Strait Marine
Well, on Monday, Oct 24th, Estelle finally arrived at Strait Marine in Vancouver. And except for a good layer of road grime, in perfect condition.
Unloaded and set up in the yard, we spent two days cleaning and unloading excess gear. By Thursday, we were ready to launch and step the mast.
Spending the night aboard, we enjoyed a great meal in the attractive downtown of Steveston, a small section of Richmond on the Fraser River. Steveston has Canada's largest fishing fleet and ashore has maintained a very attractive waterfront.
Dinner at Steveston Seafood was excellent. It is just one of many excellent restaurants in this attractive town center.
Friday morning we were tuning the rig and sorting out the final details.
Headed down the Fraser River with Mt Baker in the background
At noon we cast off and headed down the Fraser River and out into the Strait of Georgia. We headed up past the busy Vancouver International Airport, through a fleet of ships anchored waiting to load and unload cargoes. In under the Lions Gate Bridge and into Vancouver's busy harbour and we headed for our berth at the Vancouver Rowing Club in Coal Harbour.
Entering Vancouver Harbour
Approaching Coal Harbour, we passed next to the very busy seaplane take-off/landing exclusion zone. Here we watched the planes taking off in every direction. A busy spot indeed.
Tied up at our berth, we were met by our daughter-in-law Meghan and our grand-sons Ben and Ethan. A warm welcome for Estelle!
Here we sit until we get a break in the weather to allow us to motor up 50 nm to Pender Harbour, where friends have offered us a berth for the winter. But the wait may be extended... October has been a very rainy month, probably record-setting. And the forecast for this week shows more rain all this week.
But not a major problem as we can wait. And in Whistler, it has been snowing heavily in the alpine for the last two weeks. Sounds like a great ski season in the offing!
Next spring, looking forward to exploring new areas!