Nanaimo to Sturt Bay

Time to move on today now that all the provisioning is done. Budget Car Rental offered a nice perk in that I could leave the car in the car park right at the Harbourmaster’s Office and give the keys to Harbour Air. In fact, I even could arrange to get the car next time at the downtown location rather than going all the way out to the airport. Those options make Nanaimo an extremely convenient provisioning stop.

We have a good forecast for crossing the Strait of Georgia. Whiskey Gulf is active so we have to take the less than direct route to avoid the military activity.

nice ride on the strait of georiga

The season is still early, so except for the San Juan Sailing and Slowboat flotillas ahead of us and Northwest Explorations Mother Goose behind, there are almost no recreational vessels to be seen. We had a great crossing, no complaints.

Sturt Bay and the Texada Boat Club (Texada Island) are not very well known. The Boat Club has become a favorite of ours just for that reason. We can always find space on the visitors’ dock, and the sign says that if the visitors dock is full, call them and there may be room on the permanent moorage docks if members are out cruising.

everywhere you look you see the hand of the hardworking boat club members

everything you need to know

Today, there is no one on the visitors dock besides us. It was like having your own private marina.

texada boat club

There is no power on the docks, but the locals are friendly and really appreciate visitors. Over the years they have continued to improve the docks, largely funded by visitor moorage.

Texada marina view from the shore side

inukshuk in the foregroud, Anchorage in Sturt Bay in the background

The town of Van Anda is a short walk away  with a great local museum, grocery store and a couple of restaurants. We enjoyed the Mary Mary Café and shopped at the Texada Market. You can find a lot of information about Van Anda online so you can plan your visit. See our post on June 29th, 2023 for more details.

https://www.oceanflyers.com/oceanflyers/scwhp94jcbgt5nhd8atg42z4xjfa8n?rq=sturt%20bay