. I anchored in a small cove, well away from traffic and buzzed my little outboard to town and found a café and now I’m sending this blog. This cafe is wild, with nothing but young hippies coming in and out.
More later about Ganges and my trip.
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