Sailing Adventures

The fog has returned as we depart Turtle Bay and head for Port Renfrew. It isn't as thick as when we left Bamfield and we can see several fishing boats to dodge. It feels like it will burn off in a while. Nevertheless, we have AIS and radar on. Yesterday we took the kayaks out for one last paddle before deflating and folding them up for the ride home. It was a beautiful sunny day (as it has been every single day on this trip) and we all enjoyed the exercise, with Bill preferring to row the dinghy. We found a sandy beach across from Willis island that had a bunch of large moon snail casings. I thought they were tire innertubes. We departed before 7 this morning and are hoping to get to Port Renfrew early enough to get a spot on the dock.

Bamfield has an annual music festival held at the Marine Research Station that attracts classical and jazz musicians from all over. It happened to be occurring during our stay, so after dinner last night, we're dingied over and listened to jazz music while the sun set over Barkley Sound. There are floor to ceiling windows in a semi circle behind the musicians, offering a 180 degree view of the islands. This is by far the most beautiful venue I have ever been to. We have returned to Turtle Bay for a couple of nights before heading home. The August fog began two days ago, so we may be traveling home in the fog.

We are enjoying Bamfield. The West Side, where we have docked, has a boardwalk along the shore, connecting the various docks, houses, post office, one store, and one sometimes-open cafe. After one drink there, we decided to eat dinner on the boat the first night. We decided to spend a second night since it was so quaint and didnt require an anchor pull. We hiked to Brady Beach, a beautiful sand beach on the other side of the peninsula. Later, Pete and I spent about 3 hours working on the autopilot (which we have been trying to finish installing for about 2 years) while Dean and Bill went on a recon mission to the East Side. They came back with steaks for the grill and and a bottle of Jack for Pete, after sampling the Pub on that side. After showers and dinner were all went out by dingy to the music festival held at the research center.

We are enjoying our second evening in Bamfield. There is no cell service and wifi is spotty and slow when you can get it. Finally found a pub on the East side (only way to get there is by dingy) that claims to have it, and have spent the last hour trying to get one email sent. We're having a great time and the weather has been awesome the entire trip. We'll be heading out for a couple more nights in the Broken Group before heading to Port Renfrew for one night, then to Victoria on the 29th for Dean's birthday, then home on the 30th. I'll try to attach some pictures later through the sat phone, but don't dare try it at this pub

We are pleased to report the hummingbirds have successfully located the feeder (now adorned with red trashbag ties) and are regularly using it. We sailed for an hour or so on our way to Jaques. You can tell we are sailing because Pete and Bill are oblivious, reading from their electronic devices.

We spent a second night in the Pinkertons and will likely stay again tonight as we have the cove all to ourselves. We caught 3 rock crab to go on our steaks for dinner last night. They aren't nearly as good and don't have as much meat, but still taste pretty good on top of a NY strip. Caught two more this morning, but we didn't have the energy to cook and pick them, so we released them and put up the traps. I guess we have all been spoiled with the Dungeness. So far we haven't had any hummingbirds use the feeder, so Dean has devised a red "flower" from a garbage bag tie and attached it to the feeder. Bill is out rowing in the dingy while Dean and Pete fuss with a belt that keeps loosening itself on the engine. I'm debating whether to take a nap or resume reading my book.