The assorted ramblings of an owner of an old boat…
For the second video in my summer cruising series, we visit Octopus Islands Marine Provincial Park in British Columbia’s Discovery Islands. Not necessarily an easy place to reach, requiring transit of at least one set of rapids coming or going, Octopus Islands offers a unique landscape and quiet, yet popular anchorages.
Check out the video below for a quick look at our visit to Octopus Islands!
Shoal Bay is a cool little spot in the Discovery Islands. It’s the epitome of laid back – the kind of place that I’m sure you’d be just fine if you forgot your high blood pressure medicine at home.
Located on the northeast corner of East Thurlow Island, you’ll find the Shoal Bay Lodge, which lies near what once was the site of a thriving community of over 5000 inhabitants, drawn to the areas logging, mining, and fishing industries. Rather than spend too much of your time and mine telling you about the location, its past, and its future, I’ll direct you to their website, and encourage you to check out every informative and entertaining page within. If you only have time to read one page, make certain it’s The Story…
On August 9, Shoal Bay hosted their annual Music Fest, and this year’s cruising plans included this as one of the planned stops. During last year’s cruise, we were a week late, and learned of the event and how much fun it was. Being a “musician” (no claims of being a good one), I enjoy an opportunity to play and sing.
Briar Patch, Enough Time, Jolly Mon, and Little Bear arrived on Friday, the day before the Fest, to nearly-full docks with multiple boats rafted, and the anchorage filling by the hour. I found a nice spot to settle and drop my hook in about twenty feet of water.
Continue reading “Summer Cruising – Shoal Bay Music Fest”
As we continue making our way home – currently at anchor at Tumbo / Cabbage Island – I’ll share another highlight from this year’s trip north. Since my last post, we enjoyed an uneventful crossing of the Strait of Georgia within a perfectly-timed window of light winds and spent a night in Mark Bay in Nanaimo. From there, continuing southbound, the next stop was Montague Harbor, and finally, today we’re anchored at Tumbo. I’m here with Briar Patch and Little Bear, and nobody is in any hurry to get home. You can see where we’ve been so far, by visiting my SPOT Adventures Page.
So, about the bear on the beach. On the northbound trip, we spent a night in a little anchorage in the Discovery Islands, called “Anchorage Lagoon” by some – not sure of, or if, it has an official name, but it’s located between Cameleon Harbor and Thurston Bay on Sonora Island. The narrow entrance is quite shallow and best entered at high water.
After an early morning departure from Campbell River, the fleet was resting after getting the hook down and everything settled. I had just woke from a nice little nap, and was sitting in the cockpit, shaking the post-nap cobwebs while surveying the area, thinking to myself that this was a place that one might see a bear. There, on the beach, was – a grizzly bear – munching away on berries and whatever else he was rooting for. I loudly whispered, “Bear on the beach!” to the others, and the cameras and binoculars came out.
We watched the bear make its way down the beach until it disappeared into the woods. A while later, we saw it emerge onto the beach at the head of the bay. Wanting to get a closer look, we hopped in a tender and idled in its direction. We kept our distance, but were able to get a good look and capture some great pictures.
This wasn’t the only wildlife encounter on this trip…
