July 11, 2013 ~ Princess Bay to Newcastle Island

While at Ganges, we purchased a couple of humongous apple-walnut cinnamon rolls at the bakery.  We split one of them that day and, while it was good, we both thought it was a bit dry.  Last night Erin concocted a baked French toast recipe using this other roll, along with a bit more bread, blueberries, sausage bits and maybe some other stuff, all soaking in an egg mixture overnight in the fridge.  This morning she baked it in the oven and we had it for breakfast, drizzled with boysenberry syrup.  Yummy!

I didn’t do anything with the raw water pump this morning, but I did go in the engine room and remove the raw water hose leading into the transmission cooler.  If the impeller had lost a vane or two, or if there were any other debris in the system, this is where it would hang up.  I thought maybe there was a piece of something in there that was sometimes impeding water flow a bit and other times not.  The good/bad news is that it was nice and clean there.  Good that there were no impeller fragments, bad that we still don’t know what’s causing the occasional overheating.  We weighed anchor at 10 o’clock and cruised on towards Dodd Narrows at 1400 rpm without incident.  Maybe this just happens every third or fourth day, in which case we can stay put that day. J

We arrived at Dodd Narrows about as close to slack current as we’ve ever been.  According to our computer current table, it was running at 0.4 knots, down from the 4 knots when we left Princess Bay two hours earlier.  From the narrows it’s about 5 miles into Nanaimo.  As we approached Jack Point, where we turn to port towards the Port of Nanaimo, we could see out into Georgia Strait, and were surprised that it was relatively calm.  Usually at this point we’re quartering the waves for a better ride and picking up salt spray on the windows.  So far this trip the windows have remained salt free.  We were tempted to continue on across the strait on a heading to Pender Harbor what with the calm water and several hours of remaining daylight, but headed on in towards Nanaimo.

A few years ago we spent some time hiking around the trails on Newcastle Island, having taken the dinghy over from our moorage in town.  The entire island is a marine park and there is a dock that is usually pretty full, as well as several mooring buoys.  It was early in the day, and not a weekend, so we cruised over there first to check it out.  There are 5 or 6 docks of about 100 feet each, and surprisingly there were hardly any boats there.  It’s now after 8 in the evening and I think there are a total of about 8 boats now, and we’re the largest.  The dock has no water or power, but we’re fully charged from our cruise and with plenty of water of our own.

Newcastle Island and Protection Island separate Nanaimo from the Strait of Georgia and form the eastern side of the harbor.  There is a passageway between the two islands, but it shoals or dries at low tide and is used by dinghies, kayaks and canoes only.  There are several campsites on the island, and it is served by a passenger ferry from town.  Most campers arrive by ferry, or in their own kayaks and canoes. In days gone by the island was mined for coal, and there are many tunnels and mine shafts, sealed off with steel gates for safety.  There was once a quarry here, which provided the sandstone for building the San Francisco Mint.  But now it is an awesome park, with fields, beaches, trails, a lake, salt water marshes – and a pavilion with a dance hall and snack bar.  While the tide was still low we went for a walk along the beach trail, out to the Strait of Georgia side, where we could see a couple of the large Canadian ferries that ply these waters, as well as many small craft enjoying the relative calm of the day.  We walked out on the beaches, which are mostly sandstone rather than sand, with hundreds of pock marks large and small where rocks once resided.  It’s very peaceful here compared to the city across the bay – all in all, we’ve had a great day!