Bananacortes or Bust: Canada Day and onward (July- September)

July

Day Break, Gull Cry, Pathways,
and LEsprit

It was right about June 30th when the eight of us decided to head south. We knew it was going to take us a while. The Kerns had family coming. The Yorks had a grandchild due. Bill, Kim, and we figured we'd lollygag our way home. Interestingly, I still didn't know I had a broken rib. That I would realize a week after I trip and fell. We left Heriot Bay at 5 a.m. for the 7-8 hour trip back to Garden Bay in Pender Harbour. We knew nasty weather would greet us halfway to our destination, but we also knew if we stayed in Heriot Bay any longer, we'd go crazy, our Amex cards would shudder (dining in Heriot Bay was great, but not cheap), and the weather would be even worse.

We arrived in the rain. Pathways anchored. We all rafted up, drew our blinds, and went to sleep. When we awoke, it was Canada Day!

Honestly, I shouldn't be allowed to narrate videos!

Herb and Joanne were also in Garden Bay, but they were heading north. Here we all are on L'Esprit.

We also ran into Carole and Ken, and Colleen and John, who were also on their ways north. After Garden Bay, we spent the night in Secret Cove before heading across the Strait of Georgia, through Gabriola Passage's currents, and into Ladysmith Marina, Vancouver island, where it became clear to me I had a broken rib. The next day we headed to Chemainus.

Chemainus was the artiest town on our whole trip. The town is renown for its mural project, which has attracted muralists from all over the world. (See murals here.) It also had great eats and a happy town. Love it! My friend Penny says the theatres great too. We'll have to return!

From Chemainus, we went south to Maple Bay and had a spaghetti dinner at Maple Bay Yacht Club. The next morning, we headed down to Genoa Bay, which has floating homes and brightly painted boats. Very Euro! And a great cafe!

We also found great crabbing in Genoa Bay.

At one point, we left Pathways anchored and drove L'Esprit over to Cowachan for lunch and site seeing.

Almost the last stop before heading home: Sidney North Saanich Yacht Club, where the resident swans gobbled down some old crackers we had aboard.

Always have one hand for the boat.

It took five days to get the laundry done, and a week to get the boat cleaned up inside and out, for soon we would be heading the Canada once again. This time, we went to North Pender Island for a yacht club cruise, followed visits to Saltspring and and Samuel Islands.

August

   In early August, we set out on the Past Commodore's cruise to Port Browning on North Pender Island in the Canadian Gulf Islands. The weather was lovely, the scenery extraordinary, and the company most lively. The marina nestled us tight as sardines, and we found ourselves rafted in with two vintage sailboats from which, it seems, dozens of young people entered and exited at all hours of the day and night. Much to our pleasure, the boats belonged to the bluegrass strumming Stowaway String Band, which, every summer, toured the Gulf Islands, as well as Vancouver Island on the wind-powered tour. (Hear them here!)
   The crew of musicians were terrific boat neighbors. Polite, chatty, lively, and interesting. One of their back-ups, Sarah L., even gave us a mini-concert on Quadra's stern.

We joined our yachtie mates games, shopping and dining, and we thank Cheryl and Mike Dyer for making the weekend in Port Browning such a treat!

Love this tug's macrame bow fender!

Before heading home, we went to busy Ganges Harbour, Saltspring Island, to visit my sister-in-law Robin and her husband Michael at their home on Cusheon Lake. They gave us cruisers a rate treat: a drive around the island!

Robin, Michael, and Joanne aboard L'Esprit

Robin, Michael, and Davy in their yard.

From Saltspring, we went to Otter Bay, Pender Island; Samuel Island; Prevost Harbor, Stuart Island; Hunter Bay, Lopez Island; and then home. Good news! Every time I used the Happy Hooker successfully to retrieve the mooring can line.

Unfortunately, by the time we got home from this little cruise, my right knee was torturing me. I couldn't sleep at all, it hurt so bad. Two nights I spent watching Netflix 'til dawn. Even the Tylenol with codeine didn't make a dent. I couldn't lie down. I could hardly walk. Life looked grim.

But my physical therapist Holly figured it out in no time. Remember I broke by rib in early June? Well, that place in my spine was causing the knee torture. She gave me some exercises for my back and voila! I'm dancing again!!!

When all else fails, we enjoy our view.

September

In mid-September, we decided to do what most of our yachtie mates don't do: cruise South Puget Sound. The reason they don't do this is because, unlike us, they've done it a million times before.

Our itenerary:

1. Anacortes; 2. Langley, Whibey Island; 3. Bell Harbor, Seattle; 4. Winslow, Bainbridge Island; 5. Tacoma; 6. Gig Harbor; 7. Port Orchard; 8. Poulsbo; 9. Kingston; 10. Oak Harbor, Whidbey Island; 11. Lang Bay, Hope Island. Then home to Anacortes.

In Langley, we met our good friends Sandi and Hank Seibert, who live at the southern tip of Whidbey. We ate at our favorite Prima Bistro. (Sorry I don't have their picture. I lost my camera for the month of September. I eventually found it in my hat box. LOL)

The next day we arrived in Bell Harbor, at the foot of Pike Market. Here we met my childhood friend Kirsten Roth, for dinner at Etta's. The next night Davy got his fill of oysters at Elliot's. We didn't leave for Bainbridge Island immediately the next morning because fog socked us in. But leave we did, and spent a lot of our time in Winslow just walking around looking at the town. The next day, we braved the fog and cruised down to Foss Harbor Marina on the north end of the Tacoma inlet. It was our intention to walk down to the Museum of Glass from here, not realizing at first that road construction would make this impossible. We dined at Rock the Dock, where we shared the space with a bajillion leather-clad Harley enthusiasts who were there for a fund-raiser. Looking at them, I realized they were probably a bunch of doctors, lawyers, teachers, and accountants who dressed for the ride. Boy were their machines beauties!

In order to get to the museum, we moved south to the beautiful and conveniently-located Dock Street Marina, which was right in front of the museum, and near the art museum. Highlights:

Outdoor glass garden. More.

Railroad overpass. More.

Loved Pino Signoretto's (Chihuly's teacher) work.

Also in Tacoma we enjoyed the Tacoma Art Museum's Marie Watt Lodge exhibit. Most fascinating was a pile of donated blankets, with their stories attached on large manila tags. So there was this stack for me to look at that contained maybe three or four hundred blankets. Tags hung from all four sides. I pick up on tag and read it and find myself knowing that the attached blanket had kept a family warm in Maine, until it found itself in Washington, D.C., in the White House. Another was a blanket a German soldier had gotten from a Russian near the end of WW II. Stories, stories, stories. They are links in our lives.

From Tacoma, we went up to Gig Harbor so Davy could test the theory that Tides Tavern served one of the world's greatest fish and chips. (I think he still thinks The Porterhouse in Mt. Vernon, WA, has the best.)

Port Orchard was uneventful, but the trip to Poulsbo was interesting since we went through a restricted area. We think, but we're not certain, we experienced some torpedo wakes. In Poulsbo ,I ate so much at The Loft, I thought I'd killed myself. Their french fries are criminal.

In Kingston we needed to find a grocery store, because we knew our last couple of nights we'd be swinging on a hook in some bay. It turned out the grocery store was quite a ways away, so the marina let us drive their electric pick-up truck.

Our last two nights were spent in Crescent Bay, Oak Harbor, which is basically a military area, and Lang Bay, Hope Island, which is a lovely little layover for boaters to wait for the tides to change before going through Deception Pass and heading north to our Skyline Marina dock.