Day 7: Stern Anchoring Stress @ Beautiful Copeland Islands

July 6 2012:  Garden Bay Pender Harbour to Lund then Copeland Islands

~ 40 miles ~ 7 ½ hours travel

Deviled eggs lite:
hard boiled eggs, Greek yogurt, dijon mustard,
salt, pepper, onion powder,
Spike seasoning, paprika sprinkle.

Another gorgeous, sunny day though only briefly windy enough with the right direction for the jib sail.  We snacked on deviled eggs*, cooked and prepared underway, served “sunny side up.”

The recently renovated Lund Hotel
is a welcoming sight near the gateway
to Desolation Sound

Left @ 6:30 am, stopped off at John Henry on our way out for diesel fuel, got to Lund at 1:30.  Lund is the last  ‘civilization’ before entering Desolation Sound and caters well to boaters, with showers, laundry, groceries, hotel, restaurants, fishing tours, kayak rentals and more, all a stone’s throw from their marina docks. 

We used the “pump out.”  That’s a nice way of saying we were flushing our boat’s poop tank.  Some boats are able to discharge their “stuff” in approved areas, but our boat was missing the ability (‘through holes) to do so.  We weren’t sure the capacity of our poop tank, we just knew it wasn’t that big.

Breads galore at Nancy's Bakery, Lund

Nancy's Bakery is a "must do"
for lovers of cinnamon buns

This hit the spot!

At Nancy’s, the much-lauded bakery, we shared a generous slice of garlic carbonata pizza and an amazingly refreshing Corona.    Nancy’s is known most for their cinnamon buns, so we ordered a chocolate raspberry cinnamon bun to go.  

We also showered (using the orange tote bag my neighbor Annie gave us, which is getting lots of use!), picked up beer (and discovered $2/can was a good price for anything better than Lucky Lager) and a block of ice.  Ice in our icebox rarely lasted more than a few days, due to poor insulation.

We finished our business at the guest docks before having to pay for a half day for overnight mooring. 

Wayne, evaluating the stern ties, our sailboat
and dinghy at the Copeland Islands

By 4 pm we were dropped our bow anchor in the Copeland Islands.  Then we set our first stern-tie anchor with the line Slavek loaned us.  Stern ties offer some extra assurance your boat will stay put when anchored nearer than you’d like to other boaters other objects your boat might bump into.   One end of a rope (“line”) is tied to the back of the boat, the other end is spooled out via a dinghy to be tied off to something secure on shore, like a dead tree, or large rock.  Ideally, the line just goes behind the object, and its end goes all the way back to the boat and gets tied off to it.  That way, when you’re ready to leave, you just untie that end, and spool back the line and leave, without having to get back into your dinghy and go back to the point on land where you tied off, untie it, and row back.  At least, that’s the theory.  It took us a while to coordinate making sure our boat didn’t move someplace dangerous while the stern tie was set, the line was spooled out nicely to the person taking it on the dinghy, that we agreed on a good object to tie from.  We also seemed to have a knack for setting our stern ties at low tide, which meant rockier placement for the dinghy, and more of a hike to a suitable stern tie object.  We were not at our best when making stern ties.  Eventually, we expect we will welcome them.

The lovely Copeland Islands, hiker and kayaker's delight

Once set, we dinghied onto the island and gave it a wander.  The trails were  mossy, rich with fungi of all sorts, and empty oyster shells as large as 9” long were scattered underscored the area’s abundance. We enjoyed the lookout benches designed to take in the sunset view, but opted to pass as the mosquitoes were already hungrily making their presence known. Warning to future hikers:  I can personally attest with the mud-stains on my shorts, the lovely, spongy-light gray moss is very slippery! We chatted with some neighboring boaters, regulars to the area, for tips on where to go.  They were happy to offer suggestions --- and the places they suggested are very close, especially compared to our typical travels so far this trip. 

We ended our day over a delicious dinner of Greek salad and lamb medallions, skillet fried, on the side.  Yum.