The Adventures of SV Lil’ Ollie and Her Crew

⚓ Shifting Winds, Shoreline Sheep, and Upcoming Storms? Early this morning around 3:30 AM, the anchor shifted, which woke Greg right up. The only thing that woke me up was a single mosquito buzzing around my head, but luckily that wasn't until closer to 5:30 AM! There was a bit of a breeze this morning that had shifted the boat sideways. Everything was perfectly fine, but we decided it would be best to re-set the anchor a bit further out and at more of an angle across from where we are stern-tied. That seems to have done the trick. While Greg was bringing up the anchor from the seabed, I kept the boat pointed in the direction we’d planned. Just as Greg was dropping the hook back down, I spotted a sheep walking along the bank just up from where Lil' Ollie was pointed! I would have taken a photo of it, but I couldn't leave my post at the helm and my phone was down in the cabin charging. (That's my story and I'm sticking to it!) The lonely sheep was there - a strange p...

🗺️ A Short Leap to Jedidiah Island We had a relaxing morning, drinking our coffee and having a small breakfast while looking over the Salish Sea Pilot to see which anchorage we might want to head to. Just on the other side of Lasqueti Island lies Jedidiah Island—a gorgeous Marine Provincial Park—which has a small spot called Deep Bay. We decided to go check it out. It would only take a couple of hours to get there, depending on whether we actually sail or not. We started getting ready to go around 10:30 AM but didn't actually lift the anchor until about 11:30 AM (my tracker keeps an honest record!). It was a beautiful passage winding through various little islands. From the anchorage at False Bay just before leaving The photos never do the actual being there justice A couple of the islands on the way Once we rounded the other side, the wind was only blowing about 6.5 knots. I've been thinking lately that we really need to put up our mainsail and see how it behaves with the ree...

 🥖 Sourdough, Scales, and Shared Burgees I wasn't sure what I was going to post today until we headed over to Lasqueti Island again. This turned out to be a totally unexpected day! We started our morning with coffee and toast made from the French sourdough we bought at the Provisions store. What exactly is a French sourdough, you ask? This one has organic spelt, wheat, Red Fife, and rye flours in it. It’s a wonderfully heavy, hearty bread that makes you feel like you've had a really high-quality meal. After breakfast, I practiced some of the pieces from my Scott Joplin The Entertainer book, and then, of course, Passacaglia, just to make sure I don't forget how to play it. Eventually, we had some lunch—sardines for me, and Greg made a canned ham sandwich. Artemus got to share some of my sardines, so he was one happy cat! Yesterday, we had watched another sailboat come into the bay. While they were anchoring, we noticed they were flying both Bluewater Cruising Association (B...

Navionics map showing where we are on Lasqueti Island. 🗺️ Coffee, Granola, and Getting Organized We arose late this morning (8:45ish, which is definitely sleeping in for us!). Last night, I was up a bit later than usual trying to figure out how to add the stops we’ve made on our trip to the noforeignland app on my computer. By the time we first found out about this app, we were already well on our way, so now I’d like to add each of our stops along the way to properly document the journey. After watching an episode of The Resident, of course, I finally figured out how to add an anchorage and then headed to bed. We started our morning with our usual coffees and some granola—me with my Siggi's strawberry yogurt. After breakfast, we decided to head ashore and check out this off-grid island. I was so excited to go explore. Greg captured some photos while we were there, which was a good thing because I completely forgot my phone! In fact, I accidentally left my computer wide open on th...

⛵ Glassy Mornings, Galley Magic, and Eyeing Lasqueti Island The bay is calm, the sun is shining, and I can hear the birds chirping. People are walking on the shore, paddling in the bay, and there's a dog barking on the beach. Greg is currently down in the dinghy, swishing the French press clear of grounds and scooping out the remaining rainwater and seawater from yesterday’s adventure. Meanwhile, I've just finished yesterday’s post and am happily working on today’s. It is incredibly relaxing. I'm still finishing my coffee—yes, I'm a slow drinker when I'm multitasking, and it has gone completely cold now. It's a funny contrast to the warmth of the sun I can already feel radiating into the cockpit. Here is a little piece of what I'm looking at right now: Looking towards the northeast Looking towards the southeast Looking directly across to the shore from our stern Looking from the starboard side of our cockpit towards the south side of the bay at the paddlebo...

⛵ A Day of Two Bays: Rocky Mornings, Forgotten Propane, and a Very Damp Ride Searching for a trustworthy wind forecast. 😅 Sun's out, coffee's hot, and the lithium batteries are recharging. ☀️ NEXT MORNING UPDATE We finished our morning coffee and prepared to pull up the anchor, planning to head over to Whaling Station Bay.  However, we noticed a couple of other boats had slipped into  Little Tribune Bay  before we woke up—a powerboat and a sailboat. The sailboat caught our eye because it was sitting perfectly still and wasn't rocking at all. Deciding to follow their lead, we changed plans and headed over to join them. Once we got over here, we realized the hilarious truth: that sailboat is anchored so close to the shore that it’s actually sitting right on the bottom! No wonder it wasn’t rocking! Still, it is much calmer in this corner, so we are going to enjoy our avocado toast and see what the day brings. The move was well-timed; in the last ten minutes alone, the wind ...