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Tribune Bay to Comox

We got to Tribune Bay on Hornby Island, dropped anchor, tidied up and went ashore in the dingy. Tribune Bay has a beautiful beach and a wonderful park with fire pits, tennis courts, a cook house, and trails. I took Yas for a walk while Trystan and Jerome played on the beach until Jerome cut his foot on a barnacle. (He wears shoes now in the water all the time.) There were sand dollars everywhere – the first that we have seen since Newcastle Island. Just an absolutely spectacular beach…. until the wind picked up the next morning.

By 1100 on the second day, there were whitecaps in the bay pounding against the bow of Finn and it was getting worse. What a great Canada Day present! Happy 150 years Canada! Tribune Bay is wide open to the south winds. We decided to weigh anchor and head to Courtenay/Comox because the wind was supposed to increase from 5 knots to 15 knots. It was a very rough trip out of the bay and around Hornby and because we hadn’t planned on leaving that day, we forgot to stow everything properly down below. Poor Jerome had to deal with dishes, coats, dog bowls and books flying across the boat while we motored our way over the waves. Luckily he seems to have a cast iron stomach and can endure the waves and rocking down below. Yas was unimpressed with the rough trip….it makes it hard for her to sleep when a plate goes whizzing past her head. She may be blind but she is not stupid!

Once around Hornby Island we were able to sail to Denman Island (all of us took turns sailing wing-on-wing) and motored the remaining six miles. Once we had turned downwind it was like we were in a completely different ocean. Just before nightfall, Trystan was very calm threading his way through the bar into Comox Harbour with Jerome doing a great job sounding for us all. Goose Spit is a very shallow anchorage (and as we found out….sometimes the wind acts against the currents in the

water and moves our boat sideways to the wind…making it rather uncomfortable) but there were lots of seals and the Comox Harbour Authority has a beautiful facility with a beautiful park (Yas was very happy to get back onto solid ground with grass!) .

On July 2nd we were lucky to meet up with our friends Rosalee, Bill and Maggie for a visit and lunch at the fish and chips trailer by the park. It was wonderful to see them all again and Maggie and Bill very kindly drove Trystan and Jerome around the area and up to the grocery store in their fancy convertible. (Take a look at the pics!). Rosalee, Yas and I decided to walk and endure Trystan and Jerome’s smug waving as they drove by us. The following day was spent exploring bookstores for more Tintin and Tom Swift books for Jerome and Patrick O’Brian books for Trystan but with no luck on all counts, we settled for a shower at the Comox Harbour Authority.