One Month!

Written by: Kerry

We’ve been out here a month and boy has it flown by!  Thought it might be fun to share some numbers and facts about the first month of our adventure.  J

We have visited the following places:

US

Hunter Bay, Lopez Island (anchored 3 nights)
Blind Bay, Shaw Island (anchored 1 night)
Deer Harbor, Orcas Island (docked 2 nights)
Jones Island (north bay) (anchored 2 nights)
Echo Bay, Sucia Island (anchored 3 nights)

Canada

Port Browning, North Pender Island (docked 1 night)
Ganges Harbour, Saltspring Island (anchored 4 nights)
North Cove, Thetis Island (anchored 1 night)
Herring Bay, Ruxton Island (anchored 1 night)
Nanaimo, Vancouver Island (docked 4 nights)
Garden Bay, Pender Harbour (anchored 4 nights)
Sturt Bay, Texada Island (anchored 1 night)
Cortes Bay, Cortes Island (anchored 1 night)
Grace Harbour, Desolation Sound (anchored 3 nights)
Melanie Cove, Desolation Sound (anchored 1 night)
Squirrel Cove, Cortes Island (docked 4 nights) – this place is awesome, you should come here.

Nautical Miles Traveled: 237.36

We’ve sailed only once, motorsailed once and motored the remaining times due to low winds, or wind right on the nose.

We have made water 4 times, approximately once per week. 

We have done laundry 5 times.

We have topped up our diesel tank twice, although we’ve never been under half a tank empty.

We (meaning mostly Donn) have raised over 1200 feet of anchor chain (at 1.6 lbs per foot) with our rebuilt Seatiger manual windlass.

We’ve been on 11 walks/hikes – either on trails or exploring towns.

We’ve been through one “rapids” where we had to time our passage (Dodd Narrows).  We have many more of those coming up soon.

We’ve seen one movie (Guardians of the Galaxy 2 in Namaimo).

Donn make $12 Canadian busking on the Nanaimo waterfront with his guitar.

We’ve enjoyed numerous coffee shops, a few takeout places and two sit down restaurants.

Meals with new friends:

Dinner at Dan and Paula’s home in Ganges (Thanks to Evan who introduced us online!)
Happy Hour aboard “Sleighride”, a sailboat we crossed paths with twice so far, with Judy and Scott
Breakfast aboard a resident boat in Nanaimo with Trinda and Kevin

We’ve cooked dinner on our rail mounted BBQ 8 times, with everything from corn on the cob to sausages to steaks.

We’ve used our Honda outboard, our electric paddle, and our oars to get around in our dinghy.

We caught, cooked and ate two red rock crabs.

We’ve each been sick with a cold once.

We have installed an Iridium Go antenna cable, created a windlass chain retainer, modified our stay-sail sheets for a 2 to 1 purchase, repaired a loose rudder quadrant (twice), replaced o-rings in leaky water pump, built and modified our safety tethers using our Sailrite sewing machine, perfected the design and use of our anchor buoy, re-positioned our Danforth stern anchor, and re-engineered our dinghy davit slings.

Donn caught one small flounder, which he threw back in.

We’ve seen countless eagles, herons, oyster catchers, kingfishers, gulls, terns, vultures, ospreys, doves, murrelets, swifts, moon jellies, sea cucumbers, otters, salmon, herring, harbor seals, sea lions, kelp crab, red rock crab, and one cavorting weasel.