Kama Hele: 2 Days of Thetis

Leaving Wallace Island we were off to Thetis Island Marina. This marina has a fuel dock, pub, and restaurant right at the marina. We had a nice and calm 8.4 nautical mile trip to Thetis Island cruising at about 7 knots.

We tied up then went up to the restaurant for lunch. The marina was pretty empty but we were there early, about 11:00am. The bees really want your food! Ava totally freaks out when they come around. You would think she is dying and the whole restaurant knows it. We decided to stay here 2 nights with the plan of taking the ferry over to Chemainus for the rest of the day today then tomorrow take the dingy to some recommended beaches and over to another marina for their Sunday farmers market.

I've read about Chemainus and what a great little town it is. To get there we walked from the marina about 10 minutes over to the ferry terminal. It took about 25 minutes to get over to the town then we got off the ferry and looked around. Not much here we thought. The marina was extremely small as well.

Walking up the hill we finally found the main part of town. Julie and I looked at eachother and said “so, whens the next ferry outa here?”. It was a Bavarian themed town gone bad. Chemainus is known for their wall murals painted throughout the town. They were kind of cool however you can only go in so many nic-nac and antique shops. Not our favorite kind of town. We all had ice cream then it was back to the ferry as quick as possible. I’m sure there are some cool parts of town but we didn’t find it that day.

Back at the boat Skylar went swimming off the docks with 2 girls from the boat next door. He had lots of fun and swam for at least 1 1/2 hours. The water here is actually almost bearable to swim in but he was still freezing when he came back to the boat.

On a Saturday night this place is party marina. There were 4 boats all together right behind us that were livin’ it up. Squirt gun fights on the dock, loud music, drunken kayak rides, it was fun to watch and they were all very nice. All the commotion is fun for a while but we sure do love the quiet anchorage.

The next day we took off in the dinghy for a windy (blowing 20 through the harbor) ride to Telegraph Harbor Marina. We wanted to check out the marina and they were having a farmers market we thought would be fun to go to. The market was fun with lots of native displays of wood carvings and paintings. Julie got a hand made porcelain bowl with an Orca whale on it. The kids had fun playing on their playground and we decided to stay for lunch at their restaurant. When we come back this is the marina we would stay at.

We took off back to the boat to get ready for the beach. It was already hot! The forecast was for 82 degrees today and it defiantly felt like it. We all jumped back in the dinghy for the trek to Clam Bay. To get there we had to go through “The Cut”. This body of water is what separates Thetis island from Kuper island. It’s a very shallow very narrow river like stretch of water. It was really fun going through it, something we would not attempt with the big boat.

On the other side is Clam Bay with a really nice beach. We stayed there for a few hours searching for beach glass (our best find yet) and swimming in the water.

Our new dinghy has been awesome. Its allowed us to travel farther and much more comfortably than our old one. It cuts through the chop, stays really dry and power trim has been great for shallow water and beaching the boat.

We wrapped up the day with dinner at the pub. Thankfully Ava is getting tougher about the bees. She still hates them but the total freak out has finally stopped! Tomorrow is an early morning start to catch the slack water at Dodd Narrows.

Trip Log - 187.85 nautical miles