Garden Bay Jaunt

July 8, 2013

Early morning view of Cascade crags north of Vancouver. The snowy ravines don't show.

Charlie was not looking forward to rushing from one harbor to the next on this cruise. Originally he hoped to make the long foray up Jervis Inlet to Princess Louisa Sound and the beautiful Chatterbox Falls. In order to have a more sane transit he decided to forgo that side trip, well to postpone it, we hope. When we made that choice we knew we could spend two nights at other places on the way. Our next stop, the SYC outstation at Pender Harbor’s inner sanctum known as Garden Bay, would be only for one night. I must say it turned out to be almost as good as a two day stopover.

The trip up went fast due to favorable currents and flat conditions. We arrived about 2, amazed to find that we were not only the only sailboat, but also by far the smallest boat at the docks. The rest averaged about 68’ long and 4 stories tall.  Garden Bay’s name really suits the outstation. It has more flowers in bloom than anywhere I’ve been.

On the dock I noticed a small skiff turned upside down. It turned out that this boat had been donated about 4 days prior to our arrival by a member who thought others would use it more than he would. It had beautiful lines and pristine curved sweeps for rowing. No one else had used it yet! I jumped aboard with shopping bags and rowed, a glorious row in the little cockleshell all the way to the government dock. The IGA is just up the hill and across the schoolyard from the dock! Shopping finished, I contemplated getting the dinghy rigged for sailing to explore other nooks of the bay, but instead went about email. Later we cooked our sausages on the BBQ, enjoyed the view and swapping stories with Chuck and Pam Lowry by the smoke of citronella candles as the sun went down.