{"id":4693,"date":"2022-08-28T02:34:33","date_gmt":"2022-08-28T02:34:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.idylltime.com\/?p=4693"},"modified":"2022-08-28T02:34:34","modified_gmt":"2022-08-28T02:34:34","slug":"desolation-sound-and-the-gulf-islands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.idylltime.com\/?p=4693","title":{"rendered":"Desolation Sound and The Gulf Islands"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Our departure from Waiatt Bay is dictated by slack tide at  \u201cHole in the Wall\u201d rapids.  This is another rapid that must be transited only at slack.  Maximum current for this rapid is up to 12 knots and slack last for only a few minutes. This will be our first time transiting this rapid.  We arrive 20 minutes early and circle several times as we wait on slack tide.  Another boat arrives and also begins circling.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As we look thru the binoculars, things appear fairly calm so we decide to enter 10 minutes before slack.  There are still a few small whirlpools swirling around but nothing that Idyll Time can\u2019t handle.  We have an easy transit and are soon turning into Calm Channel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Our destination today is Squirrel Cove in Desolation Sound.  In 1792 Captain George Vancouver gave Desolation Sound its name saying \u201c there was not a single prospect that was pleasing to the eye\u201d. At that time Vancouver\u2019s crew was struggling with bad weather and shellfish poisoning.  Today Desolation Sound is a very popular wilderness cruising destination with beautiful mountain vistas and many wonderful anchorages to explore.  As expected, we find a plethora of boats already in the Squirrel Cove anchorage.  Not to worry though as there is still plenty of room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Two days are spent here as we watch the circus of boats come and go.  We enjoy some much welcome time ashore hiking the Norway Trail on Cortez Island.  The trail makes a loop of the island with a detour to the Van Donnop Anchorage on the other side of Cortez.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Leaving Squirrel Cove, we transit the Strait of Georgia.  This 110 mile long passage is 15 to 20 miles wide and can be challenging at times. Today was one of those days.  The weather forecast for this passage was not accurate and we find ourselves in 4-6 ft seas with winds gusting to 20 knots.  Idyll Time handles these conditions much better than we do. We are  very relieved to reach Pender Harbor our anchorage for the evening.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We find much better conditions the next day as we cross the Strait of Georgia heading for Vancouver Island\u2019s eastern shore.  What a difference a day can make!  Whisky Golf, Canada\u2019s military zone, is not active today so we can head strait to Nanaimo instead of detouring around the military zone.  From our anchorage, we spot this ship offloading several big yachts.  This was us a few years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The next morning finds us transiting our last rapid of the season, Dodd Narrows, as we work our way to Montague Harbor on Galliano Island.  We are now in the Gulf Islands, Canada\u2019s equivalent to the San Juan Islands in the United States.  Today is Jeff\u2019s birthday so he wanted to celebrate by taking the \u201cMagic Bus\u201d to the Hummingbird Pub.  Covid has changed things some since we were on the bus five years ago but Tommy the bus driver hasn\u2019t changed his routine much since then.  It is always an adventure on the \u201cMagic Bus\u201d.  Below is a video clip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We stop for several days in Bedwell Cove  on Pender Island where we rendezvous with our good friends Wendy and Leigh on the Krogen Forever Exploring.   Several enjoyable days are spent here hiking the island. The hike to Mount Norman was challenging but rewarded us with some spectacular views of the neighboring islands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tomorrow we will clear into the United States and spend some time exploring the San Juan Islands.  Thanks for following along.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our departure from Waiatt Bay is dictated by slack tide at  \u201cHole in the Wall\u201d rapids.  This is another rapid ...<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.idylltime.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4693"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.idylltime.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.idylltime.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.idylltime.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.idylltime.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4693"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.idylltime.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4693\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4709,"href":"http:\/\/www.idylltime.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4693\/revisions\/4709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.idylltime.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.idylltime.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.idylltime.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}