Update --- the end of the boat trip!

I haven't posted for quite a while! Richard and I had a great tour of the Brother XII house in Nanaimo that was for sale. It was intriguing but an awful lot of work to restore it to it's former glory. We spent an unexpected overnight and day at the Nanaimo fisherman's dock as our raw water intake pump broke -- just as we left the dock. No damage to anything but a delay of 6 hours while we tracked down a mechanic to refit a part to a spare that we had on-board.

On our way, we went to Butchart Gardens, grabbing an anchor buoy and touring the Gardens in the hot summer sun. It was in full bloom and a real treat to see again.

We went off to Fulford Harbour the next day and that is where the beginning of the end of our trip occurred. As we were walking into town to have lunch, I sprained my ankle quite badly, tearing ligaments and pulling tendons. Lot's of drama but the synopsis is that we headed home early the next day as my ankle continued to balloon and turn a range of red, blue, green, orange and yellow. It will soon be two weeks since it happened and I am just now off crutches for short distances. It does get better every day but has been a real frustration.

Our little grandson Matthew, had his open heart surgery postponed to Sept. 8th. Rich and I will be up in Canada for that week looking after the family. After Matthew gets out of the hospital in about a week, we will come home and bring brother Simon with us for a week so that Matthew can have a quite recovery time at home.

Hope you all enjoyed the boating blog!

Away Heriot Bay Quadra Island

Coming back to civilization is a bit of a shock. We docked at the Heriot Bay Hotel Marina, got our laundry done and had a scrumptous halibut and chip dinner. Next day we replenished the larder, visited the second hand store and Rich and Jack went off to the Indian Cultural Center. Donna made a terrific prime rib dinner and we said our goodbyes for the summer as they will now go off to Desolation to join up with other RCYC members and we will travel south.

We leave at 6:00 a.m. -- with a beautiful sunrise coming down from the heavens.

With a course dead straight south, we cruise 5 hours down to Hornby Island where beautiful Tribune Bay offers a wonderful sunny afternoon of relaxation. The white sandy beach is littered with kids, dogs, parents and all type of watercraft for having fun. It's great to hear kids voices again -- makes us miss our grandkids even more.



Reading and relaxing up on the Command Bridge

Skipper takes a rest too.....


And we end our day with a gorgeous sunset on the bay -- and almost a full moon. We will head off to Nanaimo tomorrow and then through the southern gulf islands once more.

Octopus Wandering - Again!

Richard, me, Pat Bernie inside the art shack at Octopus Island -- you gotta love Dad's yellow boots....

Gunkholing in the Octopus Islands -- Our boats are rafted ahead.

We found the memorial plaque to Joy and Al Rothstein -- they were RCYC members and friends of ours who died within six months of one another in their early 60's.


From the beach where the plaque is mounted in stone you can see our boats basking in the sun.

The Cabin at Octopus Island Marine Park

It's hard to pick only a few of the pieces to show everyone...

Here is a little Mermaid

Wilson and friend....

The Octopus greets us at the front door...

We hang our momento -- next time we'll spend a little more time creating ......

Adventures in Octopus Island Park

We spent a great (and hot!) afternoon and morning exploring in the tender. On our way across to the "Art Shack" we discovered some barely submerged rocks -- one of the many that are in the park but these have a 'blue' paint that is strongly similar to the bottom of Mya II..... Hummmmmm

Jack's rock.....


We disembark for a quick hike up to the "Art Cabin" in Octopus Island Marine Park

Here we are -- or at least Bernie and Richard -- a closer look inside follows. This is a private island in the park but the owners have made this older cabin available to hikers and boaters alike. Everyone creates an original piece of art with their name on it and hangs it in the cabin. We have found a piece of drift wood and leave Acappella's name there too....

On the Way Back Down

Our last stop in the Broughton's before we head back down south is the Lodge on Cordero Channel. It is owned by a German couple who also have a restaurant on the dock and serve up a fantastic German meal. The Schnitzel is out of this world.
The dock at Cordero Lodge


We are up and off by 10 am to make sure we have a smooth trip through the two Oskiollo Rapids and arrive at Octopus Island Marine Park -- a terrific spot, albeit crowded.

A few from the dinghy in the Octopus Island Group


The Bos'un Chair -- Will, do you remember doing this same thing?


Here we are all tucked in our corner of the Octopus Group.

Potts Lagoon & Lagoon Cove Encore

From Kwatsi, we make our way to Potts Lagoon and we have a quiet, restful evening. We pick up our trap in the morning to find, yet again, a zoo has found us -- here's about the biggest sun fish we've ever seen trying to smother our catch of prawns.
It needs a lot of encouragement to leave the trap.



Next day it is over to Lagoon Cove. We're in luck! It is potluck and Bill & Jean have cooked up prawns and crab and made fresh home-made bread. The boaters add the sides and we all meet in the shed to devour the delicious banquet.

Jack Scannell and I take a break from filling our faces on crab and prawn....


and home I come to Acappella with left-over crab for tomorrow's lunch!!

Kwatsi -- Adieu!

Anika and Max's home at Kwatski. Their children are now at the age where they will have to move in to Port McNeill to go to high-school versus continuing with correspondence courses. Anika will move in to an apartment with them in Port McNeill and they will commute home on the weekends.

Leaving Kwatsi in the morning we pick up our prawn trap and find a vertible "zoo". The octupus, once released, inked as it hit the water. We had a crab and two sun fish as well as about 12 prawns -- not much after the feed that the octupus and sun fish had in our trap!!

Sun Fish in our Trap at Kwatsi Bay


Somewhat ragged around the edges -- here we are at the Kwatsi Bay pot luck dinner.

Kwatsi Bay - Tribune Channel

The trip to Kwatsi is filled with more remarkable scenery.


Last year's slide and huge waterfall adjacent to the Kwatsi Bay Marina

Cuddled up in the mountains and Kwatsi Bay Martina run by a lovely family -- Anika and Max and their two children.

Docked at Kwatsi


It's pot luck night and about 30 other boaters join in for the evening meal. As you can see, Acappella is front and center of the entertainment!! It was a great smorgsabord.

Leaving Moore Bay and off to Kwatsi

Mya II (38' CHB), Golden Days (48' C&L) and Acappella (40' Ocean Alexander) snuggly rafted and stern tied in Moore Bay.

The fog eerily claims the landscape in the early morning. This is the port side of our anchorage in Moore Bay before we embark on our travel down to Kwatsi Bay.

Mya II seems to float in the air!

But before long the fog is gone and the sun is shining -- this rock wall is in Tribune Channel on our way to Kwatsi Bay

Moore Bay -- the Picnic!

Moore Bay is a wonderfully large bay with a number of little crooks in it to safely anchor. Prawning is said to be good here so the first order of the day was to set the prawn traps down.

The sun is hot and there isn't a cloud in the sky -- a perfect day for a picnic. B.C. Forest Services has a little dock and a park for boaters and kayakers on the other side of the bay and we make our way over to check it out, picnic in hand.

Bernie and Richard checking out the old growth forest trees. This one is an "Eternal" Tree where enough wood was carved out to use for whatever purpose (canoe, shelter, etc.) and the tree was left to continue growing...

It's hard to explain how this forest reaches the sky!

We find a table of rocks and enjoy our picnic lunch.

A view from our picnic spot -- Moore Bay

Happy Wanderings....

As we make our way further up Retreat Passage, to Cramer Pass we deke into Echo Bay to "hover" and pick up some email. We can't help but smile at Carol and Gerry's bright purple float home and beside it their bright yellow boat.


We stop for a lunch anchor in the Burdwood Group -- a delightful group of islet's, many with real white sand beaches.

Guess who ran out of Oatmeal/Raisin cookies -- so here I am baking up a batch to keep the Skipper happy. Now we're off to rejoin our friends as we head toward Moore Bay which is just right of the entry to Kingcome Inlet.

At the entry to Kingcome Inlet