Above the Salish Sea

[tjr818]

Paradise
...without the bugs?

[David Patterson]

I killed a mosquito yesterday, Tim. They are sparse and slow. Not true farther north.

[David Patterson]

Skeep, don't know if you caught it, but I commented on tides toward the end of the last page, as well as posted a few more local scenes.

[David Patterson]

On my way to a different anchorage on a favorable tide, I saw these scenes plus others. 20kt winds due tonight. (In reverse order.)

[Doug Hill]

WOW, just wow!

Doug

[Sea Hunt Video]

David:

Ditto what Doug said

[David Patterson]

Thanks, to those of you appreciating my morning-light photos. As you might imagine, I took quite a few others. My "photo passage" was slow, though I motored 1.5 hours of 5 total. My average SOG was only 1.1 kts. Perfect for absorbing the scenes. Baby stroller speed, I've heard it called. Below are a crude sketch from a journal volume of these islands (explored and mostly named by late 18th century Spanish explorers), a screen shot of my 5 mile anchorage shift this morning at sun up, and a look at the way I will leave this near-lagoon I'm in. Called Three Fathom Cove due to typical depths, one popular guidebook describes it as a "three boat cove." I've seen smaller ones elsewhere with up to a dozen boats stern-tied. So far I have it to myself, comfortably swinging. These are unquestionably world-class cruising grounds. In July and August they are discouragingly infested with mega yachts, whose wakes make smaller craft unhappy, and nearly prevent light airs sailing completely. I'm still about a week ahead of the onslaught. On my pen drawing, you might make out my track of close to a month, from 5/27 until a pair of passages ago. I've wanted to go farther north. Now that I know the area, I'll pass thru more rapidly next year, hopefully. I set out from Friday Harbor, WA on 5/1/16. I docked once recently for a few hours, to make getting some supplies aboard easier.

[David Patterson]

In a temperate rainforest, even in the dry season, of course freshwater lakes are numerous. In Desolation Sound Marine Parks, and BC is rich with marine parks, some are easily walked to ashore.

[David Patterson]

One more photo from Roscoe Bay, which I posted about on 6/25. It is usually not this crowded.

[David Patterson]

Cape Dory yachts are relatively rare in the Pacific NW, and even more so away from population centers. Of course, during the "season" Desolation Sound can count as a population center, I suppose. This coming weekend will begin the onslaught. Me, I'm heading away tomorrow. While making sure my 25D is well-founded for the next few weeks, I docked (second time since March?) at Refuge Cove again. Old-fashioned ice here, in clear 14 pound blocks that last and last. Also in was HYTTA of Sandpoint ID. A CD30 Mk II, I last saw her in Friday Harbor in 2015. With a beam of 10' 6" she looks much bigger than 30'. Maybe it's the bowsprit. Tom and Carol (I think) don't seem to be aware of capedory.org. We covered some of the same areas recently. In one photo little CLOUD GIRL and her Dink LAGNIAPPE are in the background. Out 60 days today, she had a few needs. As did I.

[David Patterson]

About to cross my track of entering these Spanish-named Islands, I'm reluctantly getting last looks at the spectacular scenes. First photo: leaving Refuge Cove at dawn into low Force 4 NW winds. Second: looking north in Desolation Sound later in Force 2 on a broad reach. Third: the Raggeds/Copelands ahead, where I'll anchor to avoid upper Force 5 SE tomorrow. A working sized jib is easier for me to keep flying when wing 'n' wing without a pole.

[David Patterson]

The Copeland Islands, known to locals as the Raggeds, offer one of the few protected non-marina anchorages for a stretch of the BC coast. On the hook since March --or was it April?-- and out on this cruise for now over two months, I can't yet bring myself to a night in a marina. While they serve well as RV parks for cruisers, they aren't usually conducive to contemplation of nature for me. A quick sailing passage in a fair NW wind brought me across the bottom of Desolation Sound. My anchorage, the only one in which a boat can swing here, really, is in the west end of "The Channel" just above the word 'COPELAND' on the chart. The tidal current runs NW in The Channel always, ebb or flood, racing through at 3kts or more at the height of the floods, now with spring tides. The effect on the boat at anchor is interesting, the illusion of speeding through the water strong and incongruent. An extended cruiser better have ground tackle they love. At 2AM was the higher high tide, just as the squall line of the 25 knot SE front I'm here for protection from hit. The motion sensation was of being blown out to sea, 160' of nylon, chain, and anchor dangling below. But it was just the motion. I checked my position on my handheld GPS display, closed the galley port, and went back to sleep. I do have real affection for my ground tackle. The sunset photo comes somewhat close to capturing some of the spirituality inherent in being on the hook, for me.

[David Patterson]

I'm getting a little old for 13 hour passages, but along the west side of Texada there are no anchorages protected from NW Force 6 winds. Only 2.5 hours of sailing, S of Mouat I. A surge can, and did develop in Sabine Channel as an anomalous SE wind burst thru on a flood tide N. I made for Lasqueti Island in 2' waves, main reefed twice, motor-sailing. The wind was possibly outflow from Howe Sound. A couple of days in a protected anchorage while the NW blew itself out. Then, running out into the Gulf of Georgia as it eased, before reversing to SE as strongly, rolling downwind in the leftover lumpy waters. A photo looking N toward Discovery Passage from N of the Ballenas Islands is last.

[David Patterson]

I've started a new topic for this cruise, as I return to the southern Gulf Islands: Above the Salish Sea II 2016.