I’m giving a presentation on Sailing the Northwest Passage next Saturday, June 23 at 1PM, upstairs in the Victorian Courtroom at the Maritime Museum of British Columbia, in Victoria, British Columbia.

From Barkley Sound, I had a pleasant sail to near Victoria. Late in the day, the current was starting to turn against me, so I anchored in nearby Becher Bay for the night. I actually anchored four times, as the anchor kept breaking out of the soft mud and kelp that was on the bottom. Trusting to the anchor alarm and decreasing winds, I had a good sleep.

Some thoughtful people who live on Becher Bay saw Issuma anchored, took the above picture, looked Issuma up on the internet and emailed me, which was really nice of them. My cellular internet access was even working for a change so I received their email at anchor.

 

Late in the morning, when the current turned in my favor, I sailed off the anchor, out of the bay, around Race Rocks to Victoria harbor, then motored onto the dock. I had quite light winds to start with, and it took a while to get around Race Rocks. There is a shortcut between Race Rocks and Vancouver Island that I could have taken, but the currents are fast, its not all that wide, I’ve never been here before and the sane thing to do when sailing a schooner singlehanded is to take wide-open, deepwater routes whenever possible.

 

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The Future:
I have had a fantastic time sailing Issuma the last few years. Now I want to do something different, and go back to working (I do computer work for a living). So I don’t expect to be sailing far from here in the near future. I don’t expect to be making frequent blog entries until my next adventure (which has not been decided on), so if you’re interested in following along, you may want use the Subscribe menu at the top of the blog so you will be emailed whenever there is a new entry.

The Broken Group of islands provide a scenic and sheltered route across Barkley Sound.

Barkley Sound is named after Captain Charles Barkley, the first european to sail there in 1787.

After motoring across Barkley Sound thru the Broken Group, I entered the narrow, tree-lined pass into Port Desire and anchored there.

Port Desire is a quiet place (at least on weekdays) filled mostly with cottages and small fishing resorts.