Where are we now?

We spent 4 days in Port Hardy inspecting and trouble shooting the Webasto and generator.

After some testing the verdict on the Webasto is we are not sure why it’s not igniting and is just spitting diesel out into the water. According to someone in Seattle it will need further investigation.

The testing on the generator was exciting! Jim topped up the coolant and I turned it on – some water pump belt shredded and it made a god awful noise! The verdict is that the generator has a couple of big problems – and Jim is not happy with the generator anyway so it will probably be getting repaired – sold and then replaced

With this knowledge we realized we could not go to the Central Coast without a generator. We decided that we could continue motoring about The Broughton’s without the generator or Webasto. We could easily charge the batteries, heat the hot water and the heat the boat as we motor along. So we would take a couple or three weeks to travel around and then make our way back to Vancouver.

We headed out on a beautiful flat calm and sunny day.

We decided to motor up Drury Inlet. We’ve never been up there and we had heard it was a beautiful inlet. The entry is narrow and there is a bit of a tidal rapid but we easily navigated through close to slack water. There is a marina in there – Jennis Bay Marina but we heard the docks were badly damaged in a storm a couple of years ago and we decided to go anchor at Davis Bay instead.

We motored into Davis Bay. Picked our spot and started to drop the anchor. I put out about 50 feet of chain and the windlass died. Dead – dead – dead. No power! Some clicking but nothing. Ok. Well. We get the hint! After a few choice words – and a bit of labour Jim managed to pull the anchor up by hand! Thank heavens this didn’t happen when we were up Alison Sound in 100 feet of water and 25 knot winds ! For that we are grateful.

We gathered ourselves together and motored out of Drury Inlet and off the the docks at Sullivan Bay Marina. Plans will be made to travel back to Steveston going from dock to dock.

We’ve never been to Sullivan Bay Marina because it’s always so full and busy and we usually anchor up in the Broughton’s. There were only 4 boats there and the dock caretakers were lovely! It is a very pretty spot! We are glad we got to finally stay there. There are a number of float homes there – maybe 20-30. All but two are owned by Americans. And mostly of the boaters that go to Sullivan Bay are Americans. So it was pretty quiet there.

The next day we motored back to Minstrel Island and spend the night at the dock with a couple of Prawn boats. The following day was a very long day as we travel about 50 nautical miles to Shoal Bay. We went through Chatham Channel – out into Johnstone Strait – then Sunderland Channel. Fortunately the weather was pretty good for the most part. Johnstone Strait can be pretty miserable sometimes. Lilly has been known to barf along this route!

There are quite a few fish farms in the Broughton’s. We saw this boat in Port Hardy and again in Cordero Channel. It is a very expensive boat that is designed to clean the sea lice off of fish farm salmon. If nothing else this should give you pause about eating salmon from a fish farm!

We had a couple of very small sailboats join us at the dock in Shoal Bay.

The next morning we travelled south through the Dent Rapids – We managed to time it so we were in the Dent Rapids at exactly slack water!

The next stop was the marina at Gorge Harbour. We’ve never been there before. Usually the marina is so booked up you have to reserve dock space months in advance. We’ve never even been in Gorge Harbour on Cortes Island. We usually anchor up in Squirrel Cove. The restaurant at the marina was open and we had a nice dinner out on the deck. We were the only people on the deck. A few people had come by to pick up some take out orders. I had a very tasty Chicken Burger served up in a paper container with disposable cutlery.

Next stop was Pender Harbour. We stayed at the Pender Harbour Harbour Authority Marina. We have stayed here before a number of years ago. The docks were closed to transient moorage when we were travelling north but they have now opened. We went for a little walk about Madeira Park.

The next morning we were expecting a fairly benign trip south in the Strait. The weather conditions indicated it would be winds 10-15 knots and sea about .7 metres. It is about 8 hours from Pender Harbour to Steveston. One of a fellow Krogen owner used to call the Strait of Georgia — That Bitch. Well it was definitely a bitchy day! Lilly barfed – twice! Fortunately not on anything important.

After a very long day we got back to Steveston and found there was a big prawn boat tied up in our spot! That required some phone calls, a trip to the Richmond public dock, some more phone calls and finally we could tie up to our home dock.

Where are we now — home! The repairs have begun – first up the windlass. Parts are on the way from Portland Oregon.