Last night
and this morning the five captains consulted Predict Wind and other sites to
determine the best time to cross the Strait of Georgia to get over to John
Henry’s. We have crossed it when the water is very rough and it is not fun. The
forecast was for 5-15 knot winds at the most but we had very smooth water and a
relatively smooth crossing. If the weather is too windy – we wait. It is just
not worth it to jeopardize anyone’s safety by trying to stick to a schedule.
Fortunately, today worked out great and we had no problems.
The next two pictures show Bob and I doing our "jobs" as we cruised in to John Henry's. I handle the fenders and lines while he runs the boat. We have learned that it really helps for us both to wear wireless headsets so we can hear each other while docking and departing a marina. The fourth picture shows the buoy and rock during low tide that is covered with seals. They are kind of fun to see but we decided they really need arms and legs!
Our goal was
to arrive close to noon in order to go to LaVerne's for their hamburgers and old
fashioned milkshakes. It is a fun but quirky place to eat lunch. If she gets too busy, she closes until she catches up and then opens again! Interesting business model! But we keep going
back because it is fun and it is good! She told us today that she has gotten so busy that she is staying open in the evening and takes reservations after 5:00. Good for her!
This
afternoon we moved our boat over to the gas dock and topped off the tanks in
preparation for our trip to the Broughtons. Fuel and food get more expensive
the further north we go so we figured we would be wise to get those items here.
We also made
a run in our dinghy over to the IGA around the bend in the next cove. Al and
Sue went with us and we stocked up on a few items we needed and of course, we
each bought two cartons of ice cream to contribute to Jack and Moon’s stash.
When we returned to the boat they were just returning from the small store here
at the marina and had purchased more ice cream! I think we are set for awhile! We also discovered that the store is happy to let customers use their carts to take their purchases all the way back to the marina! They have a special cart they pull behind a truck to bring them back to the store. It made carrying our food much easier. We also took the road back to the marina instead of cutting through a playground so we saw what stores are in that little community. There is a bigger town on Pender Island called Sechelt but even that is a pretty small "town".
I saw this little tugboat as we were walking back. It was used for pushing logs around and you can see the sawtooth on the front to help move the logs. I thought it was kind of cute and had never seen something like it before. Bob said they are still used today.
As we finished up and headed back to our boats we were treated to this beautiful scene.
