Sailing with Chris and Rachel - Day One
Daryl and I were up early today cause we had to catch the 9:00 ferry. When we got there, it was PACKED!! I think there were at least three busloads of Japanese tourists. We found some seats at the back of the boat but we were really glad that we had our iPods cause it was LOUD! The ferry was of course late leaving cause it was packed to the max! Ferry ride was pretty uneventful - I got sunburned through the window on the left side of my body but oh well. Chris picked us up on the other side and we headed straight down to the boat where we dropped off our bags. We went into Sidney to buy enough food for the next 4 days on the boat- there's not much to do while at sea so you want to make sure that there are lots of goodies to munch on! :) We then went back to the boat and I stowed it all away so nothing would fly around while we were under sail. The three of us went back to Granny's where we got Rachel and Chris' stuff and packed it into the truck. The Zodiac was already down on the beach so Chris and Rachel took it back to the marina and Daryl and I drove the truck down and stowed the rest of the goods. By the time we got out of the marina it was about 3 so we headed straight for Bedwell Harbour on South Pender Island. There wasn't much wind but as we neared the entrance, we noticed that there were lots of boats gathered around on specific area and then noticed dorsal fins! Yup, we'd come across a pod of killer whales. They were way off to our right and then the next thing we knew, they were right in front of us! I haven't been that close to orcas since I was a kid and it was super awesome! They were breaching and everything. Rachel was really enthralled as she had never seen anything like that before and she got to see it for free. Daryl managed to get some pretty good pictures. We cruised into Bedwell and since it was a Saturday night, it was pretty busy. There were no buoys to tie up to (which Chris prefers cause apparently they bang against the hull of the boat, scraping off all the paint) so we anchored. Not sure how it all works (that's the boys' job) but somehow the anchor started dragged and we started to get closer and closer to the boat behind us. We had to reanchor and this time it held. We were going to go to the pub at Poet's Cove (cause they have DELICOUS yam fries!) but since we'd just stocked up on food and we had bacon wrapped turkey from M and M's that we had to eat, we opted to stay on the boat. Mum had gotten a free barbeque from some guy at the marina last summer (he was replacing his so we took his old one) so the boys attached that to the back of the boat. It got nice and hot and we put on the turkey and I had the potatoes and the broccoli all timed to be ready at the same time. Well, guess the BBQ went out cause when the broccoli and the potatoes were ready, the turkey was still pink. Hmm...perhaps Daryl shouldn't have had that beer.... Well, I then had to pan fry them which didn't take that long but my perfectly timed meal did not get to happen. It was tasty though and after we cleaned up, we headed to shore for a hike. Chris climbed a tree and convinced me to go out on it too but then I got scared so I didn't go as far as he did. There was this creepy guy hanging around and I was sure he would take our dinghy but it turned out he was just a weird kayaker. We walked almost to the edge of the park but then it started to get dark and we didn't want to risk breaking an ankle on a root in the dark forest so we headed back. We played some Knock Out Whist when we got back and then we headed to bed cause we were all pretty tired. I had to sleep up in the bow which wasn't that bad - it reminded me of all the times I slept up there as a kid.
We are underway!
Rachel enjoying the sunshine!
Killer Whales!
Rachel and me on South Pender Island.
Rachel and Chris