Beautiful Pender Harbour to the Lund Zoo

Across the Georgia Straits to Pender Harbour
Our trip across the Georgia Straits to Pender Harbour was calm and uneventful. We were only able to sail for a short while before motoring again. Pender Harbour, which bills itself as the "Venice of the West" was lovely. We tied up at an old-style resort, complete with ping-pong tables, a swimming pool, a small store, and kayaks for rent. We took our kayaks and paddled several miles around the harbor to the "town" (it had a grocery store, cafe, liquor store, and a few other businesses), and hiked up the hill to the Grasshopper Pub, which had a wonderful view of a portion of the harbor. We then kayaked over to an Ericson 38 anchored nearby, and spent some time talking to the owner, exchanging notes about Ericsons and traveling north. Owning a boat from the same manufacturer is always a great way to make a new friend. We haven't yet found anyone who knows as much about Ericsons as Cory, and I don't think we will! Then back to our peaceful and beautiful marina, which was tucked inside a nook in the harbor. Our arms sure got a workout!


Lund Marina (aka "the zoo")
Our next stop, Lund, was only a few hours away. Lund is a jumping off point into Desolation Sound and was an absolute zoo. The marina had two long docks and a separate floating breakwater. The boats were tied lengthwise to the dock, and up to two additional boats were rafted (tied) to the boat attached to the dock. The harbormaster's assistant was going to have us raft up to another boat. In front of that boat, there were three boats rafted together, and behind it, there were two boats. We were going to have to line up and move directly sideways into our spot. Needless to say, sailboats don't move sideways, and we were not excited about attempting this maneuver. I spotted an empty spot on the floating breakwater. This is a secondary dock because you have to use a dinghy to get to shore. We decided that we'd rather row to shore than try to make our boat do impossible maneuvers. After an easy docking, we spent the rest of the afternoon watching boats move in and out of the marina, with the one marina staff member assisting every boat to dock. In the early evening, we ended up with two boats rafted up to us. While the people were reasonably friendly, its not our favorite way to spend an evening, and we'll probably avoid Lund in the future.