Summer 2008 - Days 8-11 (TUE 7/8 – FRI 7/11) Gulf Islands
We checked into customs at Bedwell Harbor with no problems and then headed to Ganges. Ganges is a great little town with so many amenities. We decided to spend 2 nights. When checking the boat out after the incident in Reid Harbor we found a small leak in our coolant system and Scott wanted to work on it. So the kids and I decided to try to find a beach to spend the day at, so we wouldn’t get in his way. We saw a couple on the way in to Ganges that looked pretty cool. The first one was a bust, but the second was amazing:
The kids enjoyed some beachcombing and I enjoyed relaxing. They met a couple kids that they ended up playing with for quite awhile. We returned to the boat just as Scott was finishing up and after dinner went into the town of Ganges for some ice cream.
After Ganges, we decided to head to Montague Harbor. Scott and I had stopped here 9 years ago, but I didn’t remember it much. We spent the day on the beach, took a hike, and saw a wonderful sunset:
The next morning we were up and out of the anchorage pretty early. The plan was to go into Pirates Cove on DeCourcy Island. As soon as we headed out of the nice protected inlet from Montague we saw some almost black water ahead. For those of you who are not boaters, that meant there was a lot of wind in our near future, but unfortunately it was all right on our nose. We were battling the wind and trying to find protection and dove into Telegraph Cove on Thetis Island. We couldn’t find any good spots to anchor so we ended up staying at the dock at Thetis Island Marina. A couple hours later the wind died, but it was still nice having a night at a dock.
We headed out early again the next morning on our way to Nanaimo.
We had to time our crossing of Dodd Narrows and so arrived into to Nanaimo a little before lunch time.
We anchored in Mark Bay and went to explore Newcastle Island. What a cool place. The kids had so much fun exploring. When we returned to the boat we received a call from Curtis & Cynthia asking where we were and realized great minds think alike. They were at a dock at the marina in Nanaimo. A little later we headed over to the city and explored a bit. Found a great park for the kids to play in and stopped at the grocery store for a couple items and then met Curtis & Cynthia at Winddancer for a couple drinks and snacks. It was great to meet up with them and decided we would all take off to cross the Strait of Georgia together the next morning.
Nanaimo is a great city and we all can’t wait to explore a little more on our way back around the 1st of August. We will be meeting Scott’s parents there. Can’t wait.
