I arrived back from Newfoundland in early March and prepared Treylya as my cousin and his partner from Newfoundland were planning on visiting us for a week to sail and explore Victoria.
My cousin Paul is an avid fisherman and wanted to try west coast fishing. I’ve never really tried fishing while living on the West Coast but always thought it would be something I’d do one day so I went out and picked up everything needed. Most of the fishing gear (down riggers, rods, reels, lures) I got was second hand (from yard sales) but I also paid several visits to Island Outfitters to complete my collection. The guys at Island Outfitters were great to deal with and helped explain the process of using the downrigger, depths to fish at, how long to put the lure back from the steel line attached to the downrigger, etc, etc… So much to learn…
Paul and Cynthia arrived on March 8th and we spend the first few days kicking around Victoria enjoying the sights. It was nice spending some time with my old buddy. We spent a lot of time together when we were young and Paul would host me on most fishing trips over the past several years in Newfoundland so it was nice to finally pay host to him and Cynthia.
Paul and I took the boat out for a few hours to hook up the downriggers and test our luck around Coal Island, Sidney, BC. The first day we dropped the downriggers with high anticipation and were a little disappointed to find the line was tangled each time we brought in the lures. We went back to Island Outfitters and spoke to the fellas there. Turns out I was going too slow and the flasher would fall and tangle around the steel rigging line. The next day out, equipped with this new knowledge, we kept the speed around 3 knots and never experienced a tangle after that… No luck that day but we were in high spirits now that we finally figured out how to fish with a down rigger. We felt ready for a day on the water to test our skills.
We made plans to head over to Ganges on March 12th and decided to fish most of the way over. Debbie, Cynthia, Paul and I enjoyed a great day sailing and fishing and although we didn’t get anything we enjoyed the trip and had a few laughs.
We tied up at Ganges Marina and settled in for an afternoon of drinking and eating… The girls went to check out the shops and Paul and I stayed around the dock and had a beer. We met a fella on the dock named Justin who worked at the marina and turned out to be a wealth of knowledge about crabbing, gathering oysters and mussels, fishing, engines, boats, etc… Justin headed out and picked up some seafood for a BBQ and the girls got back from the market so we put on the BBQ. Justin got back as the sun was setting with a load of crab, oysters and mussels. We shared what we had and Justin shared his seafood. What a feast!
We woke up Sunday morning with a forecast of high winds so we left Treylya tied up to the dock and took a taxi to the ferry and the ferry back to Swartz Bay. I planned to come back later in the week to spend a few nights on the boat at Ganges. Paul and Cynthia enjoyed the scenery during the ferry ride back and plan to make this an annual trip.
I staying in Victoria for a few days and returned to Ganges on Wednesday afternoon. I hung out at Ganges Marina for a few days and Deb came over Friday evening. We went for dinner at the pub, had a few drinks with Justin at the dock and turned in around 10pm.
We woke up Sat morning and decided to head back to Sidney. We had good sailing and we back in port by 16:30.
Day 1: 20160312
09:34 – 14:46
Total Time: 05:30
Sail Time: 03:00
Engine Time: 02:30
Day 2: 20160319
10:00 – 16:20
Total Time: 5:28
Sail Time: 4:01
Engine Time: 1:27
We then enjoyed the scenery of the drive up island, past Duncan, past Nanaimo and to Coombs to see the “goats on the roof” at the market. Unfortunately the goats were nowhere to be seen so we went in, browsed the market and enjoyed a nice lunch.
