Last Thursday, I motored the grand distance of 11 nautical miles from Fulford Harbour to Bedwell in a couple of windless, sunny and calm hours. I crossed the ferry routes between Schwartz Bay and everything else around here, without getting into the way of any of them. One of the newest and largest of the fleet, the Coastal Renaissance, crossed my bow a couple of hundred yards ahead, and the expected monster wake did not materialize...kudos to modern propulsion technology.
I passed Poet's Cove, the luxury resort, spa and marina and a couple of hundred yards further, picked up a Marine Park Mooring Buoy in Bedwell Harbour on lovely, bucolic South Pender Island.
There are 15 buoys, all of them were occupied by evening - the luxury marina was empty. Economic woes - or pre-season syndrome? Well, $10per night per buoy is more attractive than 1.50 for each foot of boat for the budget minded.
This harbour is a Canadian Border crossing point. The officials, in their grey military looking Zodiac, leave their litle dockside office ever so often, and meander amongst the buoys, to check that no boat here snuck past our own Homeland Security.
I am going to stay here until Monday morning.
Put my little egg-beater 2 horsepower engine onto the dinghy stern, and whizz to the resort (laundry, fuel, wifi, shower, hot-tub, pool, open air restaurant) and to the park (hiking).
My first encounters here were with the local fauna: an otter crunching oysters, a stellar sea lion poking his leonine head out of the sea, a mink scampering amongst the rocks ashore, a deer and her newborn fawn, (sporting spots and innocent baby look) on the grassy spot halfway down the steep cliff behind the anchorage.
Ashore at the truly impressive resort - encounters of the wedding preparation kind. Rehearsal time for a sea-side ceremony. All flurry, food, wine, dressed to the min, texting, phoning, spitting into the flower beds, teasing, being 'cool'...tomorrow: show time and wedding etiquette and wedding clothes.
One can see the San Juan Islands across the water from the anchorage. Just half way across the aptly named Boundary Pass there is a red line on the water, demarcating the beginning of the USA...
Last night - hardly any wind - the boat was hobby-horsing without let up. Swells entering the Bay caused by a Gale somewhere south of here, Haro Strait or Juan de Fuca Strait maybe. I have double lines around the mooring ring, however the constant bouncing, backed by constant groaning and squeaking gives me visions of lines chaving through and Millie being set free to drift onto shore. So one gets up every hour or so checking things.
Weather still sunny and cloudless, but a little chillier today, and a bit of wind ruffling the waters of the anchorage.
I passed Poet's Cove, the luxury resort, spa and marina and a couple of hundred yards further, picked up a Marine Park Mooring Buoy in Bedwell Harbour on lovely, bucolic South Pender Island.
There are 15 buoys, all of them were occupied by evening - the luxury marina was empty. Economic woes - or pre-season syndrome? Well, $10per night per buoy is more attractive than 1.50 for each foot of boat for the budget minded.
This harbour is a Canadian Border crossing point. The officials, in their grey military looking Zodiac, leave their litle dockside office ever so often, and meander amongst the buoys, to check that no boat here snuck past our own Homeland Security.
I am going to stay here until Monday morning.
Put my little egg-beater 2 horsepower engine onto the dinghy stern, and whizz to the resort (laundry, fuel, wifi, shower, hot-tub, pool, open air restaurant) and to the park (hiking).
My first encounters here were with the local fauna: an otter crunching oysters, a stellar sea lion poking his leonine head out of the sea, a mink scampering amongst the rocks ashore, a deer and her newborn fawn, (sporting spots and innocent baby look) on the grassy spot halfway down the steep cliff behind the anchorage.
Ashore at the truly impressive resort - encounters of the wedding preparation kind. Rehearsal time for a sea-side ceremony. All flurry, food, wine, dressed to the min, texting, phoning, spitting into the flower beds, teasing, being 'cool'...tomorrow: show time and wedding etiquette and wedding clothes.
One can see the San Juan Islands across the water from the anchorage. Just half way across the aptly named Boundary Pass there is a red line on the water, demarcating the beginning of the USA...
Last night - hardly any wind - the boat was hobby-horsing without let up. Swells entering the Bay caused by a Gale somewhere south of here, Haro Strait or Juan de Fuca Strait maybe. I have double lines around the mooring ring, however the constant bouncing, backed by constant groaning and squeaking gives me visions of lines chaving through and Millie being set free to drift onto shore. So one gets up every hour or so checking things.
Weather still sunny and cloudless, but a little chillier today, and a bit of wind ruffling the waters of the anchorage.
