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.
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