Desolation Sound in August...

After 4 relaxing days in (somewhat crowded) Von Donop Inlet, we moved over to Heriot Bay for provisioning and a small repair.

The repair, happily, turned out to be simple. We had a leak from the hose from the engine heat exchanger to the hot water/heating system. David had made a jury rig repair with rubber tape and Rescue tape (thr rubber tape worked better) for the trip down Johnstone Strait, which slowed the leak to a dribble (half a cup/day). The hose had been damaged by an over-tightened hoseclamp; repair required cutting off the damaged end and re-routing hose slightly to get the needed ~5 cm. No problem. But we went to a dock in case therepair "went South" (or "pear shaped" or...). Happily no issues.

We returned to Von Donop for 1 night, then headed to Desolation Sound. Knowing it would be very busy, we hoped Laura Cove might be OK. As we came into Laura Cove, we were shocked. Shocked at the cove being absolutely packed with boats stern-tied on both sides of the cove, and with people actually reserving spots for friends with stern ties to shore to an anchor buoy. Really bad behaviour (something we also saw in Tenedos back in 2012). Most boats in Laura Cove (>75%) were from the USA; too bad there's not much room for us Canadian boats. We immediately turned around and left Laura Cove.

As we wrote in posts in 2012 and 2015, Desolation Sound  is very overcrowded and far-from-desolate in July and August (from Desolation Sound north to Octopus Islands).  So crowded it is time that some limitations in numbers be considered. We were clearly spoiled by off-season cruising and by cruising North (despite the colder weather and water temperatures).

Luckily, Roscoe Bay turned out to be much better for us. Although busy, it seems the nearly-drying bar keeps a lot of boats away. So we enjoyed several days there. After Roscoe Bay, we headed over to Cortes Bay so that we could enjoy the good hiking in nearby K'Was Park. We then headed South to Ballet Bay and then Pender Harbour. While in Pender Harbour, a Southerly came in, and we stuck inside Pender until winds/seas quieted down.

We had a good sail (!) across Georgia Strait, anchoring at Kendrick Island (a new-to-us anchorage). At Kendrick, there were only 2 boats anchored. We chose to anchor in between them, with at least 90 metres separating us on either side. This didn't stop the guy on the power boat from Wilmington DE from complaining we were too close. David replied, rather strongly, that we were 300 feet away from him, so perhaps he should reconsider his issues. Nothing else was heard. (David is clearly losing patience....)

We spent the next (and last week) visiting friends in Maple Bay/Duncan (Barbara and Jim from SV Berkana), rafting up at Sidney Spit with Mexico cruising friends (Bob and Dee Dee from SV Sunshine), and finally a couple of nights in Port Sidney while we attended a family wedding. So much socializing, but fun!

Finally, we headed up to Clam Bay for a night, then motored (what else?) across Georgia Strait to our home slip at the Vancouver Rowing Club.

Our 2-month Summer 2017 cruise was over.