Princess Cove to Ganges Harbour (BC)

Laura Domela — Sun, 20 Sep 2015 18:52:54 +0000

Rainbow, Princess Cove, Wallace Island, BC

Too bad we never saw anyone out on this sailboat. I bed they'd like this perfectly placed rainbow.

We slept in a bit this morning, made breakfast, did some work, and then concluded that it didn't look TOO bad out there (yet) so we decided to head over to Ganges Harbour on Saltspring Island. We'd meet up with some friends, have a bite to eat, and be 11 miles or so closer to Anacortes.

The wind was howling, but the waves weren't bad at all…about a 2 ft chop…kinda fun. Our little Canadian courtesy flag on the bow was whippin' so hard though that it just became a whir of pink!

We're in Ganges Marina now with power and good Wi-Fi. It's off and on sunny and cloudy but so far no rain. It's warm(ish) with some occasional wind gusts. On our way in we saw SO many sailboats on their way out for a Sunday sail. Great weather for it! Today's 20-30kt winds would be good for some heavy air practice.

When we left Anacortes in May and headed north for Alaska, our first night was here on Salt Spring Island. It's nicely symmetric that we're here again tonight on the last night of our trip before heading back to Anacortes in the morning.

Dinner tonight with friends at the Hastings Bistro!

Today's short route (13 nautical miles):

Ganges Harbor on Salt Spring Island

Laura Domela — Thu, 26 Mar 2015 12:07:00 +0000

Yesterday morning we left Sidney Spit and headed for Ganges Harbor on Salt Spring Island. The weather was gray and a bit foggy, but seas were smooth for the most part and we had a nice cruise. (I didn't take any photos on the way, because it was all just gray.)

These are the Chain Islands, as we entered Ganges Harbor:

Here's what Ganges Harbor looks like from above, when it's sunny.

Cool boat on our way to the marina:

Looking out of the harbor, float plane coming in:

We arrived at the Ganges Marina (which happened to be closed yesterday) and were directed (by a super friendly guy) to a guest spot with electricity, close by water, and good access to free Wi-Fi (woohoo!!!!)

We did a bit of work and then walked up to town to grab lunch at the highly recommended (by same super friendly marina guy) Tree House Cafe. The Tree House Cafe did not disappoint at all. Great food, great service, cute place.

We explored town a bit (including the three story hardware store that has MUCH more than hardware) and picked up a large stock pot (because: crab!) and a few grocery items at the market. I wanted to pick up some of the fun Canadian potato chip flavors…it's a thing we do in Canada…pick up a couple small bags to try (flavors like Dill Pickle, Ketchup, Fries 'N Gravy, etc.) but we couldn't find any small sized bags in the grocery store, and I just wasn't ready to commit to a giant bag of Smoked Bacon Potato Chips. (I know, lame. I should have gotten them.)

I know every one of these photos is all gray and kinda dreary, but this town is cool and has a really good vibe about it. Apparently the marina is already completely booked for July, so it's obviously a very popular place in the summer.

We came back to Airship and worked for a few hours, then took another walk up to town to (a) get another walk in, and (b) to do/get a few more things. We decided to exchange the 16 quart stock pot for the 20 qt one, because we were pretty sure it would fit on our stovetop, and it did:

We'll mostly use this outside with the Woodland Power Stove (once we get that…for cooking crab) but we wanted a pot that would also fit on the stovetop for when we might want to use it inside.

We also read a little online about Salt Spring Island Cheese and decided we should try some, so we stopped at the little organic market (Natureworks) and picked up a few goodies:

Here are better photos and descriptions from their website:

Ruckles: soft fresh goat milk cheese logs marinated in grape with herbs and fresh garlic in grape seed oil, topped with chives.

Juliette is a surface ripened cheese made to taste like a goat camembert. Blue Juliette (the one we picked up) is made essentially the same way as its white sister, but the Blue Juliette is made half with blue and half with white cultures. It takes on a very mild blue taste and also grows softer and stronger as it ages.

Garlic chèvre is covered with roasted garlic and dripping with olive oil; it has a sprig of rosemary too, which adds a subtle flavour and a splash of colour.

We're still full from lunch, so we probably won't try these (or even have dinner) until tomorrow. But check out the rest of their cheese on their website here. It's very pretty cheese.

Here's yesterday's route (16.08 nautical miles):

Next we'll head down to Cabbage and Tumbo Islands, near Saturna Island. These are the Gulf Islands that stick out the closest to the San Juans. We hear there's some good hiking down there (and potentially more crab to be caught).

Ganges Harbor – Riveted

Princess Cove to Ganges Harbour (BC)

Ganges Harbor on Salt Spring Island