A restful Canada Day in Welcome Harbour

After a three-day vacation, the sun decided to visit us in wide, wonderful Welcome Harbour on the northwestern shore of Porcher Island this afternoon (Friday, July 1). It was great day to bathe in the warmth of the cockpit in the morning (the space accumulates heat nicely even when the sun is hiding), to nap in the afternoon (when unzipping one of the side curtains lets in a bit of breeze), and to dine on the folding table in the evening sunshine–what a lovely view to relish after most of the clouds had fled in the face of the sun’s return!

Walt thinks that the Honda outboard motor is now running without the constant opening of the gas cap to let air in, and he’s patched the inflatable fender-step and is letting the glue cure overnight. A loaf of slow-rising, “no-knead” bread is rising slowly (he made the dough this afternoon), and after much thought and observation, he thinks he has a theory that explains the behavior of the fridge/freezer (he can confirm the accuracy of his theory only after we have the new thermostat (sometime in the upcoming week, we HOPE–it is probably spending the holiday in the office of some Customs Canada officer in Toronto).

Walt has just finished an excellent 2010 book by Elsie Hulsizer called Glaciers, Bear and Totems: Sailing in Search of the Real Southeast Alaska, and I have read about 30 pages. I have reviewed the information I’ve been studying on the meanings of the shapes and colors of buoys and day-beacons at sea and the “rules of the road” regarding which vessel is the “stand-on” vessel and which is the “give-way” vessel in different encounter scenarios, and am now looking at the indications of various configurations and colors of lights on different types of vessels. I’ve done a good bit of email writing, have read a number of journal articles, have enjoyed reading sermons from the Brothers of the Society of St. John the Evangelist in Cambridge, MA, and have played some free online trivia games whose sponsors contribute money to a “good cause” for each correct answer entered. Now it’s time for galley clean-up after a relaxing but still-somewhat-productive day.