SOUVENIR-HUNTING IN GANGES ON SALTSPRING ISLAND: Monday, August 8

As we began to back Braesail out of its spot at the Nanaimo Yacht Club dock at about 8 am on Monday morning beneath cloudy skies, Walt realized that we had not returned the Club’s card key to the office, which was a fairly long walk away. I knew I’d had the card in my pocket, but couldn’t locate it after we quickly re-docked and as the wharfinger came strolling down the dock. I hurried into the aft cabin and found the card in the pocket of the shirt I’d been wearing on the previous day—WHEW!
We motored south through Dodd Narrows, whose currents, as always, produced fascinating swirling patterns on the water’s surface, and then went on to Ganges Harbour on Saltspring Island as the skies, decorated with huge mounds of soapsuds clouds, brightened and the wind remained absent. We tied up at the Ganges Sailing Club’s dock (pictured above) and my fender- and line-handling proved to be much better that it had been in past attempts. A dinghy trip to the main part of the pretty town of Ganges preceded a search through several shops for souvenirs for Joy’s friends; she finally purchased an assortment of attractive picture greeting cards, depicting typical Gulf Island scenes, that we found in a bookstore (she had been hunting fruitlessly for appropriate gifts in every town we’d visited).
After buying groceries and returning with them across the harbor to our boat, Joy and Walt napped while I dealt with e-mail and caught up on my journal writing and blog posting. An excellent grilled steak dinner was followed by work on individual projects and, as rain began to fall sleepily across the harbor, the formulating of plans for Tuesday’s trip to Roche Harbor in the San Juan Islands—back to the USA we’ll go after a wonderful visit to the “frozen North!”