Day 3, 4, 5 - Smuggler Cove to Pender Harbour (Garden Bay)

We woke to sunshine in Smuggler’s Cove on Shannon’s birthday!  Although we loved the serene, warm waters of the protected cove, we had a decent day’s journey at sea ahead of us.  Plus, we were looking forward to showers and pub food at Pender Harbour.  So shortly after breakfast we hoisted the anchor and set off!

As we were negotiating the hairpin curve necessary to leave the cove, our port-side engine sputtered and died.  Although Shawn jumped down into the engine room and dutifully pumped the fuel primer (which had always worked to fix this problem in the past), the engine would not co-operate.  Most unfortunate timing.  And so Cap’n Adam was tested by fate again to dig deep into his Viking nautical heritage and complete that winding exit on one motor.  Yarr, ‘twas no match for Thor!

And so began our issues with the port side engine.  We stopped to pick up the prawn trap we had dropped the night before and were thrilled to find 56 prawns inside, mostly big-fat-delicious-but-really-hard –to-peel spot prawns.  We continued on our way up Malaspina Strait (between the BC Coastal Mainland and Texada & Lasqueti Islands) for about 4 hours up to Pender Harbour.  And we did this whole journey on our starboard side engine alone.  Little trooper.  

Arriving at Garden Bay, we fired up the 2^nd motor again and it thankfully ran just long enough to get us on the dock.  Showers, ice, floaty chairs, Cap’n Adam doing diesel motor maintenance, secret birthday cake baking, real whip cream whipping, candle blow-out and dock happy birthday sing-a-long, birthday Bai Jiu all the way from Nanjing, and dinner at the pub.  Good times.

The plan was to start heading up Jervis Strait the next day, but since the port-side engine refused to co-operate again as we tried to untie from the dock we spent another day tied up.  We had breakfast at LaVerne’s Grill at Garden Bay, got some groceries and beers at John Henry’s Marina, and wandered around the little village.  A special spot on BC’s Sunshine Coast that we’ve been to before and adored, and this visit to Garden Bay did not disappoint.