“New salt”

Someone who’s sailed for many years is sometimes referred to as an “Old Salt,” and by the time Braesail had made the two-hour crossing from the Maple Bay Yacht Club dock in Bird’s Eye Cove on Vancouver Island to Telegraph Harbour on Thetis Island on Monday afternoon,

the entire ship was encrusted with new salt, deposited by wind-whipped waves that splashed over the bow, that made it nearly impossible to see out of the cockpit windows. While Walt replaced the spark plug and then cleaned up an oily mess created by the gross over-filling, by someone sometime, of our dinghy’s Honda outboard motor’s crankcase (he has ordered a replacement for the oil filler cap that sneakily abandoned ship during the process), I worked on the nearly opaque windows with fresh water, the deck brush, and cleaning cloths, but was not using nearly enough water and seemed to be making things worse. Walt completed the temporary window-washing job with a BIG bucket-full of water, and we should be able to see where we’re headed when we take the boat out on Wednesday morning.

After supper, I went ashore to explore the Harbour’s lovely grounds that are very busy in the summer but are largely empty now during the “off season.” The tide was out, and large beds of oysters could be seen to either side of the ramp leading up from the docks. I had a very pleasant “walk-about” and took the following photos. Tuesday is supposed to bring clouds, showers, and perhaps a little snow, so this was a good time to go ashore and take advantage of the early evening light!