{"id":8673,"date":"2015-11-24T15:54:18","date_gmt":"2015-11-24T19:54:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/?p=8673"},"modified":"2015-11-24T15:54:18","modified_gmt":"2015-11-24T19:54:18","slug":"linger-longer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/bw\/linger-longer\/","title":{"rendered":"Linger Longer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>(published October 2015)<\/em><\/p>\n<p>My phone buzzed on the table next to my laptop in the small village caf\u00e9 with a text message from Jill. \u201cCrystal clear water. Beautiful sand. Best beach yet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That statement firmly held my attention, as it was mid-August and we\u2019d spent a good amount of time exploring salt and freshwater beaches in British Columbia since early May. And when I saw it for myself, I could see she wasn\u2019t exaggerating.<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Porter-at-the-beach.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-8674\" src=\"http:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Porter-at-the-beach.jpg\" alt=\"Porter at the beach\" width=\"360\" height=\"239\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/bw\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Porter-at-the-beach.jpg 360w, https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/bw\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Porter-at-the-beach-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/bw\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Porter-at-the-beach-192x128.jpg 192w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 360px) 100vw, 360px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nWhat had been planned as a couple hour visit to Hague Lake Park on Cortes Island, BC turned into a daylong adventure that was so good we came back the following day as well. For us, the spoils of cruising spontaneity mean taking time to enjoy where we are.<\/p>\n<p>When we dropped the hook next to a small, rocky islet covered in immense conifers the previous evening, we didn\u2019t really know how long we\u2019d stay\u2014one day, maybe three. The anchorage was given a passing mention in one cruising guide and completely omitted from another, so we figured it needed exploring.<\/p>\n<p>After a dinghy ride across the small bay to the public dock, we found a hand drawn map showing the quaint village of Manson\u2019s Landing and an adjacent lake and swimming beach. Why not?<\/p>\n<p>By this point, British Columbia\u2019s Desolation Sound and Discovery Islands had been our playground for the better part of three weeks, and the common theme had become, anchor, swim, explore, repeat, which is how cruising works best for us, and many others.<\/p>\n<p>Over the past year, we\u2019ve changed our habit of trying to hit as many anchorages or ports as possible to slowing down, planning less and taking time to thoroughly enjoy a great spot when we discover one.<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes we research a community before we get there to find activities for the boys, parks, farmer\u2019s markets, community events or concerts. This approach has paid off immensely, as we\u2019ve found vibrant island villages, befriended locals, and even gotten our older son, Porter, into a play school for a few days.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_8676\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8676\" style=\"width: 360px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Welcome-to-Hogue-Lake.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-8676\" src=\"http:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Welcome-to-Hogue-Lake.jpg\" alt=\"Welcome to Hogue Lake\" width=\"360\" height=\"239\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/bw\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Welcome-to-Hogue-Lake.jpg 360w, https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/bw\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Welcome-to-Hogue-Lake-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/bw\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Welcome-to-Hogue-Lake-192x128.jpg 192w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 360px) 100vw, 360px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-8676\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Welcome to Hogue Lake<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>But it\u2019s those other times when we happen upon a place by taking a chance on what little information is available that seem to be just as memorable, if not more. What we\u2019ve truly come to realize is that the fun of cruising isn\u2019t necessarily about sailing the most miles or quickly buzzing through a popular locale to simply check it off the list.<\/p>\n<p>The cruising life just seems to be more rewarding when we slow down, linger longer, and allow ourselves the time to fully explore the areas we visit, meet new people and let the days meld together.<\/p>\n<p><em>Andrew, along with wife Jill and sons Porter and Magnus, are currently cruising the Pacific Northwest aboard their Grand Soleil 39 <\/em>Yahtzee<em>. Follow their adventures at <a href=\"http:\/\/threesheetsnw.com\/yahtzee\">threesheetsnw.com\/yahtzee<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(published October 2015) My phone buzzed on the table next to my laptop in the small village caf\u00e9 with a text message from Jill. \u201cCrystal clear [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":8675,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[593,109,34,572],"class_list":["post-8673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cruising-news","tag-anchorages","tag-andrew-cross","tag-cruising","tag-pacific-northwest"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/bw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/bw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/bw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/bw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/bw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8673"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/bw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8673\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8677,"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/bw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8673\/revisions\/8677"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/bw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/bw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/bw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/bw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}