Back in The Bay

We went back out in the big ocean a few days ago and spent about 4 hours getting bumped around in the Strait of Georgia.  It looked good when we left the dock at Plumper Cove so I headed out over the bar at Gibsons.  That’s the same bar that scared the crap out of us last spring on our abortive departure for Pender Harbour.  That day we ended up scuttling back with our tails between our legs but this year we stayed the course and headed south towards Sidney.  As we got close to Active Pass I realized that the pass was running hard but it was running in our direction.  Since we’ve been through it several times I didn’t think a strong current would be a huge problem so we ducked in there rather than continuing on south to Boundary Pass which had been my original intent.  The fact that we were getting bounced around pretty good no doubt influenced my decision but it was definitely the right call.  The Pass was running about 3 knots and there were a few rips at the south end but overall no big deal and it got us back to the dock at Sidney at least 2 hours sooner than if we had gone the south route.  Not to mention that once through the pass we were shielded from the bumps in the strait and had a smooth trip home the rest of the way.

We spent a night on the dock at the Yacht Club and then headed for our favorite prawning grounds.  We had originally intended to drop the traps yesterday, pull them once, reset them and spend at least one night on the anchor.  However by the time we pulled the traps the weather was starting to go to hell and the 30 amp power on our home dock was beckoning us.  The prospect of power and the forecast of a cold rainy day today persuaded us to run home even though we ended up arriving at the dock well past sunset.  There’s too many crab traps out there to do that but we got away with it, got home and got tied up.  Then we fired up the BBQ and cooked way more of our catch than we should have.  I didn’t have a bellyache when I went to bed but SWMBO said she did. 

There’s a cold rain drooling down on us today so the weather has confirmed our decision to come home.  I’m overdue for oil changes on the main engines & I likely could do the gennie at the same time.  I’m also in the middle of getting some stainless steel brackets built to raise the dinghy davits.  I want to get them fabricated before we leave for the haulout in March.  Last spring when I installed the davits I managed to drop some important bits in the harbour.  I’d rather drop them on the pavement while the boat is on the hard.  I’d rather not drop them at all but I am fundamentally a realist.