8 Jul 18

Another beautiful night at anchor. We awoke to a gorgeous dawn. After a leisurely breakfast in the solarium, and a bit of reading, we finally got moving about 11:00. There was very little wind, so we motored the 1.5 hours run to Boat Harbour, where we anchored for a late lunch and to wait for the turn to flood at Dodd Narrows, 1.8 miles to the north. Just after 17:00, we hauled in the anchor and motored up to Dodd Narrows, arriving about 1.5 hours before the turn. The ebb was still flowing against us at the narrows at 3 knots, but after we got through, it was smooth sailing to Nanaimo, where we tied up at the Nanaimo Yacht Club at 19:20.  We had a late happy hour and a late dinner and then went up for showers. Back to “Massilia” for a bit of planning fluid and we were sound asleep by 23:30.

49-10.696’N, 123-56.485’W; Log = 518.5, Sum (2018) = 188.2 N-m

9 Jul 18

It rained a bit during the night, but did not bother us at all. The Admiral was up by 06:30 to prepare for the 08:45 ferry to Vancouver. After breakfast, I walked her up to the bus stop and she was away. As soon as I returned, I moved the boat over to the pump-out station and pumped out both holding tanks. John and I walked into town and stopped at the marine hardware store and the local equivalents of NAPA, where I was able to obtain 2 oil filters and 1 fuel filter for the main engine; we should be good for the summer now. Back at the slip, I filled up the forward water tank, had lunch and prepared to tackle the forward head macerator. I girded up for battle with all the tools, pushed the button one last time….and it worked. Job done. I spent the rest of the early afternoon cleaning the deck. Then, John and I walked into town again and did a good-sized grocery shop and visited the liquor store; we have all the essentials required for another 4 or 5 days of cruising. After happy hour, we walked back into town and had dinner at Gina’s, the local Mexican food restaurant; not too bad, considering the latitude. Back at the boats, we had a small dose of planning fluid and then packed it in for the night.