Journey North - Ruxton Island
It was time to say good bye to Tony and Lisa and begin the trek north to Desolation Sound. To make travel time less cumbersome, we try to limit it to 4 hours and make several one night stops. First stop was Montegue Harbor which was only an hour from Ganges. We arrived in time to get a bouy and do some exploring, cooking, and clean up. Happy hour was on Little Wing, with homemade rustic bread, olive oil and balsamic…yum. The next morning, Eric and Sue joined us as we headed to the next destination, Herring Bay on the north tip of Ruxton Island where other yacht club members were anchored. This put us close to Dodd Narrows, for the next days travel into Nanaimo. The other two boats stayed behind and traveled up the following morning.
Herring Bay is a long narrow channel that doesn’t look very big, but had plenty of room for six to eight boats, some stern tied and others swinging. There is a rock wall on the island side and a rock breakwater on the other side. At low tide, a white sandy beach is exposed on the water side, however the tide wasn’t low enough for us to enjoy it.
Ruxton is a small island with several trails and all the dwelling places are off grid, having to create their own electricity, water, etc. It was absolutely charming. Friends Mimi and Jeannette led a hike around the island.
Eric, the retired fire captain, had to stop and inspect the islands fire suppression systems, located all along the trail. A little primative, but a smart idea, so you never had to run very far to get help.
We found the community billboard with a “share a book” library. Most of the residents are seasonal, but there were a number who lived there year round. It was a great 2.5 mile hike on a well groomed dirt road.
As the evening was upon us, we decided to try one more time to set some shrimp pots over off De Courcy Island, home of the famous “Pirates Cove”. Wow, what a difference 20 years will make. The cove now has a straight in channel, no more zig-zag with signs posted on trees, and a large local marina. There were plenty of boats tucked in and while it felt a bit crowded, there was still room for more. We dropped our anchor and played a “get to know you” card game while we waited for the pots to soak. Suffice it to say, the game was more fun than the catch…. We are just not doing well with shrimping or crabbing.
Eric was checking his anchor and became the picturesque figurehead . Normally that would be a female, but we are crazy americans…
Route from Ganges Harbor east to Montegue Harbor and then north to Ruxton Island.
