Am I seriously going to write a single logbook entry about FOUR of the Society Islands? Yes.

We are truly on “The Giddyup Plan” right now or as we have been calling it, Estrellita is moving “Charter Style” – referring to the fact that charter boats are often in a different anchorage for each meal. We are no longer on the leisurely movement schedule of someone with a long stay visa. We are on the westward slide with the 2014 pack of puddle jumpers trying to pack in as much as we can before we have to escape the hurricane zone.

We had been to Moorea before and Raiatea before. Mostly we did the same type of things in both places on our recent visit. We had guests in for part of our stay in Moorea (THANKS MOM & DAD!) and we saw stingrays and toured around the island. Raiatea was a short stop at the Uturoa town dock for groceries at the Champion.

Tip: This has to be the best kept provisioning secret in French Polynesia. Easier than a car even, you can roll your cart full of groceries directly alongside your vessel – not even a dinghy ride!

Huahine was a new stop for us and we arrived in the company of new friends aboard SV Liward. We had hoped to kite but the wind didn’t like that idea and after some fun times and live music we moved on after only a couple of days.

We hit a single anchorage on Tahaa, also a new stop for us. We anchored on a sand ledge, in front of a lovely motu, snorkeled in the strong current of a hoa (false pass) with excellent variety of fish and not bad coral. Really worth the stop.

…then we sailed to Bora TO CHECK OUT OF FRENCH POLYNESIA!

Since our 2012 puddle jump, this visit was our fifth time in Tahiti with our boat (!) and we have also been twice additionally to Tahiti without the boat when flying in and out of the country. This time we had guests (Livia’s parents) and we saw even more of the island than we have seen before. It is true that there always seems to be something new, something more to see even in places that you have spent so much time exploring.

Leaving Tahiti was painful. Over the years we have made some good friends who live in Tahiti and the goodbyes were difficult. Leaving Tahiti behind was also exciting. Sailing out of Tahiti meant westward and new landfalls. Each time we say goodbye to a region of French Polynesia it is a bittersweet mix of sadness and excitement.

Ahhhh…Fakarava. Having spent so much time in the area, with more time in Fakarava than any other atoll, it was a delight to try two new anchorages, both of which we loved as our last stops in the Tuamotus.

Hirifa, in the SE corner of Fakarava, about 5 miles from the S pass, was a kiteboarding paradise. Long sand spits for launching, almost no coral heads to hit, and we could anchor either in the protection of the motu or right by a sand bar to shorten our “daily commute”. Add to that, there is a NEW RESTAURANT in HIrifa, run by Liza and her family, who will make delicious meals for anyone with a little advance notice (the day before or perhaps the morning of). We were there for the opening (more on that later) and the feast was spectacular.

We also anchored not far from the N pass in Fakarava. The reef by the first marker as you are heading into the pass toward Rotoava had some excellent snorkeling and the beaches were long and sandy.

Fakarava is a great place to have guests which we did for two weeks (again, more on that separately).

    

I will always remember Mexico fondly as the first place that I bribed a police officer.

Truthfully, it was a team effort involving, Carol, my parents who were visiting, a car borrowed from a friend and myself (hover over photos for team names).

We parked in front of a restaurant in La Paz. Carol left the restaurant early to check on the truck. As we were paying, the person at the front of the restaurant told me there was a problem with where we were parked. I went outside and saw a line of cars with tickets on them and a police officer talking to Carol.

It turns out that the officer had ticketed everyone equally but had decided to wait in front of the car with California plates - to encourage us to "pay now". With our limited Spanish comprehension, his limited English and a lot of gesturing, he told us the ticket would cost 1000 pesos if we went to the station (most definitely a lie) but that we could pay $50USD now and he would tear up the ticket.

Carol got into the spirit of things, seeing that the position of power had altered with the officer's introduction of the topic of a bribe, and began bargaining. They agreed upon $25. When presented with the money the officer tried to reopen the bargaining for $40 but we stood firm at the agreed upon $25. This was, we figured, the price of a parking ticket back in Victoria and surely a substantial portion of his income, making it a reasonable deal for everyone.

We got some flack from a local who was upset that tourists pay the bribes because the people living them are trying to eliminate them. What she wanted us to have done was to have followed the officer to the station. I see her point but we were not interested in following the officer around town or in waiting several hours at the station to pay a substantially lesser fine. We also had a bit of gringo fear at getting any further involved with the police or visiting a police station. This, of course, the officer could have guessed as well.

More exciting than most tourist attractions, we paid $25 to ride the "Mordida Coaster". Good job Team Mordida!

HAPPY CANADA DAY!

We have had so much great Southerly wind that, after our week in the Gulf Islands, we've been heading North faster than expected. We never expected so much fantastic sailing and I'm tickled pink that we've sailed more than 80% of the miles so far. I have to say though that after the mileage and two weeks of guests, however easy the guests were, we were a bit happy that the forecast gave us a day off so we can sit here just North of Campbell River resting (and enjoying some stolen internet - by the way, while near towns we've even stolen internet while sailing if you can believe it).

I last left the logbook during the middle of a downwind sail from Pirate's Cove which ended up, as planned, at Hornby Island but not in the main bay as planned but in Fox Cove. En route our crew got to experience some strong winds and before anchoring we turned into wind for a bit so they could feel how different the wind felt as we were beating into it.

The wind continued building and we chose to anchor somewhere a little more protected. With a forecast for continued localized strong winds (known as Quallicum's for the beach they come off of) we continued North the next day instead of resting and anchored near Sandy Island marine park at the North tip of Denman Island for two nights and a much earned rest/play day.

What followed was a lot of swimming (the water gets warmer as you head further towards the middle of the backside of Vancouver Island), beachcombing, crabbing, clam eating, and glorious sunsets (sunset photos forthcoming).

We went into Comox to drop Lauren & Nathan off so they could make their way back to South to an airport, take on fuel and water, and a bag of groceries. They were very into learning everything they could about running the boat and we had a great time with them - including some rousing games of Kill Dr Lucky.

We tried motoring into the strong winds that had built up and quickly reminded ourselves that this is a SAILBOAT not a MOTOR BOAT and after chatting on the VHF with Steve of SV Silas Crosby and getting his most excellent local advice we beat out of Comox and across the bar in about 25 knots and headed North on a run all of the way to Gowlland Harbour just north of Campbell River.

Let me tell you that when they say that the area just South of Discovery Passage can get rough with wind over tide, they are most definitely not kidding.

A note about this area: Behind Vancouver Island the flood/ebb directions are different depending on how far North or South you are. On the South side a flood moves north, on the North side a flood moves South. Apparently, they meet exactly where we were while running downwind in 25-30 knots. The sea boiled with mint green water and we did some fun squirrelly motions.

I love this boat. I had a grin from ear to ear and I think Carol thought I might be a bit too excited about the rough weather for his taste.

As we head further and further North the mountains become more dramatic as they get closer to the shoreline. The current anchorage at Gowlland is nice but not anything to recommend. It is a convenient staging ground for Seymour Narrows which has a current that can run at 17 knots and while Northbound needs to be hit at slack before an ebbing tide. We may go through tomorrow. Or we may sleep in again...

I've updated our map under the "where are we" link to the right. It will only be updated sporadically.

Happy dance, Livia

Here is the critter report from the first few days of our cruise:

One baby seal (no photo) who was as small as an otter and crying for its mother. Tres triste!

A bunch of rock crabs, now in our bellies:



A number of bald eagles:



A pod of brightly colored skinny whales:



And one huge flying bird we couldn't identify that swooped down over us at Portland Island, that we are calling the "George Bird":

Note: Logbook posts are high detail posts for our own records. Read at your own boredom risk.


We woke up early, without an alarm, despite the late bon voyage. After dropping off our marina key card in the safe, cleaning up after the party, garbage/recycle and topping up the water tanks we were off relatively early.

We motored to Discovery Island and then sailed all of the way to Princess Bay at Portland Island. After that long day we waited until the next day to be active.

Carol, his Mother and Roland took off to do a little hiking and a little crabbing (successfully) and Carol and I got a chance to sit at the gorgeous shell beach facing Brackman Island in the sun with a cold beer in the afternoon. Usually that beach is packed with campers but a mid-week mid-June visit apparently avoids them and we had it to ourselves.
 
After two nights at Portland we decided to head over to Russell Island based on a picture I had seen in a magazine somewhere. The East side was unattractive at a distance but the entire West side was sloped white (barnacle) rock or shell beaches. We arrived early in the day and promptly kayaked around the entire island. The West side was much prettier by kayak with stone cliffs hollowed out by the surf.
 
That night we watched the sun set from the shell beach on the SW corner of the island which meant the sun was setting down Fulford Harbor between the mountains. Lovely.


We hiked around the island that day which was nice but not spectacular. Great way to stretch our legs but I wouldn’t go there for the hiking.

Next we had a great upwind sail to Bedwell Harbour. This was also a big entrance for us because it was our first time sailing onto anchor. Bedwell is probably one of the easier places in existence for doing this. It’s large and mostly the same depth everywhere. We also had a good wind from behind us as we entered - perfect.

We revisited Poet’s Cove which Marcelle had been to for our wedding. We had a great time going to the spot we said our vows and then as an early 3 year anniversary gift Marcelle & Roland bought us dinner at the patio cafe. Great weather for a long patio meal.



Funny enough, despite more than a dozen visits to Bedwell we’ve managed to never go ashore at the marine park. We’ve been to Poet’s Cove, kayaked all over, even played disque golf at the great free course on the island, but never hiked up to the top of Mount Normal for the great view of the Gulf Islands. So, we did.





Next stop, we had a light air sail to Sidney BC to stay overnight at Port of Sidney and to drop off Marcelle and Roland and pick up our third set of guests from Colorado and start HEADING NORTH.

It took about 30 minutes to put together the log for a week. I’m not sure if I will continue this way or not. We’ll see…whatever is fun, right? :)
- Livia