Comox, Saturday September 17 - Monday, September 19, 2011

Heading South in Discovery Passage

We head out of April Point at 7 AM sharp to another beautiful sunrise and purple mountains majesty - and we're not even in the USA.  The only thing we need to worry about today is crossing the feared Comox Bar - a shallow channel at the entrance to Comox that is marked by buoys and range lights that "may or may not be visible" but need to be lined up on our starboard.  Sure thing.

The trip proceeds calmly for 40 minutes until we reach Cape Mudge, described by Wagoner's Cruising Guide as a "known graveyard for vessels of all sizes."  Hmmmm...



Tip of Cape Mudge with storm clouds and a strip of sun

Sure enough the waters become more roiled, the wind picks up, the clouds move in and all hell breaks loose.  Our boat starts bucking like a Texas bronco and waves the size of a Hollywood disaster movie approach.  Think George Clooney in The Perfect Storm.  But we have a sturdy boat, no need to worry, it can handle this.  But Jim can't.  Get the bucket.



Waves starting

Still, we try to stay standing and steer the boat through this when suddenly an alarm pierces the cabin and an ominous yelow light starts flashing at the helm station.  Warnings flare - "fuel derate condition" - and other words that I can't read because we're tossing to and fro.  Jim goes to the engine room to repair it but several solutions he tries fail to fix it.  And the alarm continues it's shrill blare every 2-3 seconds.

 Meanwhile, we see the anchor on the bow bounce loose from it's tie-down. Jim makes a final bucket stop  before crawling out onto the rocking anchor platform, about 10 feet above the water, to secure the anchor.  As we go down each wave, the bow slaps the surface of the water and I watch Jim ride the bow up and down.


Now, a red light flashes and even I know that's much worse than a yellow warning.  More warnings scroll across the monitor and basically, it says things are bad.  We slow down until we are cruising at about 5 knots, making this trip even longer. 





This looks Biblical

Three and one-half hours later, alarm still blaring, we near Comox and...The Bar.  I am so rattled by the constant alarm I forgot all about this little challenge.  We are now in somewhat more protected waters and the rocking and rolling has stopped, Jim is less queasy and we easily see the range lights, make the crossing and are rewarded with a glimpse of  a rainbow at shore.



Rainbow over Vancouver Island

We putter to shore, dock and turn off the engine - quiet for the first time in four hours.  After settling in we head to the bar, the real one,  for a beer to calm our raw nerves and meet Gavin, the head of Search and Rescue for BC.  Good man to know. 


Jim manages to fix the fuel problem over the next two days - which requires much effort on his part and a rented car and drive to Campbell River by me (which we just came from by boat) for parts.  We have dirty fuel that was stirred up by the extreme bucking we endured.  Jim removes from the fuel line what looks just like one of Wiley's hairballs and I eye Wiley suspiciously - I know they want to get home but would Wiley sabotage the boat???? 



Comox Harbor

Comox is a charming seaside town with cute shops, great restaurants and super friendly people.  The weather continues to be iffy and fall is definitely here - it feels like a switch was suddenly thrown.  Time to head further south before the weather gets worse. 





Our Last Evening