Yesterday we got a fairly early start from the Copeland Islands and 50 miles later arrived in Pender Harbour around 2:00. We like it here. Its not remote the way Desolation Sound is remote but its not civilization the way Vancouver is civilized either. We’re anchored in Gerrans Bay which is kind of the poor man’s bay in Pender Harbour. There’s several bays to choose from here and we’ve anchored in three of them now.
The first time we came here we anchored in Garden Bay which we have subsequently learned is notorious for its poor holding characteristics. We dragged our shiny CQR all around that bay in the middle of the night and moved onto the dock the next day. That may have had as much to do with the poor holding characteristics of the CQR as it did with the poor holding characteristics of the bay bottom.
The next time we were here we anchored in Hospital Bay which is the next bay to the west of Garden Bay. As I recall the holding was pretty good in there but it was relatively deep. We were back here again, maybe last summer, and that time we anchored where we are now, in Gerrans Bay. This is a little rougher area of town without quite as many million dollar mansions around the shoreline but I think its the best anchorage we’ve found anywhere yet. The bottom is really heavy mud so when you get the anchor stuck into it you’re really and truly stuck. And its not too deep so we don’t have to put out miles of chain. Despite that some fool came and dropped his anchor maybe 50 feet off our bow last night. This morning I could have spit onto his transom but to his credit he did dinghy over last night and apologize for being too close.
That’s one of the permanently moored derelicts in this bay – the Pacific Challenge tug. Built in the late 1950’s and originally launched as the Jacqueline W she has had a long career as a deepwater tug. Its sad to see her end that life as a derelict in this bay but I guess that’s inevitable for most boats. Either they go to the breakers, go down or end up being an eyesore. At 60 plus years old though its not hard to see that this one was a real beauty at one time.
This one on the other hand, has little to recommend it. I’m not sure why it stays afloat but there it is, guarding the mouth of the bay. Perhaps its like the one in Cow Bay that the Coast Guard responded to, thinking that because it was awash it must be sinking only to discover that it was so full of expanding foam that it literally couldn’t sink.
1 comment:
Your chronology of the Pacific Challenge is reversed. She became the "Jacqueline W" after Pacific Towing purchased her. She was named after the owners daughter. She spent quite a bit of time towing a paper barge between Port Alberni and California.
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