Week 23 – 29, 2017 Sailing and motoring in the waters west of Vancouver Island 711 nm

Week 23 5 – 11 June 2017 Walker Group, Queen Charlotte Strait – Sea Otter Cove, Vancouver Island West Coast 105,5 nm

5 June Monday Walker Group
Woke up to a quiet and sunny morning.
Annika used the sewing machine after breakfast and finalized the cover for the mattresses in the bow cabin, while Björn prepared the triple breaker we bought in Vancouver two weeks ago. It will be used to shift between shore power or genset power. Topped up air in the kayak for a longer tour. Just as we were ready to leave, Liv called on the VHF and told us they were going to Port Hardy, coming from south east. We suggested they should visit us in this perfect place.
We paddled for almost two hours and ended with a trip out on the “open sea” to get internet connection.
Back in Moon we put on AIS and discovered Liv just around the corner.
We had a sundowner before chicken on the barbecue together with vegetables from the Wook pan.
After dinner, still at the dining table, we discovered that we had moved 20 metres. The wind had shifted 180 degrees but not strong. We had obviously pulled the anchor and not reset properly. With our guests still at the dining table we started the engine and pulled the chain. Up came the anchor with a huge bunch of very wide “Moose” kelp, thick and wide. Probably the anchor when resetting came above these leather like big blades and just slide along on top of them. Back to the spot we had anchored and no problem to get good holding. Odd bottom!

6 June Tuesday Walker Group – Port Hardy 12 nm
Almost no wind left from yesterday and night. Sun shine and cold. We weigh anchor after breakfast and drove after Liv out of our little Paradise.
In Port Hardy we first topped up our diesel tank and then moved into our “old ” spot in the marina.
Laundry, shopping and mounting the breaker we prepared at the anchorage. We needed shore power to control that everything is working as it should. Having installed the breaker we can now run the little Honda without having to change the voltage in the isolation transformer from 110 to 220.
Made our shopping and got quite an exercise bringing it back to Moon.
After shower we had leftovers for dinner and as we sat at the table waiting for Berit to arrive – she suddenly knocked on the boat half an hour earlier than expected.
She brought a lot of goodies, boat stuff and “food items”. It was almost Christmas as we unpacked.
Having installed Berit in the bow part of Moon we had a welcome beer at the pub together with Liv.

7 June Wednesday Port Hardy – Treadwell Bay on the mainland across Queen Charlotte Sound 26 nm
Sunshine when we woke up and made breakfast. After some morning items and a shower for the new crew member we took on water and left before ten o’clock. No wind but at least no current against.
We drove north to visit one of the world’s fastest running narrows. A great system of fjords inland have only one connection to the sea and that is where we are going to watch eventually 15 knots of roaring water now at spring tide.
To show Berit our nice anchorage in Walker Group we steered extra north to pass the channel in between the islands. Coming north of Walker Group the sea is quite open all the way up to Haida Gwaii, Queen Charlotte Islands name in First Nations language. The swell became more notable and we lowered the centerboard to get a more comfortable journey across as we had no wind to stabilize Moon.
Coming across we started to navigate inland in small channels and avoiding shallows here and there. We were lucky to have the current with us and in one narrow, closer to the real one, we had 8 knots ground speed. Now we were as close as we wanted and anchored in a nice bay to stay in during the heavy rain tomorrow, before looking at the stream.
Used one shoreline to avoid a few drying flats to our starboard side. Liv rafted and Annika and Berit took the kayak for a tour among small islands and coves in the bay.
Later barbecue with pork tender lion and homemade potato salad.

8 June Thursday Treadwell Bay in rain.
Light rain and no wind all night and continuing. Breakfast and some reading and writing. No internet so no email and surf. We have started to use our HF radio on SSB to get in touch now as we have reach land of “nowhere”. There is almost no phone cover from here to Prince Rupert!
Rain kept on all day and we couldn’t do much outside Moon. Berit brought some Yacht Magazines and that was popular in the rain.
After dinner the rain stopped and was replaced with a clear sky and a fabulous full moon just above the trees.

9 June Friday Treadwell Bay – Bull Harbour 25 nm
Up early to have a look at the nearby narrows when the current is at max.
We had planned to use the dinghy, but decided it was probably dangerous when we thought of our last view of a narrow, Hole in the Wall two weeks ago.
Cast of Liv to retrieve our shore line and then weigh anchor. When we came around the corner, looking to the rapid it was obviously very fast running water compared to the one we have seen so far. A dense fog of water was steaming up from the stream with high standing waves. Liv was close behind an island in somewhat back current to be able to observe. We drove close to them and then turned perpendicular out in the current, avoiding the fastest part with big waves.
It was little scary to feel that Moon lost some buoyancy in the upwelling’s filled with air. Even the propeller sounded odd with that much air in the water and lots of whirlpools with rushing water in different directions.
In spit we merely touched the current we flew away with six-seven extra knots! This is a water that should be treated with utmost respect! And only be transited at slack water. The pilot tells us that this is one of the fastest running narrows in the world.
This will be our northern most position this year. All places we will visit later will be south of Treadwell Bay and Nakwakto Rapids.
Back to Queen Charlotte Strait we had the outgoing tide helping us “saving time” along two miles between islands and through narrows before we reached open water. Out on open water we got a nice 10 – 12 knots of southerly giving us a nice reach across the strait. South of us we could see on AIS, Liv going south, tacking against the southerly wind.
Coming close to Hope Island and turning into the now northerly wind, the engine didn’t want to start. After several almost “dead” results it came through, but only “just”, almost like if we had a dead battery. But we had a brand new one with 1100 CCA, so it must be some other reason.
Motoring along Hope Island west side we saw our first Sea Otter this far south. They were almost lost during the fur hunting period, but have now been “replanted” successfully on Vancouver Islands West coast. A nice injection to the poor animal life we see compared to Alaska.
We anchored in Bull Harbour on Hope Island, just east of Vancouver Island North West cape, two o’clock and had a postponed lunch.
Checked the starter motor after lunch and it worked perfectly. Lots of question to be answered! –
Now we will have to anchor alone as Liv is sailing back to Vancouver to fly home to Sweden for some “crew maintenance”. Hope to see them in August again.

10 June Saturday Bull Harbour.
Late morning and a day of rest. Mainly because the tide through Golet Channel across Nahwitti Bar and later Cape Scott have not the good timing with wind and tide before Sunday.
Started with some digging into our starter problem, difficult as the engine refuses to show any sign of bad behaviortoday!
After noon we took the dinghy ashore and walked for two hours on the road and on the beach. Found several traces of wolfs on the nice beaches, facing Haida Gwaii.
Back in Moon we had chicken casserole, early because of our early start Sunday morning.

11 June Sunday Bull Harbour – Guise Bay – Sea Otter Cove 39 nm
Up with the roster to be able to have breakfast before half past six. Weigh anchor and hoisted a reefed main. Motored out of the harbour and across to the Vancouver Island shore side of Goleta Channel. The Pilot encourage us to stay close to shore, avoiding the worst standing waves over the bar and reefs further out on Nahwitti Bar. We saw a big fishing boat coming in from the sea over the bar, and appreciated the advice from the pilot.
We passed some pretty step and high waves, but nothing compared with what we saw further out.
Finally we only had a small cape to pass with big seas, but still only “normal” big waves, before we could unfold the headsails and have a close reaching on starboard tack out to Cape Scott 13 nm further west. With no engine and full sail speed we had a very comfortable trip for two hours. Coming into the current between Cape Scott and the Islands west of the cape we got some disturbed sea, but still ok as the wind now was a beam reach. When we where to go around the cape and have the wind from behind, the conditions got very uncomfortable. We opted for a continued course west out of the confused sea and that was much better.
An hour later we were out of the confused sea and could run with the wind again. Now the wind was too weak to give us good speed so we started our engine, at least that was what we were aiming to do. Nothing happened, almost not even “dead”. This was not good to say the least. We were heading for Sea Otter Cove, a place you can’t enter by sail only. What to do?
Trying to do something down in the engine compartment under these rolly conditions was not an option.
The only reasonable safe option was to sail downwind towards Guise Bay just south west of Cape Scott and into the wind as close as possible to the long beach. The bay is fringed with reefs, but we thought we could manoeuvre safely in this steady wind over low land, which seemed to be the case in Guise Bay right now.
We run with the wind for half an hour and could then for the last part sail a close haul up in the bay. Tacked and cast anchor by free fall to get it down into the sand as fast as possible. Of course we couldn’t dig it down without the engine, but we estimated that we got a holding good enough. We had reefs hundred fifty meters behind us, and were happy we have heavy ground tackle! Our 88 pound Delta didn’t feel too big. We felt quite exposed as we had no engine to save us if we suddenly come lose, not having tested the holding our normal way.
Tried to start the engine, but completely dead. Checking with a finger on the connectors between the solenoid and the starter made it clear that one was really hot. OK now we know what is going on. Bad contact makes high resistance, heat and extreme loss of voltage, preventing the starter motor to run. Even worse, it can burn and get beyond repair.
First we had lunch after our early start and a sailing that had been challenging for us not used to heavy sea.
Then Annika started to unscrew the hot connector on the solenoid and the other end on the starter motor. When we thought we had a solution we discovered the threads were gone on the screw. Now we really were in trouble.
The new invention was to use a “normal” cable with conductor in one end on the starter motor where we still had threads and in the other end we took the insulation off the cable and vended it several turns onto the solenoid bolt using a hose clamp to get reasonable contact to the thread less bolt. All work had to be done under the heat exchanger and floor using a mirror to see where the wrench or screwdriver was! Doing this without being stubborn is almost impossible.
Lunch and repair took almost three hours while we all the time kept an eye on our position, not to end up on the reefs.
You can imagine the relief the three of us felt when the engine started at first attempted after the temporary repair.
Weigh anchor, very easy when having a working engine running!! Now we motorsailed the rest of the trip to Sea Otter Cove. Motor sailing because we didn’t dare to come to the impossible cove without an engine.
Reaching the entrance we actually sailed almost all the way into the anchorage. But of course without an engine idling below we hadn’t dared to do that. Motor sailing also gave us warm water to be able to have a nice shower. Anchored in a bay, absolutely free from swell. Guise Bay had some, but thanks to the steady wind it never came perpendicular to Moon.
Had a well earned anchor dram, where Annika got one extra for her hard and successful work with the engine, before a shower and later dinner.
We were a tired and exhausted crew who almost fell asleep in the sofa after a though and unnecessary exciting day.

Week 24 12 June – 18 June 2017 Sea Otter Cove – Klaskish Basin, Vancouver Island West Coast 95 nm

12 June Monday Sea Otter Cove – Winter Harbour – North Harbour, Quatsino Sound 18 nm
Slept like logs in a quiet cove with no swell.
At breakfast we decided to continue to Winter Harbour if the engine would start, and from there call the chandlery in Port Hardy. If not we will dismantle the starter motor and do a more proper repair here in the cove.
After breakfast we were ready to leave and were a bit tense when we tried to start the engine. It was like the engine never heard of any problems! We almost didn’t touch the button before it started.
Now we had low tide and the difficult entrance looked now even more complicated. But we manage to hoist the main in the small outer basin before we left through the southern entrance.
Out on the ocean we got a nice north west, giving us a beam reach more than half way down to Quatsino Sound. At noon we could jibe after having passed a shallow area and at the same time the wind had become more northerly. Now we got a beam reach on port haul instead, bringing us fast into Quatsino Sound and around the light house we got winds from the high island giving us full speed on now flat water.
We had the engine on all day, motor sailing at 1200 revs because we didn’t want to repeat yesterday’s drama. Used the “free” electricity to make water in the water maker and bread in the bread maker. Having moored to the pontoon in Winter Harbour and shut down the engine, we were curious to see if it would start again. And again, like nothing has happened, it started. Either our temporary repair is good or the intermittent failure to start is very intermittent!
Went for a walk to get hold of the harbour master and get Wifi. We can only send e-mail via our HF radio and that’s not enough to talk about our starter problem.
We had no success; in fact they were closed on Mondays! Should we stay till tomorrow or go out on anchor? Winter Harbour hasn’t got any charm in this weather and pay 35$ only to stay on a choppy pontoon with no electricity isn’t a good deal when we can anchor much more protected.
The engine started and we moved two miles around a cape and anchored and had a small anchor dram in the cockpit, nice in spite of the chilly wind.
For the knowledge guys that use a screwdriver to get the starter motor running, we can tell you that that is an emergency method Nigel Calder suggests, but also rise a warning not to get in contact with the grounded cover of the motor, causing a major short that isn’t protected by any fuse! Same as putting the screwdriver on the battery terminals!!! In our case with the starter motor hidden under the heat exchanger and the floor board, only accessible with crocked arms and a mirror, we didn’t want to try that risky method and probably cause more damage.

13 June Tuesday North Harbour – Pamphlet Cove, Drake Island 16 nm
Slept to late and then breakfast before we weigh anchor at ten o’clock.
Yes the engine is still very cooperative and started as if nothing.
Motored back to the mouth of Quatsino Sound and got some swell sideways before we could turn east into the fjords. The goal was Drake Island just west of Quatsino Narrows in to Holberg Inlet and Coal Harbour. The plan was to anchor for two nights and take the starter motor off the engine while waiting for a gale to pass by.
We could use the wind and unfurl the Yankee and beam reach sail inland with some swell from behind.
Two hours later we came around a cape and the swell disappeared completely, we gibed and continued very convenient on flat water making four knots. We were very disappointed to see all logging. More than 50 % of the forest seemed to have been taken down during the last ten years. Replanting was obviously not something they bothered about. The logging area looked disgusting with either lot of left tiny logs or partly wooded with not very useful trees, depending on the age.
We have now learned that there is a law demanding them to replant, but probably this is too far away.
We have, sorry to say, came upon this way of making money, not thinking of the future, here and there in North America.
Just before Drake Island the wind died and we had to start the engine. Yes!
Outside the cove we saw some houses on the northern shore and we got internet for some minutes and could receive and send e-mails and get a weather report. Inside the cove we had no contact again.
We anchored far in to bring a line ashore to south east and the expecting wind. Reversing towards land we were surprised to have no holding. Re anchored further out with almost the same result. The pilot suggested the bottom had good holding!
Had a late lunch before the third attempt 20 m further out using a scope of 7:1. Now we got a good holding, either thanks to stiffer bottom or the extreme scope.
Two land lines and a slight tension on the chain kept the stern stabile against the shore and the coming south east gale. Then we had afternoon coffee, even that a bit late.
A big Canadian powerboat came and anchored in front of us. Wonder if they anchored above our anchor??
The method they used to check their holding didn’t affect our anchor, even if they got hold of it.
But they where north of us so we should not be bothered.
Annika and Berit used the kayak for a tour into the little lake that could be reached at mid tide.
Back in Moon we had cheese, wine and biscuits before dinner.
Early night, because we are not used to all this sailing! Having mostly motored almost three months on the east side of Vancouver Island.

14 June Wednesday Pamphlet Cove, Drake Island
Our neighbour was from Campbell River and were waiting for friends arriving to Coal Harbour on Saturday.
After breakfast it was time for the big project to get the starter motor fixed more permanently.
Disconnect the fuses to the alternators and the main breaker for the starter motor, not to have any live wires to the engine before starting to disconnect. To get to the third and last bolt on the starter motor Annika had to disconnect a pipe in the cooling system.
After one hour the starter motor was on the dining table. We now tried to dismantle the solenoid, but without a manual we didn’t dare. One of the conductors was soldered and that seemed to break if we used some force bringing of the lid.
Instead we just disconnected the temporary connection between the solenoid and the motor and reused the old copper plate, now thoroughly cleaned. The solenoid stud/bolt had almost no threads left, hence the solution with a wire and a hose clamp that was working fine for a couple of days. Now we unscrewed the lower nut and put the copper plate directly to the insulated lid of the solenoid with the nut above using the few threads that was left.
Before a late lunch we had put the starter motor back in place and of course have to try it at once. As the cooling system was partly off the engine, we only did a short run with the stop solenoid engaged. Everything seemed to work fine and we could have lunch in piece.
Later we could concentrate on the cooling system. It was time to replace the impeller and as the area was free that was also done. Then we cut the dismantled cooling tube to remove the little cooling box on the gearbox that we bought new three years ago. The Al alloy was probably not very good. Both hose connections was heavily oxidized and not to create a blockage in the cooling system we rather removed it from the cooling system. The gearbox mounted the way we have it and running the low revs we are actually doesn’t need any cooling. We still have to dismantle the inline strainer after the pump to check, but left that to be done when we change antifreeze in the fresh water side, because the hose clamps involves both sides in front of the heat exchanger.
Half past four everything was back in place and we had a working engine again. Very nice if something happens during the gale that would come tonight.

15 June Thursday Pamphlet Cove – Varney Bay 6 nm
Rain all night and until noon and almost no wind. Late morning and late breakfast at nine.
Low tide at noon with changing current in Quatsino Narrows. Retrieved our shorelines and our neighbours were very interested to see if we pulled their anchor as we weigh anchor. We only got one anchor up and then drove the few miles through the narrows where we had three knots pushing us forward.
Some miles south east of the narrow we anchored in Varney Bay. During our anchoring procedure, Berit discovered a black bear on the opposite beach. Too far away for a photo, but with binocular we could see it eating grass.
Then we had a late lunch before we put the outboard on the dinghy to go up Marble River, the reason for our anchoring. The river can only be reached close to high tide, because the bay dries out at low tide.
The river runs in a canyon most of its length that partly is quite dramatic. After only less than a mile we came to a rapid where we just manage to drive through. Big blocks made it dangerous and difficult to maneuver. Having past that, we further up came to a rapid that was faster and too shallow for the outboard. Manage to get the dinghy onto the shore where there was something they called a picnic place. We took the outboard off the dinghy and carried it 50 m upstream. Carried the empty dingy 10 meter and then pulled it along the shore to the outboard. Mounted it and continued upstream, only to discover a small waterfall behind next bend. No beach to even think of repeating what we did at the previous rapid. But we had already experienced lot of caves, overhangs in the canyon and rapids. We turned around and used the outboard only to steer in the current. Coming to the rapids where we carried the outboard, we shut it off and tilted it. Using the oars we tried to steer through but of course we were swept into the cave together with the “roaring” water. We managed to save the pontoons with the ors and hands to the roof and walls of the cave and soon we were in less turbulent water and could continue to drift. The first rapids were now a piece of cake! And suddenly we were out in the bay, trying to find our way in the shallow entrance to the river. Annika had copied a Google Maps photo, showing very clear where to find deep water at low tide, which we manage to follow back to Moon.
Back in Moon we had a shower before dinner.

16 June Friday Varney Bay – Coal Harbour 3 nm
Had breakfast in normal time before we weigh anchor and motored to Coal Harbour.
We moored in the marina for some hours and visited the museum, walked along the village “main street” and had lunch before Annika and Berit took the bus to Port Hardy for groceries.
Björn was watching Moon and wrote the English blog, when he wasn’t “disturbed”, helping a group of sailors moor to the pontoon.
The three sailing boats were participating in a small “rally” around Vancouver Island and had to fuel up in Coal Harbour. Later they planned to go to Varney Bay and Marble River. When Björn told them about our exiting experience they seemed to be a little reluctant.
Björn remembered to meet Annika and Berit at the bus to help carry the findings to Moon.
Our original plan to go back to Varney Bay was altered to stay in the marina because the “rally” with four boats will occupy the bay,
We paid the fee and took another longer walk in the opposite direction to the morning walk.

17 June Saturday Coal Harbour – Klaskish Basin 42 nm
Woke up to a somewhat cloudy sky and no wind.
Before anyone had time to use the pontoon where the water hose were, we moved and filled both our tanks. With full tanks we motored west towards the Pacific. Ebb tide gave us favourable current and with mirror like water we did great progress. Breakfast was served under way and we were soon into our normal routines in spite an unusual start. We felt the ocean swell after three hours, coming close to Quatsino Sound. We continued south west. Four racing sailing boats came from Cape Scott and around the lighthouse, continuing towards Winter Harbour.
Having past Kwakiuti Point we turned more to south east to reach Klaskish Inlet. Heading south east we could sail and shut down the engine for an hour. But closer to land the wind backed and we had to furl and engage the engine again.
A few miles later, after passing a very narrow channel, we anchored in Klaskish Basin, totally landlocked water and of course no swell. Some gusts in various directions, but otherwise very good.
We celebrated Saturday evening having Salmon and chilled white wine for dinner.

18 June Sunday Klaskish Basin
Rain after midnight and cloudy with light rain in the morning.
No gusts during the night, but the morning came with some 20 knots gusts disturbing a perfectly calm basin.
On the coast there is a 20 knot southerly wind and the Brooks Peninsula is a difficult point to go around if weather and swell is against. We will wait for north to west winds before we go around.
The rain almost stopped at noon.
Part of the day we could enjoy looking at the sailing race continuing around Brooks Peninsula using our plotter and AIS. Fun to see nine boats tacking south and understand we had much more comfort in our basin!
Annika and Berit made a small excursion with the dinghy. When they came back we started the engine and weigh anchor to move and anchor more favourable to the directions of the gusts in the basin and with a better view.
Meat casserole with mushrooms before we fell asleep after a grey day.

Week 25 19 – 25 June 2017 Klaskish Basin – Zeballos 101 nm

19 June Monday Klaskish Basin
Late Sunday night one race boat came into our basin and anchored over night. Shortly before four at first daybreak they weigh anchor and left.
The wind that died at sunset came back with new strength and blew hard until four in early morning and kept us awake now and then. Knowing about racers approach to size of anchors, we were happy they where anchored on our leeward side..
The rest of the night was quiet but rainy. Breakfast with lots of rain but no wind, a condition that lasted until noon. Late afternoon we saw some blue spots among the clouds out at sea.
Had an early dinner to be able to get up early tomorrow to go around Brooks Peninsula before the wind changed from northwest to west.

20 June Tuesday Klaskish Basin – Bunsby Islands 31 nm
Up with the first light shortly after five. Very cloudy and almost fog, but the Basin was like a mirror when we weigh anchor and hoisted a reefed main. Outside the basin we got the wind and swell, quite big and steep swell due to the outgoing tide.
Navigating behind small islands and shallows kept us fine for half an hour, but then we had to hit the swell. Not far from the coast the depth is more than thousand meters and we have 30 – 40 meter where we try to manoeuvre through the swell on our bow with the wind 40 degrees from starboard and 16 – 20 knots.
It didn’t last forever! After an hour we had passed some shallows and could ease our sheets and get full speed towards the cape. What a difference to have the wind 60 degrees from starboard and the swell 45 degrees instead of having them on the nose. Moon started to sail like the good “high sea boat” she is.
On the plotter we could see three boats coming out Quatsino Sound heading for Brooks Peninsula and we recognized them as the boats we met in Coal Harbour.
We had a comfortable and fast sailing for more than an hour to and around the cape and in between Solander Island and Brooks Peninsula. Now the wind came from behind when we changed course and almost died. We had to start the engine and lower the centreboard not to be thrown overboard in the big swell across. The passage among rocks and shallows outside Brooks Peninsula is spectacular. We even saw three whale blows among the cliffs.
Coming around the south cape we could get a more favourable course to the sea and wind, shut down the engine and sailed all the way left to Bunsby Island and had still some shallows to avoid on route.
Coming into Bunsby Islands we checked out three suggested anchorages. The first two were windy and forested all around. The third was spectacular, open but protected from swell and wind with an amazing view to the ocean. Protected from the ocean swell by numerous small skerries that almost disappeared at high tide. So why chose the forest view when ocean view is an option?
Had lunch after our anchoring procedure and after that a longer kayak tour for Annika and Berit.
Later we took the dinghy with the outboard on to shore for a long walk on the beaches. Found new tracks of wolves on the beach, new because they where between high and low water!
Back at the dinghy we where ready for a pub round! But of course it’s at least 20 miles to find one if any.
But our new friends from Coal Harbour had rounded Brooks Peninsula hours after us and where now anchored in the first “forested” anchorage here in Bunsby. We drove the dinghy to say hallo to the first boat, Aventura, and were welcomed with a beer. What a great experience! As we sat and exchanged memories from sailing here and there in the world, the “rally boss” called for a get together sundowner in their Grand Banks, and polite as they are, we were also invited!
Had a very pleasant late afternoon with the crew of the four boats, but everybody had had an very early start, due to the passing of Brooks Peninsula, so we all had an early night.

21 June Wednesday Bunsby Islands – Clanninick Cove, McLean Island 8 nm
Sunshine as we woke up, but already at breakfast there were lots of clouds
But the day developed far better. The breakfast clouds were soon gone and we got another bright day.
We got visitors from all three sailboat crews, one at the time looking at Moon and our spectacular anchorage. Looked very exposed but was in fact much more protected compared with the one they had chosen with the wind from North West right down into the anchorage.
After lunch we decided to change bay in spite our view.
Weigh anchor and got a lot of kelp together with the anchor. Used our kelp knife for the second time.
Motor sailed in fresh breeze between shore and breakers to minimise the ocean swell. Anchored around three to windward in the head of a big bay with lots of wind but no swell.
Afternoon coffee in cockpit when we saw a black bear on the beach some hundreds meter away. Much closer than the last bear and much more sunlight! Got some ok photos despite the long distance.
Aventura came an hour after we anchored and later came for an anchor dram. Single Malt in the cockpit of Moon.
They had decided to change anchorage due to the wind right down into the previous cove. We heard conversation on VHF between the three remaining boats. One had got a broken wire for the throttle, and one had dragged their anchor, but all were ok and no real problem. They were working with a temporary fix for the wire and would start early tomorrow before the wind and swell was building up.
After Aventura was back to their boat we started making dinner. As we sat in cockpit the bear was on the other beach, somewhat closer. New photos and now we discovered it was another bear. The first one was still on the other beach. Odd to see two bears so close without having salmon on the menu.

22 June Thursday Clanninick Cove – Dixie Cove on Hohoae Island Kyuquat Sound 13 nm
Again wok up to a fabulous sunny day. The sea was like a mirror around Moon. A few loons, a deer and some seals together with several bald eagles entertained us during our breakfast in the cockpit.
We could see our “rally” friends on AIS leaving Bunsby Island, except Aventura that was close by on anchor.
As we saw them passing by south of us, Aventura weigh anchor to join the group in Dixie Cove. They where going to do a detour into Walters Cove and the Kyuquat village and promised to call us if it was worth the effort.
As there where no more bears on the beach we weigh anchor when we got the information about Walters Cove.
Drove in the bright sunshine between rocks and skerries and some markers the very winding way into Walters Cove. And yes it was worth the extra trip, but we didn’t find any food to buy. The store was only open every second day and the supply would come with the ferry tonight.
Took the only and shallow way out and then turned north east into Crowther Channel. This sound was much prettier than Quatsino, mainly because of less logging, but of course the sunny weather had some effect too.
An hour later we arrived in Dixie Cove and anchored in the middle between all four “rally boats” that had anchored along the shore line. This cove was absolutely landlocked and with good holding. Both we thought was on their wish list after yesterdays dragging.
We had some ideas how to help Frangipani, the boat with the broken wire, getting a more convenient fix to their problem. As they now had a line from the engine up to the cockpit making it possible to adjust engine revs. In Tonga nine years ago we had a similar miss happening with our previous boat that we manage to repair temporary, and it was working fine three months later when we finally replaced it with a new wire in NZ.
We took the dinghy to Frangipani and made arrangement to arrive earlier to the announced sundowner, to be able to judge if we could repair it tomorrow.
After established that it was probably possible to do a more permanent repair Berit took us to shore where we attempted to climb the hillside. This was the first bay ever with a hillside that steep that we actually could see the barren cliffs between the trees. First we had to go through dense vegetation and later up the steep bare hillside. Finally we got some nice photos of the bay and the boats to share with the group. “Arial” photos with trees in the foreground gives quite a different perspective of our boats. Coming down was as difficult as climbing up. Got lot of scars on our bare legs, not to mention some bites from horse flies.
But down we came and had time for a quick shower before it was time to row over to Frangipani. Annika managed to climb down in lockers to determine if it was possible to swap direction of the wire cable. The idea was to use the undamaged end in the damaged end, and that seemed to be possible. The damages looked exactly as we remembered from our wire on Lindisfarne, so we were convinced that we could solve the problem in the same manner. The work was postponed until tomorrow morning.
Then we had a nice get together with all four boats in the cockpit of Frangipani and we promised to share some of the photos from our excursion uphill this afternoon.
Back in Moon we had a light dinner after all appetisers in Frangipani.

23 June Friday Dixi Cove
Sunshine and a gentle breeze when we woke up.
Breakfast and some morning “musts” before we took the dinghy over to Frangipani for the wire issue.
Annika spent some time in different lockers cutting cable ties to undo the wire before we could pull it backwards from the engine up through the pedestal. Then we cut a piece from the outer wire protection to get the inner rod to work with. This took some time because the strands were hard and we didn’t want to damage the inner rod. Now we had a bare rod in one end that could be used at the engine (because that leaver is spring loaded), and one undamaged end to be used at the helm. Brought the 6 meters (18 feet) wire back in place, down the pedestal and all the way to the engine, where it was connected using a electrical conductor that was screwed to the rod making it possible to pull the leaver for the throttle.
Up at the helm the mounting is as with a new wire, but the problem with a wire not having as much flexibility as it should is still there. In our case it was the leaver that was corroded and not allowing the wire to bend with a smooth radius, here it was more lack of space allowing the wire to move smoothly.
With this repair Frangipani should be able to postpone wire exchange until fall, but we recommend them to always have a spare wire – this will happened again sooner or later.
Back in Moon we had a long wanted combined morning and eleven coffee. Aventura left to do some battery charging and Hopo Spirit took their big dinghy for a ride to the nearby launch ramp where it was supposed to be a Wifi net. We invited the two other crews to join Moon on a similar trip.
Picked them up onto Moon directly from each boat, a challenging task without a bow thruster.
A nice trip with lot of talking about boats and equipments in the fabulous weather.
Back in Dixie Cove after two hours, no Wifi – we didn’t even go ashore.
Late afternoon we had a dinghy raft together sundowner in the neighboring cove. Actually that sunny that we had to move the rafted dinghys into the shade!
For dinner we were invited to Frangipani as a “thank you”, a dinner were even Hobo Spirit joined.

24 June Saturday Dixie Cove – Queen Cove 25 nm
Sunshine and almost no wind in the morning.
All boats were going to leave. Moon was first to weigh anchor and thanked for nice get together via VHF and got some nice respond back. Everybody wished each other for “Fair winds”. We were sure we would meet again as our schedules overlaps in near future.
We were to change “fjord” while “the rally” had a few coves more to investigate in this fjord system.
No wind made us motor close to shore and look for interesting items.
Saw an empty kayak at Rugged Point close to waterline and rising tide and no people! Hopefully someone is nearby before the water takes the kayak.
At lunch time we turned east into Esperanza Inlet and continued our close up. Passed through “Rolling Roadstead” and were happy to have just a small swell! Turned north from Esperanza to Queen Cove where we anchored.
Put the outboard on the dinghy and made o tour to a “lake” close by. The “lake” had connection to the sea via a small bar that dries at half tide. Ran through with lots of water still running in, in spite the tide had started to ebb. Not much to see, except for a huge school of Merganser chicks.
Going out the water was still running into the “lake” due to the small and shallow bar, but not as much as going in..
Dinner in the cockpit and still sitting in the cockpit a black bear came down at our nearest beach, some hundred meters behind Moons stern. If we where to close or not we don’t know, but it decided to turn back after a few minutes on the shore.

25 June Sunday Queen Cove – Zeballos 14 nm
Sunshine and absolutely no wind when we had breakfast in our cockpit.
We had had a clear night with mirror like water, reflecting each star bright and clear, Magical!
During breakfast Annika suddenly discover a shallow relatively close to Moon. Well it was very low water, but this shallow was inside the circle we investigate before letting the hook go down. How had that happened? And the chart showed 2 meters at zero tide! The pilot/guide had nothing except for a drying rock further away.
Obviously we have to look at the depth sounder more carefully and consistent. We got spoiled last year thanks to Navionics chart system that could register the depth from the depth sounder into the chart on the tablet, making it possible to do our own chart and not miss a small spot when surveying because you didn’t watch the depth sounder just that moment. Somehow that feature has gone missing in some updating.
In Esperanza the numbers of skerries and shallows is far greater than in previous sounds and inlets. Almost as back home! Weigh anchor and out to Esperanza, passing our little “lake”. Now, close to low tide, the bar was a one meter waterfall!
Out in Esperanza Inlet we turned north east and towards Zeballos. Shortly we got nice following wind and current. Shut down the engine and sailed with only Yankee in six knots plus current. The wind followed us turning due north, we only had to gibe. Suddenly we saw a black bear on starboard side, poking around in the grass. This is our fifth black bear on Vancouver Island West Coast.
Coming north in the fjord it makes a S-turn, but the wind followed and again we only had to gibe.
Moored at the new public pontoons with plenty of room. It turned out later that we were the first sailboat visiting Zeballos this summer.
Went for a walk in the sunny weather. Zeballos have had its golden days to say the least! Almost no facilities left. But a nice place with friendly people. We were lucky to be allowed to buy a big piece of a Halibut from one local fisherman.
The fee for the harbour was reasonable 40 $ including power.
Unfortunately we were kept awake by fishermen in a nearby boat that thought they were good singers, trying to overcome the loud loudspeaker until two o’clock. So much for the rules of silence after ten.
But the halibut tasted delicious, even if it had only spent some hours in salt water waiting for the pan.

Week 26 26 June – 2 July 2017 Zeballos – Mosquito Harbour 121,4 nm

26 June Monday Zeballos – Westveiw Marina Tahsis 15 nm
Difficult to sleep due to some fishermen in a nearby boat that tried to sing and overcome the loud loudspeakers! After two o’clock they got tired and quiet, so much for silence after ten!!
In spite of the night we were up early to prepare Moon for leaving with the outgoing tide and before the sea breeze starts. Got going before breakfast at half past seven.
After the first bend in the fjord the wind from behind got stronger and we could turn off the engine and sail the whole length of Zeballos Inlet. The wind and current died when we came close to Esperanza Inlet but the wind came back when we turned north into Tahsis Inlet. But of course on our nose because now we had turned inland. Four miles with 15 knots on the nose was cold, but we were soon in Westview Marina and moored already at eleven o’clock. Felt very luxury with an Americano, triple shot in the Marina Café.
We then brought our back packs and walked to “town”. Tahsis is like Zeballos a “forgotten town” Pulp and saw mill closed down fifteen years ago and of course the town suffer from that. Logging and fishing tourism are important employers today. But there is still a shop and fuel station.
Some vegetables, apples and eggs became our catch of the day. It’s obviously that you have to be self sufficient when travelling Vancouver Island west coast as in BC north. We will probably not find much before reaching Tofino.
Coming back to Moon with our half empty back packs the tide and wind had changed. Now there was a strong breeze up the fjord against the tide, making the sea choppy and steep. We turned Moon around to face the wind with the bow, to have more comfort but even more to be able to leave without the challenge to back Moon out between two long narrow pontoons. Run four washing machines of all laundry in Moon. While doing that we had internet and another coffee at the café. The Wifi reach is only around the café and restaurant, not out to where Moon is moored.
Had a nice buffet in the café/restaurant in the evening, where the big show was the eagles, fed with all the fish trash after cleaning the fish caught today. Remember this is a fish camp resort! They have had 20 eagles at the same time, we had just over ten in today’s show.

27 June Tuesday Westveiw Marina, Tahsis – Bodega Island 13 nm
Strong wind from shore all night that increased when the sun came up. Tahsis Inlet continue as a valley and then a long lake through most of Vancouver Island. In fact when we drove from Port Hardy to Nanaimo with our radar dome, we drove along the lake more than half the way to Tahsis, before the main road turned east and back to the east coast. So no wonder that there is a strong outflow all night, that turns to inflow when the sun heat up the land mass.
Annika walked to the office and paid our bill and was surprised to pay only 44$ in spite they had a price list telling us 1,40 a foot.
Had breakfast and then it was time to try to get out. The marina is design for pleasure fishing boats and not for big sailing boats without a bow thruster. There is a sharp U-turn between narrow piers to be made.
To try to improve Moons capability for sharp turns, we lowered the centre board before we left the pontoon.
No big deal to get away from the pontoon, in spite wind on our aft quarter, just had to go in between the gusts. The wind from behind forced us to go pretty fast to give the rudder maximum gain and coming close to the perpendicular pontoon we made a sharp U-turn into the wind and out between the piers. The centre board made quite a difference, much smaller turning radius compared with without. Almost as turning a fin keeled boat!
Out on the fjord we had 15 knots from behind, giving us a nice down wind run. We had to gibe several times due to the wind changing directions all the time. We had the tide with us until eleven and by then we had only two miles left to our change of fjords.
We left Tahsis Inlet through Princessa Channel, a quite demanding pass. Not for the current but because of three very difficult positioned shallows. But they were where the chart showed us, so no real problem.
Having done Princessa we turned north into Bodega Cove where we anchored just before noon.
Had lunch and then Annika and Berit took the kayak for a tour further north to Heron Cove. No wildlife to see, perhaps the nearby logging station made noise and scared them away.

28 June Wednesday Bodega Island – Blight Island, Ewin Inlet 10,4 nm
Another sunny morning and without the strong wind from shore.
Breakfast and some must do before we weigh anchor and drove south into 15 knots of wind and a bit choppy sea because we had following tide. We run four miles against the sea, coming all the way from the Ocean, which probably meant that the wind direction out there was quite different compared with in Cook Channel, otherwise we should have had some serious swell.
We left Cook Channel and motored through Spanish Group Islands to Ewin Inlet where we turned north all the way to the bottom and anchored in Bligh Cove, totally protected from the Ocean swell by a lot of small islands and islets, in spite Ewin Inlet is open to south and the Ocean.
Again we anchored before noon, got our coffee in a sunny cockpit. Amazing that we have had sunshine for a week!

29 June Thursday Blight Island – Hot Springs Cove 32 nm
As usual we had sunshine when we woke up, but our neighbouring fjord had fog.
Absolutely no wind and we weigh anchor before breakfast to be done with Ewin Inlet before the sea breeze started. The tide was to our favour. Coming out of our cove, we saw fog all over the horizon. But thanks to our new radar that shouldn’t be a problem. Breakfast and motoring towards south and the Pacific.
One hour along Hesquiat Peninsula we got late morning coffee. While drinking coffee our smoke alarm started in the electrical room. Shut down the engine and tried to find the source for the smoke that became visible when Annika went down below and opened the door. It took some time to locate but finally we found the source ! The 24 volt alternator that Annika rewinded in Japan after an internal short had obviously given up after 1500 hours since repair.
Not much to do right now, rolling on the ocean with no wind, but to disconnect the belts and the fuse for the alternator and then start the engine again. The rescue guys in the light house probably thought we caught a fish!
After twenty minutes we were under engine again, now without 24 volt charging. In Japan we not only repaired the old one, we bought a new identical Mastervolt spare alternator. But we have to wait until a calm bay to put it in place. We continued in hardly any wind around Estewan Point and around the Peninsula.
We didn’t expect much in terms of wildlife this foggy day, but we had several humpbacks, one made nice dive close but most of them in a distance. One sea lion, some sea otters and a few dolphins made the list complete. We don’t count bald eagles anymore. They are there “all the time”.
Shortly after two o’clock we turned into Hot Springs Cove just west of Sydney Inlet and anchored close to the pontoon.
This was really our first tourist trap in Canada. First hour we counted six sea planes coming and going with tourists. Several ribs and some covered fast boats where at the pontoon, waiting for people to have their walk and bath.
Tofino is only twenty miles to south east and one big business there is to take tourists to the famous Hot Spring. Luckily we have things to do until the tourists leave in the afternoon.
There where only five sailboats anchored, meaning there will be space for us after “hours”.
We opted for a walk this afternoon and save the change of alternators until tomorrow when the engine is cooler.
Fiveish we took the dinghy to the pontoon and walked the almost 3 km to the spring. Met many tourists, mainly from Asia, walking back to the pontoon and their transport back to Tofino.
A nice boardwalk took us through a marvellous forest, much less dense compared to the one we seen so far, a very nice experience. The hot spring were not that “fantastic” as the pilots and tourist brochures try to tell you. But of course if you haven’t seen any before. But for us having had lots of nice hot springs to our self’s in BC, Alaska, Chile and other part of the world it was little of an anti climax, especially as there were still lots of people in the little pond. Our latest hot spring was Bishop Bay, where Kitimat Yacht Club has made an extraordinary site out in the wilderness. Off season there are seldom boats there and you can enjoy the spring the “normal” way.
But now we really enjoyed the walk through the forest, that fully compensated for the spring where people still after hours tried to get a “selfie” sitting in the water.
Back in Moon we had halibut for the last time (until we get a new one) and it tasted as good as yesterday. Marinated in saltwater makes all the difference.

30 June Friday Hot Springs Cove – Young Bay – Bacchante Bay 11 nm
Woke up to a completely white world! We were in dense fog, happy that we anchored close to shore!
We did not envy the American boat that anchored almost in the fairway.
We turned on the AIS and got back to bed.
The sun made wonder and at breakfast time we had sunshine again, but still dense fog off shore.
After breakfast the alternators were on the menu. All involved fuses and breakers was put off to make sure no components got destroyed in the process.
Annika removed the old 24 volt alternator and cleaned the area and then mounted the new one. A full hour later it was time for a test run that came out with high score. Worked absolutely fine.
Weigh anchor just as the fog lifted and motored around the light house up in Sydney Inlet, Where we after a little while could unfurl the Yankee and shut down the engine in a freshening sea breeze.
In Young Bay, a well protected bay up in Sydney Inlet, we anchored to have lunch.
A Canadian single handler was anchored in the bay and came to Moon when he heard the chain as we weigh anchor. He was surprised that we were leaving after an hour. He had been there some days and planned staying another three weeks. We have different pace. Asking if he know about our next bay a few miles to north east, he surprised us when informing that he hadn’t been there.
Motored back almost a mile in Sydney Inlet and then turned east into Shelter Inlet where we got a nice sail all the way to the bottom where we anchored.
Annika and Berit took the dinghy with the outboard and drove up to the rapids in a nearby little river. Beautiful with high mountains around.
As they came back we had a little dram in the sunny cockpit before it was time for dinner. The dinner was served downstairs as the steep hillsides shaded the sun well before sunset, and with the sun gone the temperature fell dramatically.
A small American sail boat came just before the sun disappeared and anchored far away from Moon. But after dinner the two guys aboard came paddling and Annika had a chat across the cap rail. They were surprised to find a European sail boat in this area and got even more surprised when Annika told them we left Sweden twelve years ago.
At sunset all wind disappeared as we have got spoiled with the last weeks, except for the night in Tahsis, but that was a micro climate!

1 July Saturday Bacchante Bay – Matilda Inlet – West Whitepine Cove 18 nm
Not as sunny as we have become used to in the morning.
Made breakfast and then weigh anchor and moved south towards Sulphur Passage, a short cut from Shelter Inlet to Millard Channel. We passed the northern entrance yesterday. We were lucky with the tide, had half a knot against, perfect for navigate tricky narrows with lots of shallows to take care of.
Coming into Millard Channel we got a cold wind from the foggy ocean on our bow, but not strong enough to build any sea. Flores Island is the western shoreline in Millard Channel and far south of Flores is Matilda Inlet, a deep narrow bay where we intend to anchor for lunch and try to find the trail to the ocean beach of Flores.
Half way down Matilda is Ahousat, an old settlement with a shop and a fuel pontoon. We made a quick stop and bought potatoes, carrots and some tomatoes. We anchored half a mile further south.
Annika and Berit took the dinghy ashore to try to find the trail and eventually the hot spring.They found a concrete tub with lukewarm water but no trail.
Back in the Moon for lunch we decided to leave, the weather was not good for beach walking on the ocean side, even if we had found the trail. Instead we weigh anchor and got a nice sail in full speed, in spite only 12 knots of wind as soon as we came out of Matilda Inlet.
One hour later we were anchored in a totally land locket cove. Almost completely round, relatively big, but not enough fetch for any sea to build. As we sat and admired the scenery, a black bear came out of the forest onto one of the small beaches. This was our sixth bear on the west coast.
A quiet afternoon with a shower for everyone and then dinner in the cockpit.

2 July Sunday West Whitepine Cove – Mosquito Harbour, Mears Island north of Tofino 22 nm
Somewhat cloudy and grey when we woke up.
During breakfast we decided to use the tide motoring out of Herbert Inlet. Weigh anchor and manoeuvred out of our protected duck pond. A weak wind on our nose with half a knot following tide made motoring easy. Run the water maker, necessary after all showers.
When we passed Ross Passage and turned south towards the outer part of Clayoquot Sound we didn’t get the “normal” strong sea breeze. Probably the cloudy weather made the sun driven wind start much later. Lot of crab pots on our route to avoid. A fishing boat suddenly turned in front of our bow and quickly hauled one of the pots. When we passed him less than half a minute later he stretched his arm in the air with one Dungeness crab. The message was crystal clear and we turned around and got seven nice big crabs. Could we give him anything?? No problem! Was the quick answer and then he turned around to work! Probably his way of making us happy and celebrate Canada 150 years 1 July! Annika started immediately to boil them in saltwater and dill seeds.
We continued east in Calmus Passage, but instead of continue towards Tofino we turned north east and went around Mears Island. As we now were going inland we got the tide against. In Matiset Narrows it was shown four knots on the chart, but we had nip so we didn’t expect more than two knots. Coming closer we saw whitecaps and no wind? Of course tide ripples! Turned towards shore to try to find the back current along the shore line. Worked perfect half way through, but then it became shallow and narrow and two knots against couldn’t be avoided for some hundred metres. Shortly we were out of the narrow section and the current eased. Soon we turned south into Fortune Channel and the current disappeared. Another half mile and around a cape on Mears Island into Mosquito Harbour where we anchored in the north east corner. Six metres deep, even bottom with extremely good holding.
Two powerboats came just as we were done with our lunch. They came up quite close, but decided to use the north west corner of the bay, several hundred meter away from us. The bay is quite big and the depth in the northern part is 6-8 m metres, perfect bay for a big flotilla. Southeast strong wind can make it a little bit uncomfortable, but not unsafe.
Some boat maintenance and blog, it’s Sunday and the weekly blog has to be published tonight, at least in Swedish.
When all our duties have been fulfilled we took the dinghy ashore for a beach walk.
Saw only a sea lion but also nice mosses and lavas.
Back in Moon we had a marvellous dinner using half of the crab meat from this morning that Annika had cocked and rinsed/cleaned. Salad, toast, cheese and crackers made it a complete and perfect evening. On top of that we served a chilled Pinot Grigo.

Week 27 3 – 9 July 2017 Mosquito Harbour – Cataract Creek in Barkley Sound 83,5

3 July Monday Mosquito Harbour – Irving Cove 15,3 nm + Kennedy Bay 4,2 nm
Woke up to a sunny morning with mirror like water around Moon.
We weigh anchor after a slow breakfast in cockpit. We where now in Tofino Inlet, very little used by cruisers and we saw almost no boats. The inlet is out of the normal route because it’s a dead end detour from Tofino, or as we did, go around Mears Island. Completely landlocked and no ocean swell. Thanks to the late sea breeze the air was already quite warm in spite some wind on our nose. Our goal for today, Kennedy Bay, was in fact only interesting at high tide when it was possible to go up Kennedy River. High tide is already at eleven, making a river excursion something for tomorrow morning.
Instead we continued all the way up Tofino inlet to Irving Cove, a group of small islands at the head of Tofino Inlet. Very narrow and badly charted, so Annika and Berit went into the dinghy with a depth sounder and chart tablet to try to establish if it was safe to anchor behind the islands and among the rocks.
Björn was outside, keeping Moon into the wind, waiting for the result.
The main reason for not using Moon for the survey was the falling tide and the very uneven bottom. If we got stuck the disaster is close because the depth varies from almost nothing to twenty meters in almost no distance. We won’t even think about having Moon on a rock with 20 meter depth beside. The tide is more then three metres.
The research team came back and with Annika aboard we moved slowly into the basin. Berit was still in the dinghy taking care of a shore line to a bolt on one of the islets.
With the anchor on the hard bottom and two shore lines we had lunch, before we continued to improve the mooring by moving the anchor to a more favourable position and actually got some good holding too.
Moving the anchor was done after Annika had used the kayak to mark the two shallow rocks close to Moon. Using the radar and the chart overlay we could mark a “waypoint” on the chart where the echo from Annika in the kayak was clearly shown.
All islands and the three shallow rocks where in wrong places on the chart, not even a parallel distortion.
Annika and Berit then took the kayak for a tour in the little archipelago with very nice barren cliffs in a colour that reminds us of the Swedish west coast.
When the sea breeze calmed down after dinner and the tide changed, one of the shore lines came close to the oysters. After a short rethinking we decided to do tomorrow morning early departure for Kennedy Bay already now and have a late morning instead. Better be safe than sorry!
The sun was already shaded by a high mountain, but further south there was still sunshine. We retrieved our shore lines and weigh anchor, an anchor that had found really good holding in spite of our first attempt only twenty meters aside.
Coming into Kennedy Bay less than an hour later, the sun had just disappeared, but high tide and an even bottom made it easy to go around and determine the depth in our anchoring circle.
As dinner already had been taking care of, we had no other duties than a good sleep.

4 July Tuesday Kennedy Bay – Tofino 10 nm
A soft wind in the trees when we woke up. We had a slow breakfast waiting for the tide to get high enough for our trip up river.
Ten o’clock we mounted the outboard to the dinghy and brought cameras and binoculars for the adventure.
To tell you the truth, we really didn’t know if it at all was possible as the little information we had didn’t say anything about the river. But the map showed the river up to a huge system of lakes. If the change in elevation was relatively even we would be able to venture quite a distance.
As in Marble River, some weeks ago, we only came a mile up the river before we came to a fast running, shallow part of the river. No way to overcome because there were no shores to use for towing the dinghy.
We drifted part of the way back to Moon until the river became too wide and the wind stopped us.
Back in Moon Björn went aboard with all equipment and Annika and Berit continued to Cannery Bay, the neighboring cove only hundred meters to the east.
They found no traces of manmade things, but in Kennedy Bay there are pilings and more from an old Cannery! Back in Moon we stored the outboard and made everything ready for departure. Weigh anchor and headed towards Tofino down Tofino Inlet, same way we came yesterday, but now we continued along Mears Islands south side, where we yesterday came from north along the eastern side of Mears Island.
The narrows along Mears Island south are tricky and partly shallow, but with plotter and radar overlay to make sure the chart is correct it’s a “piece of cake”, especially if you keep track of your course over ground.
The narrow sound keeps on all the way through Tofino, making it a very tricky harbour with all it’s shallow areas.
Coming into the harbour we found a god spot on the public wharf. But the current swept us by and we had to make a new attempt much further east towards the current. This time everything went well, except for the depth. Twenty meters east of the pontoon we had only five feet of water, which is alarming when your draft is 5 feet! On shore side of Moon the bottom shoaled quickly, but we finally moored without any trouble, and at the pontoon we had water enough for ebb tide.
Made the town and got bus tickets for Berits return trip to Vancouver via Nanaimo plus lots of food in the supermarket. Then we took a long walk on the seaside of Tofino, a trail that included three beaches and a nice part was in the forest. Took lots of time but when we reached the main road we were lucky to catch the free shuttle back to town, saving us some miles and getting us back to Moon in time for a late dinner.
We enjoyed dinner in the cockpit with the sun setting over the bow, from where also the wind came. The latter important now as it is much cooler compared to in the inlets. We used to have 18 C degrees, but now only 13 close to the ocean. We will have no problem keeping the temperature down tonight.

5 July Wednesday Tofino – Wickaninnish Island – Tofino 7,5 nm
In spite the pilot had warned us that Tofino Harbour is quite choppy due to all boats transporting tourists everywhere (Hot Springs especially), we had a quiet night with no swell what so ever. But we woke early due to a site close by where they took care of nets and equipments from the fish plants. Those guys started well before seven o’clock.
After breakfast we did some shopping and then headed out in the current. The plan for today was to visit a friend to a friend in Gothenburg. Susanne lives on Wickaninnish Island since many years and met several Swedish guys in her youth, and one of those is a friend of ours. Already six years ago we were to meet Susanne, but we never came to Vancouver West on that trip.
After having tried to find an anchorage on the west side, due to some misunderstandings, we gave up and went around to the east side, which of course is the only side you can anchor in summertime to be protected from the ocean swell.
After we had had lunch on the anchorage, Susanne came by on her way to town and showed us more precisely where “her” beach was. We weigh anchor and moved some hundred meters to just outside the beach.
Later we took the dinghy to the beach and shortly Susanne came back from her shopping tour to Tofino. The Island has no infrastructure, only mobile phone, but that’s just because Tofino is close by, so even cellphone has no infrastructure on the island.
Susanne has lived all her grownup life on the island, including having four children, home schooled on the island. Her house is absolutely amazing situated with a stunning view out on the ocean. The house itself is worth a book! Made out of mainly driftwood, cut into planks. The internal design is more or less a big room including everything from kitchen, bathroom, dinner table, sofa and so on.A second floor has sleeping facilities. Really off the grid. Electricity, water, firewood are produced/collected on site. Propane for cooking and fridge/freezer is of course brought from town together with diesel for the generator. The house has no extra insulation and the windows are single glass. Heating is a huge cast iron furnace in the middle of the big room.
Outside there is a wonderful veranda, protected from the prevailing wind, sunny and warm. We had a nice time sitting there and listen to Susanne answering all our questions and telling us about her life on the island.
Very interesting to have the opportunity to get to learn about a life so completely devoted to nature and the rules of nature, as opposite to “the rules of money and greed”.
We left Susanne on the beach shortly before sunset and took the dinghy out to Moon, where we weigh anchor and motored back to Tofino. We have got spoiled with quiet anchorage and with the wind dying, the swell became more uncomfortable where we anchored. We anchored off the harbour and that was as quiet as on the pontoon exept for the chain rattling on the bottom when the tide changes..

6 July Thursday Tofino – Stuart Bay, Ucluelet Inlet 25 nm
Foggy morning and no wind. Slow start with a late breakfast, waiting for some wind.
Our friends form Dixie Cove, “the Gibsons Rally” came and moored at Tofino Public Float. We exchanged information on VHF before we weigh anchor and made agreement to meet in Barkley Sound next week. We motored out of Tofino and shortly we could hoist sail and have a reasonable good sail all the way to Ucluelet 25 mile to the south east.
Close to the lighthouse at Ucluelet we furled the cutter, gibed the main and sailed across shallow water with confused sea to reach calm water, furled the Yankee, lowered the main and motored a few meters into Stuart Bay where we anchored.
Ucluelet harbour have to wait until tomorrow to see us.

7 July Friday Stuart Bay – Ucluelet 1,5 nm
Annika called the Public Float at breakfast and they had room for us. Very luxurious to have the phone working again in the boat. What we have been told, that will probably be the case for the rest of the trip along the west coast, at least in Barkley Sound where the cell coverage includes all operators.
Got a berth outside a small 36 footer with almost no cleats. Björn went ashore to see if there was a better spot. Heading for Magic Hour, a boat that we met on the hard in Vancouver, and Peter, the owner called for Moon across the harbour when we arrived.
But already on the pontoon where we were moored Björn run into John on Iris. OK we know that Iris was to sail from Portland to Barkley Sound beginning of July, but this was still a surprise. Iris, a Hylas 42, was perfectly moored with 110 v at her stern and soon Moon was rafted onto Iris with everything plugged in and secured.
John had arrived yesterday, and past Stuarts Bay only an hour before we anchored there. It was very nice to meet again after so many years. We first met John in Gambier French Polynesia in 2008 and then sailed together off and on through French Polynesia where Janet, Johns wife joined in Tahiti. From Suwarrow Iris took a route to Ameircan Samoa and we sailed to Nui. In Tonga we met again and later sailed together to NZ.
Last time we met John was in Sidney Harbour in Australia with Janet, but Janet we met later in their home in Portland when we delivered Lindisfarne2012, when John still was offshore finalising his circum navigation. So of course there was plenty to explore among our memories, not to mention our repair of Iris backstay in Minerva Reef as the hydraulic tensioner failed.
It’s really fascinating to discover that after half an hour it’s like we met yesterday last time!
Björn went over to Peter and his Hylas 49. We thought we missed them because we know they were going to sail to Queen Charotte using the route east of Vancouver Island. But what happened was that Peters son e-mailed and told him that he was going to get married in Tofino while Magic Hour was sailing Desolation Sound. Of course they had to turn around and sail to Ucluelet and Tofino. Change of plans is sometimes very good. Now we got to meet Peter and wife Nicole and we agreed on a rendezvous after the wedding out in Broken Group.
It’s really nice to arrive in a foreign port long way from home and discover that you have several friends in the harbour.
After lunch in Moon, where even John participated, we took a long walk on the ocean side of Ucluelet. We like Ucluelet more compared to the more touristic Tofino.
In the evening we had dinner at the float restaurant in the marina together with John and his friend Roger, whom we met at a dinner back in Portland with Janet, Johns wife.

8 July Saturday Ucluelet – Cataract Creek in Barkley Sound 14 nm
Up very early to get Berit to the bus in time.
Shortly before seven we waited for the bus up in town. Seven sharp the bus arrived and Berit started her long trip back to Gothenburg, with a two night’s stopover in Vancouver to see the town.
Back in Moon we brought our back packs for a shopping tour, stocking up for two weeks in Barkley Sound. Then back to Moon to clean the deck. We haven’t had rain for several weeks and dirt accumulates on the cork deck. Nice with a broom and plenty of water to rinse. We even had time for a second tour to the supermarket before we cast off and motored south.
Coming to the south end of Ucuelet Inlet the fog from the ocean came rolling. But we turned “the other way” into Barkley Sound and could after a little while unfurl the Yankee and shut down the engine.
We reached our cove around four and got the anchor secured. The cove was small and we used two shore lines to keep Moon in position. Launched the kayak and explored the surrounding islands.
Had a nice Red Snapper for dinner in the setting sun.

9 July Sunday Cataract Creek
As the forecast predicted, Sunday morning had light rain and fog. The rain stopped already after breakfast, but we stayed indoors until eleven when the fog lifted and we took the kayak for another tour.
Back in Moon the sky had cleared and the air was already getting warm again. After lunch the tide was high enough for Lucky Creek, the creek with the waterfall that was the reason for our anchoring in Cataract Creek, only a fast dinghy trip away.
In Lucky Creek it was summer! Nice with only T-shirt and shorts. We tied the dinghy at the foot of the big fall, which was dry due to the little rain, and climbed the rock up to the pools. What an amazing place and we had all the pools to ourselves. Took a swim in the crystal clear water and sundried on the smooth water grinded rocks. After our experience in Hot Springs Cove with loads of tourists we were really surprised to find the fall empty, but definitely not sorry. What an extraordinary experience.
Back in Moon we had an hour of sunbathing on deck before a swim in the now 21 C water around Moon. Hot shower on deck was the ultimate ending of a perfect day in our private little cove.

Week 28 10 – 16 July 2017 Cataract Creek – Effingham Island 56,5 nm

10 July Monday Cataract Creek
Fog and cloudy when we woke up. Very low water, we almost didn’t recognise the cove! Low water was more than a meter lower than in the evening before. Lots of oysters around us above the waterline. Our two shore lines together with the anchor kept us in perfect position in the deep spot.
Breakfast and then some writing while Annika polished the hull on the sunny side, meaning the side where the sun was supposed to be.
Elevenish we took the kayak and explored the islands and a big inland seawater lake, reached via a very narrow canal. But deep enough for Moon, although some trees were almost closing the upper section. A perfect hurricane hole! Douglas describes the “lake” in the pilot as something only to be explored by dinghy. We think it should me mention as a hurricane hole, usable if weather goes really bad.
When we reached “open water” again the fog had disappeared and we paddled back to Moon for some lunch.
Yesterday we were completely alone in Lucky Creek Fall and this part of Barkley Sound, but today the picture is completely different. An American Swan anchored on the other side of “our” protecting island and VHF told us about several other boats coming to see the fall today.
Avant Garde, a NZ boat that we have heard about since they wintered in Tannowa, Japan the year before us, was one of the boats heading for the fall. Now we probably will be able to finally meet them.
Björn continued with the English blog and Annika with polishing Moon.
Before four we took the dinghy and speeded across the water to Lucky Creek where Aventura , Frangipani and Avant Garde were anchored. They had all visit the fall this afternoon and was exited about the experience. Six of eight people in the fall had had a swim. Now we were even more grateful to our luck to have the fall on our own yesterday.
Stayed for a while in Avant Garde and talked about friends we both know in NZ and Japan. Especially Kakaihara san who sailed with Avant Garde in Seto Inland Sea and helped us quite a lot as well in Tannowa.
Avant Garde was about to move to where the American Swan was previously anchored close to us, because their position right now was not safe during low tide.
While they moved we went to Aventura and got the latest news from the “Gibson rally”. They had a minor problem with their outboard and had to go to Ucuelet for spare parts. There is always something.
Went by Frangipani to say hallo on our way back to Moon. Now Avant Garde was anchored only hundred meters from Moon, with the little island in between. We stopped and continued our exploration in NZ and Japanese memories having some of their “home made” wine. Do we need to tell you that that was exceptionally good?
We had some serious discussions about where to sail after BC and our experiences from places far south and in Europe. They have not yet left the Pacific Ocean due to grand children but you can fly from almost anywhere, so Scotland was high on their wish list.
Fun to discover that Colin and Marion was wine producers and we told them about another NZ couple, also wine makers, that we met first time in the Med 2003, that sold their wine yard in Marlborough Sound and then sailed around the world. We visit them in their new house in Wanaka, South Island, 2010.
Back in Moon we had a simple chicken dinner before a film and then to bed.
It’s funny to see how different life can be, Sunday completely on our own and today six boats in our close surroundings, but thanks to our little bay with shore lines we kept our cove to our selves.

11 July Tuesday Cataract Creek – Pinkerton Island — Dodd Island 6,5 + 3,4 nm
Cloudy morning but no fog as far as we could see.
Breakfast and some writing for the whole crew. Shortly before ten Colin and Marion came over with their two gests to have a look at Moon. There were a lot of talks about the cork deck.
Avant Garde is a cold molded wooden boat with fiber glass on both sides of the hull. Similar to Moon, but a tru wooden boat in aspect of design. Moon has strip planked wood, but is a true composite in aspect of design.
We took a group photo of the six of us to send to Kakihara san in Tannowa where Avant Garde wintered 2014 and Moon 2015 at the same berth.
After they had left we retrieved our shore lines and weigh anchor.
Anchored for lunch and a kayak trip among Pinkerton Islands. Back in Moon after our kayak tour we again weigh anchor and moved to Joes Bay on Dodd Island where we anchored close to Magic Hour with Peter and Nicole.
Appetiser and dinner in Magic Hour where also Dough and Debbie from Muchahca participated.

12 July Wednesday Joes Bay, Dodd Island
Peter came over after breakfast to have a brief look at Moon and some talking about getting Magic Hour ready for long time cruising.
As John and Janet from Iris also came over, we decided to continue that discussion later in a couple of days.
As usual Janet was sparkling and delighted to meet us again. She felt Moon was really our home! Lots to talk about, both old memories and what have happened since we last met five years ago.
John and Janet drove back to Iris to go fishing and Magic Hour left for some bays further northeast.
Relaxing, but soon the Gibson Rally anchored in the bay. We are used to lonely anchorages! And now we have people we know around almost every night.
We worked in the boat the rest of the day and didn’t join the Gibson beach party in the chilly weather.

13 July Thursday Joes Bay – Dempster Island – Nettle Island – Robin Island 7.5 nm
Annika had her birthday and Björn made breakfast on the furnace. We had only 17 C in the boat when we woke up. Some e-mails from relatives and friends that still remember in spite our long absence from Sweden.
Weigh anchor and drove to Dempster Island where we anchored on the leeward side and took the dinghy to the caves on the windward side. After an hour in the surge and partly in the caves we were back and continued with Moon to Nettle Island where we had lunch.
Nettle Island felt in this weather dark as tall forest surrounds the cove. We weigh anchor after lunch and continued to Robinson Island where we had a great view to open water over some small low islets.
Annika took the kayak for a tour and then we had a Campari on deck in the now nice sunset.
Birthday dinner pork tenderloin in a pan with blue cheese, served with butter boiled potatoes. We opened a bottle Sibaris Grand Reserve that we got from friends early this year. Thank you very much Nicki and Campbell.

14 July Friday Robinson Island
Sunshine already when we woke up and no wind.
At breakfast, planning our day, we saw “Make it so” on AIS on her way towards our anchorage. We wanted to give them more space in the anchorage (them because we know that Iris was travelling together with Make it so). Björn got into the dinghy and surveyed the inner part of the bay, while Annika sat in the cockpit using the radar overlay to mark shallows as Björn told the depth.
Then we weigh anchor and moved further into the shallower part of the bay using anchor and stern tie.
Just as we were done both boats came around the cape.
When they had anchored it was time for lunch. After noon we took the dinghy over to Iris, rafted to Make it so, and made plans for the evening get together in Iris cockpit. They had picked a lots of clams so the menu was “fixed”.
Afternoon was spent kayaking among the islands and islets.
Back in Moon we gathered what we needed and took the dinghy to Iris and spent a nice evening with Janet, John and Roger.

15 July Saturday Robinson Island – Jarvis Island – Port Albion, Ucluelet 22 nm
We woke up to a mild rain that ended around ten o’clock when the sky slowly cleared.
We retrieved the shore line, weigh anchor and said goodbye to our friends.
Drove in the non existing wind towards south west and had lunch in Jarvis Bay to see the bay and investigate the position of the rocks on the way in. The tide was low so we had no problem finding the four rocks to be avoided.
Anchored all the way in and had our salad lunch with toasted bread.
After noon we continued towards Ucluelet to do shopping and to meet Magic Hour. They were in town to deliver the son and his bride to the plane back to LA.
We had light winds that allowed us to motor sail with the cutter to stabilize Moon now when we had some ocean swell.
Anchored across the inlet from small boat harbour, behind a small islet, put the outboard on the dinghy and drove into the marina where we tied the dinghy behind Magic Hour and had a chat with Peter. We met Nicole on the pontoon carrying all laundry she had done. Made arrangement to meet tomorrow night on Effingham Island because we were all tired after a hectic week with lots of people almost every day.
With our back packs we walked to the groceries and got what we needed.
Back in Moon we had a nice quiet sunset and a simple dinner with fish, broccoli and baguette.

16 July Sunday Ucluelet – Mence Island – Effingham Island 17 nm
A light rain when we woke up. But before breakfast we had almost clear sky and the fog was gone in the inlet. Slow start in the non existing wind. Before ten some wind was starting to build up and we weigh anchor and moved to the fuel dock to fill diesel and water.
Half an hour later we were motoring out of the inlet with a full main set. Coming out of the inlet with the ocean on starboard side we could unfurl the Yankee and shut down the engine. Good speed with the wind 130 degrees and the swell on the stern. Effingham had been a dead down run, so we opted for a detour more to the north, giving us the nice 130 degrees.
Anchored at Mence Island and got almost out of the wind, now blowing steady 15 – 20 knots.
Annika had a shower while Björn started making lunch. Half time we changed and Annika finalized the salad while Björn took a shower. Had a nice lunch in the cockpit protected from the wind and with the sun from a clear sky. During coffee we studied the chart and found a possible route to get to Effingham, avoiding all rocks and shoals, in possible one tack.
Weigh anchor and hoist the main, now with one reef because of close haul, and unfurled only the cutter.
It’s amazing how fast Moon sails with these “small” sails going to windward in 15 – 20 knots of wind when there is no heavy swell. Heeling less than 15 degrees and making more than seven knots with 40 degrees to the wind is very good for a cruising boat. We managed to reach Effingham without having to tack and could most of the time sail 50 degrees to the wind.
Four o’clock we reached Effingham Bay, furled the cutter and entered the bay where we lowered the main in leeward of an island in the bay. The North West blows directly into the bay, but some islands and rocks keeps the swell down.
We had a very pleasant evening in Magic Hour together with only Peter and Nicole, so much easier to communicate compared to be eight people from three boats, as we were last time.

Week 29 17 – 23 July 2017 Effingham Island – Montague Harbour, Galiano Island 147,5 nm

17 July Monday Effingham Island – Bamfield Inlet 11 nm
Clear sky when we woke up. No wind allowed us go directly after breakfast with the dinghy for the outer islets towards the ocean. Full speed on almost flat water made us reach the ocean front in ten minutes. The little swell outside the islets didn’t prevent us from investigate the caves and narrow “inlets” towards the ocean. We did find something that can be called a cave, but no traces of “the caves” the pilots wrote about.again!
Back in Moon we changed for a bush walk together with Nicole and Peter. Took the dinghy to the bottom of our bay where the trail started and where we met with our new friends. Had a nice walk through a more or less not logged forest to the east side of the Island. Some fresh traces of wolfs but no wolf.
Back to our dinghies, Nicole and Peter joined us back to Moon to have better look at the boat.
Before lunch they drove back to Magic Hour with a wish to see us later in Gulf Islands.
We had lunch and then weigh anchor and left for Bamfield Inlet where we anchored in the middle of the little community. When the anchor was set and we were to let more chain out after having attached the snubber, the windlass just continued to let out the chain, luckily in a loop because the chain down to the anchor was attached to the snubber with a chain hook. The chain jammed and the breaker, protecting the motor, stopped everything.
Had to dismantle the capstan and chain wheel to get the chain free and back into the locker. Finally we found what had gone wrong. The foot control for “Anchor down” had got shortened. The micro switch had obviously soldered/jammed in contact position. After cutting the wires we could use the windlass “up” function without problems. Now we got use for our remote control that we installed together with the new windlass four years ago (when repairing Moon in Malaysia) to have a back up if the foot switches didn’t work due to corrosion which we experienced on our old boat. The radio remote had still juice in the battery!
The walk ashore was put on hold because of these more urgent matters.
During the evening we decided that we were done with Barkley Sound and would use first available weather window to get through Juan de Fuca and back to the Gulf Islands. We have around 70 nm to an all weather harbour/anchorage so we need the tide and following wind to get there in daylight.

18 July Tuesday Bamfield – Sooke Harbour 74 nm
Cloudy and foggy morning. The forecast predicted south easterly for Juan de Fuca and to take advantage of that we left before six o’clock. Had no problem to weigh anchor thanks to the remote control.
While Annika navigated and made breakfast, Björn secured dinghy and kayak on deck.
Coming out in Trevor Channel we motored towards south west to get out into the ocean eating our breakfast. No wind, little swell and fog. Radar and navigation lights were on until noon!
We had four boats ahead of us that we haven’t met – a powerboat and three sail boats all under engine. All equipped with AIS transponder made it easy to keep track of them in the fog. Nice to be able to check that the radar and AIS information puts the boats in the same position! The visibility was sometimes less than a quarter of a mile.
We hoisted a reefed main around nine as some little wind came up, to stabilize Moon in the swell.
Finally at twelve the predicted south west came up, but soon changed to west, right to our stern. No stabilizing effect at all. Centreboard down and conditions got much better. We sheeted out the main and tied it to the preventer to avoid damages to the sail when the boat was rolling.
At two some more wind came and we could take out the reef, pole out the Yankee and shut down the engine. We had following current the whole morning, but now we got half a knot against. The wind increased and the swell got steep because of the opposing current. The wind kept changing direction several times and we had to gibe several times not to end up to close to shore.
The last hours we had to much sails for the conditions, but due to running downwind it was doable. But what a speed! Running 180 degrees off the wind we were sometimes doing 9,5 knots through water! Then it is easy to forget that you lose half a knot because of counter current!
Close to Sooke Harbour the wind eased down to twenty knots and we could furl the Yankee and keep the main up through the narrow entrance and then in calm waters lower the main and fold it in the stack pack.
In Sooke Harbour we found our friends in the “Gibsons rally” shortly after five o’clock, and we could raft outside Frangipani with Adventura and Island Universe in front of us.
They had made arrangement for dinner at a luxury, expensive restaurant and because of that and our long exiting day at sea we stayed in Moon and had dinner.

19 July Wednesday Sookie Harbour – Cadboro Bay, Victoria 26 nm
Sunshine when we woke up and no fog out in Juan de Fuca Strait.
We helped the Gibsons to get going towards Victoria where they will end their “rally” with a dinner.
We moved Moon forward as soon as the two boats in front of us had left, and made it possible for Frangipani to get out. When everything calmed down after their departure we took a walk to the nearby village centre to stock up some groceries. With filled back packs we walked a mile along the road back to Moon.
Coming back to the harbour the wind had increased and the current had started to run in our favour.
When we came out in Juan de Fuca Strait with a reefed main and full Yankee we had 15 knots of westerly wind. The swell was ok thanks to following current. Unfortunately the wind decreased after our first cape and we let the reefed main out. With two knots following current we didn’t engage the engine, although we did only five knots through water. The cape west of Victoria had some turbulent waters, but nothing that would keep a normal sized sailing boat from using following tide to get through faster.
We passed Victoria offshore due to the high marina fees and no allowance for anchoring or even sail in the harbour.
We continued in decreasing wind that was supposed to increase from south west later in the evening.
Coming around the lighthouse and turned north east we got counter current. No problem as long as we had wind enough, but when the speed through water came down under four knots and the speed over ground became just above one knot it became difficult to keep our course over ground in the changing current.
Engaged the engine and increased our speed over ground three times! Boat speed increased from four to six knots and the SOG from 1,1 to 3,3 makes it much easier to compensate and keep the planned COG.
Because of the current and the predicted new wind we decided to anchor around five o’clock in Cadboro Bay where the Royal Victoria Yacht Club has its harbour.
Plenty of room to anchor in the increasing wind. We got quite an entertainment as we had our sundowner in the cockpit. Being Wednesday it was racing day. More than twenty boats in different sizes joined in the freshening wind. The wind was a bit too strong for full sails, but we saw almost no reefed sails. The heeling on the close haul leg was quite something and probably not very efficient. But sailors are sailors and nobody wants to be the soft one.
After this drama we steam cooked the oysters we got from Frangipani this morning and eat them together with onion and garlic, a green salad and newly bought baguette and cheese.

20 July Thursday Cadboro Bay – Sidney Island Spit 14,5 nm
Thunder storms during early morning but when we had breakfast we had a clear sky and full show around Moon from more than twenty dinghy sailors. Funny to have a short name on the boat. Now they shouted “don’t sail onto Moon” instead of only using “the anchored boat”.
The wind increased around eleven straight into the bay, and we weigh anchor and continued north east into the Gulf Islands. Very shifting wind – had to gibe several times, but no problems as we had only the main hoisted and got extra speed from the following three knots of current.
We were only going as far as Sidney and anchor in the bay west of Sidney Spit. A huge area with sandbars and shallow areas and access to trails and long beach walks.
We anchored shortly before two and had a late lunch. We spent the afternoon walking around on the trails in the protected forest. Discovered that there had been a brick factory in the beginning of the 1900 hundreds. Only some ruins and the hole where they had digged out the clay were still visible except for all the bricks along the shore to the lagoon.
Had a fantastic sunset over the mountains behind Sidney after dinner.

21 July Friday Sidney Island Spit
Cloud but no rain or wind when we woke up after a quite night.
After breakfast we worked with our blog, especially the English version that seams to be left behind.
We took the dinghy to shore elevenish as the tide was out and the beaches were at maximum. At half tide the sand spit lighthouse is an island and not reachable by foot. We walked all the way out to the light house and were surprised to see lots of big dead crabs far up on the beach. Didn’t understand what caused that.
This sand landscape is really different from most places we seen in BC.
Back in Moon we had a late lunch and more writing and Internet research in the cloudy weather which gave us some rain off and on during afternoon.
Being Friday afternoon more boats came to the anchorage, but there is plenty of room and the depth are relatively shallow allowing for short scoop, allowing for close anchoring…
Had the remaining oyster for dinner.

22 July Saturday Sidney Island Spit
Cloudy morning with no rain and wind. The weather has really changed from sunshine and draught that have been the pattern on east side of Vancouver Island and rest of BC. Lots of big wild fires inland!
Breakfast and more research on Internet. Lots of decision to be made before mid August. It’s not as easy as back home where we only had to go downtown to get what we needed for the boat!
We will be in False Creek next weekend to pick up friends coming from Gothenburg for a week of sailing in the Gulf Islands and after that we will have weeks of maintenance and upgrading before we can continue south.
Short, we have no problem to spend our time on anchor!
Late afternoon we suddenly discovered a Swedish friend in Roche Harbor on AIS. Kaj with his big Nordhavn Ammonite, 78′ long (or big!). We tried to get in contact by e-mail without success.
Had a nice fish dinner with really good mashed potatoes.

23 July Sunday Sidney Spit – Beddwell – Montague Harbour on Galiano Island 22 nm
Slow start in the now little less cloudy weather. Decided to sail north among the Gulf Islands.
We were ready to weigh anchor at ten when we saw Ammonite leave Roche Harbor and go north towards Turn Point Lighthouse. We called them on VHF close to the light house and Kaj answered. They were going to turn right at the lighthouse for Vancouver to clear customs
We suggested to stay on course for three miles and clear customs in Bedwell and we could then meet there. Yes that was a good suggestion and an hour later we met in Bedwell.
In spite what they tell you on the webb, the custom office was unmanned resulting in clearance over the phone which is fine for the boat, but they needed stamps in the passport to prove that they have left US. Have to fix that in Vancouver later.
The floating pontoon in Bedwell with no shore contact, power or water was way to expensive and not protected from the swell, so we left together for Montague Harbour further north.
After ten miles Ammonite anchored in the crowded bay outside of the crowd and we rafted Moon onto Ammonite.
Had a nice afternoon and evening, chatting about places and people we both know.
Kaj have sailed across the Atlantic and most of the Pacific until he recently became a powerboat owner.
Went to bed shortly before twelve after an interesting and pleasant afternoon and evening.

Vecka 30 24 – 30 juli 2017 Montague Harbour -False Creek, Vancouver

24 juli måndag Montague Harbour – Ganges, Salt Spring Island 6 nm
Solsken och vädret är tillbaka till torr sommarvärme. Riktigt “otrevligt” varmt och pressande i solskenet. Vi har verkligen blivit bortskämda med att inte behöva skydda oss mot solen.
Åt frukost och sen gick vi över till Ammonite för att gå igenom rutter och platser genom BC och Alaska South East med Kaj. Han hade redan igår fått våra spår från våra två resor i området och vi använde nu dessa på hans dator som underlag för beskrivningar. Kaj har ambitionen att gå till Glacier Bay och sen tillbaka till Vancouver området innan hösten.
Efter att vi fått kopia på gårdagens dronefilmning sa vi på återseende och kastade loss. Kaj skall gå till Vancouver för lite underhåll och vi skall kajka omkring bland Gulf öarna till på fredag när vi har tillstånd att ankra inne i False Creek i Vancouver. Eventuellt träffar vi Kaj då igen om han inte blivit klar tidigare och startat norrut.
Medan vi lämnade och hissade storen körde Kaj en ny drone session som kan ses på xxxxx
Nästan ingen vind inne i viken, men när vi kom ut på fjärden drog en svag nordan som gav oss nästan sex knop. En vind som sen vred till vår fördel – väldigt ovanligt – medan vi svängde norrut mot Ganges där vi inte var ensamma. Men vi var nästan ensamma om att segla, lite roligt att segla om segelbåtar som går full fart för motor.
Ankrade inte den del av viken som “alla” använder inklusive sjöflygplanen, utan framför den gamla hamnen och tog senare dingen in till bryggan där vi låg vintern – 2011-12 med Lindisfarne. Gick en ordentlig promenad i skogen som var skuggig och sval i det solheta landskapet. Tillbaka till bytorget, som nu var lite svalare, satte vi oss i skuggan på kajrestaurangen med varsin öl. Efter denna förstärkning handlade vi lite kompletteringar och körde hem till Moon för en enkel middag vid halv niotiden.

25 juli tisdag Ganges
Sovmorgon och sen frukost.
Bestämde oss för att lätta ankar och gå över till Yacht klubben och utnyttja landström för att fulladda batterierna. La till på samma plats som vi låg på tidigt i våras och ringde Ian och Aly som kom och hämtade vår tvätt någon timma senare. Annika tillbringade mycket tid vid symaskinen för att anpassa våra IkeaKanadaköpta påslakan mm till “normala” mått. Fick också äntligen kapat bort den skadade länken i änden på den rostfria kätting till dingen vi köpte i Nanaimo i vintras. Vinkelslip på båten är inte helt enkelt, så en bred betong ponton är välkommen. Eftermiddagen fick vi besök av trevliga båtgrannar som efter en halvtimma i Moon inviterade oss på middag i morgon, en invitering som omfattar hämtning och avlämning vid yacht klubben.
Till kvällen kom Ian och Aly på middag i Moons sittbrunn. Både solskydd och vindskydd behövdes. Det är smällvarmt i solen men den lilla vinden är vass. Dom hade egenodlade grönsaker och efterrättsbär med sig.
Av slutade kvällen med en film när gästerna kört hem.

26 juli onsdag Ganges
Sol och lite ostvind när vi vaknade. Middagsinviteringen igår innebär att vi blir ett dygn till i Ganges. Efter detta yachtklubbabesök har vi gjort av med dom två fria nätterna per år som besökande båtar får stanna. Avgiften är sen blygsamma 50 cent per fot vilket gör att vi kanske går dit igen i slutet av sommaren.
Frukost i sittbrunnen med resten av dom fådda bären på gröten. Man blir bortskämd av närhet till affärer och vänner.
Annika fortsatte med symaskinen men när värmen tog sig fortsatte vi med projekt fixa winchplattorna, dvs teakplattan under wincharna runt sittbrunnen. En spricka lagade vi i förrgår med epoxylim efter uppslipning. Efterarbete av sprickan står på dagens meny nu när epoxyn härdat. En del pluggar är bortnötta och i “hålet” återstår bara epoxyn över skruven.
Efter elvakaffet var det tillräckligt varmt för att börja utejobben. Sprickan vi limmade slipades jämn och fin, en vettig lagning om nu bara epoxyn håller teaken i schack. Skruvhålen har teakpluggar som uppenbart har varit allt för grunda. Fem på varje sida var i akut behov av åtgärd. Startade med ett tio millimeter borr för att få fram skruven som vi sen skruvade ur. Borrade upp hålet för en tio millimeters plugg för att kunna centrera ett femton millimeters borr. Rensa skruvhålet och i med epoxy (skruvarna har gjort sitt medan epoxyn härdade för sjuton år sedan). Därefter epoxy på pluggen och hålets sidor. Kändes skönt att få gjort detta innan den spröda epoxy kunde erbjuda väg för vattnet ner i träkonstruktionen under teaken.
Provlimmade också våra i Sverige köpta snäpplås för kanvas/klarplast på en lucka och vid sittbrunnen. Förhoppningsvis fungerar det så vi slipper skruva in i trä i onödan.
Fyllt dagtanken med diesel och bytte20 micronfiltret till Watermakern.
Det är inte dumt med en extradag vid brygga!
Båtgrannen som inbjudit till middag jobbade på båten hela dagen så det blev bara enkel väg för “hämtningen”. Deras farm som hade både hästar och lavendelodling låg på andra sidan ön mot Victoria så bilresan tog en kvart.
En fantastisk anläggning som från början bara var tänkt som pensionärsboende, men utvecklade sig till odling bearbetning och försäljning av lavendel i olika former, den mest förädlade var en dyr olja som dom tillverkade och sålde i affären som dom drev. Två heltidsanställda och en halvtid. Ibland blir det inte som man planerat!
Fantastisk fyrarätters måltid med våra favoriter, ost grönsallad, lamm och pavlova. Ian och Aly var också med så transporten tillbaka till yachtklubben blev smidig eftersom dom bor halvvägs.

27 juli torsdag Ganges – Ladysmith 23 nm
Bestämde oss för att vi var tvungna att tvätta om en maskin. Ian och Alys brunn råkade sina när dom körde första maskinen åt oss och det innebar tydligen att sköljvattnet blev “lerigt”.
Frukost i det klara solskenet och sen fylla tankarna med vatten. Man blir lite väl frikostig med vatten när man ligger vid brygga och har obegränsad tillgång. När dessutom varmvattenberedaren är på finns det inga “spärrar”.
Halv tio kastade vi loss, dvs körde ut på spring eftersom vinden tryckte oss in mot bryggan. Vi börjar få lite snits på det nu. Det gäller bara att ta det piano och låta Moon tugga sig utåt på nästan tomgång.
Sen blev det motorgång runt halva Salt Spring Island i delvis motström. På nordvästra sidan upp mot Ladysmith kunde vi tidvis lufta både yankee och cutter
Vi ankrade alldeles utanför marinan som var helt full med gästande båtar och rodde in. Alla våra kändisar från i vintras var i tjänst och vi fick köra två maskiner tvätt trots att det bara är för marinagäster. Men vi är väl inte gäster utan nästan bofasta.
Uppe i affären kände dom igen oss och frågade om vi var tillbaka, dvs för gott!
Fiskmiddag innan vi rodde in till live musik kvällen i marinan där vi träffade ytterligare bekanta från i vintras.
Avslutade kvällen på Tobas akterdeck medan sommarnatten satte sig och den halva månen gjorde detsamma.
Kul att se marinan i full sommar sving.

28 juli fredag Ladysmith – Clam Cove 9,7 nm
Efter frukost rodde vi in till marinan för att slänga sopor och dricka kaffe i Toba med Pam och Mark som var upptagna i går kväll. Tillbaka i Moon tog vi upp ankaret och motorerade i svag motvind och strålande solsken till Clam Cove där vi ankrade strax före ett.
Åt vår salladslunch och tog det lugnt ett tag innan vi sjösatte kajaken.
Paddlade den delvis grävda kanalen genom ön till Thetis två marinor där åtminstone den ena serverade god öl.
Tillbaka i Moon hade Faireheide från Ladysmith ankrat nära Moon så det blev en öl till.
Middag i Moons sittbrunn till en fantastisk solnedgång.

29 juli lördag Clam Cove – False Creek, Vancouver 31 nm
Upp före åtta för att hinna med frukost innan strömmen vänder i Porlier sundet ut mot Strait of Georgia.
Upp med ankaret och iväg i lite kylig fartvind och strålande sommarsol. Ut genom sundet hade vi tre knop med oss och det blev lite choppigt den första halv sjömilen ut på “havet”. Det är trots allt nästan tjugo sjömil över. Efter en halvtimma fick vi en sydost vind på fyra sekundmeter och vi hissade alla segel och seglade 40 grader relativ vind i dryga sex knops fart.
Vinden ökade något efter hand och vred till vår fördel. Nu hade vi snart sju till åtta sekundmeters vind och dryga 50 grader mot vinden. Moon svarade tacksamt för detta med att forsa fram i dryga åtta knop. Det är inte ofta vi har så här goda förutsättningar under nästan en hel dagsetapp. Även strömriktningen bidrog till att det inte byggdes upp någon sjö. Denna etapp får nog betraktas som vår hittills bästa här i Kanada!
I English Harbour som bukten utanför hamnarna i Vancouver kallas, seglade vi bidevind mellan stora ankrade fartyg fram mot land, där vi rullade förseglen och startade motorn. Det var i alla fall planen… Motorn vägrade starta med lite samma symtom som tidigare, dvs startmotorn orkade inte runt. Med vår nyreparerade startmotor i åtanke insåg vi att det måste vara vatten i motorn! Öppnade vakuumventilen och visst var det vatten. Stängde bottenventilen för att inte pumpa in med vatten under startförsöken och öppnade dräneringspluggen på ljuddämparen (tack Vetus för den finessen) och tömde en stor mängd vatten ur ett fyllt avgassystem. Nu gällde det att få ut vattnet ur cylindrarna och det är ju onödigt att motorn ska behöva pressa ut en massa onödigt vatten då vår avgasslang är tämligen lång och höjdskillnaden är stor.
Efter flera försök i omgångar med startmotorn, där motorn gissningsvis gick ett tiondels varv på varje försök, kunde äntligen startmotorn dra runt ordentligt och motorn hostade igång. Klar lättnad i besättningen och snabbt öppnade vi bottenkranen till kylvattnet igen. Angöra False Creek i motvind och motström går i princip inte utan motor. Vår reservplan var att ankra nära mynningen ute i English Bay och rigga dingen för bogsering in till ankringsområdet i False Creek.
Med motorn “spinnande” som om inget hänt, tog vi ner storen, som vi hittills seglat omkring med i två knop medan vi jobbat med återställandet av motorn. Inne i False Creek var det ganska fullt, förmodligen på grund av kvällens fyrverkeri, men vi hittade en bra plats som förmodligen ratats för att det var lite grunt.
Varför hade nu motorn vattenfyllts? I samband med vårt byte av propeller och axellager byggde vi om vattenanslutningen till axelpackboxen för att utnyttja motorns kylvatten för smörjning/kylning av axellager och packbox. Installation följde i nästan alla avseenden instruktioner som finns i ämnet. Enda problemet vi har är att vakuumventilen sitter lite lågt, dvs klart över vattenlinjen, men inte dom femtio centimeter som rekommenderas. Vi har kollat flera gånger under segling att det inte kommer vatten förbi vakuumventilen, vatten som i så fall trycks upp från propellerhylsan. Förmodligen har vi varit under men nära och nu när vi seglade i full fart med femton graders krängning trycktes tydligen vattnet upp förbi vakuumventilen och ner i avgassystemet som sakta fylldes och så småningom kom upp genom avgasventilerna till cylindrarna. Vakuumventilen sitter i Moons centerlinje så lutningen har marginell inverkan, varför vi inte trodde det skulle ändra förhållandena efter dom tidigare kontrollerna.
Plötsligt såg vi att båten som låg närmast dingebryggan lämnade sin unika plats. Snabbt som ögat tog vi upp ankaret och körde dom hundratalet metrarna och ockuperade vikens bästa plats om man ofta ska till dingebryggan. Man hamnar förstås mitt i “smeten” av de små turfärjorna som pilar kors och tvärs i False Creek, men det har ju också sin tjusning som omväxling när man är van vid ensamma ankringsvikar.
Under eftermiddagen tömde vi motorn på gråaktig olja och fyllde i ny frisk olja och bytte filter. Detta under en flödande sol som gjorde luft och däck olidligt varma. Vi spände för första gången sedan Malaysia upp vårt fördäcks-solskydd och fick därmed ner temperaturen inomhus åtskilliga grader. Klar skillnad när de båda stora förluckorna trycker ner luft från ett skuggat däck. Det var också skönt att sitta under solskyddet i våra stolar, som inte heller dom varit använda på lång tid.
Sen tog vi dingen i land och köpte tjugo liter olja, en baguette och lite sallad. Nästa olje- och filterbyte får anstå till i morgon. Hemma i Moon blev det lamm tillagat på akterdäck. Nej vi har inte skaffat gasol! Vår lilla mobila induktionsplatta fungerar bra och håller stekoset utomhus.
Efter middagen tog vi dingen ut till English Bay där fyrverkeriet skulle börja klockan tio. Det var det Japanska teamet som var först. Senare i veckan blir det två team till.
Ryktet sa att dom brände av för 250 000 $ och vi kan inte påstå att det var fel. Enorm mängd av fantastiska pjäser och varianter, en del vi inte sett tidigare. Men visst är det fullständigt vansinnigt och onödigt.
Tillbaka i Moon blev det en film innan läggdax. Det är lördagkväll och lugnet la sig inte på den närliggande restaurangen förrän efter tolv.

30 juli söndag False Creek, Vancouver
Lite lagom halvmulet när vi vaknade. Vi är verkligen inte vana vid solvärme utan vind.
Efter frukost rengjorde Annika ventilkåpan och ventillyftarna från vattenblandad olja och före vi varmkörde motorn tog vi ut en halv liter i botten och ersatte med en liter olja. Motorn fick sen gå en stund för att oljan skulle bli varm innan vi pumpade ur den också. Klart bättre färg jämfört med den grå olja vi först fick ut.
Efter att filtret bytts igen fyllde vi frisk olja för andra gången och körde en bra stund nu när motorn var varm. Verkar inte som vi får ny vattenblandad olja på ventilkåpans insida. Nu skall motorn köras i tjugofem timmar innan ett tredje byte och är kompression och oljeförbrukning normal så har vi nog klarat oss.
Vi passade också på att såga bort överskottet på dom tio teakpluggarna vi epoxy-limmade i onsdags, slipa och sedan olja de slipade ytorna.
Eftermiddagen spenderade vi iland. Körde dingen sextio meter till närmaste brygga och gick sen hela vägen ut till Granville Island. Dels för att kolla hur vi kunde bli av med all spillolja och dels besöka en båtchandler.
På hemvägen försökte vi hitta ett ställe för en öl, men antilngen var det för fullt eller för varmt. Till slut bestämde vi oss för puben med utsikt över Moon femtio meter ut i False Creek. Men när vi fick vårt bord, där vi visserligen såg Moon, var det på tok för varmt, särskilt när vi såg Moons fördäck skuggad av soltaket. Tio minuter senare satt vi i våra stolar och intog ett glas läskande grapejuice.
Sen blev det dusch innan en enklare middag..
Annika & Björn