Weather Tracks and Boat Tracks



Departing Pender Harbour

After checking the weather for our departure from Pender Harbour, we decided to leave early the following morning.  The forecast predicted a “strong wind warning” of 5-15 knots in the morning, increasing to 20-25 knots in the afternoon coming from the northwest.  We departed Garden Bay at 7:30am, anticipating a 12:30pm arrival at Lund, B.C in order to avoid the worst of the afternoon winds.  As we exited Pender Harbour into Malaspina Strait, we were surprised to find the sea smooth as glass.  

Relatively Calm Seas, Malaspina Strait

A few hours later the winds picked up but nothing much above 10 knots; waves were never more than 2-3 feet.  The Front that was predicted to move down from Port Hardy never seemed to materialize but we didn’t complain.  Perhaps the Front weakened as it moved further south.  After arriving in Lund, we checked the winds later that afternoon for the sake of curiosity, winds were up to 16 knots with occasional 20 knot gusts, nothing really significant for Got d’ Fever.  Not only is it interesting to track weather, it can also be interesting to track a boat’s cruising route.  We purchased a relatively new device called a Delorme which creates a bread crumb trail of our boat’s route and current location.  We have programmed the Delorme to drop a bread crumb once every hour until we reach our destination for each day of cruising.  Family and friends can view our route on the web at any time.  We hope you will ride along with us by going to:  http://share.delorme.com/mvGotDfever.  

Arriving at Lund, Historic Hotel on left

We spent the afternoon at Lund visiting Nancy’s Bakery, a must for the attractive shop and nice assortment of goodies, and also spent time at the excellent Art Gallery & Studio housing beautiful sculptures, jewelry, and paintings for sale.  These two businesses are the main draw in Lund along with the Historic Lund Hotel and the small but well-stocked General Store. 

Nancy's Bakery, Lund

For eats and drinks, guests can visit the Pub in the Hotel or have dinner at the charming Boardwalk Restaurant where we enjoyed fresh caught fish brought in from the local fishing fleet.  Yes you can see all of Lund in an hour or two; nevertheless, Lund serves as a convenient stopover and a jumping-off point for Desolation Sound.  In the late 1800’s, Lund was both a logging and a fishing settlement begun by Swedish settlers Charlie and Frederick Thulin. The settlement received supplies by steamboat every 3-4 weeks.  

Boardwalk Restaurant

The Thulin brothers operated a store, a post office and built two hotels.  The first hotel built in 1895 was destroyed by a forest fire in 1918; the second hotel which opened in 1905 still survives and has subsequently been refurbished.