Wallace Island – Riveted

Gulf Islands | Wallace Island

Laura Domela — Sat, 31 Dec 2016 16:50:21 +0000

We left Anacortes yesterday morning in some beautiful light:It was a day later than we’d originally planned to leave, but we thought opting for less wind and calmer seas would be prudent in the long run. We stopped at the fuel dock and topped off our tanks. Here’s the “Lady of the Sea” statue (depicting a lady and child waiting for their loved ones to return from the sea) with a seagull on her head: We cleared Canadian Customs by phone (yay Canpass!) and had a nice fairly smooth cruise up to Wallace Island in the Gulf Islands. Conover Cove is busy for New Year’s Eve!We rafted onto Safe Harbour so Sam could give us some water (and because there was really nowhere else to go, turns out). Sam’s watermaker is coming in handy now that it’s cold and most marinas turn off their water (including ours). But first we went for a little hike around the island while we still had light: This little abandoned cabin is covered in driftwood boat names from all over:Inside: Old truck on a tiny island with no roads: Sam’s checking out the geocache hidden in the glove box. (Oops, should I not say that?) Good thing we had our Xtratuf boots, because the trail was SUPER muddy:Camouflage waterbird:We’re underway now en route to Green Bay, across the Strait of Georgia in Agamemnon Channel (via Dodd Narrows, where we’ll be challenging some current). Green Bay sounds like a good place to stage for getting to Princess Louisa on New Year’s Day. The weather looks pretty good…it’s supposed to be cold (right around freezing), but sunny, and the conditions right now in the Strait are “wind calm, seas rippled.” We’ll take it!

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):

Thanks for the (not so) Fun Ride, Strait of Georgia

Laura Domela — Sun, 20 Sep 2015 00:35:39 +0000

Deep Bay, BC to Princess Cove on Wallace Island, BC

This morning in Deep Bay we woke up just after 4am and checked the weather. Nothing had changed since last night's forecast: 20-30kt winds. Back to sleep it is! But then around 7:30am when we checked again, things looked like they might have improved a bit, and we decided it couldn't hurt to poke our nose out and see if it was tolerable. We could always turn around. Again.

So out we went. At first it seemed like conditions might be a little better than yesterday. The wind was pretty strong, and the waves were right on the bow…maybe 3-4 feet. (Okay, maybe 5.)

But the forecasted conditions further south were supposed to be more chill (eventually), so we went a little further as we discussed what we thought of the present conditions. Eventually we decided it was probably just as bad as it was yesterday, but the longer we discussed it, the further we went.

We talked about whether we were doing that "get home" thing where you go even when you shouldn't. We decided we weren't doing that.

We talked about the wind forecasts and whether the wind direction was going to change or stay the same. Pretty soon, the conditions were definitely WORSE than they were yesterday, but we'd gotten kind of used to the blamming and slamming, and turning around in that didn't sound fun either.

We discussed whether we were continuing on just because we didn't want to turn around. We decided we weren't doing that.

The further we went, the longer it was going to take to get back to Deep Bay if we turned around. The further we went, the worse it got.

The fans that de-fog the windshield were going full blast but waves were crashing over the bow and water was splashing over and over onto the windows, so the constant spray of cold sea water running down the windows was chilling the glass and causing more condensation to form on the inside. It looked like this most of the time:

But then when there were a few less waves splashing the windows and the de-fogging fans did their job more successfully and the windows cleared up a little bit, we realized we didn't really WANT to see out those windows. (Waves that you see in front of you look WAY bigger than the same waves that you see out the side windows as they pass by you, FYI.)

Okay…where's the next duck out spot? French Creek. There it is on the map…got it.

Alright…there it is, right over there…see all the masts?

"I feel like it's getting a little better. Do you feel like it's gotten a little better?"

"Ummmm, no, not really.Well, maybe."

Okay, what's the next duck out spot? Northwest Bay. Then Schooner Cove. Check!

We discussed whether these were the worst conditions we'd been in so far. The thing is, as your experience grows, your tolerance for conditions also grows. So if you're ever asking the question "Are these the worst conditions?" then the answer is probably "Yes."

By the time we neared Nanaimo, the conditions had improved significantly. We felt happy and calm and decided to go further while we could, so now we're anchored in Princess Cove on Wallace Island.

There were only two other boats in here (both sailboats) and we're all anchored in the middle (rather than anchored and stern-tied) since there's so much room.

We took the dinghy over to the dinghy dock and headed up to do some hiking. This is the dinghy dock:

Trail map of the island:

We took the trail over to Conover Cove and back…super pretty right along Houstoun Passage.

We explored this little rocky cove along the way:

Great textures in the rock:

After our hike we dinghied around a little to explore more of the island. It's gorgeous here! (Thanks for the recommendation, Sam!)

The sunset here was super pretty!

We cooked up a pot of soup and some garlic bread and we're relaxing now after a pretty eventful day (!!!!).

Here's today's track (59 nautical miles) from Deep Bay to Princess Cove on Wallace Island:

Whew!