Islands and Sunshine and Dolphins, Oh My!

We’ve finally set sail, and headed off into the beautiful San Juan Islands and Inside Passage (Not to be confused with the Northwest Passage). Many people have asked “What’s it like?”, or “Where are you?”. Currently, I am on a big sailboat steaming towards the not-so-big town of Port Hardy, on the east side of Vancouver Island. Here is a list of where we have been so far:

June 2 – Port Townsend to McKay Harbor, Lopez Island

June 3 – McKay Harbor, Lopez Island to Friday Harbor, San Juan Island (for provisioning) to Prevost Harbor, Stuart Island

June 4 – Prevost Harbor to Poet’s Cove (in Canada, to go through customs) to Cabbage Island (Canada)

June 5 – Cabbage Island to Silva Bay, Gabriola Island

June 6 – Silva Bay to Deep Bay, Jedediah Island

June 7 – Deep Bay to Kelsey Bay, Vancouver Island

June 8 – Kelsey Bay to Port Hardy, Vancouver Island

From June 7th and on, we will have really long days. On the 7th we traveled for eleven hours! As an answer to the question of “What’s it like?”, here is an excerpt from my journal (also known as my “language arts homework”)

I woke up this morning to the smell of something delicious coming from the galley. Wow, how did I sleep in so late?, was the first thing I thought at about 9:30 am. I clambered out of bed and was told that we had already been motoring north for about 3 hours. After the family meeting in the cockpit, my grandma brought out the most gourmet breakfast ever eaten on a boat. Buttery biscuits topped with fresh strawberries and whipped cream was a big step up from the usual cereal and milk. It was delicious! After breakfast I read, journaled, practiced my spanish on Duolingo, and slept. This is my normal routine for “summer school”, because my parents don’t want to do hard core lessons until September. After “school”, Savai and I made a chili bar with chili, cheese, cilantro, sour cream, olives, and tortilla chips. It was a scrumptious lunch, plus, we didn’t have to do the dishes. Our rule is if you cook, then someone else always does the dishes. After lunch, we sailed through the Seymour Narrows, Which is famous for strong tides and whirlpools that can send unsuspecting sailors spinning out of control. Fortunately, my dad timed our journey through the narrows perfectly, so we had no problem at all. Then I crawled into my bunk to settle down and listen to an audiobook. All of a sudden, I heard my mom’s excited call, “Dolphins! Dolphins! Dolphins surfing the bow!”. I leaped out of bed and scrambled onto the upper decks. I made it up in time to watch the last few dolphins leap out of the water for air and then swim away. I even got a couple photos! Finally, after a long day of motoring, we arrived in Kelsey Bay. There was some stressful and precarious docking, but we managed to get tied up pretty quickly. For dinner we had wonderful enchiladas, and I went to bed on a full stomach. All in all, it was a good day.