So many boats here in Desolation Sound! This morning Laurie made us a delicious frittata breakfast, and Scott and Laurie took their kayaks out to sightsee and
harvest oysters before we left the busy Teakerne Arm Provincial Park. The coastline near our anchorage was thick with them (oysters, not fritattas), but Scott is the only one brave enough to eat them.
We stopped at Refuge Cove for a burger, trash drop, and water top-up. The marina there was bustling with boats coming and going, so it took a few minutes to find parking spaces for both of us. On the way in, Float Plane dropped off some trash with Dave at the garbage barge across the harbor.
Sadly, the Refuge Cove cafe was undergoing construction, so no burgers for hungry cruisers. We consoled ourselves with giant scoops of ice cream from the general store. The sun had come out today, so after eating our ice cream, Laurie and I sat sunbathing on the bow of Float Plane and watched the boats and float planes darting in and out of slots on the wharf, privately discussing—and perhaps judging—their docking prowess.
Tonight’s anchorage was in Squirrel Cove, which is the busiest anchorage we’ve seen since our trip began. There were around 50 boats in this little bay, so anchoring here was a bit like staying in a hostel—lots of socializing, a wide variety of people, and not a lot of privacy.
Before dinner, we all piled into the Wild North dinghy and slowly made our way through the cove, weaving through the boats and admiring the different vessels. We also laughed or groaned over the boat names we saw. Some of them were frankly awful, I don’t know what it is with people using puns to name their boats. When we picked a name for Wild North, we pretended to call in a mayday with each prospective boat name. If it sounded ridiculous, it was crossed off the list. A friend suggested that to us years ago, and we think it’s good advice.
After dinner, Laurie and I tried to take the Wild North dinghy into Squirrel Cove Lagoon shortly before high tide. The water was roaring into the lagoon when we got to the entrance, and we had already decided that the electric outboard wouldn’t be able to get us back out when a swimmer next to a nearby boat warned us off, telling us he had just swum back after taking his dinghy through to the lagoon. He had had to leave his dinghy tied up over there because the rapids were too strong to return, and it was getting too dark to wait for slack. (We presume he walked past the rapids on land before swimming back to his boat.)
Tomorrow we leave Desolation Sound. We only have a couple more cruising targets left before we head back to Bainbridge Island—Princess Louisa Inlet and Vancouver.
Today’s route (14 miles)
Comments