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The further North we travel, the less connectivity to cellular service and WiFi equates to more card games, yacht zee, and book reading. As Tessa started Dark Safari by Paul Theroux, the quote in the title of this post rang true to cruising the Inside Passage.

Hoping for the picturesque, expecting misery, braced for the appalling.

There are three unavoidable bodies of water to reach the Northern BC Coast. The first being the Strait of Georgia, which we have had our a** handed to us many times. This time: we could have waterskied.

We spent two days at Cortes Island, and were sad to hear that the Squirrel Cove Restaurant is no longer. We were hoping to celebrate our anniversary here, but would have to wait until Blind Channel Resort which has a fabulous German restaurant.

The second unavoidable body of water is Johnstone Strait and the set of rapids that precedes it. These rapids intimidate most boaters, but if you go through at slack, you’d only slightly pick up signals that these small bodies of water can be vicious. Johnstone is notorious for NWterlies pummeling down the mountain lined channel, picking up gusto as they move through the strait. This time: we again could have waterskied. Bonus: We caught the end of a Spring Ebb and had a three knot push most of the way.

We tried our luck fishing Blackfish Sound, and it didn’t look optimistic. We spent two nights in Port McNeill re-provisioning, and enjoying another good meal at the Northern Lights restaurant. The rain showers came, unloaded, and went. Timing your outdoor activities was key.

Cape Caution is the third and final hurdle (unless you are continuing North to Alaska, you have Dixon Entrance). The rule of thumb is to monitor West Sea Otter buoy reports, and pay attention to the wind forecast for Pine Island to Egg Island with the candy conditions 1m or less ocean swell.

All reports looked good for a morning crossing around Cape Caution. The sea was glass, patchy fog, lots of debris in the water as we transited Queen Charlotte Strait.

On a Spring ebb tide, it is not advised to transit Ripple Passage and the entrance of Slingsby Channel. Slingsby is one of the largest bodies of water that transits a narrow passage: Nawakto Rapids. We concur with this advice, as we transited Ripple Passage and Slingsby Channel at the peak ebb of a Spring tide. We surfed significant swells for quite some time, just on the edge of uncomfortable but no green water.

Once past Slingsby and rounding Cape Caution, the low westerly swells reminded us of cruising in the Bahamas. They were definitely not 1m/3ft as forecasted. More like 2+. But stabilizers made it easy peasy. We were back in the swing of ocean cruising.

Hoping for the picturesque, expecting misery, braced for the appalling.

And picturesque we got in spades at Frypan Bay. We were the only one in this popular anchorage, with sunshine and a light wind. We felt like we had just hit the jackpot.

We have been stopping at Nanaimo Port Authority on our way North and South cruising for the past nine years. This year, we added Rad Power electric bikes to the boat. These bikes broaden what we can do when are tied up in a marina, and allow us to adventure further, or easier, than on foot.

We learned a lesson the hard way, that we hope we can save you from learning the same way.

After a wonderful dinner at La Stella Trattoria, we decided to bike down to Port Place Mall to pick up a few items we had forgotten on our earlier shopping trip before heading back to the boat. It was 9pm.

While riding around, we have become used to receiving constant compliments and inquiries about our Rad Bikes, and will answer any questions you might have. So it did not set off a red flag when some people who looked like they had fallen on hard times said “nice bikes!” as we road by them in the parking lot to Port Place Mall bike rack. It did alert us to lock them up securely with our cable lock, and we went inside for twenty minutes.

Twenty minutes. We came outside and our hearts sank. There was no evidence of our bikes ever being locked to the bike rack. It was broad daylight.

Tessa noted there was a security camera that may have caught footage of the thieves who took our bikes. We talked to security, and sure enough they had good footage of one but the second was wearing a hoodie. And they recognized the first person.

The security guard suggested going on a couple closed Facebook Nanaimo crime watch groups, and posting about our bikes. Because they are so unique, they are easy to spot. And the more traditional route was also taken, we called the non-emergency RCMP phone number to report our stolen bikes.

This is where the Nanaimo community rallied around us. Tessa was accepted into two closed Facebook groups by 11pm, and a third the next morning. Across the three groups our post was shared over 800 times and seen by thousands. We had gone viral.

By 8am, a member of Thieving Nanaimo Facebook group had spotted one of our bikes hanging out the back of a trunk, chased the car down, and retrieved our bike. Let that sink in. Our bikes were stolen at 9pm, and the first one was found at 8am.

Our second was spotted being ridden midday, but the lead went cold. We could not speak to an investigator until 5:30pm, because only the investigator assigned to our case was allowed to give us information and he was on the night watch shift.

So the waiting began. Or the “round-to-it” boat projects. We fixed, again, the guest head. And also ran a new VHF antenna cable from the flybridge to the pilothouse. Easier said than done, as it involves crawling in cabinets to feed the wire through an already packed chase.

7pm. We made the long trek to the marina office to settle up for moorage, and learned about an extensive street fair in progress that happens every Thursday night. We decided to check it out, with the goal of walking the outskirts to see if we could spot our bike being ridden.

We have learned a lot about the underbelly of Nanaimo in 24 hours. There is a huge drug and homeless problem, with not a solution in sight. Petty theft is rampant. All looking to get their next fix. And once our eyes were open to this, it was easily spotted.

7:20pm. Our investigator finally had a chance to go to Port Place Mall and look at the video footage. He recognized the thief. A second phone call: we were asked if we’d like our bike back today, or prosecution. As we are here on holiday, we took the former. He gave us the intersection of where it was stashed, and we met him there.

The first bike was missing the front wheel (assuming they took it off to make it fit in their car). The second bike was missing a bolt to hold the front wheel on (they also disassembled it). A few scratches and dirt on both, but other than that after a scrub they were as good as new.

On our walk back to the marina, we were stopped by four police officers and multiple members of the community who have all been on watch for our second bike. Everyone we talked to was so elated that we were able to recover both bikes. So were we.

We asked a couple locals if it is like this in other cities on the island, say Campbell River or Pt McNeill. They could not confirm, but did say this problem is not unique to Nanaimo. It is everywhere on Vancouver Island.

So fellow boaters. Learn from our mistake. A cable lock will not protect your bike. Know how to lock your bike up correctly, as they will strip what parts they can from it. Be aware of your surroundings.

We cannot thank the community of Nanaimo, and the greater Canadian community, enough for rallying around us and making it possible to be reunited with not one, but both bikes.

It has been two years since we have been to the Broughton’s, our favorite boating area in Northern Canada, and so much has changed.

Lagoon Cove is now operated by a Minnesotan, Dan, and he’s doing a great job. But anybody that knew the previous owner Bill, his bear stories and freshly cooked daily spot prawns at happy hour, knows that Dan has big shoes to fill. We were fortunate enough to have met Bill before he passed. Each season when we hailed on the radio, Bill would respond, welcome back Tom and Tessa. We are glad to see you. After only one season of visiting Lagoon Cove, he knew our names and our boat name. Bill was that good.

While at Lagoon Cove, we heard of George’s (unexpected to us) passing at Port Harvey. He and his wife, with help from the community, had just rebuilt the Red Shoe Restaurant which had burnt down a season (or two) ago. When we stopped in three seasons ago, he and his wife were welcoming, their store was surprisingly well stocked if you are looking for that bolt or cleaner, and we had a great experience in the restaurant. George will be missed.

Sullivan Bay no longer has Chris as a caretaker, it is now just Debbie. Chris was a big piece of the Broughton’s for us, as he taught Tessa where to fish and what lures work. It wasn’t quite the same pulling up this year, as Chris would also welcome boats back by name. But the apple turnovers are still delicious in the morning, you can still take a swing at a hole in one at happy hour for free moorage, and the rib dinner had a waiting list.

We were happy to run into a fellow SYC boater at Blind Channel on his way South. He comes up to the Broughton’s every year, and we have gotten to know him over the years at Sullivan’s fishing and dining together. He is still operating his own boat, and fishing, at the young age of 93.5 years. We hope he has many more years of boating to come.

While Max and Anca’s kids are now grown, Kwatsi Bay is up for sale. Rustic, but idyllic, Max will tell you endless stories about his time here in the wilderness.

Pierre’s at Echo Bay is also up for sale. Infamous for their pig roasts on Saturdays, and their prime rib on Thursdays, Tove has put her foot down and it is time for them to retire. Don’t worry- you will still be able to visit them as Pierre will be building a cabin nearby. The wilderness and the sea is in his blood after forty years; with them, he is now one.

Bill Proctor is in his early 80s, and just got back from commercial fishing sockeye with Nikki. If you haven’t, do take your time to visit the legend of the Broughton’s. He is a wealth of knowledge and local lore. Maybe even buy a book, or two, of his.

North Island Marina, formerly Port McNeill Fuel Dock, is no longer run by Steve and Jessica – they now are a family of three living in Squamish. Steve’s younger brother Allan now operates the family business. We communicated with him via email, but we have yet to see him in person outside the boat show. Will, Liam and Sean did a great job running North Island Marina. We had a great experience even without Steve’s big energy and Allan being MIA.

The two marinas from the Broughton’s we have not visited this season are Telegraph Cove and Jennis Bay. We try to balance an even ratio of dock time and anchoring, however this season we were heavier on the dock time. We brought two boats that had not been North of Desolation with us through the rapids (nor had we even met them before) and we never could have imagined the amount of fun we had over the course of ten days showing them around. The three couples instantly connected, and we have a group of six who now will make an effort to reconnect at minimum annually.

The Broughton’s are in a period of flux. The resorts/marinas will not continue to exist if we do not reach out to fellow boaters, to buddy boat them through their fears of the rapids and transiting Johnstone, to educate them on what a great area of the Inside Passage it is, on how much better it gets once you are past Desolation. It is a whole different energy and the wilderness is stunning. Let’s not keep it a secret. Otherwise, the Broughton’s we know and love today, may not exist in the next decade.

In the Bahamas the natural beauty was mainly under water: the spectacular clarity of the water and the sea life. Staniel Cay Yacht Club- nurse sharks and coral, just feet away from the dock on the right side of the photo.

The objects that you needed to avoid also lie underwater: coral bommies and drifting sand. The path from the Exumas to Nassau, just one example, is littered with coral bommies in shallow cruising water- the dark patches in the above photo is coral.The entrance to Bimini is tricky, for the novice, as the first red buoy is no longer where it should belong since the last hurricane- to the left of these two boats. You may see a change of color in the water parallel to the sandy beach to the left of these boats, that water is too shallow for us to transit.

Cruising the Inside Passage could not be more opposite. The above ground natural beauty is breathtaking. What a stunning view, to be cleaning a salmon looking up Phillips Arm in BC.

The downside to the beautifully forested mountains, is the debris that results floating in the water. From sticks to twenty foot logs, to a boater’s worst nightmare, deadheads (not that a six ft or larger floating log can’t do significant damage to running gear).

August is known as Fog-ust in the Broughton’s where we like to go boating. With a 0.10 mi vis and cruising at 14kts, a log spotter is necessary to be able to tell the captain which way to dodge as he’s looking on radar for approaching boats.

And lastly, we have traded humid weather with the constant need for AC (although, we heard earlier this summer it was much needed in Desolation Sound) for highs/lows 50/40F and the need for our reverse air to be in heat mode. And a last minute purchase of a down comforter while provisioning at Costco has also been a big plus.

As we described in our first post about crossing the Gulf Stream, it averages 2.5-3 kt current from the South. When the wind blows from the NE, you do not cross – wind against current creates unfavorable conditions.Well, our eight hour window collapsed on us. And we will be crossing the Gulf Stream with 15-20 kt wind out of the NE. NOAA says seas 2-3 ft, 4 seconds. The following week looks worse, so it’s cross now, or wait a week.

By 7am the wind was already strong – so much for it settling overnight. We had to wait until 8am to checkout with customs. Well, that’s what we thought. We could have handed the front desk of the Big Bimini Game Club Resort our cards earlier.

From our epiphany yesterday crossing the Great Bahama Bank, we averaged 15.8 – 17.2 kts. Wind over current, and 3-6 ft seas from a slightly different direction than wind, made for what we call a washing machine effect. We tried to find the trough to surf parallel, but finding a consistent trough was tough.

So, we cavitated a lot. Which in basic terms means our props came out of the water a lot. The good news: our naiad stabilizers made a ride tolerable that would have been intolerable in our former boat. The only thing that fell over, or open? Our trash compactor door. Neither of us knew it had a latch.

The United States Customs and Border Patrol has an app for checking in, ROAM. Who knew? It is fairly new, still in beta stage, and only available in certain areas. We believe we were able to use it because we are Trusted Travellers. We downloaded the app, followed the prompts, waited for our application to be checked, and then waited for a video conference call or our application to be confirmed. We were confirmed in about five minutes. All while cruising the Intercoastal back to Marina Mile Yachting Center. How cool is that?! We hope it will be coming to the PNW waters soon.

We had one more bank to cross: The Great Bahama Bank. We spent six hours in average 10ft of water, doing 10kts. We hesitated at the get go if we should do it, but the route we took was one of three suggested routes from Berry Islands to Bimini Island. A couple hours in, we passed 97ft Grumpy (which we had seen at Bradford Marine Ft Lauderdale in March getting work done) going East. If she can do it, so can we.The tide was going out to start, knocking off 2-3kts our cruising speed of 13. Then the tide was coming in, still knocking 2-3kts off our speed. The Waterway Guide describes the current (horizontal movement of water, tide being vertical movement of water) as hard to predict in the Bahamas. If it was easy, it would have been charted by now.

Think of the Bahamas as a shallow plate, with an uneven rim. As the tide comes in, water takes the path of least resistance, or lowest part of the rim, and when it gets high enough, takes the next path of least resistance, or second to the lowest rim. With so many variations of the rim, depending on where you are located on the plate, the current can change an hour or so after the tide. It is hard to the predict the unpredictable.Five hours across the bank, Tom was tired of doing 10kts (which we were ecstatic to do cruise at in our last boat). He kicked it up 150rpm to 1700rpm. And guess what, we gained 6kts, now cruising at 16kts. The learning continues on operating our boat in different sea conditions, and getting her on a plane.

We passed a wreck, which unfortunately the lighting was not correct for a good photo. And took a shortcut to Bimini in shallow water (red in initial photo). Tom slowed down at 7.7ft. We got to 5ft. Easy peasy.

Our second time entering Bimini was much easier than our first. We knew the buoys were not accurate from Hurricane Matthew, and to read the bottom to find the new channel.

Bimini was also quiet compared to the last time we were here five weeks ago. We were ok with that. We stayed at Bimini Big Game Club again. We got our last cracked conch fix at the bar before departing tomorrow morning for Ft Lauderdale.

Our cruise from Nassau to Chub Cay, South end of Berry Islands, was what we had envisioned our whole time as: easy three to six foot rollers, six seconds, wind light at our backs (SE). We had three hours of cruising bliss with nothing on the horizon in the North Atlantic Ocean.We had initially planned to stop at Chub Cay after Bimini on our way to Nassau to pick up our first guest. Well, if you have been following our blog and have a good memory, you know that that did not happen. We went from Bimini to Freeport with generator issues, and our first guest flew into West End, Grand Bahama Island.

Highbourne was the Dent Island of the Exumas, Chub Cay very well might be the Dent Island of all of the Bahamas. At $4/ft, electricity charged per hour, water charged per gallon, we were sipping high tea at the Burj Al Arab. Oh wait, that was a different trip.

Chub Cay Marina has been rebuilt since Hurricane Matthew. It has Bellingham floating docks (first floating docks we’ve seen this trip, Tessa almost did not know what to do with the fenders! All non-floating docks here require high horizontal fenders), a ship store (lots of merchandise, limited grocery supplies), a bar and restaurant, pool, and rooms and houses you can rent.Tessa was determined to get one last snorkeling adventure in, but we found no reef worth while in our gunkholing adventures.Although we did find some wicked rocks. Wait, these are just a sampling of the rocks throughout the islands.

We had a couple great sunset dinners at the bar, while we waited for the wind to settle/clock around from the NE. We thought Bimini, where Ernest Hemingway used to like to fish, was the fishing capitol of the Bahamas. But Chub Cay we learned first hand is where all the fishermen from Florida come to Big Game fish. We were surround by Vikings, Bertram’s, Spencer’s, and Cabo’s – all sport fisher style boats with crew. Not much catching was going on, we only heard of one sailfish in the two days we were at the dock.