We saved the last two days of our Desolation Sound cruise for Roscoe Bay.

Once inside the narrow entrance to the inner cove (which guide books state is best navigated on a rising tide), we took our time to slowly cruise the perimeter of the anchorage (photo-below), we wanted to find the perfect spot before we dropped anchor and stern tied to shore. There was plenty of room available, so we could be choosy about our selection which was located all the way up into the bay. Surrounded by pine trees and high rock bluffs, the cove offered, not only a picture perfect setting but, a lot of protection from any potential foul weather.

The anchorage was lined with boats of all kinds. We cruised almost all the way back into the bay where there were a few fewer boats. It was cloudy and overcast when we arrived, but it cleared up to give us a sunny day where the mountains made their presence known as the clouds moved through and out of the area.

We picked a spot where we had to stern tie to shore, always a fun task. We drop the anchor somewhat close to shore and draw it back to set it. Jim then gets into the dinghy with the end of the line on the spool. We found it works best if he takes it up and around the trunk of a tree and brings the end back to the boat. This method allows us to retrieve the line without getting the dinghy out, we just untie and pull the line back onto the boat.

The entrance to Black Lake (above) was just a short dinghy ride from our anchored boat.

Roscoe Bay was the perfect anchorage to spend our last night in Desolation Sound.

The post Wrapping Up Our Desolation Sound Cruise in Beautiful Roscoe Bay appeared first on Trailer Trawler Life Blog – Cruising USA & Canada.

From Refuge Cove it was a short 7 to 8-mile hop over to Tenedos Bay. Once in the midst of Desolation Sound every port, cove, or bay is no more than a day’s cruise from your starting point. This close proximity between points of interest allowed us to take our time, linger longer, leave later, and cruise slowly while still arriving early to any spot on our scheduled route.

Tenedos Bay provided a tree-lined canyon and a well-protected spot just a short dinghy ride to the trail that leads up to Unwin Lake.

Our chosen anchorage provided a tree-lined canyon where we stern tied to shore in calm water. Tenedos Bay is one of the recommended anchorages John and Tracy, on Sea Change, gave us during our chart review in Ganges. Not only does it provide a beautiful, natural setting to anchor, but with a short trip across the bay in our dinghy we were able to hike up to the fresh, pristine water of Unwin Lake.

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Croker Island – Rocks, Bears, and Blueberries!

As cruising trips go this one ranked up toward the top of our list, but like all good things they must come to an end. We left Little Current to make way for one of our favorite anchorages in a popular cove at Croker Island; this will be the last real stop of our North Channel trip.

The cove at Croker Island has a high rocky bluff that protects anchored boats from high winds and/or foul weather from the big waters of the more exposed North Channel. While we were there, for our last two days, there were indeed high winds from the south, but we were almost unaware of these conditions until we took an afternoon hike up to the top of the rocky bluff. Once there, we saw nothing but big white caps. It felt good knowing how cozy we felt anchored inside the protective confines of the Island.

We spent the last two days of our trip at anchor in the cove at Croker Island, reading, taking dinghy rides around the anchorage, meeting other cruisers, hiking around the rock cliffs on the Island, and playing games, one of our favorite pastimes. It was a great way to wind down our North Channel cruise.

On our second day at anchor, we had a little excitement, we noticed a Tiara boat trying to get into the cove but getting dangerously close to the rocky point that encircles the cove. As we watched, almost wanting to scream a warning (but we were too far away for them to hear), they ended up aground on top of a big submerged boulder. It wasn’t long before all the men, anchored in the cove, were dinghying out to see if they could be of assistance.

It was only twenty minutes or so, with a lot of pushing and pulling, and the boat was freed from the rock and on its way, without any visible damage to the boat. We think they lucked out big time.

Our last beautiful sunset (above) in the North Channel.

Jim retrieved our stern line from the tree it was tied to onshore (below).

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