Crawford Anchorage near Erasmus Island is probably our second favorite anchorage. With only a new moon and a very low dew point we stayed up late to enjoy the amazing star watching.

From Erasmus we can easily take our tender to Blind Channel and we went over to see if we could find our friends Helen & Jeff of the “Tortoise.” We shared stories and cocktails before returning to the True Love, still quietly anchored in our private bay. When we have the opportunity to anchor in a quiet place by ourselves, we take advantage of the solitude.

The stars were spectacular so we stayed up late, slept in and then headed track to Blind Channel to resupply.

Although the winds were very strong just a mile a way in Johnstone Strait, the glassy calm waters at our anchorage made for lovely kayaking and we circumnavigated the little island in about 30 minutes. Earlier I had given the Captain a needed hair cut and we even found some of his hair on the other side of the Island.

Inspired by the stars the night before I began campaigning for another late night photo shoot. I can’t take long exposure shots on the True Love because of all the movement. Getting star photos requires solid ground.

It’s not the Captain’s favorite job, but we scoped out a location to take a photo of part of the Milky Way. He rightfully worries that one of us may end up in the cold 51 degree water, in the dark. But, we took the tender to two locations and found a good landing for a late night photo shoot that he felt, at least somewhat comfortable with trying around midnight.

While exploring the Captain spotted a little eel in the tide pool.

So after a day of kayaking and a late dinner we watched the sun set, the stars appear and the Milky Way bloom in the sky. Then we loaded the equipment in the tender, and with head lamps and of course life vests we headed to the flat rock at the previously explored landing on the north side of the bay. The tide was a little higher than we expected so we docked in a slightly different place, but I was able to capture a pretty good star shot. Even with my macro star lens that I used to photograph the Aurora Borealis in Norway, I could not capture the entire Milky Way. It’s just too big. But we got some good shots, the adventure was thrilling and satisfying and safe.

Of course we slept in, enjoyed some more kayaking, but you guessed it! I was inspired by the first night to try again at another location. The True Love has some cool underwater lights we installed a few years ago and I thought they would add to another star photo. I also spotted a cool flat rock easily accessible and very near to our anchorage. So I convinced the Captain (I’m very persuasive) to investigate it during the day, and it looked doable so he agreed to give it a shot that night.

Then it was off to Campbell River for a 2 hour stop for some refueling, groceries, some spare parts at a marine store and a visit to Canadian Tire. Canadian Tire has almost everything (not just tires) anyone needs in life, except groceries. It’s well stocked, well staffed and we love it!

We docked at April Point, on the other side of Discovery Passage from Campbell River. The old resort there is in complete disrepair and closed, but the marina still exists and is a quiet little spot with beautiful views. The docks aren’t in great shape, but with power and water are good enough. We had multiple zoom meetings the next day and needed to make sure our trusty starlink works best when the boat is either underway or stationery at a dock (and not spinning around an anchor).

Because the resort is now closed the road to it makes for perfect bicycling through the forest. So we rode our e-bikes to get some fish & chips near the ferry, about 2 miles away. Then we scoped out the nearby bakery for the next morning. “Aroma” is a perfect local bakery filled with locals and visitors all enjoying the yummy baked goods.

Then it was off to Gorge Harbour about 20 miles away for a stop over to meet our friends Carmie and Dena before heading further south to the Beach Gardens Marina (near Powell River) for a couple of days on our way back to our summer moorage in Pender Harbour. Gorge Harbour used to have a restaurant but they had to take it down because it wasn’t structurally sound. We decided to anchor in the protected harbour. The wind kicked up and the“ anchor held fine but we spun around quite a bit and the sound of the wind driven waves on the boat was intense overnight.

Gorge Harbour has free yoga daily every morning at a large patio next to the marina and we enjoyed a wonderful class, before raising the anchor and heading south. Jim has been doing yoga regularly with me for about a year and now he’s absolutely fine in a class. The teacher said a couple of things that we especially liked. First she said, “yoga is all about breathing, and we are just going to do some movements around that breathing.” She also said to think of yourself as having two ways to focus your attention: outward (projecting) and inward (observing). Yoga is about calming your mind so that you can focus on your breathing and inner self while meditating in the moment (not thinking about the past or the future). It spoke to us. The hour class went by quickly.

After docking at the Beach Gardens Marina, we had a little water pump problem, but it was easily fixed. The tube next to the water pressure gauge fell off again so I decided to cut off the end of the old, dried-out tubing there and reattach it. So far this little fix seems to be doing the job. The whole project from discovery of the problem to a lasting solution only took 30 minutes so we aren’t even counting it as a stoic challenge. I actually thought we should have done it before, but we were too tired at the end of the repair last time.

Our e-bikes came in handy once again to explore. Last time we were here we had a bear encounter on the coastline walking path. But, not this time. Instead we lucked into the last day of the Logger Sports event. We’ve seen this before with our friend Erika. It’s totally awesome.

Powell River is quite the foody place so eating out is a must. We began with dessert first, yummy ice cream at the Logger event, and then a lovely “linner” with great food and a view. At the restaurant we chatted with a man from Seattle. He heard us discussing the crazy political situation and we all found a lot of agreement about the mess we are in. He’s the head researcher at Children’s Hospital. We told him we are part of Dick’s and he thought that was amazing. He had met someone on the ferry coming over from Vancouver Island who told him that when he is in Seattle he always goes to Dick’s. Then he met up with us. We love hearing stories like that. Back at the True Love we did some necessary cleaning and enjoyed another wonderful sunset glowing off the Salish Sea.