Now that we're home, we have the privilege of volunteering as Marine Park Hosts at our beloved Pirates Cove on De Courcy Island. Being a park host includes some responsibilities as well as a small dock to tie up to (which is pretty nice when the NW winds are blowing). And of course, as a Park Host you do your best to set a good example of nautical prowess and calm, mature behaviour. We usually do pretty well at both....until today.
Today began well. We tidied up and left the Nanaimo Yacht Club guest dock in good time to make it to Dodd Narrows. This narrow spot of rock and current must be transited very close to the turn of the tide if one is to avoid whirlpools and hidden rocks. And, as I mentioned, it is narrow requiring boats going in either direction to heed the approach of opposing traffic. At this challenge, we did well; came through without a hitch, and were well south of it when numerous opposing vessels met up with each other mid channel.
We then carried on our merry way to Pirates Cove. On this day, we managed to arrive at the entrance to PCove almost exactly at low tide :-(. This is not a preferred time of arrival as the entrance, at the lowest tide, has only 4 feet of water (and we need 5' 7"). We did the math and checked it twice... and decided we would have enough water to get in... so in we went. Our hearts only stopped once when the depth sounder read 0.0 water below our keel. Fortunately we did not touch bottom but this confirmed we have a couple inches of "insurance" factored into our calculations. BUT, neither of these stories are why I'm writing about an otherwise ordinary day. Nope, there's more.
The next story is for Dave. Hope you like it. Let's call it: Park Host Follies.
As I mentioned earlier, setting a good example is important behaviour for a park host. You be the judge of how we did today. Picture this: We arrived unscathed, made a tidy approach to the dock, stopped, and hopped off with dock lines in hand. We tied the lines and reset the fenders in a very nautical fashion. I attended to the foredeck to tidy the loose ends of our bow line and spring while Kathy set about hauling out our folding chairs and setting them up on our little dock. Then I surmise she hauled out the umbrella that attaches to a chair, clamped it on and went below to prepare lunch. The ship's dog Maddie, at this point, was romping about on the dock, exploring every bit of wood, muscle shell, or moss she could find. She also found a bit of shade against the dock box and tucked herself in there... as well as a smallish dog wearing a big life jacket can tuck into anywhere.
The fun began as I turned around and noticed two things at once. The first was that the NW wind was gusting... the second was the beautiful blue umbrella, carefully clamped to one of our folding dock chairs, and starting to respond to the gusting winds. "That's a very fine parachute" or something to that effect, I might have said.. and then we both watched in horror as the chair with umbrella firmly attached, sailed off the dock and into the drink on the far side. It was right about then Maddie fell off the dock and into the water...same side as the chair but towards the far end.
You can imagine the pandemonium..... I dove to the deck with arms outstretched and just missed getting my fingers on an edge of the umbrella as the whole kit and kabutal sunk into the deep. Kathy fished the dog out (luckily she still had her life jacket on) and ran for the boat pole. Between the three of us we missed catching the sinking chair/umbrella combo and the dog had a good swim and was rescued safe and sound.
Sigh... now what about those hotdogs? Well, they weren't too charred and tasted great. With the help of sustenance (and maybe a beer) Kath devised a contraption that combined the boat hook at full extension and the clam fork, also extended, tied together and managed on her third sweep to hook a rung of the sunken chair. We took a bow to the nearest cruisers in the Cove who had enjoyed our antics. We explained we didn't normally provide such a comedy act but were happy to do so on this day. We all had a good chuckle.
Chair, umbrella and dog have all had a good rinse down and are currently drying in the warm sun and we are about to resume our staid and mature position as Park Hosts of Pirates Cove.
Wishing you all a pleasant evening... and don't forget to tie down your chair when the winds come up. 😀 CJ
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