This picture is of the not-so-secret military base at the Winchelsea Islands. Lots of radar and communications antennae.
We departed Comox later than anticipated. As we were preparing to get underway, David Ranger stopped by to chat and then Sheila Parker did as well. No complaints, it was good to say "See you later", and I hope we do.
We knew we were going to be in for a long slog as we were bucking the flood tide up the Strait of Georgia. For most of the day we were counter to a 1.7knot current. We ran at 1320 rpm which should have given us 7.9 knots and instead we were doing about 6.2 knots. Oh well, more time to enjoy the journey.
No matter when or where you go, there is always opposition. This is true in boating as it's true in life. As soon as you declare a vision and a future state, people line up to oppose you. Welcome to the big leagues.
As we left Comox, the Dragon Boat Races were just getting underway.
This event draws 500 paddlers and many 10 and 20 paddler boats annually. The races are 200M and go along the breakwater at the public marina in Comox.
Heading south down Baynes Sound we had to transit a fairly narrow channel. Across this channel runs an unusual ferry. The ferry moves across the channel by pulling a cable. When in motion and the ferry is pulling the cable, the cable is fairly close to the surface and under a lot of tension. You don't want to run over this. There are green & red lights on either side of the channel to let boaters know when it is safe to transit the channel. I was completely unaware of this the first time we were in the area in our prior boat, Aurora. We got lucky then.
You can see the green light atop the post by the ferry.
Now we know better. We had no problems, though the ferry did wait for us to pass. Good thing I speeded up to 1500 rpm (8.5 knots) to get out of his way. It would ruin my day, the ferry crew's day, and the ferry passengers' day if I were to run over the ferry cable. I assure you Blue Redd would lose that fight. I like my keel, stabilizers, and prop right where they are!
Just after we passed, the light changed to red.
Here's the beautiful lighthouse at Chrome Island.
We are back in the big city now. As we entered the Port of Nanaimo about 1800 (6:00pm), we were greeted by large bulk carriers, such as this one. They are anchored around the bay awaiting their cargo to take to far away places, like LA & China.
I'd heard good things about a local Italian Restaurant, La Strella. We decided to try it out. We shared an excellent appetizer of roasted hot olives, a pear and endive salad, and a Pizza Margherita, paired with a 2020 Musso Langhe Nebbiolo. That was followed by a flourless chocolate lump with coffee gelato. No complaints from me!
I was really happy that we got to sit right in front of the kitchen and watch the pizza maestro work on our dinner (and others).
Urrp. Ciao!
Comments
Post a Comment