The real adventure begins…

Tomorrow, June 11, we begin the circumnavigation of Vancouver Island! For those following along on the map, we will leave Sidney Spit and head south through Haro Strait. We will enter The Strait of Juan De Fuca around Victoria, and west through Race Rocks, and into Beecher Bay (or Sooke, depending on conditions).

The next day, from Beecher Bay, we will sail to Port Renfrew. The third day we will be shooting for Bamfield – a cute village with a “Main Street” boardwalk that encircles the bay. Bamfield is at the head of Barkley Sound, and the magical Broken Islands! I’ll most certainly be posting pictures from there! And hopefully have some exciting whale pictures to share from along the way.

Most boats circumnavigate counterclockwise – up the east side of the island, and come down the west side. That is the route we took last year. There’s lots of books & stories written about that route.

In fact I’m reading a new book titled “Sea Trial”, by Brian Harvey. He has started out sounding exactly like our experience last year – we set out on the same date (July 1), took the same route & stopped at some of the same places. We shared the same apprehension, planning, the steep learning curve, the challenging tides & currents, etc.. Actually, I’m kinda glad it wasn’t out last year… a bit of ignorance was bliss in our case. But it’s interesting to read it now, because I recognize the story.

This year we are going clockwise. We are well prepared, ready, and excited! There’s still so much more to see, and places we look forward to revisiting. Last year we logged 1400 nautical miles. This year will be more.

Would you ever guess this is the Pacific Northwest??

Aloha my friends! I’ll write again on the other side.