25 Jul 18

The alarm went off at 06:45, so we hopped up and let go of “Massilia” and had the anchor up by 07:00. We motored down Port Neville and headed out into Johnstone Straight just about 08:15. The wind in the Straight was less than 15 knots and the chop was not bad, so we sailed, even though it was upwind. It turned out to be a very nice sail under low overcast. Along the way, we had good cell service, so I was able to call Tro-Tac Marine in Victoria and order a replacement macerator pump. I also received confirmation that the replacement main furling coil I ordered from First Yachts in Vancouver will be waiting for us when we arrive in Port McNeil early next week. And finally, we received confirmation from Houston that our house has termites; but that is a whole ‘nother story. We were tied up at Port Harvey Marina at 11:30 and decided to spend the night. For dinner, we all sampled the famous pizza and fish and chips prepared by George, the owner, and his wife, nightly, to order; all very nice, but we ate too much. After dinner, we had a brief sing-along. The Port Harvey Marina has quite a background story. It is located in a beautiful, pristine bay between East and West Cracroft Islands. They are presently rebuilding the facility after it mysteriously sank one night 2 years ago. Across the bay, a businessman is operating a non-permitted commercial boat yard that he currently is working to expand to include a marine railway to clean and scrap ships and 300’ barges, all of which would go on 24 hours a day with associated noise and air and water pollution. This would kill the marina business and George, the marina owner has objected and filed suit with the BC Supreme Court against the shipyard and the regional planning authority, which rezoned the bay without proper consultation and is not enforcing the existing pollution control regulations on the shipyard. The owner of the shipyard has responded by naming his shipyard FOG Shipyard; the FOG is short for “f… off George”, as specifically expressed by a large sign on the dock on the way into the bay. The boaters who use the marina have responded by putting together a gofundme site to support “FOGG” (Friends of George and Gail) Marina. It is another case of a small business owner doing things the right way fighting a ruthless businessman who does not give a s$1t about the environment or his neighbors. Good luck to George and Gail. After dinner, we played guitar and sang a few songs before going to bed early.

50-34.052’N, 126-16.076’W; Log = 20.9, Sum (2018) = 383.9 N-m