The highlight of this lovely day was our noon visit to the regular summer Saturday food-and-crafts market in Ganges’ Centennial Park. Walt and I slept late, shared a wonderful strawberries-and-pancakes brunch, dealt with our e-mail, climbed into Coracle, and motored over to the dinghy dock at the Ganges Marina. The dock was crowded with little boats, and we had to move two of them around a bit and clamber over one of them in order to squeeze Coracle into a space. This done, we walked toward the park through the pretty downtown shopping area with its grocery, marine supplies store, galleries, eateries, and gift shops. On the way we met Bob, the kind fellow Moody owner who’d given Walt a ride from Vancouver to Everett, whose boat was anchored not far from ours (Walt had noticed its name and location on Friday via the AIS location system), and whose wife Claudia was browsing the market’s stalls. We chatted about his boat’s engine troubles and how they’re being resolved–it was good to see him!
We enjoyed wandering around the busy market and looking at the wonderfully creative arts and crafts and clothing, the local vegetables, the baked goods, the goat cheese (delicious samples!), the fresh fudge (more samples!), the fleur de sel (salt that forms as a thin, delicate crust on the surface of seawater as it evaporates–yet more samples!), and other items. At one point, Walt turned to see something and suddenly sensed a pain in his “bum knee,” so we sat down to rest for a bit before making our way back through the booths, stopping to buy a large cucumber and a round of superb goat cheese on our way. Walt picked up some items at the marine supplies store, and, while selecting some fresh fruit, yogurt, and other provisions at the grocery store, we again encountered Bob, this time accompanied by Claudia. We enjoyed another short visit, lamenting the approaching end of our summer cruising and NOT looking forward to going through US Customs at Roche Harbor on San Juan Island! We carried our purchases in two large bags to the patient Coracle, who was bobbing about at the dock, and were soon back on Braesail, putting away groceries and finding some Ibuprofen for Walt.
I served a lunch of sandwiches and grapes and while Walt napped, I sat in the cockpit as I had done on Friday, writing blog entries, answering e-mail, looking at the boats and float planes,
and trying and failing to purchase airline tickets for our October trip to California (insufficient connectivity again!). We managed not to fill ourselves with chips and dip before an excellent supper of steak, salad, and baked potatoes, prepared by Walt, and while he ran the diesel engine to charge our batteries (noise and fumes–yuck!), considered our “float plan” for the coming days, determined what fruits we can and cannot bring into the United States, and caught up the “captain’s log” that records the places we’ve visited and the days on which our journeys have taken place, I cleaned the galley and wrote this post.
Rain is forecast for Sunday morning through Tuesday, so we will see if our foul-weather gear will be needed. For now, I’m very thankful for all the fine weather we have enjoyed, and will also be grateful for any moisture that the clouds bring our way!
Braesail - A grand yacht in the Salish Sea 