NANAIMO AND DODD NARROS

After arriving in Nanaimo yesterday afternoon, we walked into town and hit the bakery and a few shops (we haven't seen many shops lately) before  heading to Penny's Palapa on the Cameron Island docks.  It was a hot afternoon so margaritas were definitely in order.                                               

 

Naniamo was very busy so we felt lucky to get space at a relatively new Marina called the Waterfront. Dozens of vessels were anchored in  the Harbour.

We had a beautiful sunrise as we departed just before 6 this morning to catch the slack tide at Dodd Narrows.  In the second photo below you can see that Nanaimo, the second largest city on BC's Vancouver Island, is a thriving port.

Transiting through the Narrows is done single file and vessels with the tide in their favor have priority. Arriving at the Dodd Narrows entrance slightly before a slack tide that would turn to flood in a few short minutes meant that we still had the ebb and, therefore, priority in our southbound direction.  Fortunately, there was no northbound traffic and we also didn't have to contend with any tugs pulling tows.  However, there was a tug with a log boom about a mile behind us that would cause other boaters a bit of angst.  Commercial traffic has priority regardless of their direction of travel.  

 

The above pictures show Dodd Narrows just before slack water.  As the tide comes in (floods) or goes out (ebbs) the current strengthens quickly making it difficult, if not impossible, to go through safely.  Today's maximum flood will be nearly 5 knots.  

Today's destination is Genoa Bay, G&T's favorite spot in the Canadian Gulf Islands, and one which Doug and Margi have not experienced .