We enjoyed a peaceful night and rose to cloud-downy skies and damp-fragrant air. Walt made us a blueberry pancake breakfast, after which he pulled our long stern line from around the tree on the shore, we raised the anchor (I assisted, as I usually do, by maneuvering the boat from my station at the helm), and we left quiet Talbot Cove a little after 10 am for the rustic village of Refuge Cove on West Redonda Island with scattered wooly clouds above and watery blue ruffles all around us. We arrived not long after noon, found space at the dock, and walked up to the general store and then to the restaurant above it, finding them little changed in the more than 20 years since our last visit (I wore the hooded sweatshirt I bought at the general store way back then!). The burgers we ordered were excellent, but Walt had not been feeling well since morning (embarrassing tummy troubles), and he returned to Braesail to check on the length of some line while Joy and I bought a few groceries and small ice cream cones (Rolo for her and chocolate chip mint for me) in the suddenly busy general store.
We pulled away from the Refuge Cove dock at about 1:30 pm and motored across to the larger town and spacious anchorage of Squirrel Cove on Cortes Island, where we took a leisurely tour around the rocks and islets in the bay until we located a suitable spot, right across from some reversing rapids (they change direction as the tides rise and fall), in which to let down our anchor. Walt retreated to the aft cabin for a long nap, Joy slept for some while in the bow cabin, and I sat in the sunny cockpit, caught up on correspondence and blog entries, dozed briefly, and then enjoyed observing the other boats anchored in our vicinity and watching the tree-lined shores and oyster-encrusted rocks slip by as Braesail swung back and forth around her anchor.
Walt, after he returned to the land of the wakeful, was feeling a good bit better, and he and Joy and I shared a chips-and-dip afternoon snack. I read about Refuge and Squirrel coves, as well as about the places to which we plan to travel soon, in our useful, educational, and beautifully illustrated cruising guides, practiced tying some knots, and looked over the tide tables for our area while Walt prepared a wonderful multi-dish Indian meal; we ate heartily as well as healthily! Having hung some laundry on the boat’s life lines and restored order to the galley, we played an unusual game of Hearts (each of us “went on a run” during the first three hands!) with Walt and Joy before retiring to our cabins.
Braesail - A grand yacht in the Salish Sea 