Visiting Jessica and her family in Manchester

We flew from Vancouver to Manchester on Friday and are now visiting Jessica and her family in Manchester. Great fun playing with the grandchildren!

Back in Vancouver

Today I handed Ancient Murrelet to a boat service company in Sidney to prepare her for winter and install a water maker and I returned to Vancouver. After 36 days on the boat, it is nice to be in the apartment again, especially as Sheila organized some nice renovations to kitchen and bathroom.

 

Montague Harbour again

After spending last weekend with 19 guests from the family, I enjoyed a few quiet days on my own. Tomorrow Sheila is coming back with Al and Elena, and I look forward to some company again. I came back to Montague as this is an easy place to get to by ferry from Vancouver.

Telegraph Harbour

This morning I moved back onto a smaller island, Thetis, where I am now tied up at Telegraph Harbour Marina. Today and tomorrow is supposed to be cloudy with showers and then the hot and sunny weather should return for the weekend.

Ladysmith, BC

Another day of walking in nice woods, admiring the islands and hot sunshine. This evening I am in Ladysmith, as I need to take on some water. This is a cute little town with a new yacht facility at the Ladysmith Maritime Society. The town is also quite industrial with lots of boat restorations, big ships and many, many log booms for the local sawmill. Little tug boats are busy pulling big booms to the local sawmills. The Society has restored some old tugs, one imagines some of the ancestors of Ancient Murrelet.

Pirates Cove, De Courcy Island

We had fun celebrations with the family over the weekend, but today I am all alone again. I left Montague and went north to De Courcy Island and am now anchored in a marine park here, nicely named Pirates´Cove. The weather is again hot and sunny, no wind and I look forward to exploring the park on foot and by kayak.

Bernice´s birthday celebration

Yesterday we celebrated the birthday of Sheila´s mother in style on Galiano Island. After a visit on Ancient Murrelet, Bruce and Marianne treated us to a visit of his studio and snacks, and we then enjoyed a nice evening at the Galiano Inn. There were 19 of us and it was a great day with brilliant sunshine and nice company.

Montague Harbour, Galiano Island

After a nice and quiet night at Sidney Spit, I left early this morning and am anchored in Montague Harbour now. We came here first on a sailboat in 1981 and have enjoyed coming back ever since. So do many other people and in the summers it is often quite crowded here. I will stay for a few days as we are celebrating the birthday of Sheila´s mother here next Saturday and about 19 family members will join us over the weekend (only a few sleeping on the boat though, it is not that big).

 

Sidney Spit

Sheila left early this morning and I went to Sidney Spit, not very far at all, but scenic. When we lived here before, we came out quite often to this beautiful spot, and it has not changed. I went for a long walk, now put on my dinner and am looking forward to a sunny and warm evening.

Back in Sidney

We enjoyed Ganges and the dinner at Hastings House very much. Today we went back to Sidney as Sheila has to go to Vancouver again for more renovation supervision tomorrow. We stopped at the beautiful Princess Margaret Park on Portland Island and are now tied up at Van Isle Marina in Tsehum Harbour. This is where we used to keep our small sailboat, IBIS, when we lived in Victoria. Yesterday and today was so hot, Sheila went swimming. Given that the water temperature was 15.5 degrees Celsius, I abstained.