July 13

Still no pictures....I've taken them, but either they are too large for the servers, or I'm taking too much bandwidth.....so, if you want to see any pictures, let me know and I'll email them to you. :)


A few days ago (july 8th) we were in Laura Bay (one of our very favorite places in the Broughtons), catching fish and crab and just hanging out. (With Cap'n Charlie, the singer, as it turned out.) We left there on the 10th and went down to Minstrel Island. Minstrel used to be a Happenin' place - a resort with restaurant, shop, etc........but it fell to the economy about 20 years ago and went out of business. The place is shut up - buildings still there, but nobody's home.............but the docks are still just fine (they built them well). So we tied up to the dock and spent the night there. Listened to the cougars roaring during the night. (I will never doubt the existence of BC cougars again.) Friday morning we went through Chatham Narrows (has to be done at slack) and went to Port Harvey, which is the stepping-off place for going through Johnstone Straits.

Yesterday, the 12th, we cruised through Johnstone Straits, through the infamous Chatham Point, and went straight through to the Octopus Islands! A trip that usually takes 3 days, when not going down Johnstone Straits. And here's a shot of Chatham Point, when it's nice and calm (probably 3 days a year): (Okay, again, no picture but maybe some day)

And every year we learn something. Today we learned that when the cruising book says that Surge Narrows should be taken at slack tide, it means SLACK TIDE, not 20 minutes early!!! I managed to keep  Nellie in the middle, but not without some yelling (I AM staying in the middle, Bob!) and a little swearing (not really very much, I promise). It made for some excitement in my otherwise dull (ha) day.

We are now in Lund, the end of highway 101. (I think I talked about this 4 years ago in the blog)....it's really had a facelift, and has gone from a kind of funky, old, nasty place to an actual marina with a fabulous restaurant (I'm told), fantastic showers, a terrific bakery, and it's CHEAP!!! Power is costing us $6.25 a day - as compared to $20.00 a day in the Broughtons.

Anyway, we're on our way home, and we have made the decision to shorten our daily cruises (as I am getting crabby). So, to friends in Oak Harbor, see you in about 10 days!