Silva Bay to Boho Bay Lasqueti Island (June 8th)

Last evening was spent on the aft deck watching the comings and goings at Silva Bay Marina.  Gabriola Island is a comfortable place, the population of 4,000 is mostly retirees by also folks who commute to Nanaimo for work and based on the graduation photo on the front page of the local paper at least a dozen high school seniors. 

Across the fairway from our assigned slip at the dock, we watched the seaplanes tying-up and taking-off.  Barrie loved the sound of the old DeHaviland Seaplane with its original-type radial engine.  Also on the dock the fish-cleaning station was getting a work out.  We watched the day’s fishermen (& women) bringing in their catch and the local guide working at the cleaning table to prepare the fish.  The local guide tossed a fishhead toward the end of the dock and then whistled loudly – seconds later a huge eagle swooped in with talons extended and scooped-up his dinner.  Just amazing the watch.  Other leftovers were fed to the seals who were hanging near the dock.  Clearly this routine had happened many times before. 

Spent a quiet night on the dock and in the morning Don brought back the missing parts from Namaimo and finished tuning-up the outboard motor.  Barrie said he would come back here to have boat work done.  Wonderful people and the price was very reasonable.   We went for a walk along the highway from Silva Bay Marina to Page's Marina and then followed the much shorter walking trail back.  Along the way found a bicycle "pit stop" with compressed air (the hose coming out through a fence) and oil.  Self service.  We then found "Moonshine Cove" with an amazing new log entrance that was made by a group from Williams Lake that has a Canadian TV show (Timber Kings) about outrageous houses.  The lintle was at least 4 feet in diameter.

By the time we were ready to leave at noon, the weather had deteriorated a bit with high wind warnings in effect (10-20 knots from the S shifting to the SE).  Evening winds were forecast to diminish and shift to the Northwest.  We decided it was time to see if we were up to the challenge (we knew the boat could handle the wind).  The cat quickly went below deck and hid under the covers.  We originally set our destination for the Sunshine Coast but that direction had the waves on our beam.  Certainly, we were not in danger but it was not the most comfortable ride.  We decided that exploring the anchorages on Lasqueti Island would allow us to change our heading by 15 degrees and that put the seas on our stern.  Near bliss.  We arrived at Boho Bay around 5 pm and found secure anchorage but still exposed a bit to the southern winds.  We dropped the hook and waited for the winds to shift to the NW.  For the first few hours, we found ourselves tightening the forestays and finding all the loose things that were going thumpity thump.  When the winds shifted  around 9 pm, we were able to drop into a comfortable sleep. 

Lasquiti Island is served by passenger ferry (but no auto ferry.)  Lots of hiking trails.  Looks like an interesting place to explore.