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!!!

As always, i great feeling to come into Pender harbour, i love this place, love its folks, we have very good friends here, and its a joy to meet up with them again.
We anchored in Gerrans bay, the tide were extreme , new moon, Martha and Doug offered us again a place at the their dock, but we had to wait a few days, their dock is at the head of the bay, and its becomes very shallow at such a low tide.
Now we are still here, so very much enjoying their company, we play Wizard ,a card game at night, during the day , they work very hard at their property, there is to be a wedding here in August, and Bert painted part of the cockpit, we go to Madeira park for groceries, haircut, and admire the wonderful flowers there.
Tomorrow we head out, towards Comox, but we are back again here in two weeks, to help our friend Shendra with her wooden sailboat, Bert will be fixing her rudder.
Today is the 23rd.
tomorrow morning we head out…..very early….. keep in touch….. more is coming!!!!

We had been waiting for two days for the right wind, or at least for manageable wind, most of the wind has been from the NW, so thats why we decided to cross towards Vancouver, so we could sail.
The first two hours we motored, we had to make some water, 12 gallons, and the waves were just wild, it was still blowing 15 knots NW.
Once the water maker was done Bert put out the head sail, we kept the engine going as the waves were so erratic, Bert raised the main after a while, and we turned off the engine.
It was not a fun sail, Curtsy seemed to want to veer off all the time, so i was constantly steering her back to her course, halfway across , the waves calmed down a bit, Georgia Strait is famous for this, i really, really dislike this water, either there is no wind at all, or its all over the place. The waves follow quickly, so it feels like you are bouncing along, i definitely like the ocean swell better, a much easier ride, if everything goes well that is…..
We headed into Howe Sound, to gambier island, and anchored in Port graves, or East bay, we like it there, at the head of the bay is camp Artaban, a christian camp for kids, it is surrounded by beautiful forest, some of it first growth.
We stayed two nights here also, did some walking and just relaxed.
Again we waited for the right wind, to head towards Pender harbour, we really wanted some SW, and on June 16th we got our wish, plus the tide was in our favour, flood tide, so once we rounded the corner at Keats island, Curtsy took off, Bert put the sails out and away we went!!! At one time we did 8.2 knots!!!
Close to flying i am sure…….
It was a good trip, all SW wind, sun, and sails out.

It was suppose to blow 35 knots NW , so we tucked away into a little corner, protected by Thetis Island.
We love walking there, little country roads, beautiful weather, Saturday we headed out for a while, and came by a veggie stand where we met Bud the artist, a gentle old lad, who creates amazing art.
He burns , with magnifying glasses, landscapes into huge slabs of wood, he owns 5 glasses, and showed us how its done, the smallest glass, all but an inch across, creates a burn from the sun , 400 degrees!! so imagine what the big glass can do, also makes you aware of the huge danger out there, when a piece of thick glass lies in the sun, just so, to create a fire!!!
It takes him a year to finish a big slab, i can see that, but the details are amazing, tiny deer, birds, whole forests, flowers, all just burned in perfectly.

The next day we headed out again, once the tide was up, the small waterway between Kuper island and Thetis island goes dry at low tide, this time we walked to Capernway harbour bible school, this is a beautiful property, well kept gardens, two large veggie plots, several cottages, where people can stay, a main house and a kitchen house, it alway looks to be very well run, people are friendly, they dont mind you walking in, we always go to the main office and let them know we are there.
The property overlooks the bay and has some good docks.
Bert and i found a wonderful,quiet spot in the main garden, a bench, just waiting for us, shaded by grape vines.
The smell of roses was everywhere, hummingbirds darting in and out, surprised to see us, but keeping up with their search for the perfect flowers.
People come here with their families, just to get away, or for meditation, while we were there, a group of little girls were swimming at the docks, and some young lads were playing basketball in the field.
The parents get together at the main house for group discussions and social time.
Its a good place to be…….

As we had left Tsehum Harbour, i noticed after a while, that the dinghy looked kind of “old”, all wrinkled and sad looking, i carefully told Bert that it had maybe a problem, yup!!! losing air its called, it quite fast was losing air in the front chamber, good thing it has more then one…. So, in Montague, Bert proceeded to find the leak, we were anchored nicely, so had to stay for two nights, as the glue to fix the dinghy takes 24 hours to set, Bert hauled her up next to the boat, and there she sat, and there we were , not going anywhere, so we fixed some things, i baked, we looked around, hummed a bit, amazing how hard it is, when you cannot leave…..
Next day, we put her in the water, pumped her up, all looked good, then did a test drive to the shore, walked in the park, put away our garbage in the bins at the park, it costs 2 dollars for a small kitchen bag, 5 dollars for a large bag, did all our recycling, dinghy still good!!! We hauled some water , good exercise, and back to the boat.
Next day we headed to Clam bay.