From Toba Wildernest resort we headed to Refuge Cove for some supplies (and more beer of course) and from there we crossed over to Squirrel Cove where we dropped our anchor near Top Brass for one last visit with Susan and George before they headed north. Squirrel Cove is a beautiful spot... unfortunately it's being targeted for major development as a marina for larger (over 44') boats. While the application for this development will take time to go through the hoops, and will likely change in some ways, the attention and energy it is garnering continues to build in the boating community. Only time will tell. Until then we sit, wait and write.
After Squirrel Cove we were fortunate enough to have 3 wonderful days in our very favourite Laura Cove. With the reduced number of boats out and about at this time, we had Laura Cove to ourselves for 2 of the 3 days. The water was warm enough for swimming but the 'tomato soup-like' algae bloom kept us from doing so. We did however, enjoy some jigging and kayaking and much laying about (and chores of course... always chores).
Sadly our calendar continued to run and we finally had to haul anchor and head south... the first stop being Lund where we met friends for a great dinner at the Lund Hotel Pub/Restaurant. From Lund we stopped one night in Sturt Bay (on Texada Island) and then continued south to Pender Harbour. The winds for this part of our journey were either light or flukey so we didn't get as much sailing as we'd hoped for. June 27th saw us at Newcastle Island on a mooring bouy and visiting with friends Bob and Ann James on MV Silver Fox and on June 28th we moved in to the Nanaimo Boat Basin for some much needed shopping (just love that Nanaimo Chandlery and Thriftys!) and laundry.
It's June 29th today and we are moored at the Ladysmith Marina. We're here for several reasons, the most important being the celebration of Kathy's father's 88th birthday on July 3rd. We've also got our friend Larry coming to discuss some issues we've identified with certain systems on the boat, and our surveyor is coming to complete his survey of Shannon for our pending off-shore insurance assessment. When that is done, and on the morning of July 4th, we shall head home to our slip at the Maple Bay Yacht Club. That's even new. It's been replaced while we were away so we're looking forward to seeing the new format.
Unless something significant occurs, I'll stop reporting our daily activities for a little while. We've a lot to do in a short period of time and there'll be little time left for pondering over a keyboard. I should tell you too that our plans have changed a wee little bit. After meeting so many folks over the past month.. folks who had harbour hopped both up and down the US coast... we've decided to return to our original plan of doing the same. We're excited by the prospect of travelling in our own time, of visiting small villages, towns and harbours along our route, and of doing the journey basically on our own. It will be a different journey, using short hops between harbours rather than one long loop down to San Francisco. It will take longer and/but it will allow us the option of staying a little longer in some places and of skipping others altogether. It means we'll be closer to fueling stops (which is a good thing as our tank is small and we'll probably be motoring more in lighter winds)... and, of course, we'll always have the option of heading further out should we wish to. So, with all this in the works.... to work we must go. Some of the major projects left to complete are: scraping, sanding and varnishing the exterior bright work; re-building the propane tank system; building the new cabin table; finishing the cockpit table set-up; adding the extra anchor chain and new anchor rode line; improving the chain stripper on the anchor windlass; converting the hanging locker to pull-out veggie baskets and storage shelves; building new companionway boards; completing the life-raft installation; installing new 12V outlets for our cabin fans; completing SSB fine-tuning; registering the EPIRB; setting up the kits (first aid, ditch bag, maintenance, parts); obtaining health and boat insurance; etc. As you can see we have our work cut out for us. So... until we write again.. bye bye for now.
NB:Kathy will be posting photos on the Blog as soon as she has time. We've got some great pics of the places we visited in Desolation Sound.
Carolyn
