What a difference a month makes. Princess and I were there more than a month ago and although busy the place still managed to feel open and airy.
This time, at the height of the boating season in the Gulf Islands, we found many more boats at anchorage and the camping ashore appeared to be full almost every day. I really wanted Di to see and experience the place, and I'm glad to say she loved it as much as I did.
Despite the large number of boats at anchor, we managed to find a nice spot in about 50 feet of water, far away from anyone, yet close enough to the park's dock and even closer to the marina, its pub and shop. Every morning we'd watch the ballet of departing boats, to be replaced in the afternoons by a steady trickle of arriving boats until by evening time the bay felt full again. A couple anchored a little close to us, but never so close as to feel unsafe or uncomfortable and all were gone by the next morning anyway.
Once anchored, Montague Harbour is the kind of place where you can sleep easy as the whole bay is sheltered from any wind direction, and the anchor just holds.
We let the place dictate its own rhythm to us, one of walks with Princess made easy by the public dinghy dock, running the generator and water maker, enjoying life overall and doing some normal boat maintenance. Summer time.
We felt no urge to leave, no rush to get to the next place. Further, since we had our quarterly appointment with our financial adviser and had no phone signal, we got internet access via the marina's WiFi for $5 a day.
One of the first things I did as a geek on Enfin, was to install a long range WiFi antenna, and it got to show its range in the bay. We were a little less than half a mile away and got solid signal and use. The only problem being once in a while we'd swing just the wrong way, with the mast shading the antenna and we'd have a temporary loss.
Once we got internet, we felt even more like in a marina, and were even less in a hurry to move on. And I got to catch up on the F1 Grand Prix news.
Busy or not, it seems that once you step on the trails a distance from the dock or the camp, you suddenly start getting the island to yourself and rarely meet anyone.
There aren't many trails to chose from, but enough shortcuts and side trails to keep varying the walks.
Still, like always, there comes a time to move on. We elected to try Wallace Island, aiming for Princess Bay -after all a Bay named after our own Princess must be visited!- and left after our usual morning routine and walk ashore.