On the Move Again!

Smoke obscured the sun in Vancouver

We've anchored Traversay III in a cozy and scenic little anchorage on the edge of Hecate Strait, British Columbia - several channels west of the mainland. We are in Griffiths Harbour - set to leave at 6 in the morning for the fabled islands of Haida Gwaii.
Since our last posting from Victoria (on June 1) we have reinstated ourselves into the Canadian patchwork - re-discovering (or inventing) our identity assisted by our friends and many relatives and with the help of the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) which regularly addresses both Canada's issues within the country and our relationship with the (usually friendly - but now bullying) United States. We have visited doctors and dentists, we've renewed relationships with High School friend Kathy McLeod from Edmonton and formed new relationships with other sailors in the Bluewater Cruising Association which we joined several years ago. We attended our first 'rally' ever, and it was a LOT of fun. We have also joined the more international group of sailors who are bonded within the Offshore Cruising Club ... we are missing our chance to 'cruise' the Gulf Islands here on the coast of British Columbia with them because early in the New Year we had organized this trip.

Sailing with Hope and Darin

Tied to Josephine and Charles dock in Garden Bay BC

We're having a lot of company aboard this summer season ... in early August we had the 6-person family of our daughter Hope (with husband Darin) and their 4 children - YEP! - we all somehow fit aboard and everyone seemed to have fun - even 4-month-old Wolfgang! This is the third lengthy voyage with the three older children : Ainsley (12), Brynn (10) and Seven (9) so they are quite attuned to the whole experience. They loved re-visiting the farm on Prevost Island with all the animals and Pirate's Cove with it's treasure chest. They had saved unwanted small toys, jewelry, toy cars, snorkels and goggles which were too small etc. In return, Brynn found the name and address of a pen pal. And they discovered a very noisy and somewhat irritating baby toy which little Wolfgang just loved!

We attended a fantastic family wedding in Vancouver, sent the kids home to Ontario, and immediately set off for Prince Rupert. We left behind the red sun of Vancouver (suffering because of the large forest fires in the interior of the province) and 12 days later we arrived in Prince Rupert. On our first night at our customary dinner out after a voyage, the engaging waitress - when asked about the possibility of fires up here said "You could drench the whole of this area with gasoline and then try to light it, and it would never light because it's so wet!"

Prince Rupert waterfront

And - indeed - even now it is RAINING outside. We are cozy and warm after a beautiful day of sun motoring down from Prince Rupert with our friend Nancy Sturdevant. She has joined us from Ottawa to spend the month. We'll be touring Haida Gwaii and then busily making our way back down to Victoria.

Nancy on Trav III in 2011

We're happy that the almost-limitless forest we see here will never have to succumb to flames, but we hope that the rain will stop long enough so that we can have a good look at the abandoned villages and artifacts which tell the tale of the many years of native habitation on Haida Gwaii.

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At 2018-09-07 04:09 (utc) our position was 53°35.98'N 130°32.72'W