At last – 2 weeks of glorious sailing to the Discovery Islands and Desolation Sound –

The Secret of the Sea – by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (from Seaside and Fireside-1850)

Ah! What pleasant visions haunt me
As I gaze upon the sea!
All the old romantic legends,
All my dreams, come back to me.

13 June, 2013

It’s been 4 years since we motored (we couldn’t use our sails as the mast was removed for transporting) our yacht Karibu, a 37’Dean Catamaran from the wharf at the Port of Tacoma to Sidney on Vancouver Island. Tacoma is one of the largest container ports in North America and one of the top 50 in the world. Located on Commencement Bay, a natural deep-water harbor in South Puget Sound, Tacoma was the obvious choice for us when we decided to ship our treasured yacht from South Africa. (This experience is recorded in a previous blog.)
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Yes, four years since we watched our precious cargo being off-loaded from the container-ship and lowered into the water; 4 years since we motored through Puget Sound, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean; consisting of an intricate estuary like system of interconnecting waterways and basins with a main waterway leading to Port Townsend and the Straits of Juan de Fuca then to the open Pacific Ocean. Vancouver Island, clearly visible to us in the distance, is situated opposite the exit at Port Townsend approximately 50 miles to Sidney.

In those 4 years, Wolf, and I have sailed alone or with friends, exploring the coastal waters of Vancouver Island and its beautiful protected Gulf Islands. 4 years and we still have not even begun to discover the countless islands that dot these waters; some inhabited by a few thousand residents and others uninhabited and pristine.

The Gulf Islands are divided into two main areas; the Southern BC Gulf Islands, situated off the Southern tip of Vancouver Island, are more populated because of their proximity to Vancouver and Vancouver Island; and the Northern BC Gulf Islands which are situation to the north of Nanaimo.

The Northern BC Gulf Islands, part of the chain of 6,000 islands that spatter the British Columbia coastline between Washington and Alaska, lie beyond the quick-access range of Vancouver and Victoria. The area covered by the Northern Gulf Islands extends from Lasqueti Island near Parkville, north to Quadra and Cortes Islands near Campbell River, and from Texada Island near Powell River on the mainland, north to Savary and the Copeland Islands near Lund, including Jedediah Island Provincial Park.

It is these islands that I will write about in the coming posts. We have decided to take 2 weeks’ vacation to explore Desolation Sound. Before entering the Sound we will be heading to the Northern BC Gulf Islands and plan to anchor overnight at some of them, along the way.