Saturday June 27th, we headed south, back down the BC mainland to Pender Harbour and Garden Bay again. Went to the IGA again for more provisions.

Monday June 28th, we crossed the Strait of Georgia (pretty choppy with 20knot NW wind and 3' wind waves), and entered Departure Bay on the northend of Nanaimo Harbour. We traveled down the Newcastle Island Passage, between Newcastle and Vancouver Islands. There are several marinas located in the Newcastle Channel.

We dropped anchor in Mark Bay just off Newcastle Island, and spent several days at anchor there. The anchorage is located between Newcastle and Protection Islands, and is very popular. Newcastle Island is open to the public and has public docks for access. Also, there is a shoreboat that brings the public out and back from Nanaimo to the island for the day. With all the boat traffic and the constant changing current and breezes, the anchorage is bumpy until dark. It appears that the further back into the cove you are willing to go to anchor, the quiter it is, but it gets very shallow back in there, and one needs to pay attention to the many uncharted submerged rocks and sholes and tide changes. Protection Island is privately owned, therefore the public is discouraged, except to visit the famous floating Dingy Dock Pub. Always a party going on there.

We ventured into downtown Nanaimo and the Port Authority Marina. Two Port Authority warfingers met us at the dock and helped us tie-up. They allowed us to stay "free" up to three hours, while we went into town and purchased provisions at the very close Thrifty Food store. They also allowed us to fill our water tanks and assisted us in turning around and departing. We highly recommend the Port Authority Marina in Nanaimo. They have an easy to negotiate fuel dock there too.