This is our proposed route from our home moorage at Pleasant Harbor on Hood Canal on the east side of the Olympic Peninsula, up the inside and then back down the westside of Vancouver Island. We are planning to take three months to complete this voyage. We could do it faster, but that’s not the point. It’s a voyage of about 1500 miles as planned, but will end up much more than that as we wander into different coves along the way. That may not sound like much, but traveling at about 6 miles an hour it will take the time that it takes—and then some when we are waiting on favorable weather before major crossings.

Our first destination is Bellingham, to share in our grandson Kaiden’s graduation from Bellingham High School. From there it’s up the east side of Georgia Strait, into Desolation Sound. We’ll reprovision there, but not stop long since we’ve explored those waters before. We’ll enter new territory (for us) passing through the rapids going north into Johnstone Strait and into the southern portion of the Broughton Archipelago. Port McNeil, Sointula, Alert Bay, then back north through Blackfish Sound to the northern Broughtons, where we plan to poke around for a while. Then back to Port McNeil or Port Hardy for provisions and prep.

If the weather outlook is good, and we’re still on plan, we’ll head up to Bull Harbor, off the northern end of Vancouver Island to wait for a weather window to round Cape Scott and start down the west side of the Island, There are 5 large bays along the way down that coast, but they’re all separated by 35 miles or so of exposed waters known for their navigational challenges and sudden changes of weather—and summer fog. But within each of the bays is some of the loveliest cruising ground in the world. Rafts of sea otters, wolves and grizzlies on the beaches, along with the waterfowl and bird life.

Barclay Sound is the last major inlet on the west coast of the island, and it’s worth a summer’s exploration all in itself. From there it will back along the coast to Victoria (high tea at the Empress Hotel?), then across the Strait of Juan de Fuca, back into home waters, and home to Pleasant Harbor.