Galiano Island - Montague Harbor - LAST anchorage of our Inside Passage to Alaska!

 Our last stop: Galiano Island 

September 10 arrival

We left Burgoyne and it was an easy 20 nm to get to Montague Harbor. We were here in 2017 and Stephen was nostalgic to return. It is a generous bay with lots of space for boats and offers good holding in 6-7 fathoms in mud. The sun was still shining on us! We always put the paddleboards away to avoid the extra windage but I had encouraged Stephen for us to keep them out since it was such a short jaunt and then they would be available for usage immediately. 

We took the north side of Salt Spring to round and then head southerly and easterly towards the bay. The wind was at a good clip around 15 knots SOUTHEAST and great sailing weather! But to tack back and forth with paddle boards on the port side is not ideal.  Whoopsies! The one time we kept the paddle boards on deck and had to forego sailing due to this decision. Oh well,  we chose just to motor but luckily it was not too far and Stephen may have repeatedly reminded me, "We had to keep the paddle boards blown up....". That was his polite way of saying, we could be sailing right now!!!!

We arrived and anchored easily and later that afternoon, John, who is another HAM user, came by on his dinghy to Soulstice to visit and introduce himself. We know his voice but not his face.  He and his wife Barb, are on a lovely 42ft Grand Banks called Aeris. John is a net controller on the Great Northern and Southern Net at times. The Great Northern Net ended on September 1st but the Southern Net goes all year round. He saw we were in the anchorage and wanted to meet us since we check in on the Net daily at 0800 PST on 3870 LSB.  We had a nice visit and he encouraged us to please come by and see them. 

That evening I was able to paddleboard the entire anchorage and enjoy all the lovely shore homes with their private docks. I wonder what it costs to have your own dock? And I say this because some are quite lengthy from the shore to the bay. Additionally, I know it is more temperate weather here but I can imagine if they ICE up... Yowzers! What an ice rink?! More like a luge! 

Anywho, the next day we were excited to get on land and check out the island. Stephen had been thinking about this pizza place we walked to in 2017. We did some googling and agreed it was a place called Babes in the Woods, which is in Sturdies Bay, across the island. We decided we would walk there and walk some trails I could see on the map along the way with some road time too.  Mount Galiano happened to be on our path that gave us another 1000ft peak climb with a fabulous view! We hiked up to the top and enjoyed the splendid view as the blue skies and fairly cloudless day permitted a long-range panorama. 

We still had plenty of daylight to make it to Babes in the Woods. They moved their locale but only by a block away. The pizza was just okay to be honest but still fun to revisit due to his nostalgia. Also, no longer is alcohol served but an under-the-radar BYOB can be had:) 

The one thing I have forgotten to add, or maybe it was on purpose, a subconscious exclusion, is that I injured my foot mysteriously falling off the paddleboard on the way into shore to start the day. It is more of a hit to my ego, as I feel I have paddled in some serious conditions of wind and waves including boat wakes with lots of gear on the boat as well! Groceries/laundry etc... But on the paddle board to the shore that morning, we got waked by a little boat and the curl of the wave grabbed the edge of my board perfectly and tossed me over. Not completely as I slid off just to waist line but enough that I wanted to go back to the boat and change my soggy bottoms! 

I usually wear Chacos, a type of hard-soled sandal popular with outdoor folks to paddle for 2 reasons when paddle boarding. One is that my left foot already has some deformities and it provides me with better stability than being shoeless/sandal-less, and two, it provides additional protection for any type of ground I need to walk on when reaching shore, for example, rocks, shells, pokey/sharp things, docks with splinters, etc... You get the idea. Once I changed my bottom half, I paddled back to the shore and carried my paddleboard up a dock to secure it with a lock. I had no pain or any idea that I injured my foot until I changed into tennis shoes on shore. 

Stephen and I always pack a bag with a little towel to wipe our feet and then put on our shoes and socks. We don't wear sandals to walk in because we always plan to put in some mileage. Today was no different but when I put on my tennis shoes and started to bear weight I immediately had some pain. How bizarre I thought?! Yes, I slid off my paddleboard but I did not remember any significant trauma as a cause for this new pain. I took a few more steps and yep, I definitely had some pain. Being stubborn, desperate to walk and enjoy our island, and thinking there was no real mechanism for this pain, it must just be a bruise/contusion, I decided to continue with our original itinerary. 

This included the hike to the peak and walk across the island and part of the way back. We did stop at the Hummingbird Pub on our return trip from Babes in the Woods, which offers a bus ride back to our anchorage for $3.00 pp. It is a famous pub and bus ride as the bus driver will hand out instruments to the bus riders and can be quite animated. I will say this was not the case that evening but that was fine. We were pretty tired. Normally, we would have walked back to get the exercise but Stephen bid me to take the bus and I agreed. 

The next day my foot was swollen and bruised, particularly to the dorsum of my foot and my pain seemed to be along the lateral aspect of my foot with weight bearing. As I mentioned before, this foot already has previous injuries so it can be sore at times and I never walk on it barefoot. LONG STORY but just suffice to say, it is my "gimp" foot but we get along. I run, hike, ski, walk long hours at work, etc... This pain was different, in a different place and the swelling and bruising demanded attention. I chose to lay low and ice and elevate, all the good stuff. Some Tylenol and do some careful watching. 

Stephen and I were planning to leave in two days to end our long journey. We would wait the next day to see how I felt. So the next day was a "down day".  I did a knee paddle to join Stephen for our visit on Aeris, the Grand Banks, owners, John and Barb.  We spent a few hours with them in the morning, reminiscing over our similar sailing ventures in Mexico. They too had spent several seasons there when they owned a Passport SV. We also enjoyed talking about the Net in Mexico and then the history of the Net up in BC. John and some other locals took over the net after a woman who ran it for over 20 years had to leave her home and go to an apartment where she could not have an antenna. People volunteered to keep it going because the frequency can be lost to others and never regained once you give up the slot. They are retired and so come and go throughout the season. They bought the Grand Banks 5 years ago and live fairly close by in Pender Harbor. Their old boat they still follow and is reportedly in the South Pacific now. They too had plans for the South Pacific but chose to stay in Mexico and then put their sailboat on cargo ship to bring her back to Canada. It is a Dutch one that allows you to keep your mast up and basically sinks the boat in of sorts. Very cool.  Their Grand Banks is an incredibly comfortable space and ideal cruising vessel for the Pacific Northwest. I am not ready for a Grand Banks or the fuel bill but perhaps one day.  His wife would get seasick on their Passport but has never has gotten seasick on their Grand Banks once! Impressive for stability.  

The next morning on 9/13, I still had pain and swelling and decided an x-ray would be prudent. I still could not wrap my brain around what happened but we suspect with the board being lifted up somewhat abrasively by the wave and perhaps a force underneath that my foot and hard plant down? So maybe a fracture occurred. I was more concerned initially with an avulsion fracture that can happen with a twisting motion, causing a ligament to pull a bit of bone off and this seemed more logical to me. 

After coffee and discussing our limited options for the day because of my concern that any further walking could be more harmful ( trust me - this was a challenge to admit but I can be reasonable when necessary - ha) I asked Stephen if we could return so I could get an x-ray. And so... this LONG journey, expedition as Stephen prefers to call it, came to an end. It was anticlimatic but this is life and so it does happen like that. 

We left leisurely but still with time to make slack going through Active Pass, an area known for turbulent water and then headed straight for Blaine. Only 25 nm away. It is uplifting to know how close we are Gulf Islands for future return trips.  We docked in our slip around 1515 and tied up Soulstice! I found an Orthopedic Walk In Clinic in Bellingham. My car was dead but jumpstarted by our buddy Mark and off we went. A few hours later an xray confirmed a fracture at the base of my 3rd metatarsal. This was not the area on my radar.  Ortho PA perplexed as well! But no Jones fracture ( base of 5th metatarsal and my concern due to need for possible surgery) and no other real evidence of other trauma besides my old stuff! No surgery, conservative measures, walking boot/shoe and Behave Jenny! I did later read that perhaps my other activities of running/hiking etc... can cause stress to this area from overuse and certainly my rheumatoid arthritis can play a role. It is what it is as this trendy saying goes. 

Behave Jenny is the hardest part but I am so grateful!!! Sailing has taught me more patience believe it or not! I still have to practice daily and often don't succeed but still try! Stephen has been so fantastic through out the entire journey and particularly on the day I requested to leave. He has been nothing short of supportive and solid CAPTAIN of Soulstice. I will do another follow up as a kind of synoposis of the trip but here we are back in Blaine. All is well! & 73 (Best Regards in SSB/HF speak:) )

1st night in Montague Harbor

Map of Gulf Islands

stands here too with plants and books and honor system for money exchange

top of Mt Galiano

I love gargoyles and good humor

Check out the steering wheel tamberine 

Luceny base of 3rd metatarsal 

Sweet Spots: Hornby Island, Jedediah Island, Salt Spring Island

" O Sunshine! The most precious gold to be found on Earth" ~ Roman Payne

Tribune Bay - Hornby Island 9/2-9/3

Deep Cove - Jedediah Island 9/4-9/5

Burgoyne Bay - Salt Spring Island 9/6-9/9

After Drew Harbour, we left excited about our continued exploration of different islands with offerings of hiking trails and cute towns. And sunshine!!! We were still enjoying the high-pressure system we had in Drew Harbour on Quadra Island. On September 2nd, leaving out of Drew Harbour we had the opportunity to sail to include pulling out our spinnaker. This big beastly, space suck of sail:) we affectionately call Big Bertha was moved from way, way back in the aft cabin to on top of our Pullman berth ( where Stephen and I sleep), the port side close to the bow that has a large hatch above it. This is the ideal place to pull her out! 

The spinnaker is in a sock! Not all are but this is a sleeve of sorts that keeps her contained until you slide the sock off. It is like a condom to make the analogy more understandable for non-sailing folks. Once the sleeve is removed then you are committed - hahahaha!!! The sail is out and our sail is big and wide! This is becoming a little perverted but truly she is a force to be reckoned with and ONLY should be brought out in the most conservative circumstances. This is <10 knots! She could overpower the boat instantly if brought out in the WRONG circumstances. 

I did not want her invited on the trip to be honest. She held her position because Stephen was incessant about bringing her. I continued to give examples of her NON USE on the majority of our trips and that since 2018 when we left, she had been out of her sock and used less than 5 times if even that. And out of those times, she was probably flown only 1 time for more than 30 minutes. So in my opinion, she was not worthy of the LARGE space she consumed on the boat. I was outvoted by one man, named Stephen and there you have it! - 

So…. He found an opportunity to sail her at the very end of our trip. We have been gone since May 13th and so she had her moment this past week in September! She was up for more than 30 minutes, and only gave us 1 knot of speed - YES… ONLY 1 knot !! But we did admire the beautifully made sail and we had humpback whales surrounding us on our sail into Tribune Bay. 

Tribune Bay was packed when we arrived. We counted at least 35 boats. It is a popular spot and sometimes touted as the “Hawaii of Canada” or compared to a Caribbean anchorage. It has a large sandy beach and a huge anchorage that is shallow and affords easy anchorage for everyone. On land, there is a general store and a few boutique stores but also lots of hikes. 

Despite the large amount of traffic it receives, it is spacious enough to absorb the people and boats and does not feel too crowded. The anchorage was a great place to paddle board and we were easily able to get up on shore, leave our paddle boards safely, and walk into town. 

There is a great general store and a few little shops selling clothing, ice cream, etc… behind it. One of the folks we met used to be a local and no longer lives there but reports that the area still seems the same after 15 + years. That is astounding to me because I feel like no place is like that anymore and even more so one of a touristy nature. It was refreshing to hear that the area had kept its quaintness. 

Stephen and I were able to navigate the road to find our trailhead and wandered on a myriad of trails that would attract hikers, trail runners, and mountain bikers alike. It was a maze of fun and we were delighted to be able to stretch our legs to include even a baby summit achievement of 330m. 

The next day we moved on to Deep Cove, an anchorage that is the northwestern finger of  Jedediah Island. It has several fingers of anchorage but many require a shallow draft boat. We draft 6ft so Deep Cove was the best anchorage for us but also requires a stern tie. The anchorage conveniently has several stern ties set up off of the rock walls that border the anchorage. They each have a heavy chain link ( 1/2 inch) about 3 meters long. I counted approximately 10. When we arrived it was a flurry of activity with 3 other boats anchoring at the same time and another 2 behind us waiting. Woooah! We all successfully anchored. I used the paddle board to take our stern line to the wall, feed it through the last chain link, and pass it back up to Stephen. Then I had to get back on the boat ASAP so we could drop anchor and then reel back in our stern line to snug ourselves in. 

We have stern tied in the past but it has been a while and even used our stern anchor. It is fairly common to have stern ties up in this area with assistance like that anchorage or just recommended where you would need to secure it yourself to a rock, around a tree, etc… It was good practice for us. The anchorage is incredibly small and narrow so in terms of swing room, really only 2 smaller boats may perhaps fit in there but otherwise, there is no way you could fit all the boats that were there without stern ties. 

We slept well and chatted up some of the neighbors as you are so close it is similar to being on a dock. The next day we paddled to shore and again had an incredible walk all over the island. An old residence still stands but barely on the southern shore of the island, along with remnants of their once active orchard of apple and pear trees. Feral sheep roam around and are skittish but do enjoy some apples being thrown their way to munch on. We noted they are picky and if the apple is not ripe enough they leave it. So.. I have to believe they do have enough food. They looked fairly well-fed. One of the locals reports that there is an Island ranger of sorts that will come out and sheer them every now and then. They looked disheveled to us at this time. See pics below. 

We were very content after these 2 great stops of being able to hike around and enjoy some more sunshine. The majority of this trip has been a lot of boat movement and it was nice to finally be able to explore on land a bit more besides being in port only. This is what I like about cruising, being on the hook but then also being able to be in nature. It is more like backpacking but with a more comfy return campsite:)

Our next move was going to be the Southern side of De Courcy Island which also had some trails to check out. We left Deep Cove and went through Dodd Narrows a hint before Slack but took the flood in without difficulties. De Courcy South anchorage is a small anchorage but can fit several boats. We went in and did some surveillance but unfortunately due to the current spacing of boats and our desire for a more secure anchoring spot which we could not find, we left and headed back to Preedy anchorage on Thetis Island. We anchored there on the way up. It was an open, easy anchorage but the Island itself did not offer hiking trails so we did want to stay. 

We would move to Salt Spring Island the next day and on the less popular south side. The Ganges Harbor (North East) on this island is very popular and we anchored there in 2017.  A local told us it is referred to as “Las Gangeles” but it does have an incredible Saturday market. I did want to visit due to my fond memories of the market back in 2017. We could still get the market from the south anchorage with the help of the BC transit bus system or walk. Also, I wanted to go to Burgoyne Bay anchorage on the southwest corner because it is by a network of hiking trails to include a 2000ft peak climb, Baynes Peak. The busy Ganges Harbor has a ferry, float plane traffic, multiple mooring balls, and a marina. We have just a public dock, a few moored boats, and others anchored but otherwise no other traffic. 

This Salt Spring Island is the largest within the Gulf Islands and the most populated but it is quite agricultural. It has farms with large pastures, grazing sheep, orchards, and fields of vegetables and hay, and hence the Saturday Market is fantastic. Additionally, it offers several provincial parks to hike and we are only exploring the Mount Maxell Provincial Park but that will leave us some more places to look forward to on a return trip! 

On our first day in Burgoyne, we arrived in the afternoon and blew up paddle boards, headed to the public dock, and did a mini-hike just to get the lay of the land. We ran into 2 local women who gave us the slang phrase, “ Las Gangeles” as well as the beta on the local areas to hike close by. We discovered the Salt Spring Brewery was close by and enjoyed a local IPA before heading back to Soulstice. 

The next day we climbed up to the summit of Mount Maxwell and earned a spectacular view including being able to see Mount Baker!! In the distance. There is a road that terminates at the summit as well. We opted to walk back via the road but only to find out as we enjoyed “stepping it out” as we like to say, that the road does not end in the direction close to our anchorage - ha! Whoopsies! We now had another 7 miles to walk back to Burgoyne. Some folks would be pretty upset about this mistake but we had a great sunny day, ideal temperatures, and thought, sure, let’s check out the island this way! We enjoyed seeing all the farm stands. 

Each farm will put out a private farm stand, a little shelter where they place their produce on a table, shelves, or even one had a refrigerator!! ( see pic below). They give a price for the produce and then have a metal box UNLOCKED where the money goes. HONOR SYSTEM folks!!! Do you see this anywhere anymore?? I don’t and unfortunately, there is no trust for this kind of money exchange/ business in the places I live. TRUST! I love it! These folks trust one another to do the right thing! REFRESHING and gives you hope.  Collective kindness and generosity are noted in many interactions here. Surprisingly, we still had enough energy to pick 2 large jars of blackberries for preserves later:) 

The next day was our Saturday Market. We decided we would walk there the 6.2 miles and then bus back or walk back depending on how we felt. We perused the market and admired the wares and fresh produce. We again were relieved we did anchor in the busy Ganges Harbor and looked forward to returning to our quiet anchorage.  We also enjoyed a local meal in town at Moby’s Pub as we have not eaten out since Port McNeil!  We did walk back and skipped the bus ride and we were definitely ready for our evening cocktail after that. 

After Salt Spring, we will make our way to Montague Harbor on Galiano Island and then eventually to Saturna or Prevost Island, depending on the weather. There are a ton of islands to explore and we could have spent our 4 months just here but we are sooo close to this area from Blaine and we are thrilled to have this mecca of sailing fun in our backyard to explore for years to come! 

Big Bertha in all her glory

On Hornby

the trail system here is really a great series of Mtn Biking trails with greens, blues and blacks like a ski hill to rate the level of skill - these were the blacks

Beach at Hornby

Hornby

History of the owners of the plantation, orchard, and homestead as well as a nice tribute to a famous Canadian Climber, Dan Culver is on the island. 

What an incredible piece of property! Amazing view

Great spot for morning coffee and contemplation

The orchard still had pears and apples 

Taste tester - yum!

We found trails all over Jedediah with several summit sites/ view points

This was a sweet memorial with a picture of someone's dog left :)

Incredible interesting homemade boat - all solar/electric and able to score this anchorage due to shallow draft! 

Salt Spring Island

Salt Spring Brewery - a short walk away from our anchorage in Burgoyne 

These were everywhere of all shapes/colors and sizes with varying produce

lots of agricultural land on Salt Spring

Lots of book stands too

Tribute to the Furnace Family 

Bus stand with a sign posted: Respect Yourself - LOVE IT!!! The bus stand was built with wood taken from a garage nearby constructed by John Carlson and local school children. It is was noted in the tribute placard above to the Furnace Family 

The green dot would not go away - surrender and take the photo

The forests that dwarf me even more:)

Even 6 foot 1 inch Stephen

the summit of Maxwell on Salt Spring - looking down on our anchorage. Yes!  there is a chain link fence up here ( see part of it in the upper left-hand corner) - yuck!  but probably has saved some running kids/dogs. There is a road to the top as well and so can only feel it was posted here due to a population of nonhikers and folks who do not take care at the top. Only saw a chain link fence here and not noted on any other hikes/summit peaks/islands

The picture above is one of my favorite farm stands because to me it is quite over the top with a refrigerator - and the usual money box we saw at each stand. 

Time to pick Blackberries. We always eat a few on our walks but we decided to we wanted to make some jam again. A local mentioned blackberry peach ginger jam so THAT is on my mind! 

The evidence is clear, guilty party of blackberry picking:) 

I forgot to take a picture at the market but this gives you an idea:)