Victoria...

Had a great meal...thank you Linda and Howard...

A friend of Howard's, Roger from Nanaimo gave him an option that would be a temporary fix and allow him to get home and do his repair at home but needed to get a hold of the mechanic...

Friday morning the mechanic called and yes the temporary fix could be made and that day!!!!!!

Now for the turning of the boats....Friday was a calm morning and with people help from the Harbour commission we were able to turn both boats while being attached....no engines were required just muscle power and patients....

With Silhouette secure Dance Lightly moved away from the dock and out of Victoria saying good bye to Silhouette.

We ran into a few big boats on our way out...After Eight was coming out, the Clipper,  the Coho and a large barge were coming in....oh the pressure of it all...but we managed...

Had a great sail around Victoria and then into Capital City Yacht Club (Sidney). 

Stayed the night....going to Clam Bay tonight...

Propinquity had a slog down the the Juan De Fuca in Fog but all her  expensive equipment came in handy...then into Esquimalt Harbour today ( Saturday)

Blue An Teak had a successful night time run down the Juan De Fuca and sailed into Discovery Islands and then onto Ganges today ( Saturday)

We all feel like our trip is done...but a great trip it has been...thank you everyone from Dance Lightly it has been a pleasure/fun/exciting/stressful/relaxing time...one we will never forget!!!!!

I will send out a couple more blogs with recipes and pictures...stay tuned...

Over and out from "Circle the Rock" gang.......

Lots to tell!!!!!

Tuesday silhouette and Dance Lightly traveled to Bamfield what a great sea side town.....

Brady beach...

We stayed a few hours and then went to Dodger Channel to an hour over night. While there we had a fire on the beach...cooked hotdogs and s'mores....great fun!!!! Invited a couple from the states to join us for s'mores...they were Jerry and Cathy on New Sensations.

Murphy and Skye were eating everything insight...

On Tuesday Propinquity sailed up pipestem Inlet and enjoyed the waterfall...we understand that Rick went in...not sure about Mary and Kirk????

Blue An Teak went back to Ucluelet to pick up Allan's daughter and get ready for their overnighter.....

Wednesday...Propinquity sailed to Effingham Inlet and Dance Lightly and Silhouette started the Westcoast slide down the Juan De Fuca....

Up bright and early...stopped in at Port San Juan for a quick dog stop.... A bit windy but Linda and Barb were able to man the boats while the guys rowed the dogs to shore.

Continued on down and were making great time and then the call over the radio...Silhouette...the oh shit moment...

Bad news from Howard, engine was overheating and the oil light was on. Howard shut down the engine and was in sail mode only. The two continued to the mouth of Becher Bay. At this point Dance Lightly tied up along side Silhouette (rafted) and pulled them into a small marina that just happened to have a great space ( size) available. 

Safe and sound...this was a 14 hour day...dogs were great!!!!!

Dance Lightly left Silhouette for the night and anchored around an Island that had a gorgeous house on it...

Sun set....

The next morning Howard radioed and again an oh shit moment...damage to the water pump was more severe and he was going to need major parts and a mechanic. Decision time...Silhouette needed to get to Victoria! So, Dance Lightly came along side (rafted) again and pulled Silhouette off the dock and into the Juan De Fuca....no fog, little swell, current in the right direction and good following wind...we let them loose and both boats had a good sail up to Ogden Point where again Dance Lightly came along side Silhouette and pulled them into Victoria Harbour and moorage. This was the the Thursday before the long weekend...everything was full!!!!!! The Harbour commission did make space available and they gave us an escort in....

Empress...After Eight moored in the Harbour...

Of course there was a cruise ship in the Harbour...

A small problem coming onto the docks in Victoria....Dance Lightly had to turn into the wind to come in safely...this though pinned Dance Lightly on the inside of the dock....oh well we will figure out how to solve this problem later....right now a beer and wine were needed!!!!!!!!!!

Over and out from "Circle the Rock"

Broken Islands..

Monday Dance Lightly and Silhouette joined Propinquity in Joes Bay Anchorage in the Broken Islands...

While traveling Harvey saw a couple of fish on his fish finder so he threw out his hook and SUCCESS!!!!! An 8 to 10lb coho...okay now we can go home....

So, guess what we had for dinner that night.....

Great evening with Propinquity and Silhouette..

Blue An Trek  left Ucluelet travelled to Joe's Bay Cove and then went on to Effingham Bay on Monday. They mentioned that there were great caves at Dicebox Island

Summer of the Gales....

We heard one sailor yesterday say that this has been the summer of  gales...gale force winds that is...

And of all summers we chose this one to go around the Island....but because of the high pressure that created the gales we have had warm clear weather..no rain!!!!!!

It has not been that bad for us though...we have managed to go out early in the morning before the gales whipped up and we have stayed inside for most parts...

Sunday, Propinquity made a successful run between Tofino and Ucluelet...again gales...25 to 35 knot winds had been predicted except south of Estevan Point where light winds had been predicted...which made their sail a bit lumpy but okay.

Silhouette and Dance Lightly left Ucluelet, did some fishing, saw whales and slowly arrived into a place called Cataract Cove, Pipestem Inlet....gorgeous...

When we arrived we quickly jumped into our dingy and motored to Lucky creek where at the head was  a beautiful waterfall falling into three pools. Sorry no pictures..

It was a bit tricky navigating the slippery rocks and then swimming all three pools but Linda and Barb managed to hike to the base of the waterfall...spectacular...Howard, Harvey, Murphy and Skye stayed at the first pool cheering the ladies on....thanks guys!!!!

That evening Dance Lightly was fortunate to taste one of Linda's fabulous meals...Thai cooking...again absolutely mouth watering...Linda is not only the Appie queen she is also the queen of cooking anything!!!! We have all had the opportunity at some point during this trip to experience her great cooking...Thank you Linda. There will be one blog dedicated to food....stay tuned...we are not home yet...I am sure there will be more great dinners/lunches to come that will need to be mentioned...

Not exactly sure where Blue An Teak sailed off to Saturday but we know they were wanting to go somewhere within the Broken Islands to some kayaking...

Story...Saturday night Silhouette and Dance Lightly decided to go out for dinner to the Canadian Princess...but we were a bit worried about Murphy, you see when left alone Murphy decides to serenade everyone around... 

A decision was made...Skye and Murphy are getting along very well and seem to like each others company so we put the two dogs on Dance Lightly and zipped up the enclosure.! Linda let the boats around know that we were leaving and Murphy might sing a few tunes....we walked away...no noise...Skye you are doing a great job of babysitting!!!!l

Well.....we came back two hours later and saw a note pinned on Silhouette saying that Murphy was on  their boat...Dream Weaver from Washington.  It seems Murphy did not make a sound but was Houdini...the people from Dream Weaver were coming back from walking their dog to find Murphy running on the dock....not sure how he got out... put him back onto the boat but noticed a few minutes later he was back out again!!! This time they saw that he was crawling out from underneath the canvas...Harvey had not snapped down the enclosure...this still was a major undertaking because the enclosure is so tight with all the zippers down up!!! So, the kind people took Murphy on board their boat while they played cards and we came back from dinner. We asked how Skye was and they said she just laid there taking in all the excitement....way to go Skye...some babysitter you are!!!!!

Oh the joys of boating!!!

Sunday...meeting up with Propinquity in Joe's Bay....

Over and out from "Circle the Rock".

Fly away Peter, fly away Paul...come back Mary!!!

While in Tofino Propinquity did another crew change....Deb, told Peter it was time to quit playing and come home and Rick on the other hand wanted Mary to come and play...he was missing her and Sailor!!! So, for those of you who have been following...Propinquity started with Mary, Rick and Sailor, then it was Peter and Paul. Kirk and Mary then arrived and for two days Propinquity had everyone on board...then it was just Peter, Kirk and Rick...now it is Mary, Rick, Kirk and Sailor...I know one needs a crew list tracking sheet to keep track of the comings and goings...

Saturday...gale force winds 30 to 40 knots predicted except light in the morning south of Tofino...do we go or stay...we did not like where we were staying...

Decision...we all decided to send Blue An Teak out to test the waters...are we smart or what!!!!

30 minutes later they reported back winds were about 8 knots and 1 to 2 metre swells...that was enough for Dance Lightly and Silhouette to start their engines. Propinquity had already decided to stay in the  Clayoquot area so, we said our goodbyes and will meet up with them again somewhere in the Broken Islands...

Crab traps everywhere coming out of Tofino...not fun!!!

So, this is what the Wickaninnish looks like from the water...

The Island we walk to from Chesterman beach...

Where did Silhouette go????

Amphitrite Lighthouse...Harvey often wondered as I imagine many have what it would be like to sail around the Lighthouse...now he knows!!!!

Ucluelet feels like home...silhouette and Dance Lightly have tied up to dock while Blue An Teak have anchored out. Anna's son has joined them on board for a what they say will be a three day tour of the Broken Islands. 

For the next few days we will be exploring the Broken Islands...we can hardly wait...

Over and out from "Circle the Rock".

Tofino....

Update...

Thursday night Silhouette and Blue An Teak stayed in God"s Pocket not Tofino. They did though travel to Tofino on Friday along with Dance Lightly and Propinquity.

Note...

Thursday morning Blue An Teak was coming out of Hot Springs Cove in a bit of mist and fog...Anna was on the look out when she thought she saw a ghost ship...well the ghost ship turned out to be a whale watching boat and there between the whale watching boat and their boat three humpback whales were moving through the water.....she said it was magical!!!

I too felt this whole Clayoquot Sound area to be very mystical/magical...I now know where aboriginal artists get their inspiration from...my pictures have tried to capture this mystic..

Moon high in the sky incredible blues!!!

Multiple layers of hills and mountains...

Coming into Tofino was very interesting, it was low tide and the area is already very shallow!!!

lots and lots of beaches between Hot Springs Cove and Tofino.

Tofino.....a disappointment....

Anchoring was not fun, crab traps everywhere and a current moving through that rivals Dodd Narrows. Off to town...well, I forgot that this is summer in Tofino....people, people and more people...it was quite the shell shock after being away from civilization for so long!!!!

On Thursday Silhouette caught another Coho Salmon so they were kind enough to share with the gang Friday night....we all like Silhouette...thank you Howard and Linda.

Oh, Murphy is feeling much better and agreed to have his picture taken....

To be continued....

More excitement...

So, it seems that I have been leaving out "Rock" from our name...this may be due to trying to avoid hitting them!!!!! Our name though still is "Circle the Rock".

Peter has reported that many of our faithful readers are anxiously waiting for a close up shot of a sea otter...let me tell you this is not easy...they are very shy creatures here is the best shot I have but I understand that Allan and Anna have a great shot, I will send this out once Allan is able to send these pictures to me. We have been told that there are around 2000 otters between Brooks and Nootka Sound, they are eating all the crabs that live above 200 ft. It seems otters cannot go down beyond that depth.

This is a picture of between 40 to 50 sea otters rafting together in Winter Harbour...

After Walters Cove I mentioned that Propinquity was going on to  Fair Harbour to pick up Mary and Kirk. Mary is staying on board for a couple nights and ask Kirk (fresh meat) will be replacing Paul on Propinquities journey south. 

Side bar....Propinquity now has Peter, Paul and Mary back on board. For those of you who have been following this blog closely you will remember that this occurred only one other time...yes, it was at Port McNeil...Rick the music guy is very happy.

We hope to see Paul and Mary again around Tofino.

Thursday, July 18th....the excitement...

Mary and Paul are on board but...

Before they had gone too far from the dock the ruder jammed!!! The good news is that they were able with some fancy maneuvering (threw out the anchor and took a stern line to shore) to get back to the dock with no damage. Bottle of scotch and a few hours later the ruder was fixed. Propinquity stayed the night in Fair Harbour and the next morning they sailed onto Dixie Cove where Blue An Teak and Dance Lightly spent an un eventful evening...a beautiful evening but un eventful!!!

Silhouette stayed in "Petroglyph Cove or better know as "Blue Lip Cove" Thrursday night. They reported the next day that this cove was like a pool...trees surrounding the cove, eagles soaring and schools of makeral everywhere. They were not able to meet up with their friends. We were told though that their friends did knock on the sail boat "Gavia" in Walters Cove looking for Silhouette...too bad they 'sued each other.

Dixie Cove was also a WOW...beautiful calm water, an outer and an iner cove. we stayed in the inner cove and enjoyed a great night watching eagles and otters. Anna and Allan had a great paddle around the cove..

Good night from "Circle the Rock"

Thursday, July 25th

..Left Hot Springs Cove Wednesday when the fog lifted...

Hot springs looking at it from the water....

This is Skye enjoying a lazy morning at Hot Springs Cove...

Murphy has not been feeling so hot...he had a rough sail around Estevan Point....he asked that no pictures be taken he was not himself...we feel for you Murphy!!!

From Hot Springs Cove Blue An Teak and Silhouette sailed to Ahousat, on Flores Island while Propinquity and Dance Lightly sailed up Shelter Inlet up to Bacchante Bay.

Bacchante Bay is just below the mountain peaks...

Bacchante Bay...Propinquity....

Along the way Peter caught a good size fish but unfortunately the line broke...they even had it in the boat!!! Harvey also had his line brake with a fish on the hook....so it was Jambalaya for dinner. The guys though made some very delicious halibut potato cakes from the halibut that Paul caught a few days ago.

Today, Dance Lightly and Propinquity are sailing to Ahousat and then onto Tofino tomorrow. I believe Blue An Teak and Silhouette are sailing to Tofino today and then onto Ucluelet.

Wow, Tofino...it is hard to believe that we all took three weeks to get here...it usually only takes a couple of hours!!! 

It has been though an incredible three weeks...weeks that this blog can never fully capture but we hope that our readers have been able to capture a glimpse of our fantastic Island.

Circle the Rock has one last hurdle to go through the Juan De Fuca Strait...but heh, after Cape Scott, Brooks Peninsula and Estevan Point we can do anything...which hopefully includes docking our boats which Allan keeps mentioning.

More later from Circle the Rock....

Tuesday, July 23rd...

,Have I mentioned the food on this trip...it is like staying at a five star resort. We are all being well fed!!!!

Breakfast...

Appie hour...

Linda our appie queen...has more shots of the food...I will send them when I have them.

We started out in fog this morning and then were able to do some serious sailing...winds picked up to about 22 knots and we were sailing along at about 6.7 knots.

This is what we woke up to...

Time is starting to fly by...we are now in Hot Springs Cove...

The boardwalk...

 

The Hot Springs are fabulous...we all felt it was worth the journey!!!! Whales blowing and breaching at the entrance to the cove...we could see them from within the hot springs that evening...pretty cool!!!!!

Linda has pictures that I will again send later.

Great day....good night from "Circle the Rock"