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