Straits of Georgia: Day Two

Thursday, July 27th, 2023

Ideally this is what seas are supposed to look like especially when crossing a large body of water like the Straits of Georgia. Both Predict Wind and BouyWeather got the prediction correct today—especially WeatherBuoy. “Breezy WNW winds with moderate choppy seas, Winds WNW 11 to 17 knots in the AM decreasing in the after noon to less than 10 knots.” PredictWind had it at 5 to 10 knots throughout the day. BuoyWeather was spot on. It was a relatively easy six hour crossing with mild chop. (Note to self: winds can be up to 10 to 15 knots with no real issue if the overriding sea conditions are OK). We also checked the two weather buoys, Sisters Inlets and Ballenas Island for real time wind information and they reported conditions that were very similar to what BouyWeather was predicting. Always best to have real time conformation of conditions when possible. Unfortunately the weather station at Chrome Island and Halibut Bank buoy are out of service (thank you Canada).

The marina we chose this time around is located about 1 mile out of the town center. Waterfront Suites and Marina is is nice, quiet and functional. Nothing special but, in our opinion, better than staying directly in town at the Port of Nanaimo Marina. City conditions are about the same as when we last visited here in 2019. There is still a considerable aggressive vagrant population scattered around the waterfront and in the parks. You are basically safe but you have to keep your whits about you. Sad, really sad. But on to happier notes.

At the downtown waterfront we stopped off for a beer and nachos at one of our friend Don’s favorite places here in Nanaimo. Great service, good food, no complaints.

We walked back to our marina and we will have a quiet night and early morning. We are off to Telegraph Harbor tomorrow morning at 5:45am to make the 6:40 Dodd Narrows crossing. We keep saying “This is our LAST early morning”. Hopefully this is true!