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In the summer of 2002 three CPS families took their boats on a cruise around Vancouver Island - Aquarius , Winesk (WVYC) and Avalon (RVYC) These pictures were taken at Quatsino Sound, Nootka Sound, Hotsprings Cove, Kyuquot This is their dscription of an exciting Summer Cruise :- This summer we spent 5 weeks going around Vancouver Island. We took three days to get to Port Hardy. When we arrived there the weather forecasts were full of gale and storm warnings (June 27). We stayed two nights there provisioning and picking up Liz and Henry Ellis who would be spending 10 days with us. The next day
we left as we thought that we had a weather window. We reached
Nahwitti Bar five minutes after slack and the sea was like a
millpond. However we promptly ran into an over 3 knot adverse
current. We never did see Cape Scott because of fog. We had planned
just to round the tip of Vancouver Island and spend the night
at Sea Otter Cove. However the ocean swells were about 5 meters.
With a 65-knot storm-warning forecast it would have been difficult
to enter and we did not want to be trapped there. So what should
have been a 31/2 hour trip turned into 6 hours until we got in
to Winter Harbour. Winter Harbour was delightful and tying up
to the dock there was very welcome after battling the seas. As
another rather large storm was predicted we spent another night
there. It even stopped raining long enough to trek to our first
West Coast Beach. The next day we were off to explore Quatsino
Sound. We |
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We really enjoyed the sea otters basking as we entered Kyuquot and Walters Cove. This is a very quaint community with a lot going on. When the rain became vertical instead of horizontal we pushed on to Rugged Point and its magnificent beach. We watched as a black bear scrambled up a cliff from the beach in front of us. That night at Dixie Cove we had our first prolonged sunshine. Then on to Queen Cove at the mouth of Esperanza Inlet. We stayed two nights as the fishing, crabbing, kayaking and weather was good. There we had our first West Coast Ocean swim. On to Zeballos, a delightful village. Good for laundry, fuel and water but not for groceries. We loved the mist of Nootka Sound, it seemed to suit the mystical atmosphere of Friendly Cove. The next day there was not a cloud in the sky as we went past Estevan Point and the sea was calm. We spent two nights at Hesquiat Basin and met up with Marion and Fred Bucci on Avalon. We all commented on how few pleasure boats there were on the West Coast, especially power. Crabbing was good here with excellent weather. The highlight was a tour of Cougar Annie's Garden with the owner. |
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The next day was major culture shock! We docked at Hot Springs Cove. During the day there must have been 800 to a 1000 tourists go to the Hot Springs with the constant noise of floatplanes and small charter tours out of Tofino. We waited until all the tourists had left until we took the boardwalk and soaked in the Hot Springs. The walk and the views were worth it. On to Ahousat for fuel, another quaint Indian Village. The weather continued to be hot and gorgeous as it would for the rest of the trip. We managed to get dock space at Tofino and had a delightful tour and shop there. Our boats now all have more Indian art onboard. The Broken Islands were beautiful with wonderful anchorages but foggy at times. Bamfield was perfect with lots to do and incredible scenery. We got lucky eaving for our run to Sooke in that there was no fog. However we experienced the steepest swells of our trip. Going by Race Rocks on ourway to Sydney we ran through a large pod of killer whales. Race Rocks was sea rippled. A day in Sydney was excellent for provisioning but to many people. We enjoyed Butchard Gardens but we needed to get away from noise. We then spent three nights at Saltspring giving the boat a thorough clean. Then on to beautiful Kendrick Island for our last two nights of bliss. A perfect trip. |
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