Monday, October 13
What a complete contrast! Sunday afternoon was gray and gloomy and very wet, and Monday morning dawned blindingly bright and completely clear! We untied Braesail from the Newcastle Island dock and, after about 15 minutes of motoring in a nice little breeze, we moored her on a dock at the Nanaimo Yacht Club. In order to catch the 1:20 pm B.C. ferry, the Queen of Oak Bay, to Horseshoe Bay near Vancouver, we began a 40-minute walk along the Nanaimo waterfront to the terminal at about 11:45 in order to purchase tickets and get in line by 12:30. The ferry was thronged with passengers, most of them probably making their way to Vancouver to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving with relatives and friends, as we were.
The hour-and-forty-minute trip across a glittering blue sea beneath a cloudless cerulean sky was smooth and spectacularly beautiful, offering great views of the BC Coastal Mountains above the shores.
Once off the ferry and in the passenger pick-up area, it didn’t take long for our friend Deirdre to locate us, collect us, and drive us to the excellent Amica Lions Gate senior living complex into which our friend Rob moved not long ago. We’d arranged for seven of the Vancouver area “Jamulan” friends (together with the teenage daughter of one of us and our son Martin’s girlfriend—she had caught a cold and so didn’t attend), who sing online together on Sunday nights, to assemble for a Thanksgiving dinner in the lovely private dining room, and since Deirdre, Walt, and I were a little early, we explored the first “bistro” floor of one of the two main buildings and then met everyone else in the second-floor dining room to share a marvelous meal served with great attention and care by the staff on a festively decorated table. We sang “Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow” as a round as our pre-meal “Grace,” and enjoyed wonderful conversations together with the fine food provided by Amica and fresh oysters and pumpkin cheesecake bars contributed by Martin. What a splendid occasion!
Deirdre drove Walt and me back to the ferry terminal to board the 8:30 pm boat after our celebration, and following our arrival in Nanaimo a little after 10 pm, we grabbed a cab for the short ride back to the Nanaimo Yacht Club docks. It was quite chilly on Braesail when we clambered aboard, but with our cabin heaters turned on and two comforters on the bed in the aft cabin, we were able to enjoy a quiet, cozy night following a superb day of food and fellowship with fantastic friends! I am so thankful!
Braesail - A grand yacht in the Salish Sea 