May 24th at Silva Bay.

Wow, Lots of boats showed up here at the northern gulf island Gabriola for the first long weekend of the season.

Royal Van once again pushing the sound bearier with their stereo. A 30ft Wood Ketch named "Erin" from sydney popped her anchor at midnight high tide and drifted through the anchorage with a blue power boat rafted to her. bouncing off boats and finally drifting out into the entrance channel near shipwreck rock before the people on board woke up and started the engine before she grounded. some people have all the luck eh.

Today is monday and the anchorage, marina, and yacht club outstations are clearing up. It's going to be a little windy today and it has finally stopped raining.
I will pop through the pass and go exploring sometime mid week to ensure space at anchorages.

Inspiration

I have spent a very lazy week at anchor in beautiful silva bay. The place is pretty quiet as its early season here. Aparently this weekend May 24 long weekend is the real open of the "season" I may stay here or move on depending on conditions and the number of available middle aged sugar mommies. lol.

Sunset at Silva Bay

Taking a break at Silva Bay and taking time to enjoy sunsets and some ocean kayaking. Getting into the routine of being at anchor. I need to save money on moorage as much as possible. :-) The above photos were taken yesterday.. today is cloudy :-(

across the straight

Single handing across the Straight of Georgia. The old boat did the crossing in 6 hours under single reefed main, close hauled from Gibsons. I had some tentative moments looking for the entrance to Sliva Bay but I found it. Enjoying some island life before sailing again. Its my first time at Silva bay and will probably make this my jump off point for my return to the mainland. Ok I paid for 2 days dock space for mountain biking. tomorrow I am on the hook to save money.

single handed shooting video.

One night stand photos

First photo.. Not a bad sunset from porteau. A fine ending to an afternoon sail.
Second Photo.. Still a bit chilly out. there is some snow across the sound on the local mountains. The boat sits snuggly in the little bay behind the rock.
may 4 2010.

One night stand

I Left Squamish harbor this morning at about 11:00. Giving me the tide until 16:00 in the afternoon. The wind was mostly out of the south. Sometimes backing to SW and a little SE. The wind was gusting to 20 at times but manageable most of the afternoon. Tacking back and forth across Howe Sound For about 4 hours I approached the small bay at Porteau on a starboard tack, close hauled. I then tacked away from shore and went Heave to in order to do a fore deck drop of the jib. I left the boat on a reach with the tiller lashed with a clove hitch as I started the engine. I then pointer her into the wind and doused the Main sail. I motored in carefully at low tide and tied up to the Float dock at Porteau at 15:30 in the afternoon. Its very shallow here at low tide, however if you squeeze on the seaward end of the dock you still have at least 10 feet at moderately low tides. This is the best one night stand, over night trip from Squamish. It is possible to sail farther in a day but this is a 3 to 4 hour sail which allows plenty of time for watching the sunset, cooking and of course blogging. .. somehow I can reach a wireless hub that is at the provincial park on shore. A nice treat as I cant get any tv or radio reception. I spent a few hours watching grey heron, ducks, geese and of course sea lions. I also saw several Eagles hunting and soaring on the way Down the sound.

Tomorrow morning is going to be windy and I will wait until the afternoon when it blows out a bit. I have to arrive back in squamish with a rising tide 19:00hrs or so to make sure I clear the sandbar at the entrance to our harbor.