Last sail of 2023: short trip to the Gulf Islands

Fall trip to Gulf Islands (BLUE=motor; RED=sail)

After a week of subzero (Celsius) temperatures, the forecast was for warmer, sunny days. Still recovering from a post-trip cold, Michelle was convinced to head over to the Gulf Islands, where we hoped to visit sail friends on Pender Island.

 

Saturday, October 28, 2023: 

Drove down from Whistler and stayed the night on the boat at VRC

 

Sunday, October 29, 2023: 

Easy sunny motor across Georgia Strait. Probably could have sailed (NW 5-7 kn), but we wanted to make slack at Porlier Pass. As it turned out, we arrived over an hour early, so we idled around Dionisio. Went through early with approximately 2.5kn against us. Easy. Headed over to Clam Bay to anchor for the night. Only 1 other boat at anchor (a liveaboard). The joys of off-season cruising!

 

Monday, October 30, 2023:

A quiet night, morning temperature a cool +2° C. Sunny. Decided to head over to Princess Cove on Wallace Island. We rarely visit Wallace because it is so crowded in-season, and stern tying is expected (which can be a real problem in Princess when strong winds blow).

Princess Cove was beautiful... and empty! We went to the south (most protected) end, dropped anchor, and free swung. Again, the joys of off-season cruising. (2 other boats came in later... both free swinging.)

We went for a nice walk out to Chivers Point, then back to Conover Cover (empty), then back to the boat. No winds were forecast and it was a quiet eve. 

Pelagia anchored in Princess Cove (free swinging in October)

 

View North from Chivers Point (Wallace Island)

 

Tuesday, October 31, 2023:

Another cool morning, our Espar hydronic furnace working great!

Motored over to Ganges, where there was plenty of space at the VRC Outstation. Out for dinner at Moby's Pub and its Trivia Night. (Note to self: no more wings!)

Happy Halloween....

 

Wednesday, November 1, 2023:

Woke up to galley/head fresh water pump problems....

We were due to meet up with sailing friends David and Gillian (ex SV Carousel) and Wayne and Lee (SV Chanter) at Wayne and Lee's home on North Pender Island. So we headed over to see if there was room on the dock (2-3 boats max) at the VRC Outstation at Otter Bay. Empty again!

Spent some time troubleshooting water pump. Seemed to get it going. Then headed out to road to be picked up by D&G (they took ferry over) and then to W&L's place. 

As usual, we had a great time with our sailing friends.

Rain started that evening and continued all night. Happily, no rain during the daytime.

 

Thursday, November 2, 2023:

Left Otter Bay, and sailed all the way to Wallace Island (mostly downwind). Anchored again in Princess Cove -- only 1 other boat (when we arrived), so lots of room for free swinging.

Water pump acting up again....

Friday, November 3, 2023:

Nice quiet eve. Only 2 boats. 

Left Princess Cove for morning slack at Porlier Pass. After pass, we hoisted both sails and had an easy sail all the way to Point Grey (~17nm), then motored in for a fuel top up and then to our berth at VRC.

 

Saturday, November 4, 2023:

Packed the boat up and headed home to Whistler. 

A nice week away on the boat, with empty anchorages and marinas and a visit with sailing friends. (And, yes,  a new repair to complete: a week or two later D installed a new water pump.)

 

September-October, 2023: Germany and Greece (quick recap)

 September and October, 2023: We returned to Europe...

 

1. Conference in Cologne, Germany

David's first international conference since 2009 (he technically retired in 2012), giving both an invited presentation and a new research presentation. 

The conference went well for him, but it felt "odd" for him. And a LOT of work! Very tiring. Not sure he wants to do any others.

Meanwhile, Michelle "played" in (and enjoyed!) Cologne.

Cologne's justifiably famous cathedral

Unfortunately, it seemed everyone at the conference has respiratory infections. A couple days after the end of the conference, David came down with a bad cold (it wasn't COVID... we tested 2x).

 

Dinner at a favourite winery ("weingut") in Boppard on the Rhine River

2. Bike & Boat trip on the Mosel River (7 nights)

In addition to a few days relaxing in towns on the Rhine River, we did a "bike & boat" trip (our 3rd) along the Mosel River. Joining us were our past cruising buddies (they sold their boat "Carousel" in 2021) David and Gillian.

David's cold didn't stop him from riding, (Didn't stop him from coughing a lot either. But it improved after a couple of days.)

The Mosel Bike & Boat route: Koblenz to Saarburg

Our ship: MS Olympia

Lots of riding through vineyards

Wine Wine Wine along the Mosel (even in vending machines... with ID)

The riding was 95% FLAT! (Michelle, Gillian and Carousel-David...)

Beilstein (where we visited in 2017)

Roman Porta Nigra inTrier (a lovely small city)

Trier is the birthplace of Karl Marx (here he's giving instructions to "Walk")

Gillian, Michelle & Carousel-David watching the boats dock in Saarburg (our last stop)

The bike riding was very easy and pleasant. E-bikes (which 3 of us had... Michelle had a normal bike) certainly not required. We had good weather for all but the last day (with rain waiting until we were finished biking).

We've now done 3 Bike & Boats (all by S&E Tours, booked through Eurocycle/Rad&Reisen). ALL were good, but we think we enjoy the "Inn-to-Inn" bike rides better (greater diversity overall, different/local dining options, etc) and it is time for a break from B&Bs....

Our last morning, we caught a very early train the Frankfurt Airport, for a flight to Greece....

 

3. More biking: Inn-to-Inn bike trip in the Dodecanese, Greece (13 nights)

We returned for our 3rd trip, organized by Omega Biking. As usual, we started in Kalavarda on Rhodes Island (where we stayed the 1st night and picked up our bikes). Then to Rhodes Town (1 night), Nisyros (2 nights), Mastichari (3 nights), Skala, Patmos (4 nights) and back to Rhodes Town (2 nights).

The Dodecanese

2023 Bike trip in the Dodecanese (solid red lines=biking; dashed red lines=ferries)

We enjoyed our 2022 bike trip in the Dodecanese so much, we decided to return. This time we added the islands of Nisyros (a volcano island) and Patmos, along with a return to Mastichari on Kos.

Nisyros was tough riding (up then down into the volcano and return), but the small town of Mandraki lovely. Kos was good. Patmos was spectacular (we want to return).

Looking down at the crater on Nisyros

Mandraki (Nisyros) central square

 

Short stopover/ferry transfer at Pothia harbour (Kalymnos): a lively non-touristy city

 

Our beach for swimming on Patmos

View down towards Skala (Patmos)

Patmos

View up to Chora and its monastery (Patmos)

An easy ride down from Chora

Lunch time in Grikos, 2/3rds through our day's biking/sightseeing (Patmos)

Skala, the port of Patmos

Greece was good food, good wine, with some nice biking and spectacular views. As it was October, there were no large crowds (except in Patmos, where cruise ships visit for 4 hours -- easy to avoid the crowds as we knew the ship schedules). We didn't do as much biking as our previous trips, but we got enough exercise and enjoyed ourselves. 

A return to Greece is definitely in the cards.

For more photos of our 2023 Greece biking, click here

Summer 2023 cruise completed

 

Summer 2023

We are now back home in Whistler.

Reminder: our anchorage-to-anchorage tracker for our Summer cruise with short commentary is available at:   https://followingsea.net/blog/PELAGIA

We spent ~4 weeks in the Desolation Sound area (lots of swimming and several hikes), and almost 2 weeks in/near the Gulf Islands. Down in the Gulf Islands and Sidney, we were able to get together with family and friends.

We decided not to sail to the North island due to (i) radar stopped working (there is lots of fog up there), (ii) strong opposing winds in Johnstone Strait (when we wanted to go North), and (iii) work commitments back home. 

Not going North this year adds significantly to our intention for a much longer trip North in 2024.

 

 

Mt. Llanover view over Desolation Sound

 

View from Mt. Llanover

Good hike (bit of a slog for nearly 2 hrs up...) up Mt  Llanover (650m) from Roscoe Bay. Great views!

Cloudy and cool, Roscoe Bay not crowded.

Summer 2023 cruising on Pelagia begins

Headed out yesterday (June 12) to begin our Summer cruise. Very bouncy in English Bay and especially near Point Atkinson due to wind/waves against current.

Ducked in to Port Graves (Artaban) due to forecast of strong NW winds in Georgia Strait.

A very calm night here in front of Camp Artaban last night. May be in Howe Sound for 1-2 additional nights due to weather.