Boating the Sunshine Coast

It seems we found the only good weather day to move our boat from Richmond, BC, to our home port in Powell River. Wednesday, Friday and Saturday were all windy with choppy seas. Thursday, the seas were fairly calm with two to three foot swells coming from the northwest. There's nothing like a warm, sunny day to boat along the Sunshine Coast.

We decided to take the direct route from the Fraser River to Gibsons. Rather than pounding in the swells, we slowed down and rode them in a teeter-totter motion. Our Bayliner 3058 really handles well with its wider beam and longer length. On such a nice day, we didn't see many other cruisers, but we did pass this classic commercial fishing boat.

When we reached Sechelt, we slipped behind the Trail Islands where the swells diminished. After the Merry Island Lighthouse, we were in calm water. We chose Secret Cove for our fuel stop. We'd been there before in our 2350 Bayliner (now for sale) and felt it would be a good open fuel dock to approach.

Two women fuel attendants met us upon arrival, so it was an easy event. Even so, Wayne brought the boat is with grace and ease. It seemed late in the day, but it was only 8:45 a.m. When I said we had just come up from Vancouver, she said we probably were glad to get away from there. At the time, we hadn't heard about the Stanley Cup Finals riots.

We grabbed two cups of hot coffee at the marina store and went across the bay to try out our new windlass anchoring system. It has a remote control on the command bridge and a foot switch on the bow deck. We put the anchor down twice and then rested to drink our coffee and have a bite of breakfast.

The rest of the way to Powell River was an easy ride. Long Texada Island blocked the northwest swells, allowing us to travel on plane all the way at a fuel saving 20 knots. The Powell River paper mill and the Queen of Burnaby ferry were welcome sights in the distance.

Come back tomorrow to see our new slip in the new North Harbour. -- Margy