Pender Harbour Dock – Stocking Up and Staging –

Before we started the long haul up Jervis Inlet to Princess Louisa Inlet and finally Chatterbox Falls, we first needed somewhere to stock up and stage ourselves – close to the entrance to Jervis Inlet. From Pender Harbour Dock, we could leave early the next morning and be cruising up Jervis Inlet in no time. Our plan was to spend at least three days at the dock at the falls, maybe four with anchoring out or catching a mooring ball the last night.

We departed Lasqueti early in the morning to make the 25-mile cruise down the east side of Lasqueti Island, then over the north side of Jedediah Island, around the south end of Texada Island, and finally east to Pender Harbour Dock. It was a beautiful cruise seemingly removed from civilization with natural breathtaking beauty for as far as we could see.

Spending the night in Pender Harbour Dock would put us in close proximity to Jervis inlet. We saw three eagles today en route, we never tire of that. Pender Harbour’s Madeira Park Public Wharf was our choice for dockage. We were here in 2013, after our trip to Chatterbox Falls. We remembered how close the local IGA store is just a short distance up the hill from the marina. Pender Harbour is a maze of islands, channels, nooks, and crannies with high, tree-lined, bluffs making the area a visual delight for the visiting boater. After provisioning and boat chores, we enjoyed a peaceful evening at the dock where we saw another two eagles swooping through the harbor, making this our first five-eagle day!

Before we docked at Madeira Park Public Wharf, we fueled up at John Henry’s Marina.

Same spot as last time we docked here, at Madeira Park Public Wharf (above).

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Our Summer Cruising Season Will Take Us to the Broughton Islands – 

Have you ever been somewhere before that you’ve loved so much you cannot wait to return? Have you ever wondered why it took you so long to discover it? In our early summer cruising adventures, we never dreamed territory such as the Pacific Northwest, San Juan, and Gulf Islands, Princess Louisa Inlet, Chatterbox Falls, and Desolation Sound existed. We’ve returned this year to cruise some of our favorite summer cruising stops from 2013, then we’ll continue further north to explore the Broughton Islands, a territory rich with wildlife and natural wonders.

Our trip will start in Anacortes, Washington where we’ll provision and prepare for our three-month-long adventure north to British Columbia. We’ll spend two weeks in Canada’s Gulf Islands exploring places we have not been to before. The first stop will be Sucia Island in the San Juan Islands as we stage to cross over to Canada to Poets Cove for the Ranger Tugs/Cutwater Cruise Event. When we leave there we’ll be stopping in little ports along the way on Pender, Salt Springs, and Vancouver Islands. From there we’ll cruise east to Canada’s mainland to make the trip up Jervis Inlet to Chatterbox Falls before heading north to Desolation Sound to spend a month soaking up some of the remote island nature in some of Canada’s most pristine, natural beauty. From Desolation Sound we’ll head through the island waterway as far as the Broughtons to explore. We always love a new adventure and we’ve been told, by others we know who have cruised these waters, that the Broughtons will not disappoint. After the Broughtons, we’ll turn south and cruise back to the San Juan Islands after crossing the border to the US at the end of August in time to celebrate Labor Day and attend the yearly Ranger Tug/Cutwater Rendezvous in Roche Harbor.

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Pender Harbour – As nice as Princess Louisa Inlet and Chatterbox Falls were, it felt good to be back in civilization with hot showers –

We timed our departure from Chatterbox Falls to catch the first slack tide at Malibu Rapids; once back into Jervis Inlet we enjoyed a leisurely cruise, retracing the 40-mile route as we headed for our end-of-day destination, Pender Harbour. A lot of the Canadian boaters we met during our Desolation Sound cruise this summer recommended a stay at Pender Harbour, a natural harbor just off the Strait of Georgia. The harbor has a number of marinas and a few good anchorages to choose from along with a little town, grocery store, and several restaurants close by.

By the time we idled into the harbor, although there was plenty of daylight left, it was getting late in the afternoon. We radioed the Madeira Park Public Wharf looking for dockage but got no answer. The closer we got we could see they were rather full so our thoughts were set toward finding a place to anchor for the night, it’s always good to have a backup plan. About that time we saw a guy standing at the end of a dock waving us in, it was the Harbormaster Randy, with good news, he had one last spot available. “Just tie up there, here’s a key for the showers and don’t worry about paying, we’ll catch up tomorrow, I’ve got to get to my son’s soccer game.” As nice as Princess Louisa Inlet and Chatterbox Falls were, it felt good to be back in civilization with hot showers and a charming new harbor to explore. Little did we know what awaited us the next day when we headed out to cross the Strait of Georgia on our way to Nanaimo.

One thing we don’t love about the PNW is the “Pay to Shower” system, we’d love it if the marinas would just include a shower charge in the daily rate somehow to cover this service since having to have coins on hand and having to figure each marina’s system (do you put all the coins in at once or do you have to feed the meter as you go) is a real hassle, but better to have a shower available than none at all. Jim won the contest to see who could shower the fastest and use the least amount of Loonies, he usually only feed the meter twice and it took me at least three times.

We stopped to buy a chunk of tuna from this friendly fisherman at the marina (above and below)

We took a dinghy ride at sunset around the harbor and then through a few anchorages and finally settled in for dinner at the Garden Bay Marina and Pub.

The first night we anchored out during our visit to Desolation Sound we visited a boat anchored near us in Grace Harbour (see post), much to our surprise, during our dinghy ride, there she was docked at the owner’s home in Pender Harbour (above).

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The Anchorage at Hardy Island is Located at the Base of Jervis Inlet

We were somewhat protected by Texada Island as we cruised 21 miles southeast from Powell River to Hardy Island. The anchorage at Hardy Island is located at the base of Jervis Inlet. We are positioning ourselves for the cruise up to Princess Louisa Inlet, Malibu Rapids, and finally Chatterbox Falls. Entering Blind Bay we found calm waters ideal for anchoring in a narrow, well-protected, cove within Hardy Island Marine Park. As we were scouting for a spot to drop our hook we came across a small black bear strolling by the water’s edge. The bear was just as startled as we were. He immediately hightailed it up the rock cliff and into the woods never to be seen by us again. This would end up being our only bear sighting during our PNW cruise.

The real reason for anchoring at Hardy Island was to position ourselves for the 46-mile run-up Jervis Inlet the next day. We were pleasantly surprised with the beautiful rock boulder island setting with several protected coves, suitable for our late afternoon dinghy exploration cruise.

On our way in this wolf-shaped image jumped out at us (above) as we made our way deep into one of the coves to anchor.

We don’t have a photo of the bear we saw. He was just too fast to run up the rocky cliff and out of our view. The photo above shows the spot where we saw him.

We especially enjoyed seeing these rock sculptures during our dinghy cruise.

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We had strong, guess you could almost say instinctual, reservations about leaving Lund, for Powell River, the next day. It was rainy and quite windy, so we waited a bit to see how the rain and wind conditions would develop. Our intent was to cruise to Hardy Island to anchor out for the night. From the protection of the marina in Lund, we noticed several boats heading south. So we decided to give it a try ourselves, thinking we could always turn back if it was undoable. At first, conditions were acceptable. But, as this scenario often seems to go, it quickly deteriorated and within a short five miles, we were starting to look for an exit strategy. Lisa hasn’t had to deal with seasickness in quite a while, but on this day it really took her down. The conditions were not scary, just very bumpy and unpleasant.

We toughed it out for another 12 miles and decided we wouldn’t make it to Hardy Island comfortably and adjusted our sites on something closer; lucky for us the marina in Powell River had a spot for us to raft off of another boat. This was the first real foul weather we had encountered since arriving in the PNW this year.

It seemed to rain steadily during our 24-hour stay in Powell River but, in between downpours, we did get off the boat and walked into town. We were pleasantly welcomed by Powell River’s Annual Blackberry Festival, in full swing up the hill on the main street in town, just a few blocks from the marina. Unfortunately, for the residents of Powell River and visitors to the festival, the evening fireworks were called off – you guessed it, due to more rain.

During our stroll through the festival, stopping in a few stores along the way to duck out of the rain, we happened upon these spice packs, we liked the name on the label – Guess it really was “Kismet.”

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After two glorious weeks of picture-perfect boating weather and sensory overload during our exploration of Canada’s Desolation Sound, the time had come to start working our way south/southeast. We had a calm but overcast day to exit Desolation sound from our anchorage in Roscoe Bay. Up next, was Jervis and Princess Louisa Inlets and the much talked about Chatterbox Falls, but first we had to explore a few of the little fishing villages along British Columbia’s “Sunshine Coast.” Our first stop was Lund (below), a busy, picturesque, seaside village, 120km north of Vancouver, only eight miles south of Desolation Sound. The village has only about three hundred year-round residents but is host to a lot more during the warm weather season. Not only is it close to Desolation Sound Provincial Marine Park but also the Copeland Islands, Okeover Inlet, and tropical Savary Island.

During our brief stay in Lund, we learned a lot about the area called the Sunshine Coast, a region of the southern mainland coast of British Columbia, on the eastern shore of the Strait of Georgia, just northwest of Vancouver. The Sunshine Coast is British Columbia’s best-kept secret, stretching over 180km of coastline from Langdale to Lund with many quaint, tiny coastal communities in between, assessable only by boat or ferry, it has its fair share of desirable weather and is known for its many cultural activities including resident artist’s gallery exhibits, outdoor recreation, and many festive community events.

After roughing it in the wilderness of British Columbia, cruising in saltwater without a real bath, and stowing garbage in the far corner of the cockpit, the boat needed a good cleaning, a pump out, fuel, and freshwater – needless to say, Lund Small Craft Harbour was a welcome stop. After accomplishing all of the above, we still found time to tour the historic, 110-year-old, Lund Hotel and walked all over the small town.

During a rainy evening, we enjoyed an excellent fish and chips dinner at the Boardwalk Restaurant located in the harbor, right across from our slip at the marina.

This is one of the car ferries we saw delivering boats to the village (above). One morning we visited Nancy’s (below) for some fresh cinnamon rolls and ate them outside in the warm sun next to a palm tree. Guess it really is the Sunshine Coast.

The Lund Hotel has a helicopter pad (below) adjacent to their lawn. We imagine a lot of locals travel this way instead of taking the ferries or personal boats. Seaplanes are very prevalent in this neck of the woods.

We found this bike (above) an interesting way to advertise a bike rental and repair business on Savary Island. It was located near the Lund Water Taxi building.

The small marina office offers an outdoor boater’s lounge with a beautiful rustic chair (below) to use for accessing the internet.

An interesting factoid about this small fishing village is that it sits at the northernmost point of Route 101, mile 0. If you were to start in Lund on Route 101 and drive south you could end up at the tip of South America, all on this historic highway.

When asking Fran (below), Lund’s Harbormaster and one of the friendliest we’ve met, about available transportation to Powell River (an 18-mile trip), for a provisioning run, she volunteered to lend us her car. We had not been to a full-fledged grocery store in well over two weeks, our supplies were low and I needed to visit a marine hardware store we had heard that Powell River had everything we could possibly need, it is a real hub of activity.

Thanks again, Fran!

We always enjoy visiting other countries while boating to see all the different products they have on their shelves. On this trip we were introduced to Sour Cabbage Heads (above), packaged up in a sour marinade, we suppose.

On the ride into town, we couldn’t help but notice how the road was lined with deliciously ripe, ready-to-pick, wild blackberries. If you’ve read some of our prior posts you already know this is a real bonus find for us, we just can’t get over how abundant this wild berry crop is all over the Pacific Northwest. On our return trip to Lund, we found a dirt road off the main highway (below) and made a roadside stop to pick several bags of the plump, black, juicy fruit, using some of our shopping bags to collect them, enough for three or four days of breakfast snacks, blackberry pancakes. One night Lisa improvised a little and produced a blackberry cobbler with a little whipped cream on top. Yum!

So relieved we got to reprovision at the big stores in Powell River. We saved a lot of money by going to a bigger town and got everything we needed to sustain ourselves during our trip to Chatterbox Falls.

One of the things we love to do when boating is walking the docks and see all the unusual boats tied up. This one, not far from our slip, was intriguing with its unique anchor mount on the bow of the boat.

This beautiful sculpture of King Neptune stands guard over the harbor at Lund.

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