A restful “day off” (but, sadly, no more Nanaimo bars!)

Saturday, May 25, 2024

A little rain washed the night, and the gentle swaying of the boat, soft, gurgley water murmurs, and hushing wind whispers rocked us to sleep, and we happily slept in on Saturday morning. During the day, the sun played tag with the clouds while Walt and I relaxed, read, wrote, accomplished a few maintenance tasks, and generally enjoyed the beauty of Deep Bay while sitting in our cockpit “sun-porch.” I loved watching the shadows shift with the moving sun and the clouds, and the shoreline features being concealed and revealed by the changing tides in the bay (right now, there’s a 20-foot difference between the water levels at high (35 feet) and low (15 feet) tides) and the concomitant rising and falling of the boat. Various bird ensembles performed in the trees towering over the moss-dappled banks, and tiny wavelets applauded, slapping their sparkling, splashy hands against the rocky shores while wild sheep bleated their approval from nearby meadows.

During the enjoyment of a tasty supper that Walt had assembled from various left-overs, we heard what seemed to be the insistent barking of small dogs. It turned out to be the “honking” of three Canada geese who were trailing around the perimeter of the bay and conversing noisily! Then, while I was washing dishes in the galley, I looked out the window to see a very long “boom” of logs being towed along the steep, rocky shore of neighboring Paul Island by a tugboat. I could see two men with long poles walking and trotting up and down the “raft” of logs while the tug released it, backed up, turned around, and retreated behind the point of land from whence it had appeared. Over the next while, the tug reappeared and moved slowly back and forth along the line of logs, with the two workers sometimes aboard and sometimes manipulating the logs (attaching them to the shore?). The tug reminded me of a cowboy riding herd on trailing lines of cattle being driven to market! The rounded-up log-cattle should still be safely in their pen come morning, and I’m getting ready to find my way to bed after a lovely lazy day!