What a windstorm this morning (Wednesday)–gusts up to around 50 mph blew the rain around in sheets and rocked and bounced Braesail about despite her being tied securely with extra fenders between her hull and the dock against which she was being blown! High winds arose during the night, but the real storm hit in mid-morning.
The roaring and whistling and squeaking and bumping and rattling and rolling made it hard to focus, but Walt and I managed to do some reading and writing throughout the day. I had long and enjoyable phone conversations with two friends also (cell coverage is quite good here). The storm decided to take its exhausted self elsewhere in the evening, and so Walt and I walked along the waterfront in partial sunshine and a chilly breeze to the Pass ‘n’ Thyme restaurant for a very tasty dinner that we finished with homemade apple pie a la mode–yummm!
On the way back, we met Will, the Vicar at Christ Church, who was getting off the ferry, and we had a good visit before parting company. I took some photos as the sun slipped into the sea at about 9:20 pm,
and Walt then filled our two water tanks and calibrated the level sensors; we can now tell when we need to consider filling the tanks at a dock with our hose or running our water-maker in a channel or bay where the water is likely to be quite clean.
As we strolled down the docks to the boat, we heard and then saw two bald eagles that looped over the harbor and landed, one on each of two sailboat masts, and then carried on a conversation that was quite wonderful to witness.
Time to head for bed now. We will leave here, after nine excellent days, on Thursday morning if it’s safe to travel to Port McNeill. I will miss this place!
If you’d like to learn more about Alert Bay and its history and attractions, there is quite a bit of information (and there are many photos) on the Web. Also, look back at the “A valuable visit” post to see larger photos.
Braesail - A grand yacht in the Salish Sea 