The Adventures of Ka'sala

Pender Harbour

As I write this, we have been in Pender Harbour since Sunday, July 5.

Arial View of Pender Harbour (taken from Pender Harbour & Egmont 2015 Visitor Guide) 

We spent three days at peaceful anchor in Garden Bay surrounded by large powerboats and the occasional sailboat.  At least 50% of them fly American flags and seem to use this harbour as a transit point for travelling north to Desolation Sound or back south to the more populous areas.  Some of them are massive with topsides high enough to watch movies on!  Culture shock!  We took the dinghy to Madeira dock, which is a short way from a well stocked IGA and liquor store, to re-provision.

Ka'sala at Garden Bay 

We went ashore at Garden Bay Provincial Park and walked up the road to freshwater Garden Bay Lake, then back to the pub for a cold one, vowing we would return the next day for a swim.  We did – numerous times – the lake is clean, warm and refreshing – not too wide, with a resting bench on the other side. 

Swimming Hole at Garden Bay Lake

Swimming Bench at Garden Bay Lake

On the third day we moved over to the public dock at Madeira Park where we have great WiFi and showers (though no laundry).  I have been able to catch up with friends, family and the blog and Doug has been able to connect on line as well.  The dock is very quiet for this time of year and very peaceful.  

Ka'sala at the Madeira Park docks

Today we put together the bicycles and went for a vigourous, hilly ride through the Francis Peninsula admiring the many gorgeous homes and fabulous views to be found there. 

Lovely View from Baker's Beach Provincial Park

Navigating by Smartphone

Each day the smoke has cleared more and more.  Today we even have blue sky.  However, the winds are predicted to come from the southeast the next couple days, so we may just stay here as we are enjoying it so much.  This weekend is Pender Harbour Days with all sorts of events scheduled from music to markets.  We don’t have to be anywhere until the second week in August when we are expected in Port Townsend to do our re-rigging.