Lund

If you got on to Highway 101 at the tip of South America and drove that highway until you came to mile 0, you'd be in Lund. Specifically, you would be in the parking lot of Nancy's Bakery in Lund, BC. That's actually not a bad reason to visit Lund, by the way.

We left Nanaimo this morning at 5:45AM, expecting a calm crossing of the Straits of Georgia. Calm is a relative term. It means "not death-defying." So, it was calm. It was not the most comfortable 2 1/2 hours I've ever spent, but then, it was not as scary as the last time we crossed the Straits, so what the heck. It was a really long day on the water - we arrived in Lund about 3:30pm. We'll take off tomorrow morning around 6:00am and attempt to make it through the first two rapids - the Yucultas and the Dent Rapids - probably staying in Shoal Bay the rest of the day. In 2007 we were able to navigate all 5 rapids in one go, but I think we were lucky and had just timed it perfectly. "Perfect" doesn't usually fit in our way of boating, though, so we aren't expecting to repeat that feat. (But it would certainly be nice.)

Trivia for the day: Captain Cook, of South Pacific fame, is the one who named it "Desolation Sound." Apparently, his crew was homeesick for jolly olde England when they arrived here. (I had not ever heard of him being in these waters until I'd read BLUE LATITUDES, by Tony Horwitz. A decent read.)

I am using stolen Internet access here, so we can't stay on line long. The next place we may have Internet access will be in the Broughtons, or at Port McNeill (on the northern end of Vancouver Island, several days away). We plan on slowing down some as soon as we get north of Desolation Sound - we're both tired from the long, tiresome days. Today was the third 9-hour day in a row.

Bob got his fishing license yesterday in Nanaimo, and I'm eager to catch some prawns. The Canadian limit on prawns is 200 per pot, so I'm pretty sure we'll be okay, shrimp-wise. Of course, Bob's hoping for halibut, lingcod and/or salmon....I'm pretty much hoping for anything with fins. I have the cookbook Janet lent me - The Galley Guru - so I'm ready to make sweet music with those ingredients!

We hope to add pictures next time......so far, it's been kind of boring scenery. We really like the lush green Broughtons, so I'll add some pictures then....maybe a bear or two.