Day 13 - August 8th Victoria Harbour

The clouds and cooler temperatures that provided a brief intermission from the monotony of the typical sunny weather we've had. I know, boring...right? Well, the good ole' boring sunshine is back and we're looking to walk about for a bit for the usual shopping and sightseeing. But first, food. By 10:00, we were showered and on our way over to a restaurant we saw the day before that looked like it might be a good spot for breakfast.

Arriving at the restaurant just before 10:30 (I've been including time frames on my updates just in case I find myself in need of an alibi), and were immediately seated. The hostess then asked us to please not sit on the floor in front of the entrance. She then lead us to a nice little booth, where we enjoyed a delicious breakfast and were on our way by 11:20.

We began our walk up Douglas Street on our exploration of the local retail establishments before heading over to the Royal Museum for the Titanic exhibit, when about 15 minutes into the walk, Lysa began not feeling well and having difficulty walking. This sometimes happens when her fibromyalgia is especially bad. I suggeted we head back so she could lay down, but she wanted to walk a bit more to see if things would improve. We agreed to walk towards the harbour just in case things did not improve and we could get back to the boat sooner, rather than later.

On the way back, we encountered a street performer who was made up to look like a bronze statute of a cowgirl. She looked incredible and hopefully the photo can capture some of the detail that went into her costume.

Arriving back on board, Lysa laid out in the sun for a bit, before heading down to bed for a nap. I decided to work on the previous day's update and then sat up on deck to soak up some sun myself. Later on, we walked up to the market to buy some provisions for the trip home on Friday, and on the way Lysa noticed a sign on the front of a building that looked like a prop from a Monty Python skit, which read in part, "Office of the Conflict of Interest Commissioner".

We'll try again for the Titanic exhibit and some shopping tomorrow. For now, it's a beautiful evening on the water in this very cool place to da' north and we'll just see what tomorrow brings.

Day 12 - August 7th Victoria Harbour Marina

We awoke around 9:00 to the sounds of the harbour waterfront; tourists bargaining with the street vendors, boat engines starting up and the chime tower in front of the Royal Museum. Soon the kilted (are there any other kind?) bagpipe player will start his extensive repertoire on the corner about 150 ft. from our spot on the dock.

By the time we got up and got to the showers, it was almost 10:30. A weather system had moved in making it a gray, muggy day with the wind now blowing at only 10 knots from the south. As we made our way back from the showers, located on the other side of the harbour, we decided to stop at Milestones for some brunch as it was on the way to the boat and well, damn it, we were hungry...sorry, I get cranky when I haven't eaten for a while.

After a very nice brunch (see how much my disposition has improved now that I've had something to eat?), we walked through the waterfront gauntlet of tourists, the local craft vendors, artists and musicians back to our dock, where we unloaded our shower bags and grabbed the camera to take along on a walk around Victoria. Since we had decided to extend our stay in Victoria to Friday morning, we're looking forward to navigating our way around the waterfront activities for a couple more days.

As we strolled up to the corner with the intention of going to the Royal Museum to pick-up some information on the Titanic exhibit and accompanying Imax film "Titanica", we noticed something taking place on the grounds in front of the Parliament building and walked over there to take a closer look. A girls marching band carrying flags bearing something that closely resembled the Microsoft logo (when did Bill Gates buy Canada?), performed for dignitaries and onlookers assembled on the steps of Parliament.

Being the astute observer that I am, I noticed a beautiful memorial statute dedicated to those who have served and died in the line of duty as part of the Canadian Armed Forces. On the other side of Parliament's "front yard" was a very cool totem pole called the "Knowledge Totem" with the "Loon, Fisherman, Bone Game Player and Frog representing lesson of the past and hope for the future". It was carved by members of the Cowichan Tribe to commemorate Victoria's role in hosting the XV Commonwealth Games in August 1994.

Leaving the ceremony being played out in front of Parliament, we walked across the street to the Royal Museum and grabbed a brochure containing a schedule of the Imax schedule for use either tomorrow or Thursday. We then walked over to Douglas Street, a main business artery, and walked the six or seven blocks up to the business district, as which time we decided to cut back towards the harbour checking out shops on the way.

At one point of our walk, I saw a cool old car (I think it was a 1946 or 47 Mercury Sedan) pulling into a parking space across the street and thought it would make a nice photo. We crossed over towards the classic car and noticed a gate leading into a courtyard with a large fountain just beyond the sidewalk. Since the guy was still parking the car and not wanting to be intrusive while he was trying to parallel park a car that most likely lacked power steering, we walked into the courtyard to have a look and would come back for the photo.

As we moved closer to the fountain, we heard live jazz music being played off to our right and looking in that direction, we saw the outdoor stage with a small, but enthusiastic audience enjoying the show. We walked over and sat down on an open bench. The band consisted of a xylophone player, guitarist, drummer, bassist and electric piano player. They sounded quite good and the guy on the xylophone rocked the house...or as much as one playing jazz could rock out.

After three songs or so, we headed back to where the classic car was parked only to find it had left the scene. Apparently, it was too much of a parallel parking challenge for the guy driving and he moved on for a spot more accessible. Oh well, it was worth missing out on the photo as we got a surprise concert and a short break from our walk.

We proceeded down some side street to check out some cool little shops as we headed towards the big shopping mall "The Bay" to look for a carrying case for our new camera. After going from store to store with no luck of finding the camera case and needing to use the restroom, we found the mall directory and discovered that they're only on the bottom floor, so down we went. Once done using the "facilities", we turned the corner from the restrooms and found a small Rebok carrying case that would work just fine in the second store down.

With our camera properly protected, we walked towards the harbour and back to the boat. On the way we saw some of the beautiful old architecture of Victoria and marveled at how well they had been preserved given their age. But hey, that's part of the charm of this cool place.

Arriving back at the Reaper around 2:30, I made a sandwich and got to work on two day's worth of updates on the blog, while Lysa took a much needed nap. Since it was even more cloudy and the winds blowing even more, I decided to hang out in the cabin for some "quiet" time on the computer, so once done with the blog update, I read the Seattle Times and watched some news videos on CNN.

Lysa's awoke from her coma around 7:00 and we dined on leftover salmon and salad, then took a short walk to restock the ol' ice supply and were done for the day by 10:00. The weather is supposed to clear up tomorrow, which may be a good time to duck indoors to check out the Titanic exhibit or we'll just see how things play out.

Day 11 - August 6th Ganges Marina to Victoria

We were up and showered by 8:00, then it was off the the B&B for some "B", which was quite good and reasonably priced. Being an equal opportunity carnivore, I tried the lamb sausage and eggs, which were quite tasty, while Lysa enjoyed her eggs, bacon and pancakes. With tummies full, we were ready to head back and prepare for our cruise down to Victoria.

Arriving back on the Reaper, we began the process of getting underway by re-stocking our ice supply, stowing any loose items that might go flying once I take off to get up to cruising speed, unhooking the shore power, then warming up the twins. We headed out just after 10:00 among a handful of other boats setting out for the next destination of their trip. As we convoyed in single file though the speed controlled area of the harbor, the winds began to pick-up and start pushing the water directly into our bow as we headed south.

Once out of the speed controlled area and with the water now beginning to show signs of whitecaps as they broke as waves, I throttled up the engines and got the Reaper's bow up sticking up at nearly a 45 degree angle until I reached planing speed of about 18 knots. I then applied the trim-tabs (hydraulically activated plates attached to the bottom at the very back of the boat, that are raised and lowered to allow control the "trim" or level of the boat) and got her down on plane and set the speed for 22 knots.

As we proceeded out of Ganges Harbor and into an area called "Captain Passage" (I know, it sounds like some obscure superhero...Captain Passage, protector of bowles and colons everywhere) that leads down between Salt Spring and Prevost Islands. Once I reached the southern most point of Salt Spring Island, I turned right and headed towards the Saanich Peninsula of Vancouver Island just north of Sydney.

As things were starting to really get rough with 2-3 foot swells causing us to bounce around just a bit, I pulled in behind another boat just a little larger than mine and used their wake to help offset the fast moving current. This helped to smooth out the ride quite a bit until I had to turn off of the other boat's course and head down through "Shute Passage" which leads to a chain of small islands on route to Sydney.

The waters off the Port of Sydney were still pretty rough, but as we made our way south of Sydney and into "Cordova Channel", the waters calmed down substantially due to the protection offered by "James Island" just off to our left (or for those of you who have been paying attention, port). Once through Cordova Channel and the wind still blowing very hard from the south, we headed out into "Haro Strait" where the swells had now reached 3-5 feet and were bouncing us around all over. After about 30 minutes of this, I decided to try and head inland a bit to see if things were less bumpy there. They were, but not much.

We continued down to the south-eastern most point of Vancouver Island, where we would need to turn just inside of the small island chain that lies just beyond this part of Vancouver Island. That's when things got interesting.

Apparently, this was a popular time to enter the narrow channel leading to the "home stretch" of open water en route to Victoria Harbour. So, between the knuckleheads plowing their 40-50' power yachts through some pretty small passages of water AND the 20-30 knot winds pushing up swells of 4-6 feet, we kinda had our work cut out if we were going to make it to Victoria in one piece.

At one point, I had to take evasive action to avoid the massive wake of some jerk flying up from behind and to our left and the fast approaching swell that was fast approaching to add some "umpf" to the boat wake. As I swung around to my right, narrowly avoiding the tidal wave created by both man and nature, I saw an opening in the lane and powered up for the ride through "Mayor Channel".

As we rounded "Gonzales Point" and headed into "Enterprise Channel", the water was less violent and the break in our "white-knuckled" boating was most appreciative, although short-lived. As soon as we passed "Trial Island", leaving the calmer waters of Enterprise Channel, we found ourselves in the exposed waters of the Strait of Juan De Fuca and with the winds still blowing up 4-6 foot swells, the "fun" would continue right up until we reached the entrance to Victoria Harbour and was compounded by the large power boats leaving Victoria.

Having been extremely shaken (but not stirred), we finally made it into the flacid waters of Victoria Harbour and began figuring out how to make contact with the public marina office as we were hoping to secure moorage at the floating docks located in front of the Empress Hotel.

We found the radio channel for the Greater Victoria Harbour Marina and were told that moorage was available and then given directions to our assigned dock, which is very close to the Parliament building and has a great view of the waterfront area where the street performers display their craft and local artists set-up booths to sell their art work or jewelry.

Once we were tied up, I pulled out the power cord to get juice to the boat and got the hose out to wash off the saltwater that had been sprayed all over by the winds and rough swells. Lysa went off to pay for our slip and by the time she returned, I had completed the wash down and we were both ready for a strong drink. It was almost 2:00, so we walked up to a very nice Irish Pub to order some lunch and get that much needed drink.

At this point, we plan to stay in Victoria for two-nights, but given what it took to get here, we're also considering staying until Friday, when we would just cruise over to the San Juans for customs check-in at Roche Harbor and then take off for home.

Day 10 - August 5th Ganges Marina

Waking to yet another beautiful, sunny day in the Gulf Islands; we showered and headed to a nearby bed & breakfast for the breakfast part.

Having already missed out on exploring the vast retail opportunities (okay, maybe vast is overstating just a bit) the previous day due to our late arrival and the town's early closure, we ate up and walked a couple of blocks into town, where we came upon the local shopping centre (remember that Canadian law I mentioned about spelling certain words differently?).

We moved about from touristy gift shops to toy stores to book emporiums to a hardware store (Mouats Hardware) that seemed anything but, as it also carries a number of non-hardware items such as furniture, kid's toys, boating, fishing and camping accessories, looking for that elusive perfect souvenir or cool gift for the grand kids. After a few hours of "browsing", we narrowed down our search to a few souvenir t-shirts for the grand kids and some paperback novels that somehow had gone unread by Lysa, who was now going to make-up for the oversight.

After picking up a few items at the market, we hiked back to the marina for some much needed "hydration". Once back on the boat, we enjoyed some music and the last few glorious hours of sunshine before turning in for the night. Tomorrow, we make the long cruise to Victoria, where I hope to finally learn her secret...ah yes, I can hear the moans all the way from Canada.

Day 9 - August 4th Roche Harbor to Ganges Marina

With our newly repaired muffler, we left Roche Harbor for Bedwell Harbor, South Pender Island, around 10:30 and since the conditions were pretty calm, we took it nice and easy cruising along Stuart Island at 10 knots. As we were about half way across Boundary Passage (the area of water between the US and Canada, the winds began picking up and made the rest of the trip to South Pender Island a bit bumpy.

We pulled into Bedwell Harbor around 12:30, and between the amount of boat traffic and the wind pushing hard from the north at around 20 knots, getting to the Canadian Customs dock and then tying up was quite a challenge, but with a bit of luck and skill, we made it with only a moderate amount of stress and no damage.

Checking in at customs consisted of calling from a bank of phones set-up just outside the customs office, and after providing some information on us and our boat, we were on our way within half an hour to Ganges Marina on Salt Spring Island, which lays off the coast of Vancouver Island between Sydney and Naniamo, and is the largest of the southern Gulf Islands.

After a beautiful sightseeing cruise past North and South Pender Islands, we arrived at Ganges Marina just after 4pm. Once the Reaper was tied to the dock and we paid for our slip, we took a nice walk into "town" or village would be more like it. By the time we made the short 10 minute walk to the business district, most stores and shops were closed, so we checked out a cool little candy, chocolate and gelato ice cream shop, then walked across the street to a small shopping center and as it was with some of the other businesses, most of these shops were also closed for the day. Since there was no use in doing any more sightseeing in Ganges, we walked back to the boat and got things set-up for dinner.

Once the grilled brats were consumed, we hung out on the back (aft or stern) of the boat while the sun began its decent just behind us and played Yahtzee, which my competitive side is pleased to report that I won 2 out of 3 games by quite a large margin of victory. Oh, I can roll the dice, I just can't put words together using little square letters and playing off other words that are spelled out. I guess, you just have to play to your strengths and I guess tossing dice into a card board box top is one of mine.

After the Yahtzee match, we broke out the "entertainment" centre (see, we're in Canada and apparently it's the law that you have to spell words that end in "ter" as if you had dyslexia) to watch "The Black Dahlia", which I thought was a Spike Lee Joint, but turned out to be about two LA cops who were assigned to solve the infamous murder of Elizabeth Short, a wannabe actress who got in with the wrong sort of people while trying to "make it" in movies, which made it a Brian De Palma Joint. Oh well, you can't win em all.

Tomorrow is looking to be a day of shopping and just checking out the local sights, then relaxing on the boat. Not necessarily in that order...

Day 8 - August 3rd Roche Harbor

Our last day at Roche Harbor began with Bill's arrival to install the repaired muffler. Once it was in, the moment of truth was at hand. I started the engine and she fired up with no problem, and sounded just fine. Boy, what a relief. We gratefully handed a check over to Bill and made sure to get some of his business cards to pass out to marina neighbors who venture up this way and find themselves in need of help.

With Bill and his son Cody taking off in their inflatable dinghy, we walked up to the cafe for breakfast as it was 9:00 and we had not heard from Ross. As I got in line to order, Lysa went inside to secure a table for our meal. Inside, she found Ross placing his order, with Kristina seated outside at a picnic table. We sat together for about an hour, eating and chatting as the other boaters wandered by on way to a gift shop or to catch the shuttle into Friday Harbor.

After breakfast, we bid Ross and Kristina happy paddling (in their kayak) back to Pearl Island and headed back to the Reaper, where I needed to perform some needed maintainence to our batteries by filling the cells with distilled water. Once that was done, it was time to update the blog.

After lunch, we walked up to the shore for some shopping and a little ice cream. With a few souveniers in tow, we stopped to restock our ice supply and headed back to the boat, where we just kicked back in the sun and relaxed. As we soaked up the sun on the back of the boat, people stopped by to ask about our boat and the plans for the rest of our trip. For the most part, folks either visiting Roche Harbor or those deemed to be "residents" of the marina, are very friendly and as boaters, we all have that commen bond to boats and our love of seeing the world from the water.

I grilled up some pork chops for dinner and Lysa cooked up some pasta for a light summer dinner. After our tasty meal, Lysa went up to find a shady place to do some reading and I hiked up the hill behind the town to find a good vantage point for taking some sunset photos. Getting to the top and down the road to find just the right spot was a good little workout, and well worth the effort as I was able to take some nice shots of the marina as the sun was beginning to set.

Once back in town, I took a few more "parting" shots of the general store, the hotel and the building called the "Quarry Mall", which contains some offices and a very high end furnishings store. By now, it was well after 9:00, so I headed back to the boat, where this evening's feature is a quirkly english film called "Hot Fuzz", which started off well, but petered-out half way through and it was all we could do to stay awake until the end.

We'll be getting up early in the hope of leaving Roche Harbor for customs check-in at a place called "Bedwell Harbor" on South Pender Island, then it's onto the Ganges Marina on Salt Springs Island for a nice two-day stay, then it's off to beautiful Victoria, where we hope to get a first-come-first-serve slip at the small harbor marina in front of the Empress Hotel and be in very close walking distance to all the cool places, such as the Royal Museum, which is currently displaying artifacts from the Titanic. And we thought we had boat problems!

Day 7 - August 2nd Roche Harbor

We slept in and enjoyed a late breakfast of bagels and eggs, after which, I worked on writing about the previous day's fun for the daily blog update. The rest of the afternoon was spent on projects (installing a couple of shelves into a narrow cabinet and resealing some trim on the exterior) and cleaning the grill for that night's dinner.

Just as I pulled the spare ribs off the grill, we received a couple of very special visitors, Ross Heyl and his lovely wife, Kristina (frankly, I just don't get what she sees in the guy, but I'm sure there's blackmail involved), who arrived from their place on Pearl Island by way of dinghy. After a nice visit, during which we recanted the whole muffler explosion and nearly running into the rocks story, Ross and Kristina boarded their small outboard motor boat to head back to Pearl Island. Before their departure, we made tentative plans to join them for breakfast at the marina cafe around 8:oo the following morning.

Later in the evening, we decided to walk up to the village for some ice cream. As we were heading towards some Rocky Road ice cream, we ran into Bill carrying our repaired muffler. He informed us that he was just taking it down to the boat to drop off and would be coming back in the morning to install it. We were thrilled to see the muffler back in one piece and to realize that soon we'd be back up and running again. After setting a time for Bill's return for installing the part, we purchased our ice cream from the local stand and found a nice spot to people watch while enjoying our frozen treat.

Once the ice cream was consumed, we took a walk around one of the marina docks to check out some boats. Returning back at the Reaper, Lysa took another load of laundry up while I cleaned the grill for the next boatside BBQ dinner. With the grill clean and stowed away, I proceeded with the nightly ritual of putting things away and closing the canvass at the rear of the boat. When Lysa returned with the laundry, we settled in to watch "The Astronaut Farmer", which we enjoyed very much.

With a very "quiet" day behind us, we hit the sack looking forward to our boat repair being completed and hopeful that we would hook up with Ross and Kristina at some point for breakfast. We're somewhat back on track with our plans for heading up to Salt Spring Island off Vancouver Island, then down to Victoria for a couple of days before returning to the San Juan Island on the last stop of our amazing journey.