1 Jul 19

Oh, Canada. Happy Canada Day, y’all. Another glorious day in paradise (i.e., north of the 49th, although technically, we are not yet north of the 49th). We were up just after 07:00 to try to catch the last of the ebb (which runs funny around here) up to Ganges. After pulling out of the Port Browning Marina at 8:20, we motored up Plumper Sound and had a close look in at Hope Bay (unfortunately, it seems that the restaurant there has closed down). Through Navy Channel, we turned SW into Swanson Channel to try and catch the last of the ebb up Captain Passage between Prevost and Saltspring Islands. The wind was in the SE and ramped up to 10+ kn, so we just had to sail a bit. It was too much trouble to run up the spinnaker for the remaining 6 or 7 miles, so we goose-winged it with full main and jib. Well up into Ganges Harbour, we finally furled the sails and fired up the iron genny.  We were all tied up at Ganges Marina at 11:30. We spent the afternoon grocery shopping (Country Corner has a better selection than Thrifty and they offer a free shuttle to and from the marina) for staples and non-perishables and filling up the propane tank and getting ready for Canada Day fireworks. Happy hour and dinner aboard. I played guitar in the cockpit and had a few nice compliments from the neighboring boats; at least they were not throwing rotten tomatoes. The fireworks were grand and we had a good view of them from the dock next to our boat. Afterward, we had a nice chat with Eric and Melissa from “Whistler” and I showed Eric how to appreciate fine single malt whiskey.

48-51.344’N, 123-29.966’W; Log = 17.6, Sum (2019) = 243.3 N-m