Our trip from Waddington to Cortes Island, Gorge Harbour to be precise, was going to be our biggest day. It is about 100 nautical miles or 185 km for those of you who are not sea-worthy. In smooth waters, this is a nice long day. In windy conditions, our pace slows and the day becomes longer.
Things did not start well and we were facing a headwind of about 15 knots. A trailing 3 knot current against this headwind created short and steep four foot seas makes the lattes more difficult to sip. Not horrific but not exactly smooth either. Mercifully the rock and rolling did not last and once we got into Sunderland Channel, our customary glass like waters returned. Our speed returned to our usual comfortable cruising speed...about 22 to 24 knots, or 40 to 45 km per hour.
We briefly saw another Humpback Whale. We also enjoyed another dolphin encounter, but our photos were limited. Not because of lack of effort but because these are elusive animals, especially in rougher water.
The Gorge Marina on Cortes Island, boasts a legendary 5 – Star restaurant and according to Josh (dock manager) was open. Josh explained over the phone that we could order and have dinner delivered to the boat and also gave a detailed explanations of the ordering protocol. Josh confirmed that there was room for us that night (Monday) and we agreed we would be there in a few hours. Most importantly for Blog creation, we were further assured by Josh that the Wifi was great too. This seemed like an ideal spot to over-night even though it was further away than we would have liked.
The reality of the situation....the docks at the Marina and the grounds were great but the Wifi, that they over-charge for and limited the data to, sucked and the Restaurant was open only from Wednesday to Saturday. The brilliant Josh never made the connection that we were booking for Monday ONLY and we were asking whether the restaurant was open WHILE WE WERE THERE. Further, this guy actually telephoned the little store at the marina to alert them that two people from one boat were headed that way and then they restricted access to one of us. Needless to say, he ratted us out. The icing on the cake...Josh lives on a sailboat in the Marina. He and his pals started their party at about midnight and not sure if they ever shut it down. This was not our best night, Larry!
Cortes seemed like it has a particularly heavy representation of, shall we say, unique individuals. From nubile dock stripper/swimmer to members of the raging grannies, there were endless interesting types.
Sadly, the blog scribe on our boat had to participate in two endlessly boring video calls in the morning and delayed our departure. The other crew kindly went on a walk to help such scribe and also save themselves from the audit committee babbling.
Apparently, the tour guide on the walk got his crew lost quickly and often. After some mansplainin’ the crew staged a small mutiny and the Captain went his own way. The captain appears to be a better navigator on the sea than on land. The girl crew arrived back a good 30 minutes ahead of their Leader. The 3 km walk turned into 15km.
Sue scored some fabulous local arugula and mustard greens to enhance our noshing.
Our departure was blessed by this guy guarding the narrow channel and even he did not seem to be disappointed that we were leaving.
On we go.