Eclipse was sorting out some engine problems and decided to go to Port Alice with us to check things out.
We left mid morning and had a wonderful down wind sail to Rumble Beach the community serving the pulp mill at Port Alice.
We went into the Port Alice Yacht Club ( 50° 25.397’ N / 127° 29.131’ W ) and tied up next to Bob and Liz on “Curlew” a 33 foot sloop going around the Island from Comox, B.C. We had seen this boat every time we had visited Comox in the last couple of years.
Anna phoned Errol, the PAYC wharf finger (Canadian for Harbor Master) and within just a few minutes he drove up to the club and gave us a key to the locked gate. He also ran a 100 foot power cord from the power source to within reach of our power cords so we could charge Teal’s batteries. The next day after re-provisioning, we did laundry and took showers at Ozzieland a clean and tidy little trailer park a short walk from the yacht club; the most roomy and best equipped shower rooms we have seen north of San Francisco Bay.
Sail boats Jade I, and Autumn Win, seen at Winter Harbor, arrived later in the day and now all of us shared the single visitors’ gate key. That proved to be interesting at times…as the gate needed to be unlocked going and coming. Janet from Autumn Wine invited us to their “banana boat roast” bon fire party on the beach. Banana Boats are an adult version of s’mores. A shallow channel is scooped in the banana and filled with rum, choc chips, brown sugar, etc. The peel is brought back around the banana and sealed in foil, thrown on the fire to just warm up, and what tasty treats they were. Yum, yum.!
July 10, 2007
Jade I, and Autumn Wine left early to keep their appointment with Quatsino Narrows and onto Coal Harbor to change crew. About mid morning Eclipse headed for Winter Harbor and Teal fished, without success, before going into Julian Cove for lunch and to check out the anchorage for the night. The cove was beautiful, but it was so hot we decided to head back to the coast.
We had another nice down wind sail back to Winter Harbor, this time in the opposite direction, a rare phenomena when sailing. We considered anchoring in North Harbor, but the winds were a bit fluky, so we decided to go on to the Outpost docks. Just about then we saw a whale spout, and the flotilla of sea otters were still playing in the harbor. On the way into Forward Inlet we saw a big male bear working the same beach where we saw the female with the two cubs. A lot of wild life for such a short distance.
When we arrived at the Outpost docks, Eclipse was already tied. The winds in there were really blowing and the moorage was pretty rough. We appreciated help getting tied to an inside dock. The wind blew like crazy until around midnight.
More to come,
George and JoAnne
