We arrived in spacious, peaceful Garrison Bay at about 3 pm after a four-hour scenic motor trip (no wind, as is too often the case) from the docks at Rosario Resort, where we spent a quiet, restful night. On the way, we saw a number of ferries and smaller water craft, and at one point we suddenly heard a boat’s horn and looked around to see–guess who?–Xanadu, passing by in the opposite direction! Walt radioed them, and we learned that they had been in Blind Bay, where we had spent Saturday night, and were on their way to James Island. Fun to encounter them again! Several whale-watching boats also passed us, but we saw no whales, though I had seen a minke whale’s fin slice the water’s surface, disappear, and then arc through the water again as we were approaching Rosario on Sunday.
After crossing open waters and winding among islands beneath the shining, nearly cloudless skies to which we’d awakened, and downing sandwiches in the cockpit on the way, we dropped anchor in wide, shallow, muddy-bottomed Garrison Bay. Along one of its thickly forested shores, English Camp,
what is left of the cluster of nearly 30 buildings constructed by British troops during the mid-nineteenth-century “Pig Wars,” gleamed white in the sunshine, and houses nestled here and there on the other side. We all found ourselves feeling sleepy, so I moved one of our two green padded lounge seats from the cockpit to the fore deck, settled down, pulled my sweatshirt’s hood over my face down to the nose as sun protection, and was soon snoozing comfortably, warmed by sunbeams and cooled by a light breeze. Exquisite!
We spent the rest of the tranquil afternoon reading and writing, enjoying the steak-and-roasted-vegegtables dinner Walt cooked as a cockpit picnic, and playing Quiddler (Walt always wins!) and Farkle over tea and waffle cookies. The sun stained the silky sea with pale rose and orchid as it sank behind the hills, and a dreamy half-moon drifted lazily above them, pouring a slim stream of silver into the bay as the clear skies darkened. Before we settled in to sleep, we were thrilled to be able to behold uncountable sleepily-winking stars for the first time this trip!
Braesail - A grand yacht in the Salish Sea 