Monday, June 16, 2025
Forgot to mention yesterday that we discovered
our diesel heater decided to crap out on us without warning. We just used it in
April when we went out for the weekend and had no issues. The diesel heaters
are nice because you don’t have to fire up a generator to use them. Luckily we
have redundancy in that we have electric heaters we can fire up, but as I said,
it requires the generator to be running. At least it is summer (although the
weather hasn’t heard this news yet, it is actually quite chilly) and we aren’t
headed to Alaska this year, so we can manage without the diesel heaters at
night and early mornings. Pulled up the anchor this morning at 6AM and headed out to clear customs in Port
Browning which was a breeze as always. The customs agent told us if nobody is
on the dock when we arrive, wait five minutes and if nobody shows up we can
leave. That is what happens every year, it is so easy! Within the hour we ducked
out of Active Pass into the Georgia Straits (on a slack tide) and headed for
the other side. Active Pass is VERY active as it is the main thoroughfare for
the BC Ferries so it can be quite exciting at times! This time we just had one
ferry coming at us so we loitered on the west side and waited until it
transited. We had a really nice crossing, a little bit of chop but very
pleasant. Arrived at Smuggler’s Cove on the mainland side, and attempted to
anchor inside, but it is a very small harbor. A sailboat entered ahead of us
and took their sweet time anchoring and shore tying and by the time they did
all that we figured out that there really wasn’t a good place for us to anchor
and shore tie or we’d have the wind at our beam, which just stresses the anchor
and makes for an uncomfortable stay. We moved along to Pender Harbour, which
was just 45 minutes north of us. Pender is a gorgeous bay with beautiful homes
dotting the coastline all throughout, it’s the summertime playground for Vancouverites.
We went to the back of the bay and settled into a nice anchorage among other
boats, the sun beaming warm into our windows, the water lapping at the side of
the boat. Great people/boat watching here, and the seaplanes land right in
front of us as well, I love it here. A
beautiful 80’ Offshore flying a rainbow flag was anchored just off our bow and
a rousing cocktail party was underway. The guests all appeared to be dressed in
orange, so our binoculars came out (I know, voyeurs) and we saw that the guests
were dressed in drag! WooHoo party on, having a good time! Another boat we
watched attempted to anchor 3 different times and each time powered back on the
anchor only to drag it right up so it wouldn’t set. Felt badly for them but
given we had Covid we couldn’t really offer any help. Eventually they settled.
Had a beautiful dinner of steaks on the grill, roasted baby reds, and salad. We
both slept really well, water slapping alongside the boat lulling us to sleep.
We are still somewhat fatigued from our Covid battle.
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