July 2 - 18, 2005

Our first stop in Canada was in Vancouver, where we checked in with customs, assured them that we had no guns and no alcohol, and picked up Kay at the airport. We stayed the night in Vancouver, and then set out for the great wilderness of British Columbia.

Early in the trip we had our first encounter with the tides. We anchored, paying special attention to our depth and our swing room, and the tides. What we didn't count on was the depth once the boat did swing. We woke up to being stuck in the mud. Luckily, we weren't stuck deep. So, by the time we finished our pancakes, the tide had come back in and freed us. A bald eagle sat watch in the trees nearby.

July 5 was a day of Rapids. We encountered Yuculta Rapids, Devil's Hole, and Dent Rapids this day. The rapids are common where the islands create narrow passages. One must pay special attention to the current tables and find when is the "least rapid" time of day to navigate through these narrows.  This is referred to as "slack tide", when there is minimal water moving in either direction.  At maximum ebb or flood tide the current is moving at 9 + knots.  This is a problem if your boat can only do 6 knots and you are going against the tide.  Dent Rapid has a whirlpool just to the left of this picture.  The whirlpool is about 10 feet in width and has enough suction to create a 3 foot drop of the water level in the funnel.  It has more than enough power to suck a boat under if you were to cross it.

                            Currents and boils around a small islet in Dent Rapids.

July 6, we anchored in Lagoon Cove. Mark and Kay dinghy-ed in to the Lagoon Cove Marina to check out the "Resort." It was the first sight of civilization since departing Vancouver 4 days earlier.  It took about 1 1/2 hours to get there, but it was the nearest place which had diesel.  They also had internet service there during the day while the generator runs.  We anchored out in the bay, but you could tie up and have shore power for 6 or so hours a day while they had the generator running.

After leaving Lagoon Cove, we travelled through Johnstone Strait, where we saw our first pod of orca whales in the distance. They appeared to be feeding in a rip tide.

July 7, we pulled into Sointula, a quaint village in BC. We spent the next day in town doing laundry, grocery shopping, and waiting for decent weather to continue northward.

Wildflowers in foreground, Sointula Marina in background. Calpurnia is in last row on right, with the green canvas bimini.

Calm seas as we cross the ----, Amy slept below

First sighting of a gray whale.  Amy was concerned we were stalking.

Barge Traffic to watch out for.

On the evening of July 12, Mark put out the crab pot. When he pulled it up in the morning, he had trapped 11 crabs! Most of them were very good sized, as you can see in the photos, and one of them was HUGE! Mark spent the morning doing the dirty work of cleaning them, and Kay and Amy spent the equally dirty work of getting the meat out of the shells. It all paid off, however, in several yummy crab meals thereafter.

Kay and Robert in front of one of many waterfalls in British Columbia. Robert was enthralled by the loud, rushing water.

At right, one of many narrow passages along the journey.

On Robert's birthday, we stopped at Bishop Bay Hot Springs for a swim in the warm water. He loved it! We all had a great time in the springs, especially after the anchor windlass disaster that preceded our swim.

Lowe Inlet

We spent the morning of July 16 eating muffins by a waterfall! Then, we dinghied to shore to do some exploring. Kay and Amy took a hike through the bogs while Mark and Robert explored a rock.