How 'bout the outside?

Yes folks, we have departed from the inside passage, as advertised. But if you had read our itinerary, you would have expected this departure from the "advertised" title of this blog. Anyway, we decided to "bite the bullet" and "go for it"! We heard that it might be a little late in the season to do the outside of Vancouver Island but we felt that if we wussed out, we would remember this opportunity and regret that we had been "pussies" so we went for it.

Let me say right off that I LOVE my QUEAZ-AWAYs! They are elastic bracelets with pressure points that go three fingers down from the first crease in your wrist. Without these, I think I would be a sick puppy! I put them on every morning after we leave our anchorage just when I first start noticiing the swells and I don't take them off till we are entering the next anchorage and well out of the full force of the swells. It doesn't mean I can read a book or knit a sweater, but I can get through 4 to 6 hours of constant turbulence without upchucking or even feeling like I might. And I have no problem eating so they are wonderful!

Yes, it is "Fogust in Tofino", as I was considering naming this piece, and yes, it is true that August is known for fog. We are living witnesses! Today we spent five full hours in full-on, heavy fog. We left Hot Springs Cove in the fog and it lasted the ENTIRE trip to Tofino. It only cleared for us literally as we entered the marina where we currently are. It was tedious. It was mind-numbing. It was stressful! We had to maintain a constant watch to ensure we didn't run into an adrift sport fishing boat, or that a high-powered, super fast powerboat didn't ram into us, or that we didn't hit any flotsam such as logs, massive kelp bunches, or sea lions having sex. (Not that we saw any boaters mid-voyage, but we did see a few at either end of our day.) And yes, we narrowly missed a pair of these amorous creatures on the surface frolicking about and completely oblivious to their surroundings or the boat (us) that was about to run them down! I was driving at the time and it really freaked me out (especially after the whale encounter last month. At least if we had hit them it wouldn't have been as catastrophic.)

It is late so I don't want to type much longer, but let me say that the water on the north end of Vancouver Island is BROWN! Just like the tannic water we've seen in lakes and rivers in many inland places, not out here in the ocean. Very disappointing! We don't know if that is normal or some weird thing or what. Bull Harbour had nice, blue-green water and when we got to Santa Gertrudis the water had finally returned to this nice blue-green state. If anybody knows the answer, we'd love to hear.

We are tired so we will retire for now, and hope to write more tomorrow. I have at least one story worth sharing but we're both just plain tired. Love to you all!