Secret Cove

I'll try to get some pictures up in the morning, it's really beautiful here.

We're anchored tenuously in a place called Secret Cove, up the Sunshine Coast a bit from Vancouver. I say "tenuously" because we neglected to factor in that this weekend is Victoria Day weekend here in Canada, and the entire population of metropolitan Vancouver is out on the water for the three-day vacation. Half of them are anchored out here or in nearby Smuggler's Cove, both popular tourist stops anyway. So we're wedged in to a less than desirable location, having arrived later in the day than the powerboating contingent. The only real advantage is that we're right across the cove from the marina, and I can hop on their wireless network.

We had a pretty nice sailing day today. The winds were sketchy--certainly never approaching the Small Craft Advisory that Environment Canada kept blaring on about--but generally sufficient to move us north with a helping current at our backs. We left Vancouver about 8AM (which was as early as the fuel dock opened... we haven't had a full tank since we left Seattle, and we needed some ice) and dropped anchor here around 6PM. Not too shabby, although we motored intermittently through the more variable winds.

The weather is just incredible. A cloud front was chasing us from the south all day but never caught up, so we had sunshine the whole way. It's still nice even now, but I imagine that will change.

The cove is a cozy little three-armed bay off of the Strait of Georgia, decorated with miniature islands, walled with evergreens, and stampeded by fun-loving vacationers. We're tucked off to one side with a couple of fishing boats which look a little stunned by all the activity. I like it, though... it reminds me of summers when I was younger on Lake Coeur d'Alene in Northern Idaho, which was and probably is very much the same sort of summer-time playground that this appears to be.

We're a little ahead of where I expected we would be but not as far as I had hoped, and due to the vagaries of scheduling, we're thinking now that we are going to have to cut Princess Louisa Inlet out of this trip. It's just a little too tight to get there and then back to Campbell River in time for Mandy's flight back to Seattle. It's a mixed blessing. We were really looking forward to Princess Louisa, but on the other hand we don't have to keep pushing ourselves now, and can slow down and enjoy the trip a little more. The inlet isn't going anywhere; we'll have chances in the future to get there, I'm sure.

So at this point I am thinking we'll just dawdle along a little tomorrow and maybe only go as far as Pender Harbour, another recommended stop (which we would have otherwise missed if we had to charge on for Princess Louisa).