With our bow facing the right way and no one in front of us it was an easy get out in the morning after topping up our water tanks.  As soon as we were in clear air we put up the sails and had a great day cruising down Malaspina inlet with a brisk north westerly for once helping us along.  Blueprint, the big motor yacht from the day before passed us a bit later on the way.   We changed our minds a few times about where to anchor between Ballet Bay, Musket island and Telescope inlet but eventually settled for Musket island as the best protection from the NW winds expected.  It was a very roll-y and tight entrance but once through things calmed down and we anchored with a couple of other boats in the north bay.  We met two lovely ladies from one of the boats.  They had sailed down to Mexico in the Niagra31 and then bought their current Catalina 34 down there.  It was nice to find another boat with only a 23 HP engine!

We went for a paddle around and visited Musket island provincial park - lovely park with an amazing bench and view.  Also beautifully clear water which let us see into what could have been a lost Atlantis!. 

The plan the next day was to head across to Anderson Bay on Taxada.  With the sea still lumpy we decided to head across to Texada before going down the coast.  We had a great sail across the channel and then down the side of the island.  As we got closer the wind died and we motored round in to the bay...only to find that there were already four yachts and a commercial fishing vessel in the small bay.  We motored up and around them but decided it was just too tight to anchor so headed back across aiming for Smugglers cove.  The sea was very choppy going across and DT wallowed badly on the shelf north of Thornanby island.  As well the clouds came in and it looked like rain.  Heidi did a wonderful job of bringing us through the entrance with a nasty sea running in but then we were confronted with a packed smigglers cover and a boat behind us looking to anchor too.  Luckily someone on their way out pointed to some chains but with a cross wind blowing us around we still had to fight to get the stern tie in place. Once settled it started a bit of drizzle but then later in the evening cleared up to a pleasant sunny evening

We stayed another two nights in Smugglers cove exploring the many hikes around the marine park as well as motoring over to Secret Cover to explore a very well heeled community. Surprisingly, although there were many very impressive houses there we couldn't find any decent bars or restaurants or shops.