REID HARBOR SHORE

SUNSET IN MONTAGUE ANCHORAGE

APPROACHING DODD NARROWS

We have worked our way up into British Columbia and tomorrow, the 12th we head further north where cell phone and internet connections are a rarity. Today, Friday the 11th, we sit in an anchorage across from the city of Campbell River. There is a channel in front of this town called "Discovery Passage". The currents can run up to 6 knots in this channel, so it is important to transit running with the current rather than against. Today we had about a 4 knot current pushing us. We normally run at 8 knots and today were making 12 in the passage.

Prior to arriving here we left U.S. waters and cleared customs into Canada on Monday the 6th. We then proceeded to a very good anchorage called Montague Harbor. The anchor set very well and it was a good thing as it blew quite hard up until about midnight. We had 30 knot gusts. Then all calm! We slept well, but we always sleep with "one ear open". We use our GPS system to create a circle of .05 nautical miles radius around the boat. If we drag anchor and go outside the "circle" we hear a loud beeping sound. If you anchor correctly it is rare for this to happen.

On the 7th we proceeded to the town of Nanaimo. To get there you go through a narrow passage called Dodd Narrows where you have to wait for slack water in the tides. The current can run up to 6 knots here but it is a narrow passage and whirlpools and turbulance are created. This could literally cause you to lose control of the boat. Timing is everything. Shortly after that we arrived at Nanaimo where we spent two nights at the dock

On the 8th we started up the northern half of the Strait of Georgio. This is almost like open ocean in that it is quite a few miles wide and the water can be over 1,000 ft deep. Paying close attention to the weather, in particular wind speed and direction, is critical. The weather was great, wind speed no more than 15 knots and we had a uneventful trip to an anchorage at Hornby Island. We went fishing here and I caught a 3-4 ft SHARK!!! I couldn't get the lure out of him because it was thrashing around so much, it was actually a bit scary. So, had to cut the line leaving the lure in the fish. It will rust away in due course.

Chuck and Margaret