Wednesday, June 24: Day 21: Moving from Dark Cove to Maude Cove or Maybe Thunder Bay
Anchor Rocks, an Anniversary, and a Walk to the Rapids
This morning, I awoke to the repetitive sound of the “Anchor Drag Alert.” Greg was already up for the exact same reason. We poked our heads outside to check our surroundings and saw that we were still very close to where we had dropped the anchor, so we weren’t overly worried. As it turns out, we had just drifted to the very edge of the anchor alert circle—those GPS boundaries aren't always perfect, especially when you are stern-tied and swinging differently.
After breakfast and coffee, we got to work. Greg lifted the anchor while I went to the back to release the stern-tie line (I’ll have to explain the logistics of how we do that in a separate post!). When the anchor finally broke the surface, we realized why it had been acting up: it had scooped up a good-sized rock.
I am sitting in the cockpit writing this entry while Greg solo-sails us along, which means I have to politely shift out of his way every once in a while! Because I was so tired and hadn't worked on the blog at all yesterday, I spent some time sending an email to a few friends and family inviting them to follow along with our updates. This morning, I thought of a few more folks I missed, so I need to get on that today, as well as sending invites to everyone who explicitly told us they’d love to read about our sailing adventures.
I also need to finish keeping the TOPS treasury records up-to-date in my spreadsheet—even on a sailing trip, the Treasurer's reports don't do themselves!
One Year Since "Found Artemus Day"
Today is actually a major milestone: the one-year anniversary of "Found Artemus Day."
Last year, during the BCA Spring Rendezvous over the May long weekend, he managed to walk right off the dock at night while we were moored at Telegraph Harbour Marina on Thetis Island. He hadn’t returned by the time we had to leave two days later. It took several trips back to Thetis Island by car, and finally a full one-week stint moored at the dock again, to track him down.
Thanks to Greg's sheer persistence, he finally found him in the middle of the island on Day 38! Believe it or not, that was actually Artemus's second solo "vacation" away from us in six years where he survived in the wild. The first time, it took us 68 days to find him—but that is a much wilder story for another time. In fact, the day after we finally recovered him back in 2019, CHEK News even broadcasted a segment on his incredible survival story!
[Click here to watch the CHEK News broadcast of Artemus's 2019 rescue!]
Fortunately, the forest fire smoke from last night didn't bother us at all and seems completely gone today. Greg heard that the fire is unfortunately still listed as out of control, but for now, the wind is carrying the smoke somewhere else and keeping our skies clear.
A Blast from the Past on the VHF
While we were underway today, we heard a couple of boaters doing Sécurité calls on the VHF of their transit approach through Skookumchuck Narrows. Hearing that name brought back a flood of memories.
Skookumchuck was the exact place where Greg and I really connected on a motorcycle ride 16 years ago. We had initially met at our motorcycle club meeting in Vancouver, but it was during a club ride to the rapids that we finally had a chance to truly talk to one another while walking from our bikes in the parking lot down to the water. I was actually with someone else at the time, but I remember finding Greg so interesting—he struck me as the kind of man who truly likes to stop and smell the roses. It was a little note I tucked into my brain for future reference.
And now, here we are! Who would have guessed back then that we’d be sailing the coast together? Neither of us had ever even sailed until we purchased our first 26-foot sailboat, Mistress, in 2017.
Winding Down in Maude Cove
We finally dropped anchor in Maude Cove at the end of our transit today, and it is a much more suitable place to anchor! There are houses here and other boats nearer the shore, and the bottom is treating us much better than the rocky shelf we left behind.
It is a 12.9 nautical mile run from Dark Cove. We managed to catch some wind and sail part of the way, but eventually, the wind completely died on us, so it was back to motoring to finish the journey. Firing up the engine actually got us here faster than if we had kept trying to ghost along under canvas, bringing our total trip time to about three and three-quarter hours. It was a beautiful day to be out on the water, and we are glad to be safely tucked in.
The temperature of the water here is 71°F. Another swim perhaps? For now, I'm going to complete my invite list and get the invites sent out.
Our hope tomorrow is to head over to Powell River's Westview Marina. I'm hoping it won't be too complicated to dock there—we were very lucky to have snagged the very last available spot on the dock (where you enter the marina), the last two times we visited! The plan is to completely re-provision our food and drink, catch up on some laundry, enjoy the longest shower our debit card, "Sparkle", will afford us, dump the boat's garbage, and re-fill the water tanks. We will also be able to stretch our legs and walk to the street just up from the marina, where we'll hopefully have a nice meal out for a change—and maybe hit up the great bakery they have up there!
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