On September 22, Braesail and her crew headed north, first anchoring in Reid Harbor on Stuart island, where we have enjoyed many lovely times in the past, and spending a quiet day there,
and then moving along on the 24th to Tod Inlet, at the base of the Saanich Peninsula on Vancouver Island, which we had never visited before. It’s a beautiful bay near the back entrance to the world-famous Butchart Gardens, and was an excellent, sheltered place in which to stay secure while storms blew about outside.
We spent three quiet, peaceful reading-days there in cool, calm, drizzly weather; the waters there were teeming with myriads of the lacy white parachutes of jellies of all sizes, from thumbnail to fist–so mesmerizing to watch!
On Wednesday the 27th, Walt took me to the dock in nearby Butchart Cove in our dinghy and dropped me off, and I spent some four delightful hours wandering around the gorgeous gardens under overcast skies while Walt watched three lectures by his Ph.D. supervisor being Zoom-cast from the campus of the University of the South in Sewanee, TN. I had visited the Gardens several times before, but never in the fall, and the glittering crystal droplets scattered by the recent rains over all the leaves and blossoms made the gardens especially magical on this occasion! I didn’t get rained on, I visited all the contiguous sections of the Gardens, I had fun taking pictures, and I enjoyed wildflower honey/lavender gelato in a waffle cone–MMMM!
Walt brought Braesail around to pick me up in mid-afternoon, and we motored to nearby Mill Bay (where we were observed by a sleek blue-gray heron on the dock–he escaped my camera!), secured the boat, took an abandoned shopping cart, into which we had plopped our empty propane tank, up a hill to the shopping center (about a mile away), filled the tank, picked up some groceries, carted them down to the marina and stowed them on the boat, napped, and at last walked up the dock to a nice restaurant where we consumed seafood chowders and salads as the full moon rose over the marina.
Braesail - A grand yacht in the Salish Sea 