Deep Bay – Vancouver Island, BC

Laura Domela — Fri, 18 Sep 2015 19:01:51 +0000

Another lesson on being flexible.

We left Comox this morning around 7:30am. The wind was supposed to pick up but it was not yet blowing much so we figured we'd go south a bit and see how it was once we got out from the protection of Denman Island, about 17 miles from Comox.

We started getting into some swells behind the island, and they weren't too bad until we got out near the Chrome Island lighthouse. The waves were a steep 4-5 ft and pretty close together. Between there and Nanaimo there aren't a lot of good duck out options, so after a few minutes of discussion (and a few "whoa"s), we opted to turn around and go back to Deep Bay and wait out the weather.

Here's us turning around. (Waves never look big in photos unless you're surfing while taking the photo):

It's nice and calm here in Deep Bay though:

We chatted with another couple of boaters about the conditions (they were on their way to Nanaimo from Comox as well, in a sailboat)…they had the same feeling. We all felt like we could have continued, but decided we didn't want to and didn't need to in those conditions. Sometimes it's just not worth all the jostling and banging around. It can be stressful, and with no great duck out options, you end up captive in whatever the wind and water deals up for you, and that can be unpleasant.

Here's our track today (19.5 miles total, including the turn around):

We learned about a fun new weather website though: Big Wave Dave! (www.bigwavedave.ca). The "Forecasts — Wind Predictions No. 1" is a great page to watch. We're looking at Comox, Columbia Beach, and Piper's Lagoon (north to south as listed…Piper's Lagoon is near/in Nanaimo). White is great, aqua is okay, yellow is less okay (today was yellow) and the varying shades of red are all bad.

We went up and had some halibut and chips for lunch at the cafe nearby and now we're just working for the afternoon here at the boat. We were psyched at first, thinking we were close to Fanny Bay Oysters, but it's about 6 miles up the road (or up the coast via dinghy). If we'd have known we were going to stop here for the night we could have tied up at the little dock nearby and walked over to shop before continuing on. They don't deliver — I checked, so next time that's what we'll do. Last time we were through this area (just over a year ago when we started thinking about buying a boat) we picked up some local oysters and local scallops there and they were so good!

How funny that we'll be returning from this trip to Alaska exactly a year from when we closed on our Nordic Tug. We've stayed over 250 nights in it (253 as of today) so that's over 8 months out of the last year that we've spent on board. (Not tired of it yet. Not one bit!)

Desolation Sound, Lund, and Comox (BC)

Laura Domela — Fri, 18 Sep 2015 00:58:31 +0000

Remember how we were the only boat anchored in Melanie Cove in Desolation Sound? By the time we went to bed there were 11 boats in there. Mid September when we’ve hardly seen another pleasure boat in weeks! Also, when we left the cove at around 8:30am or so, not ONE boat was running its generator. Not one. (This is rare!)

We headed for Lund, around the corner on the mainland, and decided that since the wind was supposed to be very light in the Strait of Georgia, that we’d just stop and visit Lund for an hour or so (instead of staying overnight) and then head on across to Comox.

Lund was cute! We tied up on the hotel dock since it was going to be a short visit, and then headed up to check out the grounds. The Historic Lund Hotel was built in 1905 by Lund’s Swedish founders:

We stopped at Nancy’s Bakery to pick up a couple of their famous blackberry cinnamon buns, and then popped into the general store for a quick browse and to pick up some milk and eggs and spinach.

Also notable about Lund: Lund is at Mile 0 of the 101 highway, at the north end of the Pacific Coastal Route. If you wanted to, you could drive from Lund, BC all the way to Quellon, Chile:

We left Lund and headed across the Strait of Georgia in very calm conditions.

It was foggy for quite a bit of the route (further validating that when there’s fog, there’s calm water). It brightened up a little after a while and we found our way across the Comox Bar with no problem.

Arriving in Comox Harbour:

Seals all lined up on the floats:

New spot:

New view:

There was a shrimp boat bringing “Big Shrimp” in at 6pm, but we found a restaurant we wanted to try so we missed the big shrimp window.

We had dinner up at the Avenue Bistro and it was fantastic. Everything. We started with a martini, and tried the clams, the beef carpaccio, the duck confit pizza, and the pulled pork tacos and everything was delicious and creatively prepared and served. We brought pizza home so we’ll get to try that again tomorrow! I only took a photo of the martini, so here ya go…cheers!

Today’s route from Melanie Cove to Lund to Comox (about 40 nautical miles total):

Comox – Riveted

Deep Bay – Vancouver Island, BC

Desolation Sound, Lund, and Comox (BC)