Canoe Cove (Sidney) to Victoria, BC

After a week of getting the boat ready, we left Canoe Cove in Sidney, BC on Tuesday, May 15th and, after clearing US customs in Friday Harbor, enjoyed a few days in the San Juan Islands. The photo is of Echo Bay on Sucia Island. Normally a popular anchorage in the summer months, you can see we were pretty much alone. Sucia Island is really a group of several small islands clumped together as a Marine State Park. There are camp/picnic sites with barbecues and trails cut thru the island. Vegetation is so dense that without the trails, the island would be impassible. We took a hike to Ewing Bay and sat for a while (honest .. Bill did sit for a while) watching the wild life -- a family of Canadian Geese, sea otters at play in the bay, clams spitting water as the tide receded. We would not have seen those playful otters if we hadn't just sat and absorbed the quiet.

Spring flowers abound along the trails. Some appear to be the same as the wild flowers in the Telluride area. I'm sure I identified Indian Paintbrush. So, now I'm going to buy a flower book in Victoria and add identifying Pacific Coast flowers to my activities!

The trees are Madrona Trees. They seem to start out as bushy things and grow up into the most interesting gnarly trees. Eventually the bark peels off leaving a velvet smooth trunk.

Gnarly old Madrona Tree by the water's

edge.

Wow - did we have a fantastic sail from Roche Harbor to Victoria. Winds kept climbing. First one reef, then the second. We streamed down the Strait of Juan de Fuca into Victoria Harbor, cleared Canadian customs and then tucked into our slip. Three events had the place hopping. The most important was a long weekend due to Victoria Day. Bands were playing, sidewalk performers were putting on their shows, people were everywhere. It was exciting. The other event was some kind of motor boat gathering which had most of the slips below the Empress Hotel reserved and, of course, wasn't of any interest to us. The third was the arrival or positioning of sailboats for the Swiftsure Race this Saturday. Now that's been interesting -- watching the different racing boats and crews come into harbor. There are even several J Boats of various sizes. The Swiftsure is an overnight race. The boats will leave here on Saturday, sail down the Strait to the ocean and back again to Victoria. I kind of wish we were staying here to watch the event, but we have our own adventure ahead.

Tomorrow, Thursday, May 23rd, Judy Hall and Warner Paige arrive to sail the first leg of the trip with us. Victoria to Desolation Sound and then to Campbell River. We're cleaned up and pretty well set - or at least as set as one ever gets on a boat. Tomorrow we provision, and Friday we leave. Sounds so easy and simple.