We spent Thursday night (July 15) in Smuggler’s Cove on the Sunshine Coast, one of our (and probably many boaters’) favourite anchorages in the Vancouver area. It gave us an opportunity to catch up one final time with good friends who were renting a cabin in Halfmoon Bay.
On Friday, we sailed across to Jedediah Island in a strong south easterly breeze (20 knots) and up to 2m seas, flying only the genoa. Jedediah Island, located between Texada and Lasqueti Islands, is a provincial park and another favourite spot, with numerous small coves that make for good anchorages and kayak campsites. It’s a former homestead, and a fantastic place to roam around, and we spent most of Saturday hiking through the woods and meadows. The homestead is located on Home Bay at the south end of the island; we anchored and tied to shore with a group of other boats at the north end.
Interestingly the island is also home to a population of feral sheep and goats that are believed to have been introduced by early settlers in the area. While it makes for interesting exploring (we saw over a dozen sheep wandering in the woods), BC Parks notes that they do quite a bit of damage to the natural ecosystem. While people have gotten used to them as part of the island’s story, I would not be surprised if they are eventually removed to allow the island’s native vegetation to flourish.
The Jedediah stop was also a productive one in terms of boat work, finally getting the stereo installed and connected to the NMEA 2000 network, and installing the watermaker control panel (step one of the overall installation process).
