Capt. Linda Lewis - www.privateboatinginstruction.com and Capt. David Parker
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2 – Anacortes, WA to Campbell River, BC (June 3, 2011)
With the usual two steps forward and one step back for a 33-year-old boat, the Royal Sounder left Anacortes, WA on June 1, 2011. After leaving the dock - then circling right back for some quick tweaking - we were ready to go for real. We had to listen to the ignominious calls of our neighbors saying: “Goodbye again.” But that’s all right. We’re really on our way now. Farewell Anacortes.
We decided to clear Canada Customs at the Van Isle Marina Customs Dock. We cleared easily using the direct-connection phone at the dock.
As we pointed northward into Canada, we were delighted to see this fine rainbow blessing the beginning of our trip.
We love seeing unique sights along the way. We found this unusual rig in Burgoyne Bay in the Gulf Islands. I guess they can’t decide whether they are land cruisers or water cruisers.
Here are a few more fun sights. The first is a home-made anchor of sorts, perhaps to hold a float in place. The second picture speaks for itself. Always good advice.
We made our way to Dodd Narrows to catch the Slack to Flood. As usual, an early bird coming the other way was already buzzing past us.
Here’s the parade line-up heading North through Dodd Narrows, with someone heading South. It’s actually still ebbing a bit, so we are all challenging the slack a little.
Here’s a nice safe pass.
However, the sailboat to the right (heading North) had entered too soon and could not maintain course against the ebbing current. We slowed and slowed and finally had to ask him to make room for us so we could pass. He made it through, but next time I hope he waits for full Slack. He just doesn’t have enough power to go early.
There is lots of traffic to watch for in the Nanaimo area.
And a word of warning to AIS (Automatic Identification System) users: not all commercial vessels in Canada are transmitting a signal. The only ones we can consistently see are commercial passenger vessels, e.g. BC Ferries.
How about this for a fascinating sight? David says it is a Jack-up Oil Drilling Rig. The three similar towers end up being the legs of the platform. The triangular tower is the drilling rig. Why is this here? Dave thinks it is in transit to or from Cook Inlet, Alaska.
The area above Nanaimo, known as Whiskey Golf, is a military exercise area. Winchelsea Control (at right) is the place that let’s boats know when it is safe – or not – to transit the area. They can be reached on VHF Channel 10. We listen for the routine update on the weather channel.
As we proceeded North of Nanaimo, we decided to skip our usual anchorage – Tribune Bay – because of the SE winds. For a change, we decided to go into Comox. As we passed close to Vancouver Island we took the opportunity to check out the Range Markers we would be using the next morning to cross the Comox Bar. I was reminded how close to the water they are. Here are two boats preceding us into the Comox Bay Marina. They were to become our shadows for the next two days.
The Comox Bay Marina has small, but nice guest moorage and free Wi-Fi. $1.35 / foot (Canadian). And there is a wonderful restaurant a stone’s-throw away from the marina: The Blackfin.
Just look at the door handles and you know it’s a boater’s place. I had an incredible steak. I’m from the Midwest so you know I’m fussy about my steaks. It was amazing.
We woke the next morning to this energetic sight.
Wow. Now that’s a morning work-out with a view.
I’m watching for the range markers in the middle of the picture. By looking back over my shoulder I make sure they are in line as we make our way safely across the Comox Bar. The markers are really low in the tree line and hard to see until you are right in line with them.
After crossing the bar, we kept the reds to our port. Close to our port. We also made sure we found this hard-to-see marker and kept it to port before we turned North. See the two black triangles? They are indicating: go East of this marker to stay safe.
This is Cape Lazo. It’s easily spotted by the large white ball. You can also see how calm the Strait of Georgia is; this is one of the best transits of Georgia we’ve ever had.
We’re heading up to Campbell River, so stay tuned for the next installment.
One last line of cruiser’s chatter.
Only continue reading if you are interested in Verizon cell phone coverage while cruising.
The following is a rather long-winded treatise on Verizon’s ‘new’ policies (June, 2011) on smartphone use in British Columbia. I’m a big fan of using my smartphone for numerous things (like weather monitoring and Float Plan updates) when on the water.
Verizon has long been the Northwest cruiser’s cell service of choice because of its superior access. And in British Columbia, its contract with Telus maintains that good coverage at least up to Port McNeill. However, this year brings unpleasant changes in Verizon’s service plans. In the past we have just added Canada coverage to our U.S. plan and we were good to go for voice calls, texting, and data (internet) while in B.C.
The data plan has changed from last year and is now an expensive add-on. I was offered 75MB for $30/month or 200 MB for $100/month. That’s a hard pill to swallow.
I have bookmarked many individual ‘current wind condition’ websites into my smartphone. A favorite use is to check the forecast and current wind conditions right from my cozy bed at 0400 instead of staggering out to the VHF Radio and waking the whole boat with the long report. Now that’s a problem. (A few quick tips: your ‘roaming allowed’ must be checked on in your phone’s settings to access the internet. When you are near a Wi-Fi hotspot, you can use the Wi-Fi feature on your smartphone instead of the data feature.)
And finally, as of just last week, Verizon said it had dropped any texting plan while in Canada. Now it costs 20 cents for every text sent or text received. You may think, oh well, who needs to text? However, texting is my method for daily updates of our whereabouts to my Float Plan Captain. I’m told there is no alternative to that scheme. As my husband says, being on the bleeding edge hurts.
UPDATE: The latest call to Verizon (6/6/11) says the texting is NOT being charged for as an extra. It is a part of the Canada plan. Oh please, Verizon; get your act together.
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