August 25, 2013 ~ Pender Harbor to Newcastle Island

I got up pretty early, around 6:15 or so, followed shortly by Ray.  We ended up making some pancakes and eggs while the ladies slept in.  Erin definitely deserved to sleep in, as today is her birthday.  And, I guess Mary was there too!

There was a bit of a breeze in our harbor early in the morning, which made me wonder what it was going to be like out in the strait.  Most crossings are lumpy at best, and often downright wet.  The weather channel gave sort of a mixed message, claiming strong wind warnings in Georgia Strait north of Nanaimo, while at the same time reporting the wind speed at the Ballenas Islands at 3 knots.  We were all ready to go somewhere by 10 o’clock, so we raised anchor and headed out.

Coming out of Pender the water was pretty smooth, but we had an hour or so to cruise before we’d actually be out in the Georgia Strait.  We could see quite a few boats in the

distance – in fact Erin said she counted 29 boats across the horizon as we looked out.  This was definitely a good fair weather sign.  Most were out fishing, but a few were apparently headed out across the strait just like us.  I had set our course to cut across

area Whiskey Golf, the torpedo test range and the shortest route.  They are usually not active on Sunday, and I could see some boats a few miles out that would be the first to get the visit from the helicopter if it were.  As we approached the WG boundary most of those boats had disappeared, so I called Winchelsea Control to confirm their status, and they reported back that there was indeed no activity scheduled for today.

This turned out to be one of the smoothest crossings we’ve ever experienced, a great birthday present for Erin and all of us.  We had the front windshield open all the way, with just a very gentle breeze coming through.  At one point we spotted a large yacht, and by large I mean at least 125 feet, cruising north up the strait, and we could see its wake trailing behind literally for miles.  We eventually encountered that wake when the

yacht was 6 or 7 miles to our north.  By then it was no longer cresting, just some big rollers – and that was the roughest water we encountered all the way across.

We cruised right on in to Departure Bay and down the Newcastle Island Passage into the Nanaimo Harbor.  Instead of going over to the Port of Nanaimo, we turned towards Newcastle Island, where there are mooring buoys and a nice dock that’s part of the park that encompasses the entire island.  From a distance it appeared as though there was no space at the dock, but that was because everyone tends to tie to the outermost position on the dock, leaving the inside spots open.  We took a spot ahead of a sailboat, adjacent to the passenger ferry dock.  An hour later the sailboat behind us left, and we moved the Potentate back to the end of the dock so we too could leave unencumbered when we wanted to, and also run our

generator without fuming anyone behind us.

I could go on at some length here about the park amenities, passenger ferries and so forth, but I see I already did that back in July.  Check out the post from July 11^th for the Newcastle Island spiel.

We all went for a walk on the island later in the afternoon, and stopped in at the deli for ice cream cones.  We wandered over to the pulp stone machine display before ambling back to the boat.  We’ll spend the night here, and maybe tomorrow too.  It’s a nice spot and the moorage fee is pretty reasonable.  There is no power at the dock, but we can make our own.

When we first arrived there was some sort of festival going on at the park across the way, with apparently several rock bands providing the entertainment.  They were very well amplified, as at the dock here across the bay, over a half mile away, the sound was close to overwhelming.  They were still well within range during our walk to the far side of Newcastle Island.  Some of the groups weren’t that bad, but they saved the worst for last as the sun went down and a bit beyond.  The vocalist just couldn’t sing, and compensated by yelling into the mike.

I could not ask for a more special birthday than I’ve had today.  Being with Loren, weeks of cruising adventures, enjoying the beauty of Newcastle Island with Loren, mom and dad is something I will always treasure – a perfect birthday gift.