It is July 6th, we were suppose to head out today, back to Pender Harbour, but the first thing we saw this morning, looking out , was nothing….nothing but a grey/white everything, smoke!!!!
There is a big forest fire burning near Sechelt, some of the forest contains first growth trees, it is situated in a very difficult area, the terrain is steep, and fire fighters are having a huge battle on their hands.
It is immensely sad that yesterday, a tree faller died in the fire.
The wind coming our way is now SE, but when the fire started it was blowing a very hard NW, downtown Vancouver is blanketed with smoke, people are advised to stay indoors, to not drive on very busy highways, the air quality is very bad.
Right now, sitting here in the cockpit, i cannot see the Glacier, at all!!! I cannot see the Spit, everything is white.
I took some photos , to give you an idea.
We now hope to leave tomorrow, maybe we just go and have a look out there. Bert is painting on the boat right now

, and i will cook a salmon dinner after a while, first we play a game of “Rummicup”.

This beautiful little sailboat with its red sails came by, she looked so lovely in the afternoon light.

A beautiful ketch came into the harbour, a wooden boat, her name is “JAN VAN GENT”, and we admired her very much so. As soon as we see a boat like that, we think, oh , maybe we should trade Curtsy in, but then the next thought is a huge wakeup call , the work!!!! can you imagine the work??!!! a wooden boat, NO WAY!!!!!
So we admire them, from afar……

We have 7 solar lights on the boat, one old one, 10 years old actually, that is still going strong, four plastic black ones, and two , very cute little glass balls, they make a beautiful pattern on the deck every night, i bought them in Australia, and yes, they are glass, which is not such a good idea, but i keep a close eye on them, and they are not in the way .
All of them hang on the lifelines, so at night, the whole boat has light, when she bobs up and down, the lights make a circle pattern from a distance and folks know its Curtsy out there!!

We have been here since June 24th, it is now July 4th , big celebration for the United States.
We are anchored out in front of the Government docks, its weird this summer, no one is anchored out here, we are the only ones, quite lovely actually, it is deep here, 20 meters at High tide, but Bert put out 80, all chain, so we are not going any where!!
We have a full view of the mountains , the Glacier, what is left of it, and the town, boats go by us all day long, but people are careful and friendly, we get a wave from all, maybe they are thinking, look at those nuts, anchored right out in front, but there doesn’t seem to be any problems, and we have been here now for two weeks and the nights are very quiet.
During the day we go walking ,have coffee in town, do some shopping and head to the boat for lunch.
One of our girls,Petra, gave us her car, so we could go to the stores in Courtenay and the local markets,which we are very grateful for!!!!
There haven’t been any problems with Curtsy but the engine on the dinghy, a Yamaha, 8 horse started acting up, gas problems, for sure,for a few days, Bert would start her, she was not happy at idle ,so we would take off at mag 10, roaring into the harbour, if he went slow , she would shut off!!!
Needless to say i held on for dear life!!!
yesterday he was fedup with this behaviour, took it all apart, and found the problem!!

Every night we head to the Spit, across from the harbour, and go swimming!!!
Oh how wonderful, after a very hot day, and yes, its been hot here, to dive into the small waves, that magnificent coolness, and just float around ,such bliss!!!!
After a swim , we head for the showers, a friend here gave us the codes to the washrooms, which is so nice, the showers are great, everything is clean and the laundry is open all day!

We have been visiting with our family and friends every day, we had not seen Tess for a year, Karen and Petra not since March, so it was high time.
The effects of climate change, and i really thing we can call it that now, are very noticeable, the water restrictions are severe, creeks are dry, and the lakes, especially Comox lake which is the main water shed here for the valley, has receded to a point where stumps and debris are showing that have not been seen before.
The Comox glacier, which feeds Comox lake, seems to be, and definitely is smaller every summer, it cannot be called a glacier anymore……
The predictions are that this hot weather will continue all summer long and beyond, with the creeks dry , what will happen to the salmon, that come in to spawn, sorry to paint such a gloomy picture but it is the reality here now, we all know that California is about to run out of its ground water, i am very concerned…..

July 1st was full moon , and it rose in the East,(as always…)

right at sunset, a huge yellow ball, reflected in the water….
I sat high up on the boom and watched it for a long time, also, we were waiting for the fireworks which never happened….. I figured that it is because of the fire bans, but apparently they will hold them tonight, July 4th, not so much for the US but to celebrate Courtenay’s 100 year birthday!!!