June 2010: Comox to Campbell River

Jan has been passionate about bringing Kozad to Campbell River! This is in part due to the fact that Kozad was named after Iolla and Cozy our close friends from the seventies who introduced us to Boating!

There was no way the weather would keep us from our goal of spending time on the docks of Campbell River, and spending time with our friends who had been waiting to see our boat "Kozad"!

When we left Comox the weather was finally holding; previously the weather had been a continuous challenge! We were lucky it broke for a couple of days at the end of our Comox visit!

So under semi-sunny skies, we headed to Campbell River; a 34 mile cruise at an average of 6 knots; it took us a little more than 5 hours! Jan pointed out it is a 40 minute drive by car!

We once again came across Don & Brennan who were fishing in “Big Smoke”!

Brennan saying Good Bye to Kozad!

Kozad at Discovery Bay Marina, Campbell River

After tying up to dock I-13 at the Discovery Bay Marina we had a visit from two of our friends; Curt and Rick! One of the reasons we wanted to come back to Campbell River is that this is where Iolla and Cozy lived in the seventies! We wanted to bring Kozad here so that those who knew Iolla and Cozy would have a chance to see our boat.

While here friends took us hiking along the Campbell River, we visited the Campbell River Pier, took in the Sunday Market at the Pier, toured the Museum and were able to spend our days here with our long time friends Rick & Judy, Curt & Odette and Larry & Shawn.

Fresh Cod at the Campbell River Government Docks

We had supper at Dick’s Fish & Chips by the Quadra Island Ferry Terminal

Lots of wild cats along the sea wall along with a racoon!

Jan, Larry & Shawn on the Canyon Walk which is along the Campbell River and it's Rearing Ponds: these are man made tributaries of the Campbell River

Larry & Shawn bought our house when we were transferred to Prince Rupert in 1978!

Larry was with the Fire Department in 1975 when we first met!

These rearing waterways provide spawning beds for the returning Salmon!

Campbell River is a famous Salmon Fishing destination which is why our old friends Cozy and Iolla moved here in the early 1970's from California

Making of a Rearing Pond

Jan found a friend at the market!

Cruise ship heading to Alaska

Foreshore Park, Campbell River

While walking along the park a group of people were gathering as a pod of Killer Whales were swimming North between Campbell River and Quadra Island!

We were lucky to see this pod of Killer Whales just off the Foreshore Park on our last night in Campbell River

If you notice the breathing mist above this pod, called blowing!

It was amazing watching approximately 14 Killer Whales playing!

They were breaching, slapping their tales and swimming upside down!

This is a large male Killer Whale.... I think we need a new camera with a bigger zoom!

Jan liked the looks of these three tugs at the Government Docks!

Judy & Rick; Craig and Judy worked together in 1975 at Campbell River Detachment!

We have been extremely lucky to have maintained our friendships with Judy & Rick, Curt & Odette and Larry & Shawn over the past 35 years!

Curt, Jan and Odette; our long time friends since 1975!

We were first posted together in 1975 in Campbell River. Then in 1990 when Curt & Odette transferred back to Campbell River and bought a house next door to us!

Good Friends are nice to have!

Thank you to Rick, Judy, Curt, Odette, Larry & Shawn for showing us such a good time on our trip home to Campbell River on MV Kozad!

May 2010: Ford's Cove to Comox

Departing Henry Bay for Comox we rounded Chrome Island Lighthouse; one of the few remaining manned light houses on the BC Coast.

Chrome Island Light House

We noticed a small boat out fishing; and later learned it was Brennan Somers in their new to them small boat; complete with a red canopy.

The three hour trip to Comox was uneventful and a little windy! We refueled in Comox taking on 242 liters of diesel at $1.02 and also filled up our gas cans for the outboard motor!

The weather remained bad in Comox but settled down after a few days.

When the weather finally turned we had a spectacular view of the Mountains!

We were on the docks at the Comox Bay Marina where our good friends Janice, Glenn, Don & Judy keep their boat MV Whiteshell. Spending time here has been one of our goals since we started boating with Kozad; so we were thrilled to be visiting with Don & Judy, Lauren & Brennan as well as Janice who was in town from Kelowna.

Brennan & Lauren: newly engaged!

Don & Judy introduced us to some new friends Carol & John; interestingly enough Carol wrote a book on Haida Argillite Carvings; we bought one of her books which both her and John signed for us.

John & Carol

We had one relatively nice morning when Craig was able to clean and wax Kozad.

Our good friends Rick and Judy from Campbell River met us in Comox to see Kozad.

Simon, another of our friends from Kelowna

Simon is completing a solo circumnavigation of Vancouver Island on SV Trewartha.

Jan, Janice, Simon and Judy

Hey wait a minute! Simon is supposed to be out soloing???

There is a great youth sailing program offered in Comox.. oops darn wind!

Comox Pier at Dusk

Jack & Bailey on Kozad

We would like to thank Don & Judy, Brennan & Lauren, Janice and all our other Comox friends for the great hospitality you provided to us!

We like Comox very much; actually we like being by the ocean a lot! Hmmm; wonder if we should consider moving?

June 2010: Anacortes, the final leg!

We left Friday Harbour for Kozad's new home at Anchor Cove Marina in Anacortes!

This has been our longest time out on Kozad and we have both truly enjoyed the experience; so much so that we do not want to leave the boat!

We are seriously considering moving up to a larger boat; we love Kozad but would like to spend 4 to 6 months on board! A few more feet would be nice; don't they call that two footitis!!!!

On our way to Friday Harbour we saw a large 65' motor yacht who was loosing diesel fuel out of the side of the boat! It was like a red waterfall pouring down his hull! Craig tried to hail him on the VHF, Channel 16, but there was no response as the skipper was obviously not monitoring his radio! We were so busy trying to call him that we did not get the camera out, so no picture unfortunately!

We saw a beautiful classic 1920's cruiser!

Anchor Cove Marina
Situated on the Guemes Channel along the North shore of Anacortes

The entrance to Anchor Cove Marina

Little boat amongst large new neighbours!

As usual, one of the first things Craig does is clean the boat!

Having covered moorage is great; while Craig was washing the boat it was raining outside!

We caught the Washington State Ferry to Sidney, B.C., the day after arriving in Anacortes; this was so we could pick up our car which we had left with our son Jim! We once again stayed with Garry & Joanne our close friends who live in the Sidney area on Vancouver Island.

Garry & Joanne
over the past 4 years had made many trips to the Portside Marina
in Brentwood Bay to keep a watchful eye on Kozad!

Craig, Jim & Jan
Jim is in his third year at the University of Victoria

Ian, Jim & Luke!
Craig cooked the boys a great Prime Rib Dinner on our last night in Town.
The boys ate an 8lb roast!

This crew of University/College Students, live together in Victoria
Jim, Luke, Ian, Sean & Peter

We once again walked the docks and saw this beauty, the boat was nice too!

MV Wells Gray
53' retired Fisheries Patrol Vessel, we were invited onboard for a tour!

And what about this beauty!

May 2010: Cowichan Bay to Hornby Island

Our departure from Cowichan Bay was early once again so that we would arrive at the proper time to necessitate transiting Dodd's Rapids at slack time (1050hrs). This leg of our journey had us travelling up Vancouver Island to Comox! It is a long two day cruise on a 6 knot boat, so we spent the first night, once again at Newcastle Marine Park!

The weather has been much of the same: cold, windy, lots of rain, low, low, low cloud (ie. fog), basically pretty crappy! This of course means we are spending more time than normal in our boat; good thing we still like one another!

While at Newcastle this trip we were the only boat on the dock, a stark contrast to last week where the place was full due to the May Long Weekend.

This time we took the opportunity to explore Nanaimo by foot, and paid our toonies to board the little foot passenger ferry which travels between Newcastle and Nanaimo! We visited some shops and Thrifty’s Grocery store and walked the foreshore which was well worth the time and effort.

The next day, again under low cloud and high winds, we headed for Ford’s Cove on Hornby Island using the steadying sail is now mandatory on these windy days.

Ford's Cove is a small working marina!
The only space available was on the break water.

There is a small art gallery and a well stocked general store.

The beach walking here is spectacular with wave sculpted sandstone carvings.

Yes, after 5 weeks on a small boat we are still alive!

Craig has not yet had to walk the plank!

The shoreline was a spectacular gallery of sculpted stone.

We spent a couple of hours just walking this beach.

And of course Jan had to take some more photos!!!

The unsettled weather has provided us with some beautiful sunsets.

We departed Ford's Cove for Comox which was 3 hours to the Northwest.