Saturna, Wallace and Russell Islands

Anyone paying much attention to the recent posts will notice that I have managed to do a lot of trips aboard Aeolus recently. Well, the boys and I are just back from yet another week of sailing up in the Gulf Islands and have more tales to tell! With the boys on summer break and me not working at the moment, there has been no impediment to getting out for extended periods of time. And of course, my desire for trips is insatiable.

Me on top of Saturna Island, looking South

This latest trip began with a quick night at Prevost Harbor, Stuart Island, as this is the closest good anchorage to the Bedwell Harbor customs dock for Canada entry. The next morning we zoomed through customs and headed over to Winter Cove for a few days at Saturna Island. The winds were calm and so we motored. Winter Cove is a really lovely little hurricane hole of an anchorage. That first day the boys and I played on the beach and went over to Boat Pass to watch the rushing current go through. It's quite a spectacle if you haven't seen it. When flooding, the water rushes out of Winter Cove toward the Straits of Georgia, and reverse for ebb. Speeds can be quite high, and the passageway so narrow, that the hydraulics involved are just wonderful to watch.

Tumbo and Prevost adventures

For this recent trip my boys and I headed north into BC and visited locations that were new to us. We had heard from a few people about Tumbo Island on the east side of Saturna, and it had long caught my interest due to the remarkable location. So we took off from Friday Harbor and had an easy motor in calm seas up to South Pender Island to clear Canadian Customs. As always, the Canadians were polite and familiar, pulling our name up on the system and not requiring passport numbers or anything lengthy. In literally a few minutes, we were on our way back into Boundary Pass to catch a strong flood east and around the corner to Tumbo.

Can it be more beautiful??

Happy Boys

The anchorage there is exposed to the north but the forecast was for consistent south winds. There are mooring buoys, but we chose to drop anchor. Right away, I could tell Tumbo was going to be a magical place to stay and it was. Cabbage Island is just to the east of the anchorage and it is famed for the white sand beach it contains.