Salt Spring Island – Riveted

Airship to Alaska | Day 2 | Roche Harbor to Newcastle Island, BC

Laura Domela — Tue, 10 May 2016 10:22:47 +0000

Airship Goes to Alaska 2016

We left Roche Harbor this morning after a lovely evening with near perfect weather. Check out the light on the chapel last night!

At sunset, the Roche Harbor Color Guard does a flag ceremony where they take down the flags (the Washington State flag, the Canadian flag, the British flag, and then the United States flag), complete with soundtrack: Oh Canada, God Save the Queen, Taps, etc. Oh, and a canon salute. They don't mess around here in Roche Harbor…they take their pageantry seriously. We watched from the top deck of Airship:

We popped up this morning and headed for Canada!

Totem pole on the shore (from the back) as we left Roche Harbor:

We called in to Canpass to get cleared through Canada Customs. (Canpass is cool! You get pre-approved as a low risk traveler, and most of the time you can just call in, answer a few questions, and get your clearance number and you're good to go.) We didn't have to stop at Customs or anything. Super convenient!

We headed for Ganges Harbour on Salt Spring Island for a little more provisioning (okay, for wine). You can't bring more than two bottles each across the border, so we stocked up for the next couple weeks. On the way into Ganges Harbour we saw this seal just hanging out like this. I'm not sure what he was doing…maybe getting a little sun on his fins?

We did a run through Mouat's but didn't find anything we needed (which is weird, because they have everything), so headed over to do our grocery and wine shopping. The public dock is so convenient for this!

After groceries we stopped for a burger at the Burger Bar. Delicious, with a terrific view of the harbour:

After our short stop in Ganges Harbour, we headed north toward Nanaimo. We figured we should make miles while it was calm.

We timed it so we could arrive at Dodd Narrows a little more than an hour before slack. The current was still running about 4.9 knots (with us) when we got there, which was no big deal. We just sort of coasted on the current and weren't too affected by all the swirlies. I took some video, but there's no way the internet will let me upload video right now, so I may add that to this post later.

Nice rock:

We decided to stay across from Nanaimo at Newcastle Island Marine Park. There are a bunch of mooring balls out front (and some dock space). We grabbed a mooring ball for twelve bucks Canadian for the night.

View across to the BC mainland from our moorage:

We took the dinghy to shore to pay up and explore a bit. We were here a couple years ago (with the Airstream, and our bikes) and highly recommend a stop.

Newcastle Island is populated with MANY purple martins. (Note the little birdhouses on most of the pilings.)

Baby geese! (Nanaimo in the background.)

We didn't go hiking this time on the island because it was getting late and we wanted to take the dinghy over to the Dinghy Dock Pub on Protection Island before dark.

You can grab a ferry over here from Nanaimo…sounds like they come back on the hour every hour to take you back to town.

We had a nice quiet evening…leftover risotto and caesar salad for dinner. I tried to get this blog post done but it wasn't happening. Internet was there, but super slow. So I'm finishing it up now as we head across the Strait of Georgia toward Lund. Another day with glorious weather (and calm seas)…we figured we should make miles while we can do so in such comfort!

Today's track from Roche Harbor to Newcastle Island BC (with a stopover in Salt Spring Island). 7 hours 54 minutes, 54.1 nautical miles:

Ganges Harbour, BC to Anacortes, WA

Laura Domela — Tue, 22 Sep 2015 02:55:59 +0000

We left Ganges Harbour on Salt Spring Island this morning around 7:30am. Last night's dinner at the Hastings House Bistro with our friends Michael and Nancy was a great time! I'm so glad we were able to stop here and meet up with them before heading home.

The sky was clear and blue and the water was still as we began our cruise back to Anacortes. Ganges Harbour was the first stop on Day 1 of our trip to Alaska with the Waggoner Flotilla in May, so it's cool that we're here for the last night before going back to Anacortes.

No waterspouts today!

Oh right, I think I only posted the waterspout thing on facebook. Yesterday when I refreshed the weather forecast, this popped up:

Eeeek!

Our cruise today was beautiful and chill the whole way. We may have missed the high season in the San Juan Islands, but there were still quite a few pleasure boats out for a Monday at the end of September. I'm sure the gorgeous weather today had something to do with that.

Today's route (45 nautical miles):

(The break in the path is when the iPad crashed. Awwwww.)

We cleared customs this time by phone, thanks to our new I-68 we completed before we left in May. I just called the 800 number, gave some info, answered some questions, got the clearance number, and just like that we were cleared and we scooted into our marina just like we'd never left. Pretty neat!

We had such an amazing trip north, and we're so grateful to have had you guys following along with us. More to come…soon!

Day 2 – Ganges Harbour to Silva Bay

Laura Domela — Mon, 18 May 2015 18:22:47 +0000

Airship Goes to Alaska – Day 2

Beautiful morning at Salt Spring Marina:

Heading out of Ganges Harbour at 7am sharp. That's another Nordic Tug called Dorothy on our starboard side, and a Monk trawler called Thelonius on our left:

Here's a better shot of Thelonius:

We opted not to do breakfast or shower until we were under way so we could get up a little later (like…6:30am). While under way I made us a spinach, cheese, and chorizo omelet topped with salsa (I forgot the avocado), and then we took turns showering while the other watched the helm.

Two from our flotilla (on the left, an American Tug named Adagio and a Kady Krogen called Cabernet) coming through Gabriola Pass just before slack:

Our intrepid leader, Mark Bunzel from the Waggoner Guide in his Tollycraft called Sea Raven:

Canadian boating snack: dill pickle potato chips:

And now here we all are at Page's Resort and Marina in Silva Bay on Gabriola Island, just east of Nanaimo. We're officially the most north we've ever been on Airship.

Another shot from up at the marina office. We're all on the second dock back:

Here's today's track (28 nautical miles, 4 hours, 24 minutes):

We were supposed to have Wi-Fi at Salt Spring Marina (but didn't), so we're making up for lost time now, working instead of renting scooters to explore the island (which we still might do if we have time). There's a potluck dinner here with the rest of the group at 6:30pm, and I think the plan is to leave at 6am tomorrow morning to take advantage of the light winds for our crossing of the Strait of Georgia.

Here's the 96 hour surface forecast, if you wanna see what the next couple days look like along our overall route. (Look at all those high pressure systems! Hope it stays that way!):

Day 1 – Anacortes to Ganges Harbour

Laura Domela — Mon, 18 May 2015 17:36:32 +0000

Airship Goes to Alaska – Day 1

We left Anacortes at 7am on Sunday morning, and headed for Bedwell Harbour where we were to clear Canadian Customs before continuing on to Salt Spring Marina in Ganges Harbour (on Salt Spring Island) for our first night. There are 7 boats in the flotilla right now, and we'll be joining up with an 8th in a day or two.

Just before 7am, about to cast off lines and leave Cap Sante Marina:

Gray and calm heading out of Anacortes:

The cruise to Bedwell Harbour was calm the whole way, and when we were about 2 hours out, I called the number listed on our new CANPASS authorization to let Customs know our ETA.

Me: Good morning. We're expecting to arrive in Bedwell Harbor at about 11:20am.

Customs lady: By boat?

Me: Yes. I have our CANPASS numbers here if you'd like them.

Customs lady: You have to have NEXUS to call by phone.

Me: Hmmm, it says right here on our CANPASS Authorization form to call this number between 30 minutes and 4 hours prior to your arrival at a Canadian Customs port.

Customs lady: That's only for private aircraft.

Me: The box is checked that says "Private Boat Authorization" right here on my authorization.

Customs lady: Okay, hold on.

Then she comes back on the line, and starts asking the usual questions… our boat registration number, asks if I'm Laura Domela and if Kevin Morris is with me, and then all the questions about whether we are carrying any weapons, alcohol, tobacco, and then food. I tell her we have no produce and no poultry products at all (those are not allowed right now), and that we have some frozen cooked pork, beef, and some frozen vegetables.

Customs lady: Do you have any frozen chicken?

Me: No. No poultry products.

Customs lady: No poultry products at all?

Me: No.

Customs lady: Any eggs?

Me. No.

Customs lady: So, no poultry products at all?

Me. No.

She then told me to go to the customs dock in Bedwell Harbour and if I didn't see a customs agent by 11:30, to call that number back and they'd try to find out where one was. When we got to Bedwell Harbour, we were informed by the very helpful customs agent right there on the dock (they're all over…up in the office, on the dock…) that things should have gone very differently on my phone call. (No surprise.)

The agent on the phone should have given us a clearance number, and then when we arrived at Bedwell Harbor and came up to the customs dock, the customs agent would have already had all our information and we could have even cleared without docking as long as we communicated and all was square. Oh well…the Bedwell Harbour agent gave us a bunch of good info and was super nice. She said we did everything right, and that next time we'll know how it's supposed to work.

And now, we're in Canada!

On to Ganges Harbour!

We got our slip assignments and then took the dinghy over to the public dock (which happens to be REALLY close to the grocery store) and picked up some eggs, vegetables, and wine. We hung out on Airship for a bit after that and did some work, and then the whole group met up for dinner at Moby's Pub last night:

Kevin and I shared an order of fish & chips and the bistro burger (both were delicious) and had a couple of local beers. There was a great band playing last night (the Ange Hehr Band) so that was a total bonus.

We went to bed earlyish, and got up at 6am for another 7am departure. Next stop: Silva Bay on Gabriola Island. Here's Sunday's route (45.67 nautical miles, 6 hours 40 minutes):

Cabbage and Tumbo Islands, B.C.

Laura Domela — Fri, 27 Mar 2015 02:55:09 +0000

Warning: Today was a picture-filled day. I tried to pare it down, but I didn't do too well.

This morning before we left Ganges, we took advantage of the very nice free Wi-Fi for a couple hours of work this morning, and then headed up into town for breakfast (and to grab those smoked bacon chips already, sheesh!) We were heading out of the harbor just as this Salt Spring Air flight was taking off ahead of us:

The sun came out today for our cruise down to Cabbage and Tumbo Islands and it made for such a nice cruise:

Passing the Java Islets, there were a handful of adolescent eagles (along with one adult that we could see) hanging out:

Nice rock formations on Saturna Island:

Cool contemporary home on Saturna:

This was as we were coming around the south point of Saturna Island…and Boiling Reef. During flood tides and rougher waters this point can be pretty treacherous, but today it was totally calm and we noticed only the slightest of eddies as we were taking photos of the sea lions and eagles on the reef.

Sea lions on the rocks:

More eagles:

Eagles and sea lions, hanging together (look at that face!):

We snaked our way into Reef Harbor (flanked by long reefs) with no problem and grabbed a mooring buoy.

There was one other boat anchored in the cove, but they were just day users and left before sunset. Here's a wide shot of the cove on the right (boats on the right) looking out into the Strait of Georgia. This is how calm it was all day today.

A heron, fishing in the cove:

Cabbage Island:

We put the crab trap out and then took the dinghy ashore to explore.

It was low tide, so there was plenty to look at on the shore (including tons of oysters, but we didn't feel like shucking again today, so we pinned our dinner hopes on catching some crab).

Purple starfish. They look so happy and chill. "Oh heeaay eyyyy. We're starfish! How ya doin?"

Another eagle in a tree. Yawn. (I know when we get to Alaska we'll probably be saying this for real, but for now, it's still cool, and it's fun to test out my new lens as well.) This was SUPER zoomed in.

We took the dinghy out to the rock with all the seals and said hi:

After our dinghy ride, we headed back to Airship and pulled up the crab trap. Hm. An oyster shell. How'd that happen? Alright…crab trap went back in the water and it was time (and weather) for a top deck cocktail and some charcuterie. We tried the Salt Spring cheese (two of the three we picked up) and both were yum (with a Perfect Manhattan and some salami and chorizo):

I could see the crab trap on the bottom from the top deck (25 feet down and clear water, that's fun!), and one of the times I looked down at it, I was pretty sure I could see claws yammin' at the bait container, so we pulled it up, and what d'ya know? A keeper! (Bait today was a chicken leg and more Canadian bacon, since that worked well the first time.)

Back up to the happy hour deck with one Dungeness crab in the bucket! The view from here is hideous, isn't it?

We pulled the trap up once more before sunset and had two crabs…too small, one male one female. The female's underside female part looked JUST like Jesus from South Park, don't you think?

We watched the seals playing and eating over by the shore and I really wished they would just come over and play ball with me already. They're so dog-like….their big eyes and splashy, um, fins. Okay whatever.

More pretty pictures of Reef Cove at Cabbage Island:

We cooked our crab in our new big pot and served it with some garlic butter, a kale/lemon/parmesan salad, and a bottle of wine from our friends at Gourmet au Bay. Delicious.

I'd say this is a successful last night in the Gulf Islands for our first trip up here. Tomorrow we're headed back to Anacortes. (We'll let you know how the whole "clearing Customs at our slip" goes.)

Here's our track from today (25.8 nautical miles):

That little 90ish degree turn up there is us changing our minds about going through Active Pass at max ebb tide. The current would have been 3.7 kts against us right at the time we were heading through…so even though we could have done it fine (we were following a 46' catamaran), it would have slowed us down quite a bit and we opted for the longer way….because, hey, more time on the water!

The Sun’s Coming Out at Ganges

Laura Domela — Thu, 26 Mar 2015 13:54:26 +0000

I think before we head out of here we'll go up to town for breakfast (and get those smoked bacon potato chips already).

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).