Another warm, golden day began at about 8:30 am with the last of our preparations to bring Walt’s family on board Braesail. Ken, Lisa, and Joy arrived shortly before 10 am, we loaded LOTS of food onto the boat, we returned the shore carts to the flower-and-balloon-bedecked marina gate, and were on our way to Nanaimo by about 10:30 with only scattered clouds overhead and lazy breezes ruffling the sea. We very much enjoyed visiting as we motored through the Dodd Narrows around 12:45, waving to the people gathered on the shore to watch the passing of the boats, and enjoying the sight of boats of many different kinds that were making their way through the Narrows during slack tide. We were amazed, as we always are, at the fantasy shapes into which wind and water have carved the rocks that line the shores of the passageway: one can imagine creeping alien creatures, staring skulls, pirate caves, huge deformed mushrooms, fairy-tale castles, lacy netting, giant honeycombs, melting ice dripping and refrozen, curved fangs, and who knows what else?
On we motored through the increasingly busy waters near the port of Nanaimo on Vancouver Island, and learned that there was no space for guests from other yacht clubs at the Yacht Club dock; we would therefore have to pay for moorage in the public “boat basin.” We consumed a sandwich lunch and finished with larges slices of a very juicy watermelon half that Ken and Lisa had brought aboard. We finally located a Braesail-sized space at the public dock at about 2 pm, and Walt, Ken, and I got the boat safely into her spot with some help from a dock hand, who needed to squeeze as many boats as possible on one of the busiest weekends of the year. Later on, our mutual friend Jacquie, with whom Walt’s family had been staying in Qualicum Beach, arrived to join us for the rest of the afternoon and for supper. We caught up on one another’s news, played Yatzee, enjoyed the beautiful weather and shared a supper, prepared by Walt, consisting of large, colorful pulled pork salads.
Lisa, Ken, and Jacquie departed a little before 7 pm so that she could drive back to Ladysmith to allow Ken to pick up the car he’d left there in the morning, Joy and I did the dishes, I walked up to the marina office to learn about laundry facilities, and then we decided that we’d all have to eat more watermelon because we had no space in the refrigerator for it. We finished off the melon while sitting in the cockpit as the sun set and planning the next several days’ journeys, and were happy to have had such a delicious, nutritious treat available AND were happy to have it GONE–how often will we be up visiting the head during the night?
Braesail - A grand yacht in the Salish Sea 