Silva Bay – Riveted

The Flotilla is Underway!

Laura Domela — Mon, 22 May 2017 14:37:33 +0000

And we’re off! The Slowboat 2017 Flotilla to Alaska officially left Roche Harbor yesterday morning and had a beautiful, calm cruise up to Silva Bay Resort and Marina on Gabriola Island.

This is such a great group of people! All of the flotilla participants have already spent time in the Gulf Islands, so we won’t dilly dally here for more than a night. There’s a ton to see, but we figure getting everyone on to new territory is the best plan!

We’ll be blogging in more detail over at Slowboat.com for the duration of this flotilla, but I’ll plan to post some highlights here at Riveted every few days. If you want ALL of the detail, follow us here, and also at Slowboat! (Here’s a link to the Slowboat facebook page.)

Airship tucked in at Silva Bay:

The view from dinner up at the Silva Bay Restaurant and Pub last night:

We’ll be crossing the Strait of Georgia this morning, and going into Pender Harbour for the night (and for groceries).

Conditions sound ideal for crossing the strait this morning: wind calm, seas rippled. Let’s go!

Day 3 – Silva Bay to Pender Harbour

Laura Domela — Wed, 20 May 2015 03:02:42 +0000

Airship Goes to Alaska – Day 3

Yesterday after we got to Silva Bay (Gabriola Island) and got most our work done (we did not rent scooters), we took the dinghy out for a spin to explore the bay.

We got pretty close to an eagle sitting in a tree and I was able to get a good series of action shots of it taking off and flying over to another tree. (It's an eagle flip book!):

New tree:

Back at Airship in time to make a dish to bring to last night's potluck dinner. That's Dorothy, another Nordic Tug on our left, and Adagio, an American Tug on our right.

Yesterday's weather was just gorgeous…sunny and in the mid to high 70s. Nice night to sit on the top deck and watch the sunset:

Our alarm went off at 5:30am so we could be up and ready for a 6am departure.

This flotilla of 7 boats is a lot like the Airstream caravan we did up to Banff a couple years ago. We all monitor VHF channel 68 so we can talk to each other (just like we all had walkie talkies on Channel 5 for the caravan). It's fun, and nice to travel as a group into waters that are unfamiliar to most.

Here's Cabernet, a Krogen 48:

And Dorothy, an older Nordic Tug the same size as ours:

Today's route involved crossing the Strait of Georgia, and the wind was not as light as promised once we got out there, but it wasn't bad at all.

Thelonius (the Monk trawler) and Adagio (American Tug) after we'd crossed the strait:

Entering Pender Harbour:

We are staying at the Garden Bay Pub Restaurant & Marina in Pender Harbour, and we're all on the same dock, so that's fun!

Our new view up toward the pub (where we had dinner tonight):

We inflated our kayak and headed out for a paddle. All was lovely until Kevin pointed out the snake, SWIMMING in the water. I got a photo of it as it slithered up onto the rocks. I thought snakes only swam in the south!

Also, starfish:

It was a gorgeous paddle around the harbour. This is heading back to our dock:

Cabernet on the left, Thelonius on the right:

I definitely did not pack for 80 degree weather…which is what it turned out to be today! If the weather doesn't cool down a bit as we head north, I'm going to need to pick up a few gift shop t-shirts!

We did a bunch more work back at the boat (super fast Wi-Fi here!!) and then had fun socializing with our group for a bit before showering and getting ready for dinner. We topped off our water tank, threw away the garbage we've accumulated, and we're ready to go for a 7am departure tomorrow morning.

Here's our route from today (35.5 nautical miles, 5 hours 17 minutes). The torpedo testing range Whiskey Golf was not active today, so we got to cut through the corner of it.

Tomorrow we'll be headed (54 nautical miles) north to Teakerne Arm in Desolation Sound, which is here. We'll be anchoring in front of a waterfall, and taking the dinghies ashore so we can hike up to Cassel Lake after we get settled. I'm pretty certain we won't have internet, but you never know! If we don't I'll be sure to take a bunch of photos and post them at the next opportunity. We're really looking forward to this next stop!

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!):