Friday, August 08, 2003

Blind Channel

We didn't get much sailing today (or any day that we were in the Discovery Islands for that matter), but the scenery more than made up for the madding chug of the Diesel engine. We left Big Bay pretty early so that we could shoot Dent Rapids. We hit Dent just after slack and rode a gentle current North through the pass. As we are cruising along, who do we see but some sailing friends "Magic Dragon" making their way north. They are heading to Shoal Bay so we follow them for a much needed break and a nap (did I mention that we got up really early!)
Shoal Bay is a nice quiet little bay with a small public dock that was pretty much chock full of Bayliners (do you detect a them?) However, it has a nice little pub and looks like it would be a great place to spend a week or so. Our friends on Magic Draon stayed there for several weeks a couple of years ago and enjoyed the experience. We, however, where not able to linger, we had guests and deadlines (the dreaded D word) to attend to. So after a nice mellow nap while we waited for the Blind Channel current to slack off, we pulled up the anchor and headed West through Cordura channel.

Sitting on the Shoal Bay Pub deck
As we came up to Blind Channel, I kept on thinking where the hell is it. Finally at the last minute we saw it (Hence the name). Now Blind Channel Resort is totally unlike Big Bayliner. It is just a fantastic place to spend a couple of days. The place was started and still run by the Richter family. Much of resort is decorated with Annemarie's art. Even the dock pilings are decorated.



Dock Piling Cover and Detail

The staff was super friendly. In the morning you could walk up to the store for fresh Cinnamon rolls. Later on the fresh bread would roll out, followed by cookies in the after noon. In the evening we enjoyed their find German restaurant. We liked it so much, we ended up eating there two nights.
Our friends stayed for one more night and then took a water taxi back to Campbell River.

(5/13/2004): I just read the Shoal Bay newsletter. Turns out that Shoal Bay is now a Nuke Free Zone. So I guess all of you nuclear powered Bayliners are just going to have to go elsewhere!
(5/13/2004): Annemarie Richter of Blind Channel passed away last November. She will surely be missed.

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