Back on the Dock

After passing the last of the rapids, Yuculta, that separate the Broughtons from the Desolation Sound area, we were anxious to get across the Strait of Georgia.  We went first to Cortes Bay, then traveled down Malaspina Strait on the east side of Texada Island to Pender Harbour.  From there we headed across the Strait of Georgia but not before encountering a pod of a half dozen orca near Thormanby Island.  We entered the Canadian Gulf Islands via Porlier Pass, anchoring for the night on the north side of Gray Peninsula by Montague Harbour. 

Other than strong opposing currents in the Boundary Pass area, crossing the border was straightforward. Our first port of call was Deer Harbor Marina where our yacht club has dock space.  The only other club boat there was Sea’s the Moment owned by Chris and Sandy Benson who winter moor in Winslow directly ahead of us on the dock.  We spent our first evening back gabbing for several hours with them catching up on travels.

Some winds were forecast on the Strait of Juan de Fuca the next day so we spent a second night at the dock.  An early start on Tuesday, September 9, got us across the strait in time to catch the start of the flood current down Admiralty Inlet.  We wanted to add some fuel in our tanks to get us through the winter so we headed to Poulsbo for the night with the intent to go to the fuel dock first thing the next morning. We took advantage of the reciprocal dock at the lovely Poulsbo Yacht Club marina for our nights moorage.

After taking on 300 gallons of diesel at the Poulsbo fuel dock, we headed to our winter spot on the dock in Eagle Harbor.  We arrived at 1130 on September 10, 20 weeks after departing on April 23.

During the 140 nights we were away, we anchored out 86 nights, moored at public docks (i.e., no services) 7 nights, and paid for moorage 47 nights.  Using my navigation program’s trip log as the arbiter, we covered 4052 nautical miles during that time.  Our main engine operated 720.8 hours including 48.5 hours spent at idle fishing or taking photographs.  Subtracting those idling hours, we averaged 6.03 nm/hour which is our normal speed.  This average speed includes the time spent anchoring and docking at the begin and end of each day’s travels.  Fuel economy calculations will have to wait until next Spring when we fill up ahead of our trip north.