The Saanich Peninsula and the Saanich Inlet: Genoa Bay and Samsung Narrows,
We have arrived in Canada stayed at a very ritzy marina, The Van Isle Marina in Tsehum Harbor. There were many yachts over seventy five foot long. Hundreds more in the 35 to 50 foot range. We made good use of our time there with a birding walk around the edge of Roberts Bay. Lots of crows, Great Blue Herons and several Cormorants. We saw both Double Crested and Pelagic Cormorants.

After that long hike, Glen, our Skipper, made a quick run to the RV parts store that was shown as less than a mile walk. When he got there the store was on the other side of the freeway and he had to walk another mile to get across. The good news is we had a new leg socket to replace the broken one on the salon table. Bad news was the screw holes are larger in diameter. Glen made another half mile run to a marine supply store for new stainless steel screws and a new screwdriver to fit the new square drive screws.

Still we made our start at a very reasonable time. We wove our way through a cluster of jagged islands and assorted rocks just off the main Vancouver Island. When we got into the clear in Satillite Channel we picked up a nice breeze and sailed around the north end of the Sannich Peninsula and into the Saanich Inlet as far as Brentwood Bay.

Brentwood Bay has Todd Inlet of one corner and down this short inlet is home to the world famous Buchart Gardens. Next morning we hiked around to the gardens, then walked around the gardens most of the day and hiked back. Boy was I pooped when we got back to the boat. We hiked over seven miles. I couldn’t help comparing their rose garden with Portland’s rose garden. They had hundreds of varieties of roses. I think Portland has somewhat fewer varieties. The difference is: Portland has something like 40 to 80 individual plants in a bed representing the varieties. Buchart places as few as three individual plants in a grouping with many other groupings surrounding them. You get to closely compare many beautiful roses. They probably have whole patches of backup plants for each variety in their nursery fields. All of their plantings have a crisp fresh look, even on a hot day in July.

I dug out the Guitar after supper and tempted our neighbor “David Gardiner” of the Sailing Vessel Cambria. David is from New Zealand and is a world traveler. He also playes a mean Blues Guitar. I got to stretch quite a bit to play along with him. We alternately worked on a blues song and then a Blue Grass or Old Country song. We played together for over an hour.

Saturday: July 21, we had a leisurely morning of showers and laundry then about 11 we bid David goody bye, threaded our way through the anchorage and set sail a few hundred yards beyond the bay. Winds were light but we anticipated another day in paradise with a nice breeze developing. Instead, we finally were totally becalmed and gave up. We rumbled on north to Genoa Bay and have now anchored for the night.

We had a quiet anchorage in Genoa Bay, and a fairly early start toward Telegraph Harbor on Thetis Island. This goes through Sansum narrows and we had the flood tide at our back and some mildly swirling waters in the narrows. Nothing our “Mate,” Barbra, couldn’t handle. Once that excitement settled down we were blessed with a stiff 10 mile er hour breeze, right on the nose, (naturally.) Glen and I decided to rig the reefing system for a first time and run under single reefed main for a wile. That worked so well we hauled up the Genoa and tacked back and forth off the walls of the Sansum Narrows. As the pass got wider and wider the wind dropped, so it was time to shake out the reef. That required trying out another bit of sailing voodoo. We tacked in mid channel but neglected to switch the Genoa. The Genoa goes a-back, meaning it is pressing against the shrouds and the wind is on the wrong side of the sail. At the same time we released the main sail let it weather-vane behind the Genoa. This is called lying a-hull. You now can calmly and quietly release the reef in the main sail and pull it up to the top of the mast. When you are finished, gone below and picked up a bag of chips and a coke, and everything is ready… You just pop the Genoa, sheet in the main and Genoa on the new tack and you are off to the races. Again the winds died after lunch and we had to motor the last 5 miles.

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