Chug chug chug goes the engine

We got a late start out of Victoria on Wednesday; it turned out that the power cable (and cookies... thanks Mom!) I was waiting for was NOT just waiting up at the marina office for us. There was an import duty due on the package, and for some reason the Harbour Authority couldn't find or use the credit card information we had used to pay for our berth, and couldn't get us on the phone, and consequently it hadn't been paid so Fedex didn't leave the package. I gave them my credit card that morning when they told me about the problem, but Fedex didn't re-attempt delivery until 1330 or so and we didn't get away from the float until 1400, three hours later than I had planned. Also, I had no chance to actually charge up the Powerbook.

There was fog and wind reported out in the Strait but we found neither when we exited the harbour. We had to motor around the Trial Islands and only then found a light southeasterly breeze to push us along. We hadn't entirely lost the tide, though, so we made good time weaving through the rocks and shoals inshore of the Discovery Islands. I lost the tide north of there, but Mandy took over and picked up a patch of brisk wind that saw us in almost to Sidney Island, where we dropped anchor at Spencer Spit.

It was much quieter there than at our last visit, most likely on account of it being mid-week. All the mooring buoys were still taken, however... damn retirees! It's an easy anchorage, though, plenty of room and good, shallow holding throughout. We decided to use our walky-talkies to coordinate the anchor drop, particularly since they had worked so well when Mandy was up the mast working on the radar. Unfortunately, it turns out that the clips are not so secure... I had mine clipped to my life vest, and when I bent down to unhook the anchor, it slipped off without the slightest hesitation and plopped right into the drink. Didn't even have a chance to use them once for their intended purpose!

I did get a chance to try out my new longish range wifi adapter, and was pretty impressed that it was able to pick up a mid-strength signal from the marina in Sidney, a distance of nearly two miles. The signal was okay but our alignment was shaky even using an omni antenna so it wasn't steady enough to do much other than check e-mail.

The rest of the night at the Spit was uneventful and we pulled out relatively late the next day, waiting (although not long enough!) for more favorable tides. There was a timing issue; we had to hit Dodd Narrows south of Nanaimo at or around slack, which meant we had to have a very specific speed to cover the distance involved. This precluded all but an hour or so of sailing through the day; even though the wind was good, and at our backs, it wasn't quite good enough.

So, we dodged traffic up Trincomali Channel under power for most of the trip, listening in passing to the whale watching vessel Explorasaur going down on the other side of Mayne Island from us... all 34 passengers and crew were rescued, although the captain and mate had to be fished out of the water at the end.

We're in Nanaimo now, tucked away at the port boat basin near the chandlery so we can stock up in the morning. The store here has better selection than what we found in Victoria (there is probably someplace better in Victoria, but we hadn't found it) and the prices will be comparable if they're similar to last year.

The radar has been working normally, but of course I suspect this is only because we haven't had any need for it lately.

We're both tired of motoring so much, but motor we must... we were more delayed than I had hoped in Victoria, although it was a fun time, and we want to spend most of our trip in the hardest to reach places: the other side of the island, in other words. With the wind generally ahead of us and a number of current gates to pass to get there, about three more solid days on the engine are probably what we are looking at. I'm looking forward to taking my time on the other side; I hope that things work out that way, although I have a suspicion that once you start rushing on account of some deadline or other you never really stop. We can be gone through the end of August if need be, but life would be a little easier if we get back with a couple weeks to spare before the end of the month there.