day 30 – Port Renfrew to Sooke (Lo48°21.0N’L123°43.4’W)

Another rocky night anchored in the deeper waters of Port Renfrew. After onshore breakfast and departing hugs from the camping crew, we lifted anchor and headed back out to sea. The Juan de Fuca Strait down to Sooke was the day’s journey, and according to the weather forecast we were expecting a windy trip. No such luck, which meant the water was flat, but there was not enough wind to hoist a sail.

We got to Sooke at about dinner time, then cruised around the harbour for a while before we chose a place to drop anchor and watch the beautiful sunset. We spent about an hour or so trying to lasso a line around a piling so we could tie up for free, but gave up after a series of unsuccessful attempts. The calm waters in this harbour will influence our sleep tonight. And tomorrow, we head for the capital city.

day 28 & day 29 – Port Renfrew (Lo48°33.4N’L124°25.4’W)

It was a rocky but sleep-able night in the open waters of Port San Juan. In the morning fog we had breakfast, and were briefly joined by a West Coast Trail hiker. He swam over in nothing but a mask, his swim trunks, and a smile. After making small talk for a while (“Where are you from? How long have you been at sea? How fast does your boat go?” etc…) he got to his point – did we have any beer we could sell him? Looking for breakfast beers, impressive. Cap’n Adam only had a finite supply of his own beers, but did appreciate the effort and therefore gave him the last 2 beers he had left in the poop-deck cooler (but none from the private Bilge Reserve inside the boat). Happy, the hiker thanked us and was on his way, to be greeted with cheers and congratulatory back-pats upon his return to camp. Good times.

Knowing we did not have very far to go to meet up with some friends who would be arriving to camp later in the day, we puttered along the coast further into Port Renfrew. We checked out the sea caves, and slowly idled towards the beach where we knew the campsite was. Now out of cell phone range again, we decided to get as close as we could to the beach, throw down the anchor, and wait for our pals to see us and holler from the shore. While we waited and napped the wind picked up, something fierce. Concerned that the wind might actually cause the anchor to drag in the sandy bottom and blow us ashore, we decided we’d better move to a more protected spot, or at least throw down another anchor. As we started to sort this out, suddenly we could see our friend Kath, waving at us from the beach. She was getting pounded by the wind as she tried to yell the direction of their campsite to us. Adam, now in the dinghy and heading toward her, could barely hear her. The rendezvous point would have to be figured out later, now we had to make sure the boat didn’t end up high and dry. Back on the boat, Adam throttled up and drove forward while I pulled up the anchor with the winch – the anchor line was being pulled so tight by the wind that the winch alone could not lift the anchor, Adam had to assist with the engine-based-forward-momentum power. Successful, we motored over to the more protected Snuggery Cove and dropped the anchor there, in deeper water.

Into our survival suits and into the dinghy we hopped, and headed over to the campsite. We were most happy to see some pals there. Sam & Kath, Shan & Tara, OJ & Cristal, and Talia & Sean. Over the next hour or so the wind died right down, and we were able to enjoy a most beautiful sunset. We loved how well our stomachs were taken care of – we really appreciate the effort our pals made, especially Sammy & Cristal but really everybody, to cook for us and then clean up after us on land. Follow that up with a beach fire and some wine, and it turned out to be a pretty good day.

The next day we took the camping crew for a short cruise on the boat, tried to catch a fish, tried to trap some crabs. Unsuccessful at gathering protein, we headed back for a campsite BBQ, and bought some crabs from a local fisherman. Crab feast, another beach fire, more wine, another great day.

All 3 of our nights in Port San Juan / Port Renfrew were pretty rocky – this bay is not very protected from the winds or the waves. Port Renfrew is an interesting little place – not a lot going on, yet thousands of people descend on this town every summer to hike the Trail, or to fish. There is a new(ish) hotel and pub which replaced the one that burned down a few years ago. There is a great, small breakfast place we went to, which also had a nice dinner menu. Kath’s blog, which can be found by clicking here, describes the restaurant in greater detail (once she finds some time to blog about it). But the highlight of Port Renfrew was definitely the fact that our friends were there to camp, and met us on our circumnavigation journey. We treasure that, and are so glad that we can also have some “Hey, remember that time we were going around Vancouver Island and you guys camped in Port Renfrew?” memories with even more people. Good times.

day 27 – Bamfield to Port San Juan – Thrasher Cove (Lo48°33.5N’L124°28.2’W)

The marine forecast warned us that the waves were 3 meters, but they had already reduced and would be diminishing for the rest of the morning until they died right down. We’ve done this size of wave before, and this time the skies would be much clearer. It could be a training mission of sorts. If it got too uncomfortable, we could always turn around. But the thing is, our next stop is Port Renfrew. We have friends who will be camping there this weekend. We would rather get there the day before everyone else does so that we can recover from our journey at sea before we rendezvous. So we’re not as knackered. Up came the anchor and off we went.

It was OK for a while, I was able to post blogs as we left the inlet, and even finished editing a video I made of our trip to Meares Island (which will be posted once the internet connection is stronger!). But the farther we got out into the chuck, the lumpier it got. We were not going with the current, we were cutting across it and smashing into some decent sized waves side-on. First I had to close the laptop and turn to face the horizon. Then I strapped on the electric-wristband-thingy. Then I felt like I needed to bundle up a bit, it got chilly. Then I needed to lie down, so with a small struggle I converted the table to a bed, and I got horizontal. Then I realized that the strength of the sea’s swell had overpowered by internal balancing system, and I was going to hurl. Thankfully, there was an empty cooler beside me that prevented me from needing to launch myself to the stairs at stern of the boat, while somehow not falling off and into the ocean. The cooler could just get a little scrub-down later, it’s all good. And then I felt a little better after that. (“Oh mighty sea, you may have won this battle, but you haven’t won the War!!”) Cap’n Adam, as always, had guts of steel and was not bothered by the swell at all.

Once we got to the end of Trevor Channel, and after we took a wide turn around Cape Beale, we rejoined the SE flow of the Pacific current, things were much calmer. We were still in some 2-3 meter waves which is nothing to sneeze at, but surfing with the current is much more tolerable than crashing through it. As we entered Juan de Fuca Strait we could see the mountains of Washington State off of our starboard side. We arrived at our destination accompanied by a sea lion who was surfing our wake and jumping out of the water to wave at us. He hung around until after we anchored, then went on his way. Port San Juan, the minimally protected large bay that Port Renfrew banks onto, has part of the West Coast Trail coursing around it. We anchored next to a spot where many hikers spend the night – Cap’n Adam counted 18 tents on the beach. Tonight we will sleep with waves rocking the boat as the Pacific influences this anchorage a bit more than we’re used to.