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[arimaBOATER]

stevestonredneck  It all has to do with the marine weather report.  Examples of small 13 ft boats going across & do ya remember the bathtub races () little tiny made up boats crossing the straight...
If the winds are light your boat will make it across "no problem". But if winds come up...that is the big question...& concern.
We've been 5 miles in every direction of Sandheads on days that the straight had such calm waters that one could think they were on Como or Lafarage Lk.
 Other times nice 2 ft waves max. BUT we've also turned back into the river when we were by the lighthouse (mouth of the Fraser) when waves were nearing 5fters & higher it we keep boating farther out...
We know a trucker who in days past had his semi on the BC Ferry & he said the waves were so so big that major water was hitting the front windows where he sat. Also the ferry crew had to block & stablize the wheels of his truck.
Another boater who I talked to has a 28ft boat & he said he has hit waves the size of a "house" when he was going across. (I'd imagine the waves were not too steep or close together or else he would not have made it )

But this coming summer we will go across in our 16 ft Arima on a all day high tide & low winds.

Question:  We will be leaving from Steveston Harbour so do yous learned boaters sujj. we go through the pass at the north or south ends of Galiano Is. ?
We will have to refill our portables with fuel so I assume the nearest place to get it is at Montague Harbour ?
As we took out our big fuel tank & use portables to lighten the boat as we just use a 40 Yamaha. (we still can cruise at 18 MPH.)

[arimaBOATER]

Well actually did a web study & I assumed that I'd have to take Active Pass then go to fuel up on south/west side of Galiano Is. but  see that is quite a longer distance to go as from Sandheads we'd have to pilot across the straight in a SW direction.
 
Plus if I took Portier Pass at the north end of Galiano we'd have to travel along the west side of the island to get to Montague Harbour (south Galiano Is.) & the distance is 16 miles long !!! (Yes Galiano Is is 16 miles long)
So an option is to go through Portier Pass & pilot 4-5 miles to Thetis Is. At the south end it has 2 boat marinas. But between Thetis & Kuper Islands if ya approach is from the east it seems to get to a very very narrow passage. (Tidal table)3ft to 10 feet of water(?) They call it "the cut." This location is called Telegraph Harbour. It is more approachable from the SW of island from what I can see.
Another option which seems good is Silva Bay on Gabriola Is. ...seems to be the most closest to get to via Sandheads. Well we have a marine compass & charts & all we need is calm waters !!!  ( I've seen boaters who came across with 28fters who looked kinda shook up...Their words were something like ..."That was a bumpy crossing" (ha...oh... ) We need calm waters as our boat is only 16ft & 40 yamaha! Some interesting websites  www.tripsailor.com & www.sailwx.info "check" this site out & explore lots of info "wave heights etc...

[SNapz]

I have been through the narrow passage into Thetis Island and with a boat your size you shouldn't have any problems except maybe at the lowest of tides. It is quite narrow but very protected from the wind so you wouldn't be getting blown all over the place. Once you get there you will see a channel you basically follow which is quite deep and on both sides of the channel the bottom comes up quite quickly. Stay in the middle of the channel and there shouldn't be any problems.

Not sure if your motor has an automatic tilt on it but if it does then you can just tilt it up quite a ways and cruise in.

Silva Bay is really easy to get into and a pretty nice place to go in for lunch to.

[arimaBOATER]

SNapz thanks for the info. Good to get 1st hand advice from people who have done it before.  This Arima does not need very much draft & also can also tilt up the outboard.
Think that will be the place we will target & re-fuel. (thanks for the thumbs up about the food)
 My guess we should be able to leave Steveston go to Telegraph Harbour & back to the launch in 5-6 hrs. round trip.(CONDITIONS PERMITTING)
 Got to get my 84 yr old "pops" back so he can find his land legs & his warm bed for the night.  If it was just me etc... think I'd stay over there for a few days . I think we will boat across like how a chicken swimmer gets into cold water at a beach..toes 1st..slowly to the knees...finally after 10 minutes the person finally gets totally wet. We will check out water conditions at Sandheads...slowly keep going west ...(1st sign of higher waves turn back---Ha) But if it's within 2fters ...keep going then when 8-10 miles into the straight & all is well then will go 80% throttle 18mph & get over there.  When returning will take the same approach.
Really to do these crossing really safely one should have a 25fter with some major power...so if things get nasty one has a boat that can take 8-10ft waves. At least 20 times been in conditions that were very concerning...8ft waves in Howe Sound but was in a 21ft boat... other times curling 5-6ft waves...also in small 13ft boats in conditions that we had no bussiness to be in... so we want to be very very careful in this crossing.

[tumbleweed]

We used the narrow channel at thetis island all the time. We had a spotter at the front of the boat and we never had a problem. We used to stay at the marina overnight after fishing all day. Just be really careful at sandheads we got got in some bad weather one time and it was really nasty.

[arimaBOATER]

We used the narrow channel at thetis island all the time. We had a spotter at the front of the boat and we never had a problem. We used to stay at the marina overnight after fishing all day. Just be really careful at sandheads we got got in some bad weather one time and it was really nasty.

     
Thanks for the warning !  Been at Sandheads with 3 dif. boats a total of 100 x min. --- Sometimes we had to head back as it was so nasty. Once we were near the south lighthouse & were into some big SW waves & it was slow going coming back up river with water splashing about... True story one ex-fishboat wker. got such a scary experience at Sandheads he will not go in any boat ever again !!! & he was on a 35ft fishboat. He said at Sandheads the "standing waves were so tall" (must of been tide change & west wind hitting a fast out flow of water from the Fraser) that he said the boat nearly tipped over on it's side MANY TIMES. He thought he was a goner.

[BwiBwi]

40 min from steveston or the sandheads lighthouse?

40min from Steveston

[arimaBOATER]

Wonder how Sandheads & the straight marine conditions looked like during our over night wind storm ?
A 40 ft. fishing trawler sank near Salt Spring Island & they found a 48 yr old deased man on the shore. RCMP scuba checked out the trawler to see if there are others inside the boat (haven't heard a report on their find)  The BC ferries also stopped their sailings till the winds subsided. 

[stevestonredneck]

the waves were probably the size of a "house"  . It would be cool if they had a live sandheads webcam.