Ford Bay, Hornby Island

The blow is over!

We woke to calm seas and no wind.  Sounds somewhat silly for a sailor, but after a day with 30 knot winds from the SE occasionally gusting to 35 and even 40 just off shore and then followed by a night of fairly strong winds, it was good to see that things had settled down.  This is August, right?

At any rate, after a good breakfast, we headed out.  As soon as we cleared the SE bluff protecting False Bay we had winds SE at 12.  We raised the sails and headed for Hornby Island.  We were hoping to drop the anchor in Tribune Bay.  There is a great beach and wonderful community center with bakery, coffee shop, etc. that we were looking forward to.  All of our guide books stated that Tribune Bay was great when the winds were blowing from the N and NW, but to avoid it in an even moderate SE wind.  Just to satisfy ourselves, we dropped the sails and motored into the bay to take a look.  What we found was a fairly good swell pounding the beach with winds from the SE at about 18 knots.  Sadly, it was not good for us to drop a hook.

We turned around and headed for Ford Bay on the far side of the island.  It is said to provide good protection from SE winds and that is what we found.  There was a small store with wifi, so we were able to check emails and update the blog and photos.  Later that evening, there was some live jazz music outside that made for a fitting end to a good day.

Tomorrow we are off to Naniamo, about a 40 mile run down the eastern shore of Vancouver Island.

Sisters Islet light house about half way between
Lasqueti Island and Hornby Island.

Seagull on bouy at entrance to Tribune Bay, Hornby Island.