May 27 - day 4 (I think)

It's really easy to forget how many days you've been on a boat when your world is pretty small.....our world is 40' long and about 13' wide right now. However, so far, we've gotten off the boat every day. There's something to be said for going to marinas. :)

This morning we were up and out of Ladysmith at 0700, only to realize that Dodd Narrows wasn't as far as we thought, so we had to go at a snail's pace (about 4 kts per hour) so that we weren't just hanging around the entrance for an hour. Oh well, gave us time for reading.

Going through Dodd Narrows is pretty fun, I think. I like making the VHF call that you have to make going though narrow spots - it makes me feel so official:  "Securite, securite, securite, this is Nellie, a 40-foot motor vessel, now entering Dodd Narrows heading northbound. Any concerned traffic respond on 16. Nellie out." I get to pretend I speak French with the whole "securite" thing. Terribly international, doncha know.

I have a better picture of the freighter that Bob cropped but I can't figure out how to upload it.....as I get better at the ipad/photo thing, the pictures MAY improve (again, I make no promises)

As we entered Nanaimo, we encountered 3 BC ferries, 3 freighters, 2 log booms with their attentive tugs, and several miscellaneous sailboats. None of them, however, were coming to the Nanaimo Yacht Club, so we are pretty much alone on the dock. Very nice.

Ahhh - I forgot - for the first time ever, we got boarded by Canadian Customs and Immigration in Bedwell Harbour. Must be the year for boardings, since Karen & Barrie Hutchinson, who went through a week ago, had the same experience. I just thought it was a really slow morning, and the guys were kind of bored.....a strange experience, having strangers poke through everything you have. Then, one comes out and takes Bob away, down the dock, to question him (!). Then he walked down to me and asked me the same questions - only he tried to trick me. He said, "Your husband says he has guns. What firearms are aboard?" GUNS??? WE HAVE GUNS??? I must have looked a little flustered, because I sputtered around and asked him finally if the flare gun counted. :)  Anyway, we escaped the inquisition just fine. After it was all over, he came over, said we were all fine, and "welcome to Canada"..... then we stood around and chatted for 15 minutes. Nice guys (but a little testy on the gun issue).

Tomorrow we're off north - we'll go along the east side of Vancouver Island, either as far as Comox or maybe just halfway. Then we're going to decide if we're going through Seymore Narrows to get to the Octopus Islands, or if we'll go around from the other side. Reading about Seymore Narrows does not fill me with confidence......I would rather not have a close encounter with a cruise ship unless I'm actually ON the cruise ship....and they transit the narrows on their way to Alaska. We'll see - and probably let the weather decide for us. Which is the smart way to do it, anyway.

Hopefully I'll have the whole picture thing figured out by next posting.........there's nothing to take pictures of down here, anyway. Just lots of water and trees and big boats.