Gulf Islands and Montague Harbor

Salt Marsh at Montague Harbor

We took off out of Nanaimo towards Dodd Narrows first thing to catch the morning slack before ebb that would boost us down the channels.  We followed another trawler out of the harbor and went down in tandem.  Dodd Narrows is only a few miles south of Nanaimo and passes along a shoreline that is mixed between a giant pulp mill to beautiful shoreline forest lined with log booms. There was definitely a busy and industrial feel in the area. We arrived at the narrows about an half hour early.  The other trawler decided to power through, so we just followed after they alerted other traffic that we were coming through.  We had no difficulties with the opposing 2 knot current and “whooshed” right through.  It was a bit disconcerting seeing the white rocks under the water off our port side, but all was well.  We were now in the Canadian Gulf Islands. The channels are wide with San Juan-feeling islands on both sides.

The water was calm, the sun was out and the trip South was very relaxing comparing with dodging ferries and wind/current waves out in the straits. It was a nice feeling. We were in Montague Harbor on Galiano Island by mid afternoon. We set down and anchor and relaxed in the summer sun.  Once we got the tender off, we discovered a floating bakery on an old converted ferry and ordered some sticky buns for the next morning. 

Approaching Dodd Narrows

Gulf Island View in channel

Montague Harbor from kayak

Pick Me Up Time

Montague Harbor view

Happy Captain!

Pink Honeysuckle in bloom

Nanaimo Again

It takes us about ten hours of running time to get from Gorge Harbor to Nanaimo. It’s not our favorite place as we are quite exposed and don’t have many places to run once we commit to the straight run down instead of taking the longer but more sheltered run down behind Texada Island. We had a good weather report, so we committed to the straight run down the strait. The weather report was a bit off and we had lumpy 2-3 hours with stiff wind with sloppy water and a rolling boat. After that, the ride was fairly calm, but with our radio apparently not working reliably we were edgy and eager to get to Nanaimo.

It was a relief as we came around to Nanaimo Harbor. As usual the harbor is the definition of chaos – varies ferries crossing the channels, sea planes landing, sailboats tacking randomly in front of us. However, we were prepared for it this time and had a reservation at the harbor so we were able to slide right in. Right after getting there Jeff made a beeline to find a part for the water heater. He came back with the part in hand and made a quick repair and the water system was fixed. It is great to have such a handy captain on board! Jeff made some calls around for a marine electrician to address the radio and starter button issues, but no return calls.

In the meantime, we enjoyed the big city and went out to dinner, did some grocery shopping and relaxed enough to decide to stay another day in Nanaimo.   Ian and Vikki enjoyed the bookstores and art galleries in town, while Jeff kept fiddling with repairs. We spent some time looking at charts and decided we would head to Montague Harbor on Galiano Island after we left Nanaimo. After that was decided we headed to bed enjoying a last night tied securely to a dock.

Feather Dusters at the dock

Nanaimo skyline

Octopus Islands

View of forest trail from Octopus Islands

Last view from Prideaux

Anemone (huge, you will have to take my word for it)

Ghost Banana slug (huge!)

Seastar cluster

Oregon stonecrop

Yellow lined nudibranch (aka sea slug)

Maiden spleenwort

Lyngby's sedge

A peek at Octopus Island at low tide

Ian's glee

Jeff at the helm

Ian watching for rocks in the passage into Octopus Island Marine Park

We said goodbye to Prideaux Haven and went back around the south end of Cortes Island and north again headed to the Octopus Islands. We had been there last year and enjoyed them a lot and decided to have a replay. We had to time our travels to make sure we hit Surge Narrows at slack to avoid a ride in the rapids. We were a bit eager to get there and ended up having to tour the channel south of the rapids for about two hours before the slack was scheduled. The channel is wide with steep sides. There was supposed to be a little store with the a dock where we could bide our time until slack came, but the store was closed and the dock taken over by locals. So we just toured the area via boat. Surge Narrows is one of the smallest tidal rapids up here, but still it can throw a punch and one does not want to cross through them outside of slack unless they have a fast powerful boat. Our time finally came and we headed on through without adventure. It is just a few miles up to the Octopus Islands and we were anchored by dinner.

Last year there were boats everywhere in the Octopus Islands, but this year there were no more than 5 in the entire bay while we were there. It felt as though we had the place to ourselves and we spent a few days enjoying the luxury. Vikki headed out in her kayak to explore the oncoming low tide on the first morning. The low tide life was amazing, with anemones, shrimp, nudibranchs, all types of cool algae, crabs. Mammals were not shy as she floated at the tide line and watched raccoons on the beach next her foraging for tidal goodies, a river otter that played hide and seek with the kayak, many seals that kept popping up and down it was very magical. Other cools sightings included a pair of red-throated loons (different from our common loon) that were in the bay calling all the time. They sound a bit like a cross between a loon and a wolf calling. We managed a fun walk to the next cove via a wonderful rainforest and picked wild mint for tea. We investigated an old home site and picked up some fresh oregano and thyme, so we are set for some gourmet cooking, particularly when you add the fresh basil from the basil plant I have on board. Our last day there we sat through some stiff wind which kept us boat bound most of the day, but the boys read and Vikki painted and the cats slept and all was well. We left these islands today and headed back to Gorge Harbor on Cortes to see if we can fix a couple of mechanical issues (we lost all of our fresh water in our tanks due to a bad valve and the starter on one of the engines is not getting the signal to start). We may have to head to Nanaimo to get these things figured out. If we do we may revise our plans and see what happens. Always an adventure.

2010 Adventures

The 2010 boating adventure is off and running. Jeff and a friend got a head start and headed north on the Patriot a few days before Ian and Vikki. They had a slightly rough ride in the Strait of Georgia headed to Nanaimo. The weather turned a bit for the worse and they holed up in Nanaimo for an extra day before heading north another full day up to Gorge Harbor on Cortes Island.

Vikki and Ian drove up a few days later and took the ferry to Nanaimo, then drove north to Campbell River, took the ferry to Quadra Island and zoomed across the island to catch the Cortes Ferry and were at Gorge Harbor by bedtime. Jeff’s friend headed back to Seattle and we spent a lazy day getting reacquainted this lovely harbor.

Gorge Harbor is a fun bay that is totally enclosed by the surrounding island. The only way in and out is a steep sided channel about 200 feet across. The Gorge Harbor Resort is a comfortable place to hang out for a couple days, with a store, showers, laundry and a wonderful restaurant (Pad Thai and Fish and Chips to die for).

Tuesday we pulled up our anchor and headed east to Prideaux Haven in Desolation Sound. We avoided it last year as it is known as much for it beauty as it crowds of boats. However, since Gorge Harbor had such light traffic we decided to give it a shot. We had a smooth ride over on a sunny day and found very few boats in the harbor. Prideaux Haven is series of small coves off the mainland with scattered little islands all around. The mainland sides of the harbor are very steep and but the little islands are a bit easier to explore. We were tucked into Melanie Cove. Prideaux Haven coves are a couple of the sites in the book “A Curve in Time.”  To historical characters (Phil and Mike) had cabins in these coves. We took a walk along one of the trails that connects these two cabins, but we never found them. The forest along the walk is an amazingly dense cedar forest. The trees were huge and we had trouble visualizing the fruit orchards described in the book. Eighty years of growth has returned the sites to rain forest.

The water this time of year is much clearer than last August and we spent Wednesday morning poking along the shoreline in our kayaks (in the rain) looking at the amazing array of fish, seastars, nudibranchs, jellies and other invertebrates at low tide. The birds are light, but black oyster catchers, glacous winged gulls, marbled murrelett, redbreasted merganser, spotted plover, raven, pileated woodpecker, varied thrush, robin, towhee, raven, bald eagle, were all present and accounted for. Tomorrow we may hang out one more day or head north-ish and challenge ourselves with Gillard Passage and Dent Narrows just to get our blood moving.

Patriot at Prideaux Haven

View from stern of Patriot

Ian in Prideaux Haven

View of channel at Prideaux Haven

Ian's glee

Ian and Jeff at Manson's Landing (near Gorge Harbor)

Vikki kicking back