We left Gig Harbor and arrived at Lagoon Cove, our first stop in the Broughtons, 7 days later. Quite the feat for us. We were booking it, pulling 10 hour days, often motoring at 6 kts, covering 235 miles as the crow flies and amped up. We find we do this on our 2 week cruises; plan long journeys, put in lots of hours and feel rushed.

But this time we were early in the season. We had a quiet anchorage at Montague (said no one who cruises in August, ever), boated right into a near empty Dinghy Pub in Nanaimo, had 2 other boats at the Cortes outstation and our pick of fresh lettuce and herbs from the garden and enjoyed those long hauls more than we normally do. We did those long days so that we could do this:
​CHILL.

Our first stop in the Broughtons, Lagoon Cove. Full of wacky art, good stories and fresh prawns.

We headed west to Potts Lagoon and decided to stay 2 days so we could sleep in, read, explore the epic reverse flow rapids into the back cove (video to come), paddle around and just relax.

Last minute replacement of some standing rigging. 

For a few years, we have sailed around Puget Sound with "Marvin", our trusty Minto dinghy, but there is a big appeal in being able to store a dinghy upside down on VELELLA's flush foredeck, so we decided to build a nesting dinghy.