The Start of Our Biggest Trip Yet!

Video highlights from this portion of our trip

Ahoy friends and family!
2019 brings us back to boating in Canada on our 37' sailboat, Maya! Our goal this summer is to circumnavigate Vancouver Island counterclockwise, traveling up the Inside Passage, rounding the top and then making our way down the West Coast. This route is considered a "classic PNW boat trip". 

Here is our proposed route for our 2019 Summer Sailing Expedition

While the Inside Passage is quite sheltered and welcoming to any level of boater, the West Coast is a different story. Vancouver Island’s West Coast is exposed to thousands of miles of open Pacific Ocean and when you add in the fact that it’s made up of mostly wilderness and far removed from modern conveniences, a much higher degree of skill and self-sufficiency is required.

And because of those reasons, we chose to do this trip. Never having sailed anywhere outside of the sheltered waters of WA and Canada, we want to feel what the open ocean feels like.... will we like it? Will we get seasick? These are questions that must be answered before we can confidently make a decision to sail to destinations outside of Washington and Canada. As far as self-sufficiency, we feel confident in our skills and our boat- Having spent the past 6 months studying all things boats at the marine technical school, I feel we have the skills required to address issues that may arise. Additionally, having spent the last year living aboard Maya, we understand her systems to a much higher degree and we are more comfortable and practiced at living aboard.

So there you have it. West Coast of Vancouver Island. A classic PNW boat trip. Let's do this!

And the first step in any good expedition is proper preparation! Speaking quite frankly, we were able to much better prepare for this trip compared to 2018’s trip. One such area of improvement was provisioning food for this trip. Last year, prior to leaving on our trip, we haphazardly went to Costco, bought some food, and off we went. We did not buy enough food last time, forcing us to purchase expensive food in Canada's Inside Passage.

This year was a stark difference as we started discussing food several weeks prior to leaving, preparing a list that included just about everything we would need.... with the exception of fresh produce, which we need to buy in Canada due to border crossing regulations.

Below is the the photo comparison between last year's and this year's food run. 

This year's food run

Last year's food run

One funny conversation between me and Jenny was how much granola to bring. We settled on 10 pounds, but initial estimates included 20 pounds! We won’t know how much we really needed until we are done with the trip but I will update everyone J

Food was only one such facet of planning and preparing. Prior to leaving we had a laundry list of items to get, things to take care of, things to put away in storage, etc etc. There was a flurry of activity prior to leaving, but we managed to get everything done. We have prepped as much as we could it's time to go!


On the morning of June 22, 2019, we threw off our docklines and headed West towards Canada! Immediately, we were greeted with fair winds all the way to Stuart Island, which was our last stop in the USA before checking into Canada. That day was one of the best sails we have ever had- it was an amazing way to start our trip.

Launch day!

Sails up on our way to Canada


View from our anchorage on Stuart Island. Canada in the far background.

The following morning we made the small crossing to Bedwell Harbour on Pender Island, British Columbia, checking in without even seeing a border agent... everything was done via telephone, taking no more than 20 minutes from the time we pulled into the dock. Thanks for being awesome, Canada!

Once we were cleared into the country we motored up to Montegue Harbour on Galiano Island. The big attraction there is the Hummingbird Inn Pub. The restaurant runs a shuttle from the dock and its location which has a hilarious and wild bus driver. The food was great and entertainment on point. A guy was playing the accordion, a trumpet, and drumming with his feet at the same time.  What was even better was the fact that we met up with our Professor from boat school, Mike. He was leading a flotilla of boats on a guided tour of sorts, and we slipped into the flotilla for a few days, enjoying the comradery of the small armada of 7 other boats. Mike is a great guy and it was super fun getting to hang out on our boats.  Also, shout to Cliff and Gin and Tonics! It’s always fun when separate adventures cross paths.

Maya at anchor in Montegue Harbor

The following morning we awoke early and were off in order to make our scheduled arrival time at Dodd Narrows, which is a small gap in the land where the ocean tides push water through with great force and current. Thankfully, there is no current when it’s slack tide, so that’s when boats are able to traverse the narrows. We left our anchorage early and arrived to Dodd Narrows right on schedule- no current to speak of. Success!

Motoring though Dodd Narrows

From Dodd, it was a short sail to Nanaimo where we landed in Mark Bay of New Castle Island, which is home to our favorite park and trail run. Seriously, it's the best park! We scored a dock spot for $20 a night which is a steal of deal (especially since it means we could walk the dog so much easier).

Maya at the dock on New Castle Island. Nanaimo is in the background.

We took the day to get a run around the island in, then rewarded ourselves with a beer at the Dinghy Dock Pub! The Pub is actually floating and the only way to get to it is by boat- how fun! Nanaimo is the last big town we will see for the next 6 weeks so we decided to spend another day there to purchase fresh produce and take care of some small errands.

Trailrun on New Castle Island

You see the most interesting boats while cruising!

The following morning, with a calm weather conditions we set off to cross the Strait of Georgia, an 18 mile open water crossing.  Last year, we went on a windy day and it was a rough crossing. This year was much different story as the winds were light and waves small as we made an uneventful crossing to mainland Canada, enroute to Princess Lousia Inlet, which is a world famous boating destination. Famed for its rugged beauty and waterfall displays. The inlet is about 50 miles from the Strait so we anchored in Green Bay for the night, enjoying some SUPing before a large storm brought a torrential downpour, even thunder and lightning (which is a rare thing in the PNW).

Out in the middle of the Strait of Georgia

SUPing in Green Bay

A very nice place to relax

So we will end the blogpost just prior to getting to Princess Louisa Inlet- sorry for the cliff hanger!

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Ok, that does it for now. Thanks so much for stopping by and following our adventure. See you soon!

Cheers!

Here's some more details on Maya's travel stats for this portion of the trip.

Distance Traveled: 111 nautical miles
Time spent motoring/sailing: 22.4 hrs.