So today we finally left for 2 months together sailing the highways and byways of Vancouver Island. With some trepidation we raised our anchor from Todd inlet and headed to Brentwood Bay marina to fill up with water. After the usual drama of docking and undocking we were out into Saanich inlet towards Samsun narrows; our first major narrows. It was incredibly hot on the water with not a breath of wind to cool us down. We left the shelter up and motored steadily north.

As we approached Samsun narrows the description in Navionics did little to calm our already jangled nerves:

"There can be strong currents through this narrows, sometimes over 5 knots. Navigational charts indicate many tide rips and whirlpools"

As we approached we did our best to time our passage for slack water but we had no idea what to expect. A power boat shot past us and went through with some sideways motion and we were pretty worried with our little engine, giving us a max speed of about 4.5 knots, not really able to help us if we got caught in a bad current. As we neared the narrowest part we passed a small island with some basking seals who watched us idly (maybe they were hoping for some entertainment!).

Hitting the narrowest point exactly on slack we happily discovered this did mean there was no adverse currents, tide rips or whirlpools though and we powered through in triumph at having passed out first narrows. We carried on motoring and eventually dropped the hook outside Maple bay, wedged in between four locals boats on mooring buoys.

With the sweltering heat I went for a swim around the boat and we took the dinghy ashore to investigate the Rampant Lion Pub. The first pub we had seen with its own dock. The weather was absolutely sweltering and as we went in we found half a dozen listless locals. The barman informed us dully that the kitchen was closed because it was too hot and so, in the light of the 'sparkling' atmosphere we decided to move on. After a brief stroll around the village we headed back to Doubletime and relaxed under our shelter in the heat.