Daily Archives: July 1, 2011

Turtle Bay

July 1st
Happy Canada Day!

Woke up to the smell of freshly baked bread. It was rainy and windy that morning. Had a light breakfast and then set off for The Broken Group Islands. Outside the shelter of Ucluelet inlet it was choppy with the swell of the ocean. There were a lot of fishing boats fishing in the channels that we crossed. Jim was salivating at the thought of fishing but he bought his license to start tomorrow.

The Broken Group Islands, in the middle of Barkley Sound, extends from the Pacific Ocean inwards, surrounded by the snow covered mountain peaks of Vancouver Island on three sides. They are part of the Pacific Rim National Park in Canada. There are many islands with coves and sheltered bays to anchor in.

Once we got to more open water, we put up our sails and headed down to Loudoun Channel towards the Islands. The winds were a gentle 10 knots and the rain had ceased, with the sun occasionally peeking out! We had a pleasant sail down to Peacock Channel where we had to turn on the engine (iron sail) as the wind had died down. We then wound our way through a series of narrow channels, avoiding many submerged but shallow rocks to get to Turtle Bay.

Turtle Bay is surrounded by Turtle, Willis, Dodd and Walsh islands. It’s very sheltered and pleasant. We were the only boat there so had the pick of where to anchor. There were groups of kayakers paddling around the bay and some on a little beach on Dodd Island. We hopped into the dinghy and headed for a quick walk ashore on Dodd Island. Jacintha could not get enough of the water but we finally got her to come on a short hike through the camp ground and forest, until the mossies started to buzz, then we headed back for the beach.

20110709-070907.jpg
The rocky beach on Dodd Island

20110708-044517.jpg
Climbing a big tree!

We had a small snack on the beach while Jacintha waded around in her dress. More kayakers came back into shore. They’d taken a boat from Port Alberni to a smaller whaling town and then hired the kayaks from there and were now exploring the many islands and camping on the camp grounds there. As the beach was now in shadows we walked to the rocks, at it’s tip where the last rays of sun were. Then we headed back for the boat for dinner of hot dogs and corn on the cob.

20110708-044542.jpg
Resting on a log after our exploration of the rocks

Share