As you can see, we've changed our blog's header. It now shows a slideshow of a selection of sailing, hiking/trekking and skiing photos. The header text has also been rewritten.
The new look is hopefully more interesting, and better reflects the diversity of the posts in this blog , as well as our current activities.
The slideshow was created using WowSlider.
Feel free to let us know what you think of the changes (positive or negative) in the Comments.
Thursday, 13 August 2015
Monday, 10 August 2015
A week in the islands... B.C.'s Gulf Islands
Finally got away for a week in our "islands", the Gulf Islands (as opposed to the islands in the Bahia de la Paz).
Beautiful weather, although not much wind. We did not sail until the final day, when we crossed Georgia Strait back to Vancouver.
First night at Clam Bay, after a calm motor across to Porlier Pass. Up to 20-30 boats anchored. Going to have to get used to more-crowded anchorages here (compared to the Sea of Cortez). But, it was a glassy calm, quiet night.
Next, we tried a new-to-us anchorage over at Prevost Island: Selby Cove. A small cove which we expected to fit only 2-3 boats, ended up with 5 boats. Not exactly "crowded", but more than we expected. As Selby Cove adjoins land that is part of the Gulf Islands National Park, there were good trails on shore. Again, another windless, calm evening. We liked this place.
Next stop, Winter Cove on Saturna Island. Last time we were here was in August 2013, for the Bluewater Cruising Association "Farewell to the Fleet" Rendezvous. With over 50 boats anchored in 2013 (but only three of us leaving for offshore), it was very crowded.
This year, the cove had about 25 boats anchored. Certainly not a "wilderness" feeling. Still, it was very pleasant, and we stayed two nights. Nevertheless, another windless, calm and quiet night. We could get used to this:in the Sea of Cortez, we don't think we ever had 4 windless nights in a row.
What was a "little" harder to get used to was the 16 degree Celsius water temperature. It was sunny and hot outside so we braved a swim. SO COLD! (Sure, but refreshing....)
Next night, we motored over to Port Browning, after filling up one fuel tank at the Saturna Point fuel dock (with, as we found out later, some of the highest fuel prices on the BC coast!) -- first time since Mazatlan.
The plan, on visiting Port Browning, was to visit Bob and Dee Dee (from SV Sunshine) who live on Pender Island. The visit with them was fun. Port Browning turned out to be a party anchorage and filled-up to the brim with boats. Still, people were pretty respectful and any noise ended at a reasonable time. Again, another calm night.
Final night was back at Clam Bay. Crowded (30-40 boats is crowded to us; certainly more than the Sea of Cortez and more than we used to see in Clam Bay) but no problems anchoring, as again we had no wind in the anchorage overnight. Tried swimming at 17.5 degrees Celsius -- must becoming acclimatized as it didn't feel too bad.
Next morning, we caught the 6 am slack at Porlier Pass, and had a wild sail with approx. 20 knot NW winds (a mostly beam reach), arriving Pt Grey (entrance to English Bay, Vancouver) 3.25 hours later.
Our first real sailing trip since getting Pelagia home, we were impressed by our (i) protected anchorages and beautiful scenery (so green and varied), (ii) quiet windless nights, (iii) crowded anchorages, and (iv) much colder water.
Beautiful weather, although not much wind. We did not sail until the final day, when we crossed Georgia Strait back to Vancouver.
First night at Clam Bay, after a calm motor across to Porlier Pass. Up to 20-30 boats anchored. Going to have to get used to more-crowded anchorages here (compared to the Sea of Cortez). But, it was a glassy calm, quiet night.
Next, we tried a new-to-us anchorage over at Prevost Island: Selby Cove. A small cove which we expected to fit only 2-3 boats, ended up with 5 boats. Not exactly "crowded", but more than we expected. As Selby Cove adjoins land that is part of the Gulf Islands National Park, there were good trails on shore. Again, another windless, calm evening. We liked this place.
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| Anchored in Selby Cove |
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| Pelagia in Selby Cove |
Next stop, Winter Cove on Saturna Island. Last time we were here was in August 2013, for the Bluewater Cruising Association "Farewell to the Fleet" Rendezvous. With over 50 boats anchored in 2013 (but only three of us leaving for offshore), it was very crowded.
This year, the cove had about 25 boats anchored. Certainly not a "wilderness" feeling. Still, it was very pleasant, and we stayed two nights. Nevertheless, another windless, calm and quiet night. We could get used to this:in the Sea of Cortez, we don't think we ever had 4 windless nights in a row.
What was a "little" harder to get used to was the 16 degree Celsius water temperature. It was sunny and hot outside so we braved a swim. SO COLD! (Sure, but refreshing....)
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| Seals on Minx Reef at entrance to Winter Cove -- guess they don't find the water so cold. |
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| Boat Passage (on the flood) from Winter Cove, looking out to the Georgia Strait and Mt. Baker -- beautiful! |
Next night, we motored over to Port Browning, after filling up one fuel tank at the Saturna Point fuel dock (with, as we found out later, some of the highest fuel prices on the BC coast!) -- first time since Mazatlan.
The plan, on visiting Port Browning, was to visit Bob and Dee Dee (from SV Sunshine) who live on Pender Island. The visit with them was fun. Port Browning turned out to be a party anchorage and filled-up to the brim with boats. Still, people were pretty respectful and any noise ended at a reasonable time. Again, another calm night.
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| Crowded but calm Port Browning |
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| Radar image of Port Browning anchorage -- crowded! |
Final night was back at Clam Bay. Crowded (30-40 boats is crowded to us; certainly more than the Sea of Cortez and more than we used to see in Clam Bay) but no problems anchoring, as again we had no wind in the anchorage overnight. Tried swimming at 17.5 degrees Celsius -- must becoming acclimatized as it didn't feel too bad.
Next morning, we caught the 6 am slack at Porlier Pass, and had a wild sail with approx. 20 knot NW winds (a mostly beam reach), arriving Pt Grey (entrance to English Bay, Vancouver) 3.25 hours later.
Our first real sailing trip since getting Pelagia home, we were impressed by our (i) protected anchorages and beautiful scenery (so green and varied), (ii) quiet windless nights, (iii) crowded anchorages, and (iv) much colder water.
Sunday, 26 July 2015
Mountain time... hikes near Whistler (including Garibaldi Park)
Since getting Pelagia home, we have spent most of our time in the mountains at home in Whistler, rather than time sailing on Pelagia. (Perhaps a bit of a hangover from spending so much time on Pelagia over the past two years.)
In addition to many, many walks in and around the valley (Whistler), we have done several longer hikes.
We've posted photos from these hikes into an album on our FLIKR account:
Rainbow Lake (June 13): A 5-6 hour hike, the trail was in good condition and the weather nice. Lots of elevation gain, so a good amount of exercise. Some nice views across the valley. The lake views, however, never seem to excite us.
Cheakamus Lake, Garibaldi Park (June 27): An easy, mostly flat trail, this trail goes through beautiful old-growth forest to turquoise Cheakamus Lake. The trail is popular with tourists; happily, we left early enough so that we were returning as the visitors were just arriving. A good place to get out in the mountains without too much work. (3 hours)
Iceberg Lake (July 1): This a relatively new (and unknown) trail that goes up 19-Mile Creek to the "backside" of Rainbow Mt. This was our first time on this trail. The upper part of 19-mile Creek was a beautiful old-growth forest hike that eventually emerges out on to a beautiful alpine meadow. A couple hundred meters higher, up a steep rocky slope lies ice-filled Iceberg Lake, with Rainbow Mt. and its snowfields towering directly above. Views from the lake were great. A truly spectacular place. But it was long: we returned to our car over 7 hours later, tired and sore.
Blackcomb Mountain to Decker Tarn (July 14): With dramatic clouds overhead, we took the Whistler Gondola up Whistler Mt, then the Peak-to-Peak Gondola over to Blackcomb Mountain (at no additional cost to us as we are season pass holders in the Winter). We then hiked across 7th Heaven, up to the Decker Loop high point, down to Decker Tarn (which is in Garibaldi Park), and then back to Blackcomb's Solar Coaster chairlift to head down. A moderate hike of 3.5 hours, there were great views, wildflowers, a few marmots, and not too crowded.
Backpack Whistler Mountain peak to Singing Pass (via Musical Bumps) and Russet Lake, then down to Whistler via Singing Pass trail (2nights/3 days; July 16-18): We loaded up our backpacks for a multi-night trip to Russet Lake (Garibaldi Park). Oh those packs sure seemed heavy.... Caught the gondola then chairlift to the top of Whistler, then proceeded towards Singing Pass via several trails, climbing Flute and Oboe "peaks" (the musical bumps). Despite the weeks-long lack of rain, the alpine meadows at Singing Pass were green and beautiful. A hour later (and 240-metre climb) we arrived at Russet Lake, surrounded by peaks and glaciers. We were the only campers (on a Thursday eve). Really tired and sore. Next day, we did a short dayhike, first down towards the Overlord Glacier, then up above on the ridge above Russet Lake. Views were spectacular. We returned to take a nap in our tent. Then the people began to arrive, including 14 from a commercial camp/tour group from the USA. As we hiked down Saturday down the long but gentle Singing Pass trail, we estimated some 22 tents would be camping at the lake. Way too crowded. We walked off the trail, through Whistler village, to our home with waiting cold beers. Very sore and tired, but pleased with ourselves. (4.25 hours Whistler peak to Russet Lake; 2 hours dayhiking; 4.75 hours Russet Lake to Whistler Village)
Again, check out the photo album on our FLIKR account:
This coming week, we are planning on spending a week in the Gulf Islands on Pelagia.
In addition to many, many walks in and around the valley (Whistler), we have done several longer hikes.
We've posted photos from these hikes into an album on our FLIKR account:
Rainbow Lake (June 13): A 5-6 hour hike, the trail was in good condition and the weather nice. Lots of elevation gain, so a good amount of exercise. Some nice views across the valley. The lake views, however, never seem to excite us.
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| Looking across Whistler Valley at Rainbow Lake outlet stream |
Cheakamus Lake, Garibaldi Park (June 27): An easy, mostly flat trail, this trail goes through beautiful old-growth forest to turquoise Cheakamus Lake. The trail is popular with tourists; happily, we left early enough so that we were returning as the visitors were just arriving. A good place to get out in the mountains without too much work. (3 hours)
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| Mountains reflected on Cheakamus Lake |
Iceberg Lake (July 1): This a relatively new (and unknown) trail that goes up 19-Mile Creek to the "backside" of Rainbow Mt. This was our first time on this trail. The upper part of 19-mile Creek was a beautiful old-growth forest hike that eventually emerges out on to a beautiful alpine meadow. A couple hundred meters higher, up a steep rocky slope lies ice-filled Iceberg Lake, with Rainbow Mt. and its snowfields towering directly above. Views from the lake were great. A truly spectacular place. But it was long: we returned to our car over 7 hours later, tired and sore.
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| Heading up the last (steep) slope to Iceberg Lake |
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| Iceberg Lake (with bergs!); Rainbow Mt. behind |
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| View across to valley to Wedge Mt (centre) and ski runs on Blackcomb Mt |
Blackcomb Mountain to Decker Tarn (July 14): With dramatic clouds overhead, we took the Whistler Gondola up Whistler Mt, then the Peak-to-Peak Gondola over to Blackcomb Mountain (at no additional cost to us as we are season pass holders in the Winter). We then hiked across 7th Heaven, up to the Decker Loop high point, down to Decker Tarn (which is in Garibaldi Park), and then back to Blackcomb's Solar Coaster chairlift to head down. A moderate hike of 3.5 hours, there were great views, wildflowers, a few marmots, and not too crowded.
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| At high point of Decker Loop on Blackcomb Mt (Overlord Glacier and Fissile Peak in background) |
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| Blackcomb marmot |
Backpack Whistler Mountain peak to Singing Pass (via Musical Bumps) and Russet Lake, then down to Whistler via Singing Pass trail (2nights/3 days; July 16-18): We loaded up our backpacks for a multi-night trip to Russet Lake (Garibaldi Park). Oh those packs sure seemed heavy.... Caught the gondola then chairlift to the top of Whistler, then proceeded towards Singing Pass via several trails, climbing Flute and Oboe "peaks" (the musical bumps). Despite the weeks-long lack of rain, the alpine meadows at Singing Pass were green and beautiful. A hour later (and 240-metre climb) we arrived at Russet Lake, surrounded by peaks and glaciers. We were the only campers (on a Thursday eve). Really tired and sore. Next day, we did a short dayhike, first down towards the Overlord Glacier, then up above on the ridge above Russet Lake. Views were spectacular. We returned to take a nap in our tent. Then the people began to arrive, including 14 from a commercial camp/tour group from the USA. As we hiked down Saturday down the long but gentle Singing Pass trail, we estimated some 22 tents would be camping at the lake. Way too crowded. We walked off the trail, through Whistler village, to our home with waiting cold beers. Very sore and tired, but pleased with ourselves. (4.25 hours Whistler peak to Russet Lake; 2 hours dayhiking; 4.75 hours Russet Lake to Whistler Village)
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| View of High Note/Musical Bumps route (photo from Blackcomb Mt) |
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| On the way to Singing Pass, Cheakamus Lake viewed from Whistler's High Note trail |
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| Himmelsbach Hut at Russet Lake (our tent in front of it) |
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| Looking down from ridge above Russet Lake, Overlord Glacier and Fissile Peak behind |
Again, check out the photo album on our FLIKR account:
This coming week, we are planning on spending a week in the Gulf Islands on Pelagia.
Sunday, 28 June 2015
Pelagia back home in British Columbia... our Mexico cruising comes to an end
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| Pelagia flying high... unloading from MV Tiberborg |
Pelagia was smoothly and efficiently unloaded from the MV Tiberborg on Wednesday June 17th. Except for a lot of salt (from heavy seas off Northern California/Oregon), she arrived in excellent shape. Kudos to the excellent crew of Raven Offshore Yacht Shipping, the master and crew of the MV Tiberborg, and, at the end, men and women of the Longshoreman's union in Chemainus.
After spending a day putting Pelagia back together, we took off for a short cruise in the Gulf Islands and Howe Sound, including a great sail across Georgia Strait. It was wonderful to be home.
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| Pelagia on a mooring buoy at Montague Provincial Marine Park (June, 2015) |
With both sadness and excitement, our Mexico sailing adventure is now at an end. In a post (or two) down the road, we will consider why we returned, our pros and cons of cruising to/in Mexico, and thoughts on "offshore" cruising in general.
In the meantime, we are enjoying cruising our local waters and hiking around Whistler.
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| Cheakamus Lake hike (June 27, 2015) |
Monday, 15 June 2015
MV Tiberborg in the Gulf Islands...
Pelagia is nearly home!
MV Tiberborg arrives Chemainus this afternoon. We are scheduled to unload Wednesday morning.
MV Tiberborg arrives Chemainus this afternoon. We are scheduled to unload Wednesday morning.
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| MV Tiberborg (from Pender Island): Pelagia's is in the centre of the front row, with her bow sticking out farthest in front. [Photo by Bob, of SV Sunshine (Sunshine is front boat, starboard side)] |
Friday, 12 June 2015
Gales and large seas off of Northern California slowing MV Tiberborg
We'll never forget when we sailed south off this coast back in September 2013 -- 48 hours of gales and "hazardous" steep seas combined with steering problems. Not fun.
MV Tiberborg appears to be experiencing even worse conditions, slowing its speed to less than 9 knots. But it is a large ship -- 172 m (L) x 20 m (B) -- so hopefully Pelagia and the other boats on deck are not having too rough of a trip.
Arrival in Chemainus delayed until late Sunday or Monday.
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Tuesday, 9 June 2015
MV Tiberborg reaches (and has now left) Ensenada -- no issues with hurricane Blanca
A quick update:
MV Tiberborg, with Pelagia on board, safely reached Ensenada, having stayed safely ahead and away from Hurricane Blanca. Tiberborg has now left Ensenada, and is estimated to arrive Chemainus B.C. late on June 14th.
Hurricane Blanca is now a tropical depression midway up the Baja peninsula -- it does not appear to have caused substantial damage. La Paz appears to have not seen winds over 40-50 knots.
MV Tiberborg, with Pelagia on board, safely reached Ensenada, having stayed safely ahead and away from Hurricane Blanca. Tiberborg has now left Ensenada, and is estimated to arrive Chemainus B.C. late on June 14th.
Hurricane Blanca is now a tropical depression midway up the Baja peninsula -- it does not appear to have caused substantial damage. La Paz appears to have not seen winds over 40-50 knots.
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