Monday April 29, 2019 - Russell Island to Bellingham

Yuck. Yuck. And more Yuck. Forecast and Grib files totally wrong. Windy. Lumpy. Forecast was 7kts. Got back to Bham around 2:00pm

Sunday April 28, 2019 - Genoa Bay to Russell Island

Greg was up early so he could keep Bob company as they returned the rental car. Bella's eye was quite bad still and then just as they were about to leave, we heard the bilge pump go off twice in a row. Greg said "That can't be good" and he was right. He looked down into the engine room and the aft head bellows had broken and the last "flush" had instead gone straight into the bilge. And it made a huge mess everywhere!

So Bob went by himself and Greg changed into his work clothes and dug into cleaning up and repairing the mess. We carry a spare Vacuflush unit so he dug it out and removed the broken unit and put the new one in. With a WHOLE lot a cleaning up before, during, and after. Bob helped out when he returned as well. I looked after Bella and kept her out of the way. Which was nothing at all because she just stayed sleeping in her corner and wouldn't walk around because she was still feeling bad. So not exactly a great morning.

By 11:00, Greg had it all taken care of and we were underway. We headed over to Russell Island to anchor. Right after we anchored one of the boats that was there left and opened up a closer spot so then we re-anchored closer. Dinghies down and we went up into Fulford Harbour.



Had to have good coffee at Rock Salt. Went for a walk around town and into the Mercantile store.

Lovely evening at Russell Island.

Saturday April 27, 2019 - Genoa Bay

B&K had rented a car from Budget for the day and they came out to Genoa to pick us all up, including Miss B. We were a bit rushed in the AM as they came earlier than expected. Gale warning for the day so it was good to be away from the boats!

We headed into the town of Duncan and cruised around the Farmers Market. It certainly started to get windy while we were there and by the time we left, the tents were getting a good shaking. We bought some bakery products and Jan got a new purse and then we headed in the direction of good coffee. Went to the Tin Cup and Miss B got her foam.



We had to take a few minutes to check out the "world renown" shoe store of course! I did not buy the $415 orange shoes. Then off to the Zanatto Winery for lunch! Because that's what you do - eat a lot! What an incredible lunch though. Really good. Then Karen directed us to Mount Preston. This is where the paragliders take off from and is supposed to have great views. We ended up on a dirt road, and it got pretty steep in a couple of places, but it was a rental car. And Bob did some great driving. We had a couple arrive just after us and they gave us directions for the last few feet to get to the right place. It turns out it was, Robin, the woman from "The Raptors" facility that we have been to a couple of times.



Unbelievable views. Really a great experience. Back down and then we drove to the Westholme Tea Farm. They grow tea there and also do a lot of their own blending. Sat on the patio (without Miss B as she wasn't allowed) and had their signature Westholme Tea. Plus more bakery goods!

Drove back to Genoa Bay and OF fed us a beautiful salmon dinner. We did wait a while first before eating again though. Unfortunately, that evening, Bella got her eye problem back again. This time it was her right eye that was the worst. I guess it wasn't smart of us to take her back out again into the environmental elements.

Friday April 26, 2019 - Tod Inlet to Genoa Bay

Pancake Breakfast on OF. Head to Genoa. Beautiful day. Tie up and enjoy the sun and good WiFi. Dinner at the restaurant at 6:00.

Thursday April 25, 2019 - Tod Inlet

Beautiful day. Went to Butchart in the morning. Walked around, had lunch, then back to boats. Took Karen and Miss B to shore to walk around the park. Nice.

Wednesday April 24, 2019 - Port Sidney to Tod Inlet

Left around 10:00 which would have us around the Brentwood Bay at around noon. We called Sherwood Marine as we were entering the Bay and they said that would should call Brentwood Marina to see if we could do a temporary tie up in order to receive the outboard. Greg made all the calls and there was enough room for us for a couple of hours so we tied up and went up to the pub for lunch while we waited.

Of course the outboard arrived just before our food did. So Bob and Greg went down to receive it. Didn't take long so they came back to finish lunch and then we headed off to Tod.

Anchored as there was lot's of room. Then another sailboat came in and anchored right on top of our anchor. Greg went over in the dinghy and told him we had 100' out and he was really close. He said "It'll be fine". So we moved.

Tuesday April 23, 2019 - Montague to Port Sidney

We had arranged for an early checkin at the Port Sidney marina, and our goal was to be there around 10:00am, so we left Montague at 8:00am. Clear sailing all the way over. Got checked into slip D4 which is close to the main dock so that the outboard didn't have far to go. Greg and Bob man-handled it from the dinghy to the dock finger, and then carried it down to the other end to put it in a dock cart. Then they headed up and dropped it off with Ron at the NWE office. He was heading out to do errands and so he was going to drop it off at Sherwood Marine on his own. So bing bang boom, it was all done. Time for a walk and coffee.

We headed up to a shop we like right at the top of the street and sat outside with Miss B and had coffee and a snack. By this time, it was quite windy out unfortunately so it was a bit chilly there even though it was clear blue sky and sun. Somehow we survived. And then went shopping. I did not buy the shoes even though I really wanted to. They were yellow.



We also did not buy any feet donut's, but yes we wanted to do that too - the bakery there looked and smelled more wonderful than ever. We continued up Beacon Avenue stopping here and there and ended up in the Home Hardware shop. Karen and I moved on down the road but Greg looked down and noticed that Bella's left eye looked funny. And she wouldn't leave it open and just had that 3rd eye lid come up in the corner. I looked REALLY weird and not in a good way. He had already looked up to see where there was a Vet office just in case and so we just continued walking down towards it and the marina. It didn't change at all so we walked in to see if we could see someone. They didn't have any appointments there so they called #2 Vet within walking distance. They also had nothing so she called Vet #3 within walking distance. (So many Vet's in Sidney?!?!) and they had an appointment at 6:00pm. So back to the boat for a nap and to try not and fuss. B&K met us and we all walked up together to 5th Ave and they headed to the store and us to the "Beacon Vet Hospital" where we were early.

When we made the appointment, they asked for information about her regular Vet. When we got there, they had electronically received Bella's medical records and the Tech commented on how cute her photo was. We went in to see Dr. Vegrea and he spent a fair amount of time reading her record and noted that yes, she does have a history of allergies. He then spent some time "getting to know her" and trying to listen to her heartbeat. He did an all over exam like usual too. Then he stained her eyes and took a look at them under blue light. He said both were swollen, just her left more than the right, and that there was no trauma. So it was either an infection or allergies. So we got some prescription eye drops that would cover both situations and we're to give them to her 3 times a day for 10 days. Poor Bella.

Back to the boat where we had a quick dinner, and then gave her some eye drops. She didn't mind them going in, but then she really fussed afterwards. She really did want to go straight to bed - she just stands at the top of the aft cabin stairs and stares down them and sighes. We instead went over to OF and watched "The Incredibles 2" so we could have a laugh. Then back to the boat and to bed.

Monday April 22, 2019

Rain Rain Rain. Lazy quiet morning on the boat as we worked on computers and made plans and enquiries to get the outboard looked at / repaired. Greg spoke to Sherwood Marine on Vancouver Island who had serviced OF's outboard last year and they were very helpful and accommodating and said that they could get to it in a timely fashion. (Unlike the Bellingham operation who told us "maybe end of May"!). Tim at NWE hooked us up with Ron who manages the office in Sidney and so it looks like we're going to Sidney tomorrow. Sherwood even said they could (for a small extra fee) deliver the outboard to us in Tod Inlet …… (?!?!?!?!?) Deliver? WOW.

We had decided to head over to Robin & Crane for lunch today - it's the restaurant at the Marina. OF picked us up and we were all in our Alaska gear - rain pants, rain jacket, and rain hats. It just stopped raining right before they picked us up and didn't rain the whole time we were there or came back. That's what good rain gear does - acts as good insurance.

Lovely yummy lunch. Back to OF to look at water pumps and water pressure. And then we brought their dinghy back to SB to hang out again. The wind threatened to come back for awhile, but then went away again which was nice. More work on the manuals etc etc. Then eventually back to OF again for Bob's Fajita dinner. Enough food for 12 more people and very yummy. Then a couple of episodes of Bosch. For Karen of course

Sunday April 21, 2019

Anchors up and we headed out of Lyall around 10:30. A little lumpy but not too bad. Ocean Flyer was going to do a compass calibration but decided against it since it was just a little to lumpy. Arrived at Montague around noon, grabbed a mooring ball, and had a little lunch. While we had lunch, the wind really came up a lot. We were going to leave Bella on the boat while we went for a walk, but decided that with the wind the way it was, she would probably not be all that happy, and we would worry about her so along she came.

We motored over to Ocean Flyer at idle to pick them up to go for a walk along Gray's Peninsula in the park. The wind appeared to be coming from the south inside Montague and so we wondered what the north side would look like for anchoring. It was a little better but not great.



It turns out there was more West in the wind than anything and there were several spots on the walk that was really windy. Lot's of campers in the park, probably because of the Easter long weekend.

Back to the dingy and we crawled over to the Marina dock at idle but folks still got a little wet as it was still windy and lumpy. The marina was closed which we knew, but the restaurant was open and we checked that it would be open tomorrow (12-4). Lot's of people around kayaking - too bad there was so much wind for them!

Back to our respective boats for an hour or so of napping and working on the computer. Then we brought Spaghetti dinner over to Ocean Flyer and then watched Aquaman on the "big screen". Probably would have been even worse on the little screen

As we were heading over to OF for dinner, the outboard motor decided to not start right away. Same problem as Greg was looking into the day before we left. Kept running fine though afterwards and we made it to OF. But on the way back to SB late that night, it wouldn't start without a bunch of throttle. Greg kept up the speed on the way back so it couldn't cut out, but just as we were sliding into the stern, he (of course) had to let it go and it completely cut out and we just drifted into the back of SB. So the outboard wasn't really fixed after all. Tomorrow's problem.

Saturday April 20, 2019

OK, it got a little windy last night and the boat she was a rockin'. Not too bad, nothing that made us want to move, but Queen Bella was a little unhappy. The wind calmed down again around 5:00am and everyone went back to a good sleep.

Spent the morning on the boat on computers and futzing around. The weather was clear and sunny. Had some lunch. Then Ocean Flyer came over and picked us up and we went for a dingy cruise. Headed over to the park in Winter Cove and went for a walk over to Boat Passage. The tide was certainly still coming down because the current running out into the Straight was huge! Quite windy on this side too.



A nice walk around and we came back to our boats and then sun was shining and the wind laid down so it was time to soak up some rays while the getting was good! Here's proof:



OF picked us up for the "long walk" up to the cafe for dinner. Google maps said it was 1.7km or 1 mile each direction. Course it's uphill getting there! It went by very quickly and we were about 20 mins early for our 6:45 reservation, but they said they could accommodate us and off we went in for dinner. There were 3 appetizer choices, 2 dinner choices, and 1 dessert choice. But it all looked really good!! There was only 1 waitress and she was run off her feet as the place was full up (even with Prawn Fest!). Linen table clothes and bottled water on the table and a really cozy atmosphere. Lamb (the island specialty) for B&K and Cioppino for G&J. Good beer, good wine, and excellent chocolate mousse for dessert made for a lovely evening.

Friday April 19, 2019

Although the plan was to stay on the boat last night, by the time Greg got home from dumping all the groceries on the boat in the pouring rain, and seeing that the rain was going to continue, we decided to not go down to the boat after dinner. Stayed nice and cozy.

So up at 6:30 this morning and packed up all the last minute items and did some last minute house cleaning (of course!) and we were at the boat by 8:00. Got things put away and left the dock at 9:00 heading for Port Browning. The first part of Bellingham Bay was a little lumpy with small whitecaps, but by the time we were half way through it had already settled down a bit. Up Hale Passage was lovely and perfect for coffee time. As we came out the north end we were greeted with flat calm water and a following current which at one point carried us up to 11.9 knots!



Ocean Flyer was still in Port Browning so we waved at them as we hovered outside the dock. Greg wanted to go inside the breakwater to check out the new dock system but it made the (very young) Harbour Master a little nervous as he had a bunch of boats coming in. So we turned around and left and followed Ocean Flyer over to Lyall Harbour where it was calm and lovely. Got anchored up on the north side and quite happy that the anchor and systems still worked. It had been quite some time since we had used them and we had not done our pre-season checkout!

Put the dingy in the water just as it started to rain and headed over to Ocean Flyer for a visit. While there we made plans and the weather cleared up nicely. We decided that we should go to the pub for dinner! Back to Spellbound for a bit, and then OF picked us up in their dingy and we headed to the public dock to look around and have dinner. It turns out that tomorrow is "Prawn Fest" on Saturna Island (who knew?) and there was a dinner (all you can eat prawns) and a dance (do you have to do the prawn dance?). We decided to pass since we already had reservations at the Saturna Island Cafe.

Dinner was great! Even with Dark Matter beer.