There's More To Charts Than . . . . .

It was a dark and stormy night . . . . .

Actually, it turned out to be a bright and beautifully clear day.

Earlier, very early in fact, we woke up in Sidney BC to morning fog. My daughter Lesley and her husband Rod, June and I, had cruised here after visiting Friday Harbor, anchoring at Reid Harbor, Stuart Island (one of our favorite anchorages), mooring at Roche Harbor, at Brentwood Bay BC (all too, too very upscale from our last time there seven years ago), touring Cowichan BC (a really delightful stop), and then to Sidney, one of our favorite marinas. (You'll periodically see many of Lesley's photographs of this trip on her photoblog, also accessed to the left of this column.)

Now, as the morning progressed, not a cloud in sight, hardly a breeze, and great visibility, so we set out for Victoria, the final destination of this leg of our summer cruise. We'd done this run before, both from Roche Harbor and from Sidney and return, so no worries.

We headed south through Sidney Channel between Sidney Island and James Island (before we'd run through Cordova Channel to the west). Good sea on Haro Strait - - quite flat with a slack current. Rod was at the helm as we roared along at our typical 9 Knots. Doing some light navigating I made D'Arcy Shoals with its green buoy, which we put to port. The Zero Rock beacon came into view, as well as the red "V30" buoy to the west, just off Cordova Bay. The charts showed no other navigational marks for at least three miles, so we decided to split the 1- 1/2 miles between the two.

When your comfortably cruising, it's fun to look for sea activity. We'd spotted lots of sea birds, seen a seal or two, watched a container ship round the distant point entering Haro Strait from Juan de Fuca Strait. Some activity off our starboard bow caught our attention. It looked like some seals, perhaps even whales? churning the water. Whatever it was it was pretty active and certainly deserved a closer look. We had lots of time. The current was now ebbing and we had a small following sea, so we'd make Victoria in good time.

Glasses out. Wonder what it was. Closer, and even closer. Then . . .

"Hard to port, Rod!"

"Rod, VERY hard to port!"

No seal or whale, but a ROCK breaking the water surface.

It seemed like an eternity as the valiant Lady Mick came about, even with the helm hard over and Rod increasing the starboard RPMs. but she did, and once again we were again in quiet waters heading south.

Our rock has a name: Little Zero Rock. Its position is 48. 31.8, 123. 18.9. It has no marker. But, and here is the lesson,  the chart shows it as breaking at mean tide. And it was!

Some navigational attention to details found on a chart, not just navigational markers but contours and depths  - - and yes, the occasional rock that might be sticking up, is a must, believe me.

Added to this, some chart views (including some Vector views) are strong on markers, but very weak on details. You really have to look, preferably before you head out.

Little Zero Rock might be little, but it certainly made a very big impression on the four of us!

Lesson well learned, and hopefully, remembered.

And Victoria on the Causeway was delightful.