Nanoose Harbour

It ended up being a very bumpy night last night. I think the winds actually blew a little harder as the night went on. I’m guessing around 25 kts or better. While there wasn’t much fetch, with the low lying land and wind speed, out of the WNW, it still created some choppy waters. Also, with that kind of wind, especially with the C-Dory’s flat bottom, it sails a lot. That means it sails back and forth on the anchor as it just acts as a big wind vane. The winds did finally die down around 3:30am this morning, and with that the water calmed down. There was still a bit of a breeze, but only causing a small ripple on the water. I left Tribune Bay just a bit before 8am and had a 1-1.5 mph tail current most the way. Even with a Strong Wind Warning in effect for the Strait of Georgia, the winds didn’t seem to be blowing very hard, maybe NW at 10-15. I did have from 1’ to 3’ following seas, but they weren’t all that uncomfortable. Except there was an area where the seas were hitting off my port quarter, and that adds some roll with the already up and down action. I chose to anchor in Nanoose Harbour today, and arrived here just after noon. It is next to a Canadian Naval facility, so a secure zone. That requires notification to the Canadian military via a phone call, or form on line one can fill out, or email. For more on that, see: https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/rcn-mrc/docum…. I made my call to Winchelsea Island Control on my way in, and was cleared to proceed to the mooring buoy I wanted. Nobody else is here, so I had my choice of two mooring buoys, or I could have anchored. The buoys and anchorage are on the south shore, away from the military facilities. I expected to see more ships, but none were here when I arrived. I did pass one going out as I was coming in. The Whiskey Gulf military zone just outside of the Harbour was active today, so later this afternoon, I did see three small ships come back in from that. Everything seemed knd of laid back getting permission with phone calls, no response to my email, and checking in with Winchelsea Control. Almost like no one cared. However, later this afternoon, about half an hour before the ships came back, I did get a visit from Military Marine Police. They just wanted to know if I had checked in, when I got here, if I provided my information, when I would be leaving, everything good with my boat, and then reminded me of the security zone to my north at the military facility. Then wished me a good evening. So they are monitoring. Regarding the mooring ball, it has “Navy Mooring Prohibited” painted on it. However, all the publications and charts say the two buoys can be used. And the Military Police didn’t say anything to me about being hooked up to the mooring. I’m guessing maybe they are old mooring balls that the Navy doesn’t use anymore and have left for folks like me. However, at least this ball, is about 4’ in diameter, and is heavy iron. I definitely don’t want it bouncing into the boat, so I have about 10’ of line between it and the boat. (I would normally pull my line all the way through and attach both ends at the boat then, so in the morning I could just pull one end through the mooring ball and not have to get close to it to unhook or untie the line. However, the eyelet on the ball has sharp corners and I didn't want it wearing the line in half with constant wave action, plus I needed to have the extra length for distance from the ball.) And I’m very much hoping the wind continues to blow at least some tonight, to keep C-Traveler off the ball!!! There was a pretty good wind in here most of the afternoon. Right now it seems like it has dropped off a little bit, but the hourly forecast is showing for westerly winds around 10-12 all night. This is really a pretty boring anchorage, but does provide safe haven from all but easterly winds. It’s only another 15 miles to Nanaimo, but I thought I would be seeing more military ships and wanted to check out the anchorage here. Now I know. Next time I’ll continue on. Read more