The scene last night, Sunday:  The sea is liquid silver.  The sunset is spectacular.  A family of seal’s frolics.  Eagles settle in for the night.  Only two other boats are in view.  There are no winds.  The temperature is perfect.  We’ve just finished our salmon dinner (thank goodness for professional fishermen) and are enjoying the end of a great day on the fly bridge.  Michael Franks plays from the stereo quietly in the background along with the sounds of the surf on the island 300 feet off our side.  The ¾ moon is rising.  Life is good.

We’ve had a wonderful 2 days adventuring to new territory at Gorge Harbor and now anchored on the north side of Lasqueti Island (which is a few miles from the southwest side of Texada Island).

The last couple of days have been wonderful. After spending the morning doing some chores on the boat we left Octopus Island and easily passed Beazley passage and quickly made our way into Gorge Harbor. Gorge Harbor was a lovely protected bay with a fantastic little resort. The entrance has tricky little sand spit entrance, but the Captain navigated it perfectly.  After the sand spit you turn through a little “gorge” entrance and into a perfectly protected, circular harbor.  The resort has been recently remodeled and expanded.  It’s a perfect spot adults as well as for children and grandchildren.

We enjoyed an afternoon of sun and then headed by dinghy for a very nice dinner at the restaurant.  Luckily for us there was also entertainment at Gorge Harbor on Saturday night.  Judy and Bruce Wing played wonderful guitar music and songs that included mellow covers as well as music written by Judy Wing.  Her angelic voice and witty lyrics were wonderful.  Judy and Bruce were very special.

We slept in and after breakfast and then headed for a run on Cortes Island.  It’s a quaint island community, frozen in time.  We passed big trees, very few people, a very old little library, and even a little bakery.

When we were done running we took the dinghy out to the sand spit.  The tide was low and the water on the sand spit relatively warm.  The Captain even went swimming! The First Mate waded.

Our time in Desolation sound this year comes to an end with the change in the tide.  After our swim we returned to the True Love and raised the dingy, brought in the kayaks and headed with the late day tide south towards Texada and Lasqueti Islands.  The night before we had reviewed the tides and the schedule and possible late evening anchorages.  Taking into account the late sunset, the tides and our travel speed the Captain chose Scottie Bay on the northeast corner of Lasqueti Island.  But as we got closer we noticed the little Islands on the north side of Lesqueti Island called the Fegen Islets, and that’s where we anchored. The chart showed possible anchorage there so we decided to check them out and reconnoiter.

The sky is darkening and the seals and birds have settled.  We have left the fly bridge (dusk’s mosquitoes had discovered us) and are now listening to Nora Jones while waiting for the sunset to end and the stars to appear.

The anchor held perfectly although it was a bit wavy during the night.  We woke to a pretty sunrise.  The trip to Nanaimo was a bit choppy do to the opposite northerly tide and a 10 knot southerly wind.  But we made good time.  Currently we are using the Starbucks high speed internet to catch up on mail and postings. I love high speed internet.   We’re here for a few hours and then we head south with the tide and continue into the Gulf Islands.  Our goal is to reach Victoria by Wednesday night and head back to the USA on Friday.

The Captain and First Mate of the True Love like to plan each day’s voyage around the tides and the winds.  Our recent time on the sea has filled us with a sense of connectedness with nature and the waters we are traveling.  With are filled with a sense of awe and wonder for the beauty and powers of the waters we are so lucky to travel together each summer.  Five more days!