Lots of new firsts for everyone

We were finally off on a 10 day long trip on our new boat. The food and booze were packed, the bed was made and everything stowed away. After the usual hair raising departure from our dock at Westport we headed across familiar ground heading for a first night at Bedwell Harbour. Finding a great spot we dropped the anchor for the first time and settled in for the night, watching a lovely sunset on the back deck

The next morning broke in drizzly rain and so our initial plans of heading for Tombo Island were cut short and instead we went through Plumper sound finally tucking into Boot Cove. It was a dreary day but we were warm and dry in our cockpit and enjoying the heating on the boat for the first time. Boot cove looked like it should be well sheltered but through the night the wind got up and blew hard testing our anchoring placement. Luckily we had lots of space and we didn't drag.

The next morning was a little better and we stopped off to investigate Lyall harbour and a walk into the only shop on Saturna Island. On the way back we couldn't resist having lunch at the Lighthouse pub, looking down the channel and onto our boat. we headed round to Otter bay; a great spot apart from the ferry coming and going. The marina was very pleasant with a good shop and nice grounds. We also stretched our legs at Roseland National Park Reserve to the south of the bay.

Waking up on the 5th we pulled up anchor and headed for our two nights at Poet's cove resort back in Bedwell Harbour. It was pleasant staying at a resort and we enjoyed the restaurant, bar and pools but we both realised that with the home comforts on the boat and good food courtesy of Chef's plate, we really didn't need to be stopping at marinas in the future.