Tues., July 8: Port Sidney
After an (relatively) early rise, everyone was up to catch the fuel docks for 0900. There were gale warnings at the west entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and predictions of that moving inland towards Haro Strait in the afternoon, so an earlier departure seemed prudent. As it turned out, the crossing was dead calm the entire trip, and the most excitement was watching to see if the Sidney/Anacortes Ferry was going to catch up to us before making the turn at Sidney Spit. It didn’t.
After tying up and clearing customs from the direct phoneline at the customs dock, we got our slip assignment for the night. Port Sidney is an extremely well sheltered marina, enclosed (except for its entrance) by rock breakwater. The facilities have been completely redone recently, and have almost any item you’d typically imagine to be labelled with a ‘Port Sidney’ logo available. While the main gate is wide open during office hours, a pass key secures the entrance after hours. The only complaint I had with the facilities was their decision to put the men’s facilities outside the main gate. You still need your key to get into them, but having to use your pass key in (to the washrooms) and out (to get back into the marina) seemed odd.
Sidney boasts 10 bookstores along its main street, so Megan was raring to go before we even entered the breakwater. So after we took care of signing in & securing the boat, we headed off; armed with only a bookstore ‘map’. I don’t remember really stopping in Sidney before, but it has the sense of a little town that has rebuilt itself; an upbeat, revitalized feel. While there was overlap, some of the stores; particularily the used bookstores, seemed to develop a bit of a theme. Some would focus more on kids books, or some on historical books for instance. Some were pretty cavernous, so we only got through a couple of them before we decided it was time for (a late) lunch. Quiznos was right in front of us, so toasted subs it was. Afterwards, we continued up the main drag. We certainly could have spent even more time than we did in the bookstores, but our boat is only so big! The girls were good sports and after going through all the bookstores, they went along with walking an extra 3 or 4 blocks to the WM store up by the Pat Bay Hwy.
We still hadn’t gotten a crabbing license, and planned on doing some over the next few days. As it turned out they don’t carry licenses; those were available back down at the hardware store about 2 blocks from the marina! Now, during our 1st week of the trip it had become readily apparent that we were lacking in easy to access book storage; I knew of a specific storage bag I wanted to mount under the dinette table, but they didn’t carry that item at the West Marine ‘express’ store in Friday Harbor, and with today’s stops, it was going to get really messy onboard if I didn’t find something. Well, they did have them here at this store, but there were a couple of different sizes, and I didn’t have the measurements of where I wanted to install it with me, so I knew I’d be doing another walk later on.
On our way back down towards the boat, we stopped in at Starbucks, then while I went over for the crabbing license, the girls went over to a great little bakery to pick up some pastries for a special treat in the morning, we then headed back down to the marina. Once we were there, Megan & Elsa got right into their books, while Lisa & I stored our goods, and I checked the measurements for that storage bag location. Megan was totally engrossed in her book by now, so there was no getting her attention, so it was Elsa and me to make the trek back up to purchase that bag from WM.
On our way out of the marina, there were 3 or 4 CSBA (Canada Border Services Agency) -Customs- agents loading CASES of alcohol from several overloaded dock carts into their van. Apparently they confiscated 10 dock carts of the stuff. I guess there are still rum runners out there. I’m not sure what vessel it was off of, but I imagine it was a fair size.
When we got back from our journey, I got the pouch installed, and then Elsa helped organize all the various books that were ‘floating’ around the boat. After that, we all buried our noses in our various books.
Wed., July 9: Port Sidney - Otter Bay (via Portland Isl.)
Again there was an early afternoon strong wind warning in effect up into Haro Strait, so we wanted to make sure we didn’t get away too late. While reading over the regulations that came along with the fishing (crabbing) license, it stated that the girls both needed licenses (free, but required), so we had to head up the hardware store to get those issued.
We still got away as planned, hoping to do a little sailing and then lunch anchor at Royal Cove on Portland Island. It was dead calm as we left the marina, so we motored out past Sidney Spit and when we saw a little wind we decided to raise the sails. Well, I’m not sure which moved us more; the minuscule amount of wind, or the flooding tide, because if we broke 2 knots, I’d be surprised. But, each time we have the sails up, the girls -Elsa in particular- get more comfortable with it, so it’s still good. Actually, even it the lack of wind -which can get pretty boring I know- they noticed how relaxing the absence of (engine) noise was. We kept the sails up for about an hour, but lowered them before the girls got bored of it. We continued on up to Royal Cove to anchor for lunch.
This was our first anchoring attempt, so a lot of talking through things as worked our way through it. Lisa took the helm, as I went forward to lower the anchor. Cautiously, taking way longer than we needed to, we walked through the process, and proceeded to make lunch. The current action kept us from settling in to one spot, so it was hard not to keep watching where we were and worry about whether we were drifting or not, but that was part of the idea of lunch anchoring for our first attempt. After lunch we again, walked through the procedures of raising anchor, then were on our way for Otter Bay.
The wind did come up a bit as we crossed over towards N. Pender Isl. (Otter Bay), but we elected just to motor across. Once secured in our assigned slip, it was off to the pool for the girls. While the kids were expelling energy up at the pool, we struck up some conversation with the sailboat that had pulled in next to us. They were part of a boating co-op, so it was interesting to talk to people with first hand involvement in one of those groups, as it was something that had crossed our minds as we initially began getting serious about boating.
Thurs -Sun., July 10-13: Otter Bay
Our original plan was to spend the night at Otter Bay, head over to Ganges for Friday, then meet up with the Munros at Montague Harbour for the Sat & Sun, as their boat was in the shop, would be ready for this weekend, and they were beyond itching to get out. As it turned out, the convenience store at the Marina was much better stocked than I remembered it to be from last year, and the girls were having such a good time here, we elected to stay second night, and then head to Montague for Fri & Sat nights. Well, about half an hour after paying for moorage, the Munros called, asking if we’d be willing to meet up at Otter Bay instead, as their folks wanted to come out with their boat to join us. No problem, although we had to quickly come up with a plan to occupy some extra time for the kids.
The first part of that was to go set the crab traps, as Elsa couldn’t wait to do it. So we we rowed out past the point and set our trap in about 40 ft. of water. Twenty minutes after returning to the docks, she was ready to go check on it again. A good walk seemed in order, so we headed of for Driftwood Mall, across the Island near Port Browning. It was a hot day, so after the hour long walk, ice-cream was the priority. After going through the stores (another nice bookstore included), we grabbed a couple of light things from the grocery store, and headed back to Otter Bay. The pool became the top priority, and was a refreshing pick-me-up after the long walk. Afterwards Elsa & I headed out to haul in our first catch of 2 rock crabs. A nice addition to dinner.
Thurs. night, was a crew change on the co-op boat next to us, so Friday morning we introduced ourselves to each other, and seeing our two girls on board, the quickly offered them the use of their kayaks; it didn’t take long for the girls to finish with their morning routine and go out playing in the them. It turned out the husband was a retired history teacher, while the wife taught with one of my school’s VPs prior to her coming to our school district. Anyway, Friday was filled with a lot of lounging around and just relaxing. Oh yes, and Elsa’s desire to go set the crab trap. Not sure when to expect the Munros, we held off on dinner. They ended up being later than expected (we know all about that!), so we reheated some dinner for them, and enjoyed the rest of the evening. The Munros often do boat camping, but given the time, we offered to have all the kids pile onto/into BoB. Amanda and Ally couldn’t make it because Ally had to work, so Peter would get their cutty berth all to himself to stretch out in.
Peter’s folks were coming over from Birch Bay so we knew that they would be later, but by 2200 we were starting to wonder. Peter got ahold of him by phone, and it turned out they were requested to put in at Bedwell Harbour for Customs clearance. As it turned out, when they phoned in to Customs upon landing there, the officer they spoke with didn’t see any reason why they were asked to report, and sent them on their way over the phone. A pointless stop. By the time the Mary Rose made it in it was 2330. We got them secured, offered them the remaining crab for a late night snack, and called it a night.
The Munros graciously suggested we head up to Montague for night, but after the ordeals of getting everyone together finally, we declined. After all, it’s also about getting together and enjoying the company too. So for Saturday and Sunday the kids played away and we sat back and enjoyed the days. We all brought something for a potluck dinner, and enjoyed the rest of the evening together.
Sunday had an 1100 slack tide at Active Pass, so we wanted to get away in time to catch that, as we knew a thorough boat cleaning was going to be needed to clean up BoB after our 2 week trip. While it would have been nice to get to do more sailing, this was the longest, continuous trip to date, and it included our first anchoring; all good steps in the right direction. More photos
After an (relatively) early rise, everyone was up to catch the fuel docks for 0900. There were gale warnings at the west entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and predictions of that moving inland towards Haro Strait in the afternoon, so an earlier departure seemed prudent. As it turned out, the crossing was dead calm the entire trip, and the most excitement was watching to see if the Sidney/Anacortes Ferry was going to catch up to us before making the turn at Sidney Spit. It didn’t.
After tying up and clearing customs from the direct phoneline at the customs dock, we got our slip assignment for the night. Port Sidney is an extremely well sheltered marina, enclosed (except for its entrance) by rock breakwater. The facilities have been completely redone recently, and have almost any item you’d typically imagine to be labelled with a ‘Port Sidney’ logo available. While the main gate is wide open during office hours, a pass key secures the entrance after hours. The only complaint I had with the facilities was their decision to put the men’s facilities outside the main gate. You still need your key to get into them, but having to use your pass key in (to the washrooms) and out (to get back into the marina) seemed odd.
Sidney boasts 10 bookstores along its main street, so Megan was raring to go before we even entered the breakwater. So after we took care of signing in & securing the boat, we headed off; armed with only a bookstore ‘map’. I don’t remember really stopping in Sidney before, but it has the sense of a little town that has rebuilt itself; an upbeat, revitalized feel. While there was overlap, some of the stores; particularily the used bookstores, seemed to develop a bit of a theme. Some would focus more on kids books, or some on historical books for instance. Some were pretty cavernous, so we only got through a couple of them before we decided it was time for (a late) lunch. Quiznos was right in front of us, so toasted subs it was. Afterwards, we continued up the main drag. We certainly could have spent even more time than we did in the bookstores, but our boat is only so big! The girls were good sports and after going through all the bookstores, they went along with walking an extra 3 or 4 blocks to the WM store up by the Pat Bay Hwy.
We still hadn’t gotten a crabbing license, and planned on doing some over the next few days. As it turned out they don’t carry licenses; those were available back down at the hardware store about 2 blocks from the marina! Now, during our 1st week of the trip it had become readily apparent that we were lacking in easy to access book storage; I knew of a specific storage bag I wanted to mount under the dinette table, but they didn’t carry that item at the West Marine ‘express’ store in Friday Harbor, and with today’s stops, it was going to get really messy onboard if I didn’t find something. Well, they did have them here at this store, but there were a couple of different sizes, and I didn’t have the measurements of where I wanted to install it with me, so I knew I’d be doing another walk later on.
On our way back down towards the boat, we stopped in at Starbucks, then while I went over for the crabbing license, the girls went over to a great little bakery to pick up some pastries for a special treat in the morning, we then headed back down to the marina. Once we were there, Megan & Elsa got right into their books, while Lisa & I stored our goods, and I checked the measurements for that storage bag location. Megan was totally engrossed in her book by now, so there was no getting her attention, so it was Elsa and me to make the trek back up to purchase that bag from WM.
On our way out of the marina, there were 3 or 4 CSBA (Canada Border Services Agency) -Customs- agents loading CASES of alcohol from several overloaded dock carts into their van. Apparently they confiscated 10 dock carts of the stuff. I guess there are still rum runners out there. I’m not sure what vessel it was off of, but I imagine it was a fair size.
When we got back from our journey, I got the pouch installed, and then Elsa helped organize all the various books that were ‘floating’ around the boat. After that, we all buried our noses in our various books.
Wed., July 9: Port Sidney - Otter Bay (via Portland Isl.)
Again there was an early afternoon strong wind warning in effect up into Haro Strait, so we wanted to make sure we didn’t get away too late. While reading over the regulations that came along with the fishing (crabbing) license, it stated that the girls both needed licenses (free, but required), so we had to head up the hardware store to get those issued.
We still got away as planned, hoping to do a little sailing and then lunch anchor at Royal Cove on Portland Island. It was dead calm as we left the marina, so we motored out past Sidney Spit and when we saw a little wind we decided to raise the sails. Well, I’m not sure which moved us more; the minuscule amount of wind, or the flooding tide, because if we broke 2 knots, I’d be surprised. But, each time we have the sails up, the girls -Elsa in particular- get more comfortable with it, so it’s still good. Actually, even it the lack of wind -which can get pretty boring I know- they noticed how relaxing the absence of (engine) noise was. We kept the sails up for about an hour, but lowered them before the girls got bored of it. We continued on up to Royal Cove to anchor for lunch.
This was our first anchoring attempt, so a lot of talking through things as worked our way through it. Lisa took the helm, as I went forward to lower the anchor. Cautiously, taking way longer than we needed to, we walked through the process, and proceeded to make lunch. The current action kept us from settling in to one spot, so it was hard not to keep watching where we were and worry about whether we were drifting or not, but that was part of the idea of lunch anchoring for our first attempt. After lunch we again, walked through the procedures of raising anchor, then were on our way for Otter Bay.
The wind did come up a bit as we crossed over towards N. Pender Isl. (Otter Bay), but we elected just to motor across. Once secured in our assigned slip, it was off to the pool for the girls. While the kids were expelling energy up at the pool, we struck up some conversation with the sailboat that had pulled in next to us. They were part of a boating co-op, so it was interesting to talk to people with first hand involvement in one of those groups, as it was something that had crossed our minds as we initially began getting serious about boating.
Thurs -Sun., July 10-13: Otter Bay
Our original plan was to spend the night at Otter Bay, head over to Ganges for Friday, then meet up with the Munros at Montague Harbour for the Sat & Sun, as their boat was in the shop, would be ready for this weekend, and they were beyond itching to get out. As it turned out, the convenience store at the Marina was much better stocked than I remembered it to be from last year, and the girls were having such a good time here, we elected to stay second night, and then head to Montague for Fri & Sat nights. Well, about half an hour after paying for moorage, the Munros called, asking if we’d be willing to meet up at Otter Bay instead, as their folks wanted to come out with their boat to join us. No problem, although we had to quickly come up with a plan to occupy some extra time for the kids.
The first part of that was to go set the crab traps, as Elsa couldn’t wait to do it. So we we rowed out past the point and set our trap in about 40 ft. of water. Twenty minutes after returning to the docks, she was ready to go check on it again. A good walk seemed in order, so we headed of for Driftwood Mall, across the Island near Port Browning. It was a hot day, so after the hour long walk, ice-cream was the priority. After going through the stores (another nice bookstore included), we grabbed a couple of light things from the grocery store, and headed back to Otter Bay. The pool became the top priority, and was a refreshing pick-me-up after the long walk. Afterwards Elsa & I headed out to haul in our first catch of 2 rock crabs. A nice addition to dinner.
Thurs. night, was a crew change on the co-op boat next to us, so Friday morning we introduced ourselves to each other, and seeing our two girls on board, the quickly offered them the use of their kayaks; it didn’t take long for the girls to finish with their morning routine and go out playing in the them. It turned out the husband was a retired history teacher, while the wife taught with one of my school’s VPs prior to her coming to our school district. Anyway, Friday was filled with a lot of lounging around and just relaxing. Oh yes, and Elsa’s desire to go set the crab trap. Not sure when to expect the Munros, we held off on dinner. They ended up being later than expected (we know all about that!), so we reheated some dinner for them, and enjoyed the rest of the evening. The Munros often do boat camping, but given the time, we offered to have all the kids pile onto/into BoB. Amanda and Ally couldn’t make it because Ally had to work, so Peter would get their cutty berth all to himself to stretch out in.
Peter’s folks were coming over from Birch Bay so we knew that they would be later, but by 2200 we were starting to wonder. Peter got ahold of him by phone, and it turned out they were requested to put in at Bedwell Harbour for Customs clearance. As it turned out, when they phoned in to Customs upon landing there, the officer they spoke with didn’t see any reason why they were asked to report, and sent them on their way over the phone. A pointless stop. By the time the Mary Rose made it in it was 2330. We got them secured, offered them the remaining crab for a late night snack, and called it a night.
The Munros graciously suggested we head up to Montague for night, but after the ordeals of getting everyone together finally, we declined. After all, it’s also about getting together and enjoying the company too. So for Saturday and Sunday the kids played away and we sat back and enjoyed the days. We all brought something for a potluck dinner, and enjoyed the rest of the evening together.
Sunday had an 1100 slack tide at Active Pass, so we wanted to get away in time to catch that, as we knew a thorough boat cleaning was going to be needed to clean up BoB after our 2 week trip. While it would have been nice to get to do more sailing, this was the longest, continuous trip to date, and it included our first anchoring; all good steps in the right direction. More photos