Garbage Barges and Boozy Boarding

Our next day with Nat and Al took us to Squirrel Cove, a familiar anchorage that we stayed at on a previous charter. Before settling on Squirrel Cove we made a pit stop at a wildly popular spot called Refuge Cove. The guidebook really hyped this place up — fuel, water, Dave’s Garbage Barge, oh my! We HAD to go. No really, we had to go because we needed to fill our water tanks. After jostling in line for a spot, we snagged dock space on the fuel dock that had a sign clearly posted that said, ‘Water available on all docks.’ We thought, “great!” and hopped off the boat, hose at the ready. Get this — the fuel man stomps over not seconds after our bare feet hit the dock and says, “Can’t get water here.” I scoffed. “The sign clearly states —“, but he immediately cuts me off, “Only if you get fuel.” Well, we refuelled in Powell River but we’d motored a bit so Brad, ever the diplomat, says, “Sure, we could use some fuel!” 4 gallons of diesel in the tank later and we’re laughing, because our water tank need another ten minutes to fill.

It was early, and after satisfying our water requirements the only thing standing between us and a good spot in the anchorage was one last stop in Refuge Cove — Dave’s Garbage Barge. Three bags of trash awaited in the dinghy, so Natalie and I motored over to acquaint ourselves with Dave. Dave, who must be a very wealthy man, because it cost us $52 to ditch three bags of garbage. FIFTY TWO dollars for THREE bags of garbage. And then wanted ME to pay HIM to recycle our cans! Unfortunately our holds were too full to hold anymore trash, and Dave was our only option. Back we motored to Splash, wondering how we got so seriously swindled. Is anyone out there looking for a new career? May I suggest a second garage barge in Refuge Cove? I think it could be lucrative. Anyways, I’m over it (I’m not over it). The day was young and we needed to move on. Although we did fleetingly consider staying at Refuge, it proved to be a less than ideal spot and I was forced to go another day without an ice cream because we decided mosey on to Squirrel instead.

Spinnaker sailing on the way to Squirrel Cove

It wasn’t long before we got to Squirrel and dropped the hook. It was yet another beautiful day (really, Brad and I could use some bad island weather because our experiences suggest it is only ever really, really nice) so we took the paddle boards with the dogs over to the nearest beach. Lhotse burned some energy swimming most of the way, while Cinna jumped successfully from board to sand without getting her toes wet. A win for everyone! Other wins include seeing a snake and finding a really cool deer skeleton. Is there anything better than beach exploring? 

We burned a few hours later in the afternoon floating on SUPs and enjoying the sun before Brad decided the day needed some more pizazz. Out came the margaritas and off we went with three SUPs towed behind Patch. Our little 15hp engine totally kicks it with a few people on board, and boy did Patch demonstrate her strength pulling three grown women on paddle boards. As usual, we had a blast and only lost one pair of sunglasses and a bracelet. Cheap thrills!

Our next stop required an early departure the next morning because we wanted a good spot and potentially needed to time our arrival with the tides. Our objective: Roscoe Bay. This place comes up all the time when you ask people about Desolation Sound — it’s pretty, has access to a stellar lake, and is kind of novel because the only time you can enter or exit the anchorage is at high tide, unless you’re open to portaging your sailboat across the island that’s above the water line at low tide. We sailed in a bit early to scope things out but after hashing out our options we realized we might have to pass on Roscoe… our timing was good to enter but the following day was a long sail back towards Powell River and we wouldn’t have been able to leave the anchorage until 11am or so. Darn! Not to fret for long though, we simply continued around the corner to anchor in the famous Prideaux Haven, a group favourite from our previous charter trips. 

Prideaux was BUMPING for the long weekend and we were feeling pretty grateful to be there earlier in the day to find a nice spot. The wind was pretty strong and with some dinghy assistance, Splash and Ocean Spirit successfully anchored with stern lines to shore and we were free to go explore! Land of the big boats and fancy dinghies, most people seem to come here to socialize on their boats, not off of them. All the better for us because we didn’t have to go far to find a sweet little spot for a shore and SUP party before enjoying some live music off a very large, very fancy boat, and dinner on board Splash courtesy of Nat and Allen. 

Time started ticking the next day and we started our sail back south to wrap up Nat and Al’s time on board (and our summer season). They decided to sail on Ocean Spirit that day so Brad and I waved goodbye like two proud parents, telling them to be on their best behaviour and be sure to show off all they’ve learned. Ha. Oversized backpacks in tow, off they went into the waiting embrace of Eric and Cheryl, and together we all lifted anchor and pointed our auto-helms south.