#4: [05-Sep-04]

#2: [09-Jun-02]

#1: [02-Jun-01]

27-Jul-2002 -- We visited this confluence while on a 17 day sailing trip from Vancouver to the Desolation Sound region of British Columbia. Desolation Sound is an area of islands and fjords among the Coast Mountains between the mainland and Vancouver Island. On the day of the visit we were motoring (due to lack of wind) from Refuge Cove on West Redonda Island to Gorge Harbour on Cortes Island where we spent the night at a marina. Other members of the crew were Michele (my wife), Fred (Michele's father), and Leah (our cat).

I had previously programmed the confluence into the GPS as a waypoint and with the GPS connected to the Autohelm system I was quite confident we would get very close. The conditions were perfect... cloudless skies and calm water. We relaxed in the cockpit enjoying the scenery and seals and watched the GPS count down the distance to go. Leah seemed more fascinated with the seals than she did with the GPS, but the rest of us were looking forward to hitting the mark.

I readied the camera and snapped the required shot of the GPS as we got to within 13 feet with all zeros showing. I took a few other shots that show the mountains of Vancouver Island in the distance to the west toward Campbell River, a shot of a small island to our south, and another shot looking aft toward Desolation Sound. We then turned north and headed up the channel between Cortes and Marina Islands to our destination at Gorge Harbour.

This part of the world offers some of the most spectacular natural scenery anywhere and if you ever have an opportunity to visit, especially by boat, you should jump at the chance. It is only 2 days sailing north of Vancouver or less than a day by power boat. I know we will be back for many more explorations.

In the Strait of Georgia, just 1.55 km from the southern tip of Cortes Island.