Monday, July 6: Day 33: Leaving Lund today for Savary Island
🕒 Update: Heading to Savary Island
Okay, we left the dock just before noon (thank goodness for grace periods!). We decided to head over to Savary Island on the south side because the wind is supposed to be coming from the northwest. It’s strange, though—we are on the south side now and our instruments are saying the wind is coming directly from the south, right in front of us. I'll have a look at the wind after we get anchored. Virtually there is no wind to speak of (1.6 knots)
To anchor on the south side, we have to go quite a way past the island. There is a massive reef of rocks extending about 3 nautical miles south from the east point of the island that we have to navigate around. So, we have to go 3 miles south, round the tip of the reef, and then motor another 3 miles back up to the island. The buoy marking the end of the reef is so far away we can’t even see it yet! The scary part of this is you can't see the reef at all and if you didn't know it was there or have charts, you could be in trouble. It just looks like open water.
The buoy (when we were finally able to see it) marking the end of the reef that you can't see - look at the calm open waterway - but we know there is a potential hazard there for many boats. I'd imagine that years ago, before charts, there were probably shipwrecks here.
But we did see a whale in the distance! I think Greg got a picture of it with his camera. Unfortunately, we don't have a way to transfer photos from his camera to my computer right now. I’m having him check on that—he can definitely do it at home, but he's not sure if he brought the right adapter with us. We actually heard a Coast Guard warning on the radio while we were checking out the north side, alerting boaters about whales on the south side and warning people not to get too close. The water is nice and calm out here. We're seeing whales fairly often, mostly at a distance. You can see their water spouts, and if you’re lucky, their tails as they dive back down.
A Lesson from Ragtime
As we were navigating, we saw something at a distance, near where we are going, floating in the water with black spots on it. Looking through the binoculars, we honestly thought it might be a shipwreck with debris scattered around. But it wasn't. At first, it looked like a floating log covered in seals. Then, as we got closer, the reality hit us: that was the actual reef rock we were about to go around, and those "spots" were seals just sitting on it.
It is a massive, intimidating area. Our charts show the depth there is between 6.6 to 16.6 feet, so we could technically try to cut through. But after seeing what just happened to Ragtime, we decided to take the safe route and go all the way around.
⚓ Safely Anchored
We're safely at anchor now in 22 feet of water, though we are quite far from the beach. We have 80 feet of anchor rode out.
The breeze is indeed coming from the southeast. We're about to have a bite to eat: Ryvita crackers with leftover spaghetti sauce (you know, the one with the sausage in it?). It actually makes a great spread!
Our batteries are slowly coming back up. We had full cellular service back in Lund, and now I have three out of four bars here. I'm able to hotspot my computer to my phone, and since I have a ton of data that I never use, it’s completely safe to do without going over my data allowance. The boat batteries are currently at 80%. I thought they'd be back to 100% by now, but we did watch The Resident last night, so we did use the batteries then.
I'm a bit concerned about this water as a restful anchorage. The fishing boat that was on the water too has left, and Lil' Ollie is rocking back and forth whenever there is a stir in the water or if a boat goes by. Greg is napping, so I'll check with him when he wakes up and see if he wants to move somewhere. Move somewhere—but where? It might not actually be that bad, though... maybe it's just extra noticeable while I'm trying to type!
Tomorrow, the batteries will get a great charge from the engine because we are planning to head across the strait to Comox. That will take about 5 hours at 5 knots. We're really hoping to get some sailing in if there is any wind! We are also hoping to secure a spot at the Fisherman's Wharf in Comox. They have full facilities there and it's a bit cheaper than the standard marina, so fingers crossed we can get in. They don't take reservations, but they said on their website to call them first thing in the morning to let them know we would like a spot on the dock. They also said that larger boats should call. Is our boat a larger boat? I don't know—we'll call anyway and then we'll know for sure.
Getting into Comox, there is a bar so you have to be careful. There are two points that you have to line up in your sights when you're going in there to avoid hitting the shallow area. We've done it before, so we can do it again.
🍷 A Perfect Evening at Anchor
We had a healthy meal—Greg’s homemade meatloaf with baby potatoes and a multicolored garden salad, paired with a glass of red wine: a Catenary Malbec 2024 from Argentina. After dinner, we shared a large purple plum.
Greg mentioned our view, so I felt the need to take a picture—a pano shot from the bow of the boat. The photo might not be perfectly accurate, but it does give you the feeling of the expanse we are viewing here from the bow.
I don't remember taking any pictures of the sunset since we left on our trip, and tonight we have a perfect view, so I asked Greg to go out and take a few pictures while I was doing the dishes.
After sunset, we watched another episode or two of The Resident. We are on Season 4, and I think we have one more episode before Season 5. There are six seasons in total!
We headed to bed a bit later than usual (11:30 PM), and when I crawled into the V-berth, I just had to open the hatch wide so I could see all the stars and the lights at a distance. I would have taken a photo, but I don't think it would have done it justice, so you'll just have to imagine the scene.
Goodnight!
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