Sidney Harbour Marina

Well, what can I say? Today we’re in Sidney to have the mechanics try to get the port engine back up and running. Nigel, from Vector Marine Services, came on board this morning to work his magic. He methodically worked though all the fuel related trouble shooting procedures: Changed fuel filters, changed fuel sources, blew out all the fuel lines. All efforts were to no avail.

Nigel in the engine room tending to the reluctant engine

Mid-afternoon Nigel went back to the shop to fetch “the computer”. These engines have a moderate degree of computer control. Not as much as the current crop of engines, but they do have the ability to have a computer attached to them to run diagnostics.

Nigel returned with the computer and “the Boss”, Frank. They hooked up the cables and the laptop and began a series of tests. At the end of the day they left with the computer and a promise to come back in the morning after they had analyzed the information they gathered.

Frank "listening" to the engine with the laptop

Having spent all day on the boat with the mechanics, we decided to get out for dinner and found a Greek restaurant, Pier One, just up the street. Not bad. We watched Chris Matthews’ tribute to Tim Russert and went to bed, fingers crossed that tomorrow will see the port engine running again.

Princess Bay to Sidney Harbour

This is a day without a schedule until we have to leave for Sidney Harbour to meet up with the engine mechanic tomorrow morning.

Princess Bay panorama

Our big event for the day was to walk around the island. Of course, we did not determine in advance just how long a journey it might be.

Karen waiting for Bob to start our hike

So off we went. The trail was very nice; well worn and recently cut back. We walked about one third of the way around the island until we came to the “Kayakers beach”. This is an idyllic location for Kayakers to overnight and set up a base camp. There were at least three tents pitched but no sign of any Kayakers

After a brief rest we continued on, but could not find the continuation of the trail. We walked up and down a few promising looking paths, but none gave us the confidence to continue on.

We found our way back to the picnic benches on “Kayakers beach” and enjoyed three cookies each.

Cookie break

After our snack, we retraced our steps and made our way back to the boat. We unstuck the anchor to make our five mile passage to Sidney Harbour.

Arctic Star at Anchor in Princess Bay

The marina staff was very nice to fill our request for an end T-dock that would be easier for us to approach given our reduced maneuverability.

The areas adjacent the Harbour itself have undergone a fair amount of building and is much nicer than we remember it, some five years hence.

We walked the docks to do some boat snooping and finished up with a beer at the new Georgia hotel near the docks.

Ganges Harbour to Princess Bay, Portland Island

The first mission of the day was to go to the famous “Saturday Market” in Ganges. In fact, this was the only “hard date” we had in our itinerary because we had never been able to time a visit to this famous event.  

  

 A very small part of the Saturday Market at Ganges

The city’s park is overtaken with vendors selling their art, crafts, food and most anything else. Karen was able to find some very unique earrings and we a great “walking breakfast” as we worked our way along the rows of tents. We started out in a group with Anne, Doug, Bart and Jan, but we all dispersed to look at various items of interest. There was an amazing array of fresh cheeses, breads, rolls and organic produce. Too bad we didn’t really need anything!

 

Ganges Harbour panorama

Bart and Jan's dog, Bear, says goodbye

Back at the docks we took on some water and shoved off for Princess Bay. I know this name may seem familiar to readers of this blog, but Princess Bay is a very popular name with this version being found on Portland Island.

En route to Princess Bay

Our typical view as we travel to the Gulf Islands

As we were about three quarters of the way to our destination, the port engine lost RPM’s and eventually shut down. I went into the engine room and finding nothing obviously wrong, I called Northwest Explorations for advice. We, along with added advice from their engine expert, ran through a series of trouble shooting procedures. However, success was not to be had. Therefore, our plan is to arrive at Sidney Sunday night and have the Caterpillar dealer look at the problem first thing Monday.

So, on we went on one engine to Princess Bay. A small but very popular spot, we tucked in along with about another ten boats. We may spend most of the day here tomorrow, exploring the water at low tide in our kayaks and enjoying some of the hiking trails on the island. It’s a nice place, though very shallow at the head, and apparently quite popular with the Sidney crowd, being a scant five miles away.

Karen sat at the bow on a deck chair for hours, snooping with her binoculars, scoring anchoring attempts, and following eagles as they swooped and soared. It was a lovely and clear afternoon, and we took advantage of it!

Karen cannot resist a good snoop

Princess Bay to Ganges Harbour via Montague Harbour

As we were getting ready to pull anchor, the Canadian goose family from last night made another appearance to see what the breakfast offering was from Arctic Star. This time we told them they had better start teaching the young ones what life should really be like when it comes to foraging for food.

The little guy in the foreground always seened to be marching to his own tune

Dad was always on the lookout!

On our way to Ganges, we took a small detour to visit Montague Harbour, a large and very popular anchorage. Because of its popularity, it's not a place we ever visit for more than a hour or so. But since it was on the way, we decided to stop and see if anything was new. Overall, it appears to have not changed at all.

The docks at Montague Harbour

It’s a short journey to Ganges. As we rounded the next to last turn, we decided to follow the ferry into Long Harbour, the harbor right next to Ganges, just to check it out. As the name suggests, it’s long and pleasantly wide. There are many beautiful homes with long piers ending in deep water docks. A couple of the yacht clubs have out stations in Long Harbour so it turned out to be a happening place.

Our diversion complete, we made our way to Ganges Harbour. Our stop here was planned so we could accomplish many things. First a visit to the Saturday Market; second, we needed to provision; and third, we hoped to meet up with Anne and Doug, friends we made a few years before at Dent Island.

Doug and Anne were scheduled to be traveling on the outside of Vancouver Island. However, the weather has been relentless with high winds and large seas. So they had to abandon those plans and make their way back to Ganges Harbour. It was great to look up after we had docked Arctic Star to see Anne and Doug’s boat docked a few slips over.

We enjoyed a delicious dinner on board their boat along with Bart and Jan who were traveling in their own boat along with Dong and Anne. Bart grilled some killer salmon and Anne was a consummate hostess as always. We had a great time, a late night and consumed far too much wine, but we had a wonderful time with our old friends and enjoyed the company of our new ones.

Telegraph Harbour to Vesuvius Bay then to Princess Bay

We awoke to a sunny start to the day in Telegraph Harbour. As we have internet access, the first order of business is to check email, the stock market and some blogs I follow. Not much going on so we prepare to cast off from this always welcoming spot. 

 

View from the head of the ramp tp the Telegraph Harbour Marina 

Our destination is Vesuvius Bay. A locale we have never visited. It’s on Salt Spring Island, across the channel from Crofton on Vancouver Island. Karen calls Crofton  “the blight” because of the rather large paper mill that spews forth lots of industrial “smoke” into the otherwise pristine views. Vesuvius has ferry service every hour, so it’s a popular destination for the non-mariner wanting to visit Salt Spring Island. 

 

The welcome sign at Vesuvius Bay 

Beyond the fact that we have never been there, we wanted to check out the Village Store, but most importantly the Seaside Restaurant for their famous Halibut and Chips. Their reputation is well deserved. We enjoyed some of the best Fish & Chips ever while overlooking a small bay. 

 

Arctic Star dock on the outside of the Vesuvius Bay dock 

Along the way we visited the shop of Mark and Jacqueline Meredith. He is a retired PR/Ad guy who now creates pottery. And she is a very talented watercolor artist. She is one of the best artists we have found that truly captures the look and feel of this area. We spent a lot of time “talking shop” with Mark and our plan is to meet up with him again on Saturday at the Ganges market so we can meet his wife. 

 

Karen talks to Mark 

The wind picked up but the sunshine remained as we crossed the short distance to Princess Bay on Wallace Island. We visited this popular spot in 2005. When we arrived, we thought ourselves lucky, as there was no one else in the Bay. By the time we launched the dinghy and traversed to the park dock, a couple of powerboats arrived and proceeded to stern tie and raft up. Their dance of the stern tie was nothing if not entertaining. We watched for 25 minutes as they fought the wind and current to make fast their boats. It was a good lesson in learning to work with the wind and current rather than fighting it. Mother Nature always wins out, so it’s best to enlist her aid whenever possible. (Karen’s Note: These guys were hysterical. Dropping anchor while at full speed, dropping anchor on one side of the bay, trying to stern tie, running out of anchor rode while backing up – quite amusing.) 

Our destination on the land was to visit one of the Conover houses where people leave plaques commemorating their visit. We had done so in 2005 and wanted to see if we could find our plaque. Alas, we could not, although that was not unexpected. There is a steady exchange of old and new driftwood plaques every year. 

 

The cabin with all the signs 

 

The inside of the "sign cabin" 

So after a few more pictures of Conover Cove, Wallace Island and the like, we headed back to Princess Bay. Even more boats had arrived. This is a very popular spot and apparently in summer it’s rammed, jammed and packed.  

Due to our early arrival, we nestled at the head of the bay away from the crowd so we’re anticipating a quiet night. 

 

Sunset in Princess Bay 

While I was taking some sunset photos, two Canadian Geese and their four goslings came up and started asking for food. Even though we knew better, we figured the imprinting was already done, so we indulged them in a small snack. 

While the little ones and Mom had their treat, Dad watched over them and chased off the sea gulls that were looking to join in the evening festivities. Needless to say, they were turned away, at every attempt, by the watchful patriarch. 

 

Those pesky Seagulls at sunset