Arione: June 2005

Sunday, June 26, 2005

Our route (slightly simplified with backtracks, of which there were many, removed) through Thursday. (Click map/photos to enlarge.)

In Nanaimo, there's a swimming lagoon that's several feet above the low tide level. Water flows in at high tide, gets warmed to swimming temperature (theoretically, we didn't try it) by the sun, and slowly trickles out again. The inflow and outflow are controlled by a series of steps that also create artificial tidepools, seen here.

One last dramatic sky picture.

Facing the other way (still approaching Nanaimo), we saw these cliffs. They really are that brightly colored,

More.

Very dramatic skies on the way in to Nanaimo

We followed a tug with two huge barges of wood chips through Dodd Narrows on our way to Nanaimo. Dodd is a very short, but very fast moving, narrows, with currents of up to 10 knots the day we went through. We meant to wait for slack water, but traffic, including this tug, started going through about one hour before slack, so we followed along. There was still quite a bit of current, but because the narrows is so short, it was OK. Exciting, but OK. Going through early worked out well, as it allowed us to get to Nanaimo in time for a late dinner.

Back on Thetis Island, we saw these sweet peas growing wild all over the place.

This is one reason we took the ferry to Chemainus instead of taking the boat over. Low tide seems to be a bit of a problem at the city docks.

Funny sign from a beach park in Chemainus.

Chemainus is full of beautiful gardens. One seemed to be almost all poppies, including this huge one, which was about four feet tall.

After Ganges, we went to Telegraph Harbor on Thetis Island. Thetis Island has two marinas, no other businesses, and a ferry to Chemainus on Vancouver Island. One day, we walked over to the ferry and wandered around Chemainus for a while. This picture is of the water near the ferry terminal.

Art relaxing in Ganges

We had a nearly full moon in Ganges, and a beautiful moonrise one night.

Sunday, June 19, 2005

Ganges is a pretty little town, with a huge supermarket right by the free dinghy dock. (You can see the store, but not the dock, in the photo above) We stayed one night in the marina, and did shopping and laundry, but at $1.30/ft/night, we got out and anchored pretty quickly after topping off our water tanks. We'll leave tomorrow for Telegraph Harbor on Thetis Island.

The dinghy was pretty full of water.

It was raining when we left Montaue Harbor on Friday. Not very hard, but by the time we got out in the channel toward Ganges, it was pouring. Of course, neither of us had thought to put on boots, so our feet were soaked by the time we got there.

There's a big fishing boat (not visible in the picture) in Montague that bakes bread and rolls for sale. Unfortunately, with the rain, we didn't get a chance to go over and buy anything. Next time.