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OZ II
Snug Cove, Bowen Island
Been sailing since I was a tween on the lochs of Scotland & found myself with an old unique 1984 41’ Irwin race boat for the last 7 years in the beautiful waters of British Columbia. I was also lucky to sail with Parlay Revival a 46.5’ ‘Jamie’ Lagoon Catermaran for 5 months last year in Pacific Mexico! Completed a 19 day delivery of a 50’ Benentau for FreeRange Ocean: Hawaii to Vancouver Island Canada last summer. Engaging in a citizen science project in conjunction with the University of Hawaii & NASA to test for microplastics and phytoplankton. Those are but a few of the significant highlights but really it’s in the little moments that the magic happens.
Another motor day for us! Experienced SE winds as we continued our journey home. A rather chill and uneventful day boat wise BUT got treated to 6 humpback whale sittings, breaches, porpoises feeding on fish, and some curious sea lions. Gilbert the cat enjoyed some deck time and got some good sniffs. We managed to pick up marine debris 1) massive deflated helium balloon that contained what we are calling a sea dragon (sorry we have no photos) and released it back to the sea 2) a small peice of polystyrene. We anchored in Buccaneer Bay right off of BCs rate sandy white beaches. The wind picked up and we kept on eye on our proximity to other boats as we swung all night. Made a dinner of amazing green curry and watched the amazing sunset. Not a bad life out here.
A longer day for us on this day. Even managed to get the main sail & the foresail up for some bites of motorsailing. Once the wind died we were back to just the main but still felt good to harness the wind! We enjoyed good music and some dancing. Sun tanning as we cruised our way to Tenedos. We resupplied in refuge cove to grab some more veggies, meat and ice and then on our way again. As we arrived at Tenedos a fellow by the name of graham sidled his dinghy up to us and said hello. Elle recognized him as another sailer we had met 2 days prior. He welcomed us to his 4 boat raft and we were inclined to say yes! This was my first ever 5 sailboat raft and it was such a good time! Graham and his family were wonderful. The girls and I went to land to enjoy beautiful Unwin lake and were back by sundown to clean the belly of the boat, change the zincs and share a potluck dinner and stories with our new float family.
After 2.5 weeks of leaving Oz (Elles sailboat) moared in Cortes Island we were reunited!! Now with Jules in tow. Getting back to Cortes Island via Squamish (by land) was abit of a tricky journey as Elle and Jules had a ride all the way to Lund, where as I and Gilbert (the cat) had to hitchhike all the way - which included 2 ferries. All was smooth traveling though as I managed to line up both my hitchhiking options straight to Lund where I met up with the girls and all three of us boarded a friends sailboat who motored us the last leg to squirrel cove to get Oz sail ready! (Travel day was Aug 21) One Aug 22 we provisioned at squirrel cove, and then with the potential of good times and good company around the corner at Mansons Landing - we decided to put off our Journey into desolation sound by one day. The wind was calm so we choose to motor on over. We arrived and met up with lots of sailor friends! Did our final provision at the nearby grocery store, checked out the very unique white sand interior lake, and then had a little cocktail hour on Elles friends private mooring dock. Had yummy dinner of pasta and then as more people came aboard OZ I turned down for the night early - falling asleep to the lovely sounds of friends enjoying each other company.