The day started very early for Chris, who drove from Vancouver in Millie to park in a secret (free) destination near Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal before boarding the 6.30 am ferry to join us in Nanaimo at 8.15.

After checking the yacht, here were a few queries about missing kit / navigation, but Ian had reassured us the night before that the reassuring-sound 'Ken' would be along first thing in the morning in good time to ensure everything was ship shape in time for us to be on our way in good time to leave by 8.45 in order to reach Dodd Narrows at slack tide. The mooring was very narrow and tight and Ian had advised that we would be unable to get off the mooring without Ken's assistance.

Mike and I set off for the super market to buy pastries for breakfast and get cash from the bank before heading to the ferry terminal to pick up Chris. We drove past the (full) car park into the (deserted) drop off and pick up area and saw Chris coming towards us. As he clambered in there was a tap on Mike's window and the car park attendant pointed out that we were in the (still deserted) drop off area, whereas we should have been in the (equally deserted) pick up area...

Back at the yacht, there was no sign of Ken. After a trip to the office and a word with Taya, his apperance was promised. We were execting a reassuringly middle aged man in check shirt and overalls to come ambling over but by 9 am there was still no sign. Instead a very hungover and queasy looking young lad with ear tubes, looking as if he had just come out of rehab, finally showed up, giving every appearance of never having previously seen our yacht or sailed anything anywhere near the Gulf Islands. After much head scratching and shuffling of feet we eventually moved off, leaving a perplexed looking Ken standing on the pontoon.

We motored south to the Narrows and arrived there at 10.20. The water looked choppy and the inlet pretty narrow. We had heard other sailing craft on VHF Channel 16 announcing their intentions to sail through the narrows and asking for 'interested parties' to reply, and so we did the same. No reply.

It was surprisingly turbuent as we sailed through, with Bill at the helm we wove our way through the Narrows and then by 10.30 we were out the other side, free of time constraints and able to enjoy our mugs of tea and watch the sea otters catching fish by the shore.

Just South of Round Island the wind got up to over 6 knots and we thought it was time to hoist the sails. We tried out the in mast furling and played with the travellers until the sails were up and Stargazer was sailing beautifully! With the engine turned off, all was peaceful, the only sound being the wind in the sails.

We were a very happy crew and enjoyed coffee and pain au chocolat on deck whilst setting up the fishing gear for our first day's fishing. We had borrowed a rod from the charter company and Chris had brought a large selection of fishing gear with him. Very soon there were three lines being jigged from the stern of our boat.

We sailed down Stuart Narrows between Vancouver Island and De Courci Island before sailing through Ruxton passage to Wallys bay at the southern tip of De Courcy Island. Mike, Beth and Chris set off in the tender to explore the beach. We then continued round the point to approach Pirates Cove from the South. The challenge here was to check that there was enough tidal depth to sail over the entrance bar and to align the leading marks - a white wooden cross attached to a fir tree and a white arrow painted on a rock below - before turning to port to enter the harbour between the port and starboard marks. We anchored in the cove for a lunch of chicken salad wraps followed by more coffee and cookies. Right on cue, the sun came out and despite still being quite chilly, the whole place lit up and the water sparkled.

After lunch, we sailed out of the cove following the same route and turned south, sailing down the Pylades Channel, keeping Valdes Island to port, travelling at 6.9 knots in 8 knots of wind towards Thetis Island.

At 4.30 the wind dropped so we dropped the sails and motored to Little Reid Islet, south of Reid Island, where we anchored to watch the sunset.

After that we motored to Norway island to bait and drop our prawn trap in a carefully selected area near a shelf, at about 200ft depth.

Then we moved on to Clam Bay to anchor overnight. Mike barbecued steaks on the gas barbecue attached to the rear of the boat and we savoured a delicious meal sitting in the cockpit under the bimini cover before retiring early, exhausted!