Southern Adventures Tour September 2009

So where does one start when trying to recount a 2 week vacation in Paradise with some of the best boating buds anyone could ask for. How about...Day 1? The morning of Aug 8th found Bull Durham, Boy N Sea and Big Bubbles-No-Troubles South bound to Semiahmoo marina. Bob on Memory Maker would be a few hours behind since he had to pick up his crew, Lee & Valerie at the convention Centre in downtown Vancouver. The skies were overcast but except for the plethora of crab traps around Sand Heads, the sea conditions were decent. As Bull Durham and Big Bubbles made their way into Point Roberts to clear Customs, Boy and Sea took advantage of its Nexus certified crew and sailed on to Semiahmoo Marina with just a phone call to the US border protection Agency, a very civilized way to clear customs I must say. Joining us on the docks for Happy Hour were some other PMSrs who were on a Land Yacht adventure, this being the crew of “Possibilities”, Steve and Ronnie with friends Keith and Deanna. The evening found the crews of the 4 boats, which made this first leg, in the oyster bar of the local resort for dinner, a very nice way to end our first day. With restrictions on what you can take across the border, day 2 found some crew going for supplies while other boats took advantage of the discounts at the fuel barge. Our small flotilla got underway about 1300 hours for our passage to Fossil Bay on Sucia Island. Here we met up with Marnagale, and her new owners, Phil and Janice, who recently joined Port Moody Squadron after passing their boating course this past Spring. As a matter of fact, they did their on water practical aboard Boy N Sea, so we were very happy to meet up with them again and to have them join us on this cruise. We were also joined in Sucia by friends of Bull Durham and New Westminster Squadron members Al & Peggy on their boat, @Ease. They are great folks, just don't call them the Bundy's. Since the weather wasn't the greatest we decide to stay put in Sucia for an extra day instead of travelling in the rain. It was also about this time that the Admiral of Boy N Sea (Arlene) discovered our camera was missing its memory card and the pictures she had taken over the first 2 days were now just that...memories. I would love to go back to Sucia, but next time with some Sunny weather and a memory card in the camera. Day 4 found us leaving the Bundy's behind in Sucia, with Big Bubbles and Bull Durham heading West to Roche Harbour, while Boy N Sea, Memory Maker and Marnagale headed South to explore Orcas Island before going to Roche. Unfortunately, some serious fog rolled in and we had to turn around. Fortunately the Sun had come out to the North of Orcas which made for a very pleasant day of cruising on beautiful calm waters through some breath taking scenery. When we arrived in Roche Harbour, Steve and Yvonne on Lucky Day were already there, arriving the evening before. So now our little flotilla was up to 6. Merlin was to join us here also, but unfortunately heavy seas North of Nanaimo had them trapped. It was to be a few days before they were finally able to joins us. We spent 3 days in Roche, and though I prefer anchoring, I probably could have spent a week at this marina. What an impressive job the owners have done in making you feel special when you are there. From the people there to handle your lines when docking, to those picking up your garbage to the pump out service that comes to you. Overall just a wonderful establishment, I've heard anchoring here is very nice as well. Ahhh, so many things to see and do and only 3 days to do it in... Since Dave “Bubbles” Burrell had his moped aboard most of the male crew members of the flotilla decided to rent their own for a day. Well we felt like we were kings of the road...Hmmm, can you say “Wild Hogs”. We were having a wonderful time, that was until we met up with the female crew members shopping in Friday Harbour and they dubbed us ....The “Mild Piglets”. Well no matter, we were masters of our vessels, and now masters of our mopeds and we spent the day exploring San Juan Island. There's some very interesting History here between the Yanks and the Brits. If you get the opportunity, read up about the Pig fiasco that almost sent Canada and the States to war. After 3 relaxing days in Roche, we close out the first week of our cruise by travelling into Victoria's Inner Harbour and tying up with the Empress Hotel and the Legislative Buildings as our back drop...OOOps, almost forgot, we also celebrated Grace Burrell's B-Day on the docks at Roche...out of decency I won't disclose which B-Day it was. Our first night in Victoria with Boy N Sea hosting a “Hawaiian Night” complete with a grass skirt on the skipper and his Admiral. It was a very “liquid” affair for which yours truly paid the price next morning. Many crews did their own thing on our 2nd day here but gathered on the lawns in front of the Legislative buildings later in the evening to play Boce...now that was different. We had a little mini tournament with Bull Durham winning 1st place, but the prize had to be shared with Boatini as that skipper had to fill in for the Admiral of Bull Durham due to her disappearance??? 2nd Place went to Lucky Day. Our departure from Victoria saw the flotilla split up for a day. Some headed for the scheduled stop at the Sidney Marina while others decide to spend a night on the hook in Todd Inlet. That's the nice thing about our cruises, nothing is written in stone and you are always free to venture outside of the itinerary. The flotilla gathered again at Genoa Bay marina where we were finally joined by Merlin who had managed to get free of the ugly weather up North. Nice little marina in Genoa and we spent 2 very relaxing days doing as little as possible. This relaxing was intermingled with some pretty good crabbing a “little” libation and the Christening ceremony of “The Last Bull Durham”....Hmm I'm not so sure about that “Last” part Janet, Les was talking about a 57 footer when I last saw him at the marina. The next leg of our journey saw Merlin head to Roche and the rest of us to an anchorage in Pirate's Cove on D'Courcy Island. It was a little tricky to get into, but what a beautiful spot. It was pretty crowded in there and we had 6 boats to raft. As we started to build the raft we were getting pretty close to another boat already anchored and stern tied... but as luck would have it, it was another Port Moody Squadron member, “Buckin' Boat” with Rod & Sherri aboard. So we were able to incorporate them into our raft-up...and now we are 7! By the time we got to Pirate's Cove the weather had started to improve and we were able to actually get into the water. This meant it was time to get out the “Island”, a very large blow-up toy that apparently holds 5 adults...but we know better...with the sun shining Les hooked up his dinghy to the “Island” and with many crew members aboard gave us a tour of D'Courcy island...what a magical day. Unfortunately it had to end as we had to catch the late slack through Dodds Narrows for our cruise to Nanaimo. Two boats had left on the morning slack and we had reservations for dinner for our group at a popular restaurant...and the Admirals weren't going to let us off. So we begrudgingly packed up our toys, motored on through Dodds and on into Nanaimo Harbour. An interesting place Nanaimo, lots to do and see. Many of us went to a local chandlery to get some of those hard to find items for our boats, while others went to the local liquor store to find those hard to find ???? Though False Creek was the official last stop on our itinerary for this cruise, Nanaimo would mark the end of our flotilla travels. From here boats went in all different directions. Marnagale headed South back into the Gulf Islands for a few days on their way back to home port at Crescent Beach. Bull Durham and Boatini headed North to Jedidiah for another week of cruising, lucky buggers, and the rest of us crossed the Straight to head home. ...but wait, there was one more day left, so Boy N Sea, Lucky Day, Big Bubbles and Buckin' Boat decided to meet up in our own back yard and spend our last evening in Bedwell Bay, where we were joined by Steve and Ronnie on Possibilities. So during a fabulous dinner hosted by Yvonne and Steve aboard Lucky Day, along with fresh crab courtesy of Rod of Buckin Boat, we all cozied up and toasted (and toasted) to our wonderful trip, good friends and one more day in Paradise. - Tony 'Cod Father' Gojevic.

Photos Courtesy of: Grace Burrell, Jim Church and Arlene Gojevic