Well, the rain
held off overnight, but came in a series of showers starting early this
morning. We had left the dinghy down
overnight with plans for a morning ride, and also had the front windows out
above the helm, so things got a bit wet here and there. The morning showers weren’t that long in
duration, but they did rinse off some streak marks from my window washing
chores of a couple days ago.
Yesterday we ran
the generator for about two and a half hours to boost the batteries as we’ve
been anchoring out since leaving Nanaimo
Our original plan
for today was to head over to Refuge Cove in the afternoon, refill one of our
propane bottles that ran out, do some shopping and plug in for the night. Between the rainy morning and low house
battery situation, we decided that rather than run the generator, why not just
head on over to Refuge Cove now – which is what we did. It’s about 8 miles away, so took a little
over an hour at our leisurely cruise speed of 7 knots. Refuge Cove is the commercial hub of the
Desolation Sound area, with store, fuel dock, gift shop and used book store,
and the cruising guides point out that they’re busiest between 10 and 3 as far
as dock space goes. There is a lot of
turnover during those hours as people do their shopping, use the laundry
facilities and so forth, so boats are always arriving and leaving. We thought we might have to wait for some
dock space, but found an available spot right away. And, just as described, after 3 or 4 o’clock,
activity settled down as the shoppers left and the overnighters remained. There is even room for another 3 or 4 boats
now in the evening.
 |
| Leaving Prideaux Haven |
On the way over we
were admiring a trimaran sailboat under sail.
We made a slight course change to cut behind him as he came about. As we approached Refuge Cove the wind was
dying down and he lowered his sails and fell in behind us. He came in a short time after we had secured
our spot on the dock, and we helped him tie to a spot across from us. The boat was named “Flexible Flyer” and the
outriggers were articulated – they could fold up to narrow the boat to a 12
foot beam – although I think that would introduce some stability issues. I would guess that’s a moorage use only option
– it wasn’t necessary for this landing.
They were here for a short stop, with their main mission being acquiring
some more kitty litter. They thought
they had left with a 60 day supply, but apparently their two cats thought
otherwise. We struck up a conversation,
and had them on board for a tour of our boat.
Hopefully we run across them again in our travels.
 |
| The Flexible Flyer sailing towards Refuge Cove |
It used to be that
the only power available here at Refuge Cove was from a few 15 amp outlets
inside the maintenance shack below the store, and if you were close enough, or
had enough cord, and an outlet was available then you could get shore
power. Now they have power stanchions at
all the moorage spots, although it’s still 15 amp power. That’s fine with us – we can just take turns
between running the battery charger or the washing machine or the vacuum
cleaner. It’s not like we need all that
stuff going on at once. The community
here is off the grid, but they have a diesel generator running around the clock
during cruising season, fueled by the shore power charges they collect. It’s a pretty good deal all around.
 |
| Add caption |
 |
| The Refuge Cove store |
We were fortunate
with our timing, as there was no rain during our cruise over here and our decks
and lines were dry as we approached the dock.
Had we waited until our original planned time, we would have arrived during
one of the subsequent downpours.
We like Refuge
Cove. It’s so picturesque, with the
store on pilings, and the boardwalks that lead to the other shops as well as
the private homes that surround the harbor.
The community is some sort of co-op of property owners, and they lease
to the business owners – so it’s not like you could just decide to move
here. I think the number of residents,
or homes, numbers in the low teens at most.
There is a seaplane float out at the end of one of the docks, and
Kenmore Air flies here on a regular schedule, as do some of the Canadian
seaplane outfits. Just down the dock
from us is a pirate ship – well, it’s a two masted ketch that is painted all
black and flies the Jolly Roger. The
boat has signs offering diving services, and from the length of the growth
around the bottom it has been here for some time.
We will stay here
for a day or two before heading off north towards the Broughton Islands
No comments:
Post a Comment