Cider and wine

Friday-Saturday, August 28-29, 2026

After a leisurely morning of reading (Walt) and blog-post-writing (me), we arrived at the ramp leading up to the Port Browning Marina’s grounds and buildings via Coracle in the early afternoon of a delightfully warm day. We hiked about a half-mile up a road to the attractive Driftwood Centre, where Walt bought an oven thermometer at the small home furnishings store, we bought some fresh fruit and vegetables at the very nice grocery store, and then summoned a taxi to take us up through the forest to the Twin Island Cider Company’s tiny tasting room overlooking Port Browning Bay. We tried a half-dozen lovely ciders made from local apples, “wild” and cultivated; selected two bottles of flavorful apple ciders and two cans of other fruit ciders (one of quince and the other of pear), and I chose a glass of beautiful pink raspberry-rhubarb-rose kombucha (a slightly fizzy fermented tea) to drink at an outdoor table in the cidery’s pleasant, orchard-edged yard (Walt enjoyed a glass of a dry cider).

Having finished our refreshments, Walt took the bag of ciders and I took the bag of groceries, and we trudged up and down hills for somewhat less than two miles as we made our way back to the Driftwood Centre, snacking on ripe blackberries as we went. On the way, we passed a little “honor system” farm stand displaying fresh flowers, eggs, tomatoes, and some paper sacks of fruit and vegetables, and we decided that $5 Canadian (about $3.50 US) for what appeared to be a LOT of Italian plums (not quite 4 pounds when I weighed them later) was a good deal, so Walt slipped a US $5 bill into the cash box and we added the very-ripe plums to our wine bag. Later during our walk we passed another, larger, farm stand offering produce, fruit pies, preserves, and other items for sale, but we had enough to carry, so we admired the old cast-iron range, the ancient water pump and bathtub, and several other antiques with which the small building was decorated inside and out, and went on our way.

By the time we reached the Vanilla Leaf Bakery in the Driftwood Centre, we were ready for a substantial snack, so I chose a chicken-sausage roll and a lavender-lemonade Italian soda, while Walt had an iced mocha and a salted-caramel bar—wonderful! We were not looking forward to the half-mile walk back to the marina where Coracle awaited us at the dock, so we paused by a “Car Stop” sign (the Car Stop Program provides free rides for people traveling on foot—an excellent idea!), and, sure enough, a kind woman pulled up and asked if we’d like a ride. “YES!” we exclaimed, and she drove us back to the marina—we were most grateful!

Back on Braesail, we put away our purchases, napped, and enjoyed a salmon supper, and I made a delicious cobbler from some of the ripest plums we’d picked up at the little farm stand. We’d had a marvelous “day out” and had gotten some good exercise in the process!

Saturday’s activity centered around the delightful Sage Hayward Vineyards winery on nearby Saturna Island. On a pleasant, sunny day following a peaceful night, we left Port Browning at noon after Walt had baked the lovely loaf of bread on which he’d begun work the previous evening. We motored for about a half-hour to a field of mooring buoys near Saturna’s shore, with me at the helm for the first time in a LONG time! I maneuvered the boat so that Walt could catch the ring at the top of a buoy with our boat-hook, but first, the ring was stuck and Walt couldn’t pull it up as one has to do to thread a line from the boat’s deck through the ring and back to the deck and thus secure the boat; second, once one deck line WAS pulled through the buoy’s ring, the end cover of our boat-hook’s handle slipped off and the hook itself (a long, telescoping pole) fell into the water (fortunately, it floats!). Walt launched Coracle from Braesail’s stern and rowed toward the spot where the boat-hook was bobbing, grabbed it, and rowed back to Braesail, pulling up next to the mooring buoy and slipping an extra deck line through its immovable top ring. I secured that line to a cleat on the boat, and we were safely moored!

I climbed into Coracle and Walt rowed (into the wind, unfortunately) to the dock on the shore, from which we hiked UP a road through a shady, boulder-strewn forest for about three-quarters of a mile to the attractive Feral Goat Pub on the beautiful grounds of the Sage Hayward Vineyards winery, at which Walt had made lunch reservations. The views over the extensive vineyards and then over the sea toward the neighboring islands were spectacular,

the winery’s grounds were nicely landscaped and decorated with various flowers and blossoming herbs, the main building was visually striking inside and out,

the three wines we sampled were quite lovely,

and the pizza on which we lunched, topped with some unusual and tasty local ingredients, was excellent!

Being well-fed and well-rested, we found the return walk to the dock to be less arduous (its being mostly down-hill helped, of course!), and it wasn’t long before the two of us and a bottle of very nice rosé were settled in Coracle, and Walt was rowing back to Braesail into a wind that was lighter than it had been previously. Once back aboard, we raised the main and the genoa sails, and with a nervous me at the helm, we headed for Montague Harbour on Galiano Island, about two hours distant. Within a few minutes, however, the wind had died away, we furled the sails, and first I and then Walt guided the boat over the ruffled water with the engine doing the work and charging the batteries.

We found a good anchoring spot in the very large harbor that already held a great many boats, napped, dined on sandwiches made from Walt’s excellent bread, and Walt read while I worked on this post. It had been an enjoyable, if strenuous (especially for Walt!), day!