Heading south from Nanaimo, through Dodd Narrows, into the southern gulf islands can be an exercise in patience. The Narrows, just an hour south of Nanaimo, really controls the timing. You only transit at slack tide and there is no cheating allowed. (Dangerous.) Be patient, wait for it, and all will be well.
Before heading to Otter Bay we planned an overnight stop in Ganges. We were in need of a big restocking of food and fuel. It’s a seven hour trip from Nanaimo, but with an early slack tide at Dodd you could do the whole trip in a day.
Unfortunately, the time of slack wasn’t so early the day we wanted to go and would put us in Ganges quite late. Also, for us, 7 hours is just a bit too long for a comfortable cruise.
With all this in mind, we broke the trip into two days. The first day we would head south through the Narrows and then anchor in North Harbor on Thetis Island. It’s a great anchorage in all except heavy NW winds, and very quiet with good holding in mud. We slept well that night.
With bad weather moving in we left early the next morning. We made Ganges by 11 am, fueled up the boat and tucked into a nice slip.
There were three days to burn before our slip in Otter Bay was available. It rained, it blew, we had a great time eating out, going to the Fall Fair, and shopping. On Sunday we headed out after the final food shopping, tired and happy.
Not a bad way to get back into the swing of civilization.
Before heading to Otter Bay we planned an overnight stop in Ganges. We were in need of a big restocking of food and fuel. It’s a seven hour trip from Nanaimo, but with an early slack tide at Dodd you could do the whole trip in a day.
Unfortunately, the time of slack wasn’t so early the day we wanted to go and would put us in Ganges quite late. Also, for us, 7 hours is just a bit too long for a comfortable cruise.
With all this in mind, we broke the trip into two days. The first day we would head south through the Narrows and then anchor in North Harbor on Thetis Island. It’s a great anchorage in all except heavy NW winds, and very quiet with good holding in mud. We slept well that night.
With bad weather moving in we left early the next morning. We made Ganges by 11 am, fueled up the boat and tucked into a nice slip.
There were three days to burn before our slip in Otter Bay was available. It rained, it blew, we had a great time eating out, going to the Fall Fair, and shopping. On Sunday we headed out after the final food shopping, tired and happy.
Not a bad way to get back into the swing of civilization.
Just for fun. This is so me.
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