Follow The Horizon

Time is slipping away fast. A week ago we were putting all of our belongings into a PODs pod on our driveway to be stored. That was stressful! Ended up having two storage units and still had to give things away:( Monday June 26th 2020 Rob and I moved everthing we both needed onto our new home. No more weekend worriers for us. Azura Kai is home.

June 29th departed Shelter Island. Our adventure to leave in August heading to San Francisco then Mexico has been delayed for a season; can you guess why? Yes, you are correct Covid 19. Our summer will be spent on the water exploring the Gulf Islands and along Vancouver Islands coast.

Crossing the Straight to head to Montague for our first stop, tons of logs to watch for crossing the Straight of Georgia. The water was brown from the river. It wasn’t until we sailed closer to Active pass that the ocean looked like the ocean, and not a river anymore. The bilge pump went off 28 times on starboard tack. What the? When the wind kicked up I was down below trying to figure out what the problem was; Rob was fighting to furl the genoa in. The wind had picked up to 20 plus knots. We were close to the mouth of Active Pass, great as the sailing was, Rob had enough, we motored the rest of the way in. We hit a small log half way through Active Pass, and broke it in half. What a noise that was. Nothing on the boat broken, it just frazzled the two of us. It was calm in the anchorage which made it a great sleep all night.

The next day we headed for Brentwood Bay, planning to make a stop or two on the way, but the wind was to good to waste, so we sailed on without stopping. We tried to anchor in the mooring bouy field, but there was no room, so we picked up a mooring bouy at Buchard Gardens, and walked the grounds Thursday morning. Rob’s sister Elizabeth and her husband Bruce came out to the boat for a late lunch in the afternoon.

Friday morning we motored around to Tseum Harbour on glass calm water and rain to pick up a new float switch for the bilge pump. Once installed, we did the short hop over to Sidney Spit, one of our favorite anchorages in the Gulf Islands.

The transition to this new lifestyle has not been challenging. Trying to fit everything we thought we needed into such a small space has been a trial, and there has been a few quirks to work out on the boat, but we’re finally starting to move on. Learning to live in the moment may take a bit more time. Fortunately, having taken the Psychology of Sailing course, we were expecting the mixed emotions that come with a major lifestyle change.