summer! laura cove
Date: July 28, 2018
Time Start: 11:20 a.m.
Time Finish: 1:45 p.m.
Cruise From: Toba Wilderness Marina
Cruise To: Laura Cove
Engine Hours Start: 849
Engine Hours Finish: 851
Weather/sea conditions: Plenty of sun, hot and hazy, afternoon breeze, over 90 degree day, a HOT boat!
It's still hazy from forest fire smoke drifting over Toba Inlet, keeping the mountain views from being clear. We have another sizzling summer day in the making, and there is no breeze in the morning. It's amazingly quiet here on the dock in spite of having the docks filled with boats. (We are the smallest boat here!) Check out time is noon, and most of us will be moving on to other destinations. That is the way of boating, gathering with strangers at a destination and becoming friends, and then departing to do it all over again! Sometimes we are lucky and run into people again, as with the crew of Tenedos and the crew on the American Tug.
An octopus came up inside a crab pot on one of the boats and gets displayed for all to see before being returned to the water. Ashore, Quinn has raked the gravel floor in and around the welcome pavilion in zen-like patterns. His attention to detail helps to make this a wonderful spot to visit.
Time Start: 11:20 a.m.
Time Finish: 1:45 p.m.
Cruise From: Toba Wilderness Marina
Cruise To: Laura Cove
Engine Hours Start: 849
Engine Hours Finish: 851
Weather/sea conditions: Plenty of sun, hot and hazy, afternoon breeze, over 90 degree day, a HOT boat!
It's still hazy from forest fire smoke drifting over Toba Inlet, keeping the mountain views from being clear. We have another sizzling summer day in the making, and there is no breeze in the morning. It's amazingly quiet here on the dock in spite of having the docks filled with boats. (We are the smallest boat here!) Check out time is noon, and most of us will be moving on to other destinations. That is the way of boating, gathering with strangers at a destination and becoming friends, and then departing to do it all over again! Sometimes we are lucky and run into people again, as with the crew of Tenedos and the crew on the American Tug.
An octopus came up inside a crab pot on one of the boats and gets displayed for all to see before being returned to the water. Ashore, Quinn has raked the gravel floor in and around the welcome pavilion in zen-like patterns. His attention to detail helps to make this a wonderful spot to visit.
A morning walk through the resort grounds:
Owner Kevin and his wife have put fifteen years of work into building up this resort, and they have done a fantastic job of carving a welcoming destination out of the wilderness.
We watch as boats pull out of the marina. We are among the last ones to leave.
We watch as boats pull out of the marina. We are among the last ones to leave.
Into the haze we go, into Homfray Channel, with East Redonda Island to our starboard and the mainland of British Columbia to our port side. Toba Inlet will be the most northerly point of our summer cruise. This is a new route for us as we cruise south to Laura Cove. In spite of the smokey skies, it is a pretty fantastic route.
We turn into lovely Laura Cove and it looks so perfect, with just a few smaller boats at the head of the cove. Anchor holding, stern tie complete, we are ready to enjoy a stay here. We start with swims to cool us off, and enjoy watching the action on a nearby rope swing. It is a popular attraction today, with lots of happy sounds as kids fall from the swing into the refreshing water.
It's a sizzling day, reaching the upper 90's in the cabin of NORTH STAR. We keep cool with dips in the water, and it is definitely time to break out the watermelon. Evening continues warm, we go for paddles in the scenic waters that connect Laura Cove and Prideaux Haven. Sunset is hazy, the sun red from the smokey skies. As the sun drops below the horizon, horns on boats start beeping in unison. Is this a Desolation Sound tradition?
Date: July 29, 2018
Laura Cove layover day
Weather: Sunny and hot again, into the 90's
We had another warm night, and it is followed by another hot summer day in Desolation Sound. The smokey haze still lingers in the air. After a light breakfast, we take the dinghy with motor to go around the outside of Laura Cove and into the waters of Roffey Island. What a scenic place! It goes on our list of potential places to anchor and enjoy kayaking, swimming, and great view scapes. It is perfect for a small boat like ours with a shallow draft. There are lots of little nooks between shallow spots.
Laura Cove layover day
Weather: Sunny and hot again, into the 90's
We had another warm night, and it is followed by another hot summer day in Desolation Sound. The smokey haze still lingers in the air. After a light breakfast, we take the dinghy with motor to go around the outside of Laura Cove and into the waters of Roffey Island. What a scenic place! It goes on our list of potential places to anchor and enjoy kayaking, swimming, and great view scapes. It is perfect for a small boat like ours with a shallow draft. There are lots of little nooks between shallow spots.
As we cruise along the shore across from the island, actually the outside edge of the Laura Cove peninsula, we see a little black spot on the beach. Binoculars, please! Yes! A little bear is foraging along the fucus and oyster covered shoreline! Unfortunately, the best camera to photograph it is back on the boat. A cell phone will have to do the job. What a joy to watch this bear!
Our dinghy excursion continues outside of Laura Cove and then back through the islets to our anchorage.
Two Ranger Tugs have joined us at anchor in Laura Cove. "True Blue", with Dave and Maureen from Vancouver, drops anchor beside us. "Bophus" (meaning "both of us") drops anchor across from us.
Two Ranger Tugs have joined us at anchor in Laura Cove. "True Blue", with Dave and Maureen from Vancouver, drops anchor beside us. "Bophus" (meaning "both of us") drops anchor across from us.
We swim, and then swim again, keeping ourselves cool. And, it is another watermelon day. Gin and tonics are pretty refreshing, too. We sit in the cockpit as we sip them, watching the kids on the rope swing and rating their swings on an Olympic scale - we give them points for takeoff, height reached before the drop, and special tricks.
Once again we take an evening dinghy ride, noting that the number of boats here is really on the increase and that we are starting to see Ranger Tugs from the Gorge Harbour flotilla. As the sun drops, someone plays Taps, and once again horns beep in unison. Smoke haze still fills the sky.
Date: July 30, 2018
Laura Cove layover day
Weather: More hot summer!
Another sunny day, and we have brunch - french toast, and the Captain's favorite treat, Spam (can you tell he has lived in Hawaii?). A big cruiser has arrived in Laura Cove, 100 foot "Malibu" from Seattle. She is a classy looking beauty. The Coast Guard drops by for a quick spin in the cove. And, someone has found a special place for hanging out in a hammock, between the hulls of rafted boats!
Laura Cove layover day
Weather: More hot summer!
Another sunny day, and we have brunch - french toast, and the Captain's favorite treat, Spam (can you tell he has lived in Hawaii?). A big cruiser has arrived in Laura Cove, 100 foot "Malibu" from Seattle. She is a classy looking beauty. The Coast Guard drops by for a quick spin in the cove. And, someone has found a special place for hanging out in a hammock, between the hulls of rafted boats!
I'm hanging out, too, with a relaxing paddle in these lovely waters.
River otters frolic along the shoreline, kids frolic on the rope swing, and we swim. Another Ranger Tug, R27 "Seaquel", drops anchor in the cove, making four of us here! We are interested in the hard top over her cockpit. It's been another lazy, hazy, summer day. We do our ritual evening excursion, seeing some clouds in the sky along with the smoke haze. Pretty nice!
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