S/V Ripple

May 16, 2015 Our perfectly-timed rendezvous at Jedediah afforded us an easy next-day up to Powell River, where Terry and Alane live.  We looked forward to dinner with them prior to pushing north to Desolation Sound. Jedediah is nestled between Lasqueti Island to the south and the long stretch of Texada to the North, and a good weather forecast augured well for this shortish day.  It turned into the psychological nadir of the trip. I did our preflight inspection, paying close attention to oil and fuel lines.  My Rescue-Tape jury rig of the leaky banjo compression washers was holding up well, and the oil levels were fine.  I had neglected to push the diesel cut-off choke cable when I tried to start the engine, and the result was a belching exhaust, the visual equivalent of farting loudly in public.  Embarrassing, but easily rectified, the engine then started fine, and each boat peeled away from our raft-up. Terry led the way north along the 30 miles or so ...

Northbound in the Gulf Islands, BC May 14-15, 2015 Flush with the success of extracting the Hook of Paranoia, we waltzed northward through the Gulf Islands accompanied by sunny, warm weather.  Careful to stay out of the way of the early morning ferry traffic, we worked our way up Captain's Passage past Salt Spring Island, then past Mayne, north along Galiano, Valdes, and Gabriola. We put up the drifter, our first canvas of the trip, and motor-sailed, reluctant to enjoy the peace of diesel-less travel as we had a tight schedule to make it through Dodd Narrows at slack water. We cleared Dodd on the flood tide (just) and finished the day in Nanaimo -- at the mooring balls at Newcastle Island Marine Provincial Park .  Nanaimo has a number of marinas convenient to downtown for those who want to take advantage of Nanaimo's charm, but the park anchorage is convenient to fuel, city views, and has easy-access to Newcastle Island. The entire island is parkland, with pleasan...