Today we awoke to the sounds of frisky raindrops dancing on the cabin top, and after I’d enjoyed a hot shower and a pancake breakfast Walt had made for us we spent a number of hours continuing to catch up on reading, writing, and blog posting as the clouds gradually dissipated and the Saturday sun emerged. Walt made roast beef and cheddar cheese sandwiches for a late lunch, after which we both took naps (the bed in the bow cabin is very comfortable on a warm afternoon!). At about 4:30 I decided to stroll down the dock and up the ramp to the shore, where I found that the access code for the women’s washroom door actually worked and someone had left a small booklet of beautiful pictures of various super-scenic spots on Vancouver Island in the stall I’d chosen. Guess who spent some time browsing through it, leaving it for the next guest? My next stop was a small fishing supply store beside a large harbor-side hotel; it advertised showers and laundry facilities, and I was able to ascertain that I could use their coin-operated washers and dryers between 8 am and 9 pm daily, so I will therefore do two-weeks-worth of washing tomorrow.
After returning to the boat and paging through two coastal cruising guides that I’d discovered while checking the contents of the covered above-bed storage shelves in the bow cabin (these will be handy as we travel back to Everett), I asked Walt to walk with me to a complex of blue-roofed buildings that I’d seen up the road, and had assumed was a marine supplies/fixtures store, knowing that there were a few items that he needed for Braesail. We walked there together and found that I was correct: the store was a well-known boating supplies center, and Walt was able to find a holding tank pump-out repair kit and a new hand-held microphone for the ship’s radio, both at very good prices. The store agreed to hold his purchases for Sunday pick-up, and so we hiked on up a hill past a school and attractive dahlia-decorated Stink Creek Park (I detected no unpleasant odors!) to a small shopping mall where we were able to make some purchases, including milk, dish-washing liquid, shampoo, and some “spirited” ice cream for tonight’s dessert, at a large Save-On grocery store (we’ll pick up provisions there after our return from Brussels and Vancouver BC).
Despite his brace, Walt’s slightly-bum knee was aching by the time we were back on Braesail, so he rested, read, and prepared supper (tri-tip steak and oven-roasted potatoes) and I composed part of this post while sitting out in the cockpit, listening to the avian conversations in the neighborhood, and enjoying the ministrations of a slight breeze that were most welcome after a warm and rather humid afternoon. Once post-dinner galley clean-up was completed, I finally managed to add pictures to previous blog posts before bed time. There will be a number of chores to complete tomorrow before our Pacific Coastal Airlines flight to Vancouver departs on Monday afternoon!
Braesail - A grand yacht in the Salish Sea 