Winds have been an issue for us since we left home. As you may recall, the forecast was a bit dire the day we departed, but conditions turned out to be not so bad.
The same was true today as we left Sidney on Vancouver Island bound for Silva Bay on Gabriola Island. Sometimes even the best marine weather forecasts are unnecessarily worrying. The important thing is not to be lured into danger thinking all will be well.
I once wrote a post explaining that even life-threatening rapids can be traversed safely using simple arithmetic. When will the rapids be at slack and how long will it take me to get there? Today we applied that simple method to crossing Porlier Pass at the northern end of Galiano Island.
Here we are going through 30 minutes before slack. A little bouncy but really nothing. The main thing to watch for are whirlpools that can form as the tide changes. They can whip you around and, in the worst case, capsize a boat.
Our reward for venturing out into the wind, was a sunny afternoon at Page’s Marina in Silva Bay on Gabriola Island.
Tomorrow, weather-permitting, we’ll make the 30+ mile open water crossing to Pender Harbour on the BC mainland.
Michelle Power
June 12, 2024 — 12:13 am
Wasn’t that the same marina we stayed at last summer?? I remember that great little store and the walk we took that day – so fun!!
Steve P
June 12, 2024 — 6:42 am
Yep, same place. We’re the only transient boat this time since its early in the season.
Alison Shaw
June 12, 2024 — 9:03 am
The top of your starfish picture looks like a Monet. Fair seas!
Steve P
June 12, 2024 — 9:07 am
Did you notice (s)he is making a ❤️ with two arms?
Michael Barnes
June 14, 2024 — 1:25 pm
Beautiful starfish picture–and so much purple! I never expected that.
The pigment was/is probably used in native art.
I noticed the “heart” shaped arms, and tried it myself at home.
Unfortunately, my skin is “the opposite of tanned”, and some wayward elephant, passing idly up 109th Street, will probably think they are his missing tusks if I hold them in that position for long.
Speaking of elephants, any work on the ‘make-over’ of your Elephant Seal?
I BONDED with that lil’ ol’ skin peeler! There was a look in his eyes . . .
Steve P
June 14, 2024 — 1:39 pm
It seems that he’s an annual returnee, known from Bainbridge to Poulsbo. I think he is either currently or recently finished molting at the mouth of Port Madison. A neighbor tells me that’s his preferred spot. The seal’s not the neighbor’s.