My apologies for not updating the blog recently. I love to update the blog with positive, happy tales of adventure and since those have been few & far between lately I think I developed temporary writers block!

To recap from our last post, we arrived in Rebecca Spit/Heriot Bay which is one of our very favorite spots on the backside of Quadra Island. We enjoyed endless sunny days here, swimming, working on our tans & taking Missy for hikes on the trails. Staying allowed us the opportunity to relax and unplug while also meeting many new boaters who loved to regale us with their boating adventures. We are always keen listeners & from time to time enjoy sharing a tale or two of our own.

During our stay in Rebecca Spit we endured a freak wind storm causing steep wave action in the bay. We were anchored & stern tied so were not worried about the boat moving, just experienced an unsettled nights sleep. We awoke in the morning to find that our neighbour next door had dragged anchor & asked if we could help him reset. Darren went over and helped him out, giving them both piece of mind only to discover that our neighbour on the other side was having problems. It was decided at this point that we should start the motor and have the boat warmed up in case we needed to pull anchor & leave on a moments notice. Darren prepared to start the motor & after a moment of trying to turn over, the gears jammed and that was it....the motor was hydrolocked & we weren't going anywhere! Arrrr......... He promptly climbed in the engine room, and discovered that the motor was full of salt water. NOT GOOD. After owning the boat for ten years & Darren performing all maintenance on the motor we could not understand what caused this. As our outboard motor had packed it in a week previous requiring parts that we did not have, & there was not a puff of wind now that the storm passed we were forced to call Campbell River for a tow. (pic above)

Planning all the while to relocate to Campbell River permanently after we had finished travelling this summer, this was not how we foresaw our grand entrance to the area! Making the best of things, we were towed to the boat yards dock & waited there for four days for a mechanic to get us going. Thankfully Darren had the where with all to drain the sea water from the motor immediately on discovering it so we could patiently (well maybe not so patiently) sit and wait for things to be fixed. Hooray, the mechanic fixed us up & we headed over in the boat to regroup & reprovision.

Since the long weekend was fast approaching, we decided to make a trip to the interior to spend time catching up with family & friends before heading out on the boat again. Meanwhile Darren was suffering with a back ache that we attributed to going in & out of the engine room. This is achieved solely by positioning yourself four feet down & attempting what we call "boat yoga" to accomplish the simplest of tasks. We left figuring time & stretching would solve all, but we couldn't have been more wrong. After the long drive both ways he was in a lot of pain which ended up in a visit to CR emergency in the middle of the night. After a shot of morphine & a CT scan it was discovered that he has a disc with bone spurs as well as a very badly herniated disc. He has been prescribed all sorts of medications, instructed to rest, yet walk whenever you can. Both of which have proved to be very difficult but in time we are hoping things will improve.

To make matters interesting, before we left for our trip to the interior we booked the boat for a bottom painting the day after our return with plans that we would be off again a few days later to pursue adventures around Cortes Island. Except the morning we prepped to take the boat over to the yard it wouldn't start & hydrolocked again! Be glad that you were not in our near vicinity to hear the words coming from our boat, from both of us I might add! We were forced to call for a tow again, and then sit and wait, wait, wait for another mechanic.

The "hard" is a paved parking lot which in these lovely hot summer temperatures just about melts you the moment you come outside of the boat. While we were on the "hard" Darren's back was getting worse as the climb to the boat was a staircase of sixteen stairs anytime you wanted to do anything and to keep things even more interesting I developed an abscess tooth that had to be removed. Oh the joys!~ We were quite the pair for a few days..........

So, it appears our sailing adventures for this summer have come to an abrupt end, but we are still enjoying living on the boat & the warm termperatures our new community offers. Thankfully we have a beautifully painted bottom now, & the motor has since been fixed once again. Cortes Island isn't going anywhere soon & we can discover another time. As I sit & update the blog, we are back in the water again - hooray & we have moorage in Campbell River exactly where we had hoped to be! There is an upside to all of this boat drama afterall!

Darren is sadly still struggling with his back, but each day shows a little improvement. He will be seeing a specialist in a few weeks & we will go from there. Please send him healing wishes, as he really could use them.

Thank you for sharing in our adventures, & I will continue to update the blog with "liveaboard" type posts from now on. Hopefully not boring you to tears!

Wishing everyone a wonderful time enjoying what is left of summer!
Love & hugs,