We were to be off at 9 if there was a wind, 11 if not. I guess it’s 11 … Sigh.

We practiced knots for a while and watched the dog party on the beach. It’s amazing how many people have bigger dogs (Labs and such) and how much work they are at an anchorage. Dog in dinghy, row in, walk dog, dog in dinghy, row back, dog up and on boat, wait 2 hours, repeat.

Lots of boats leaving this morning. We will up and out by 10:30. We have a reservation at Gorge Harbour but checkout time is noon so there is no point getting there early. And it’s only about 6 nm across Sutil Channel and then down through Uganda Passage so it won’t take long.

Dave lost a water bottle overboard so he dinghied out to retrieve it then popped by for a quick hello. We will take off around 10:30.

10:15 comes by and we start upping anchor. I’m out front on anchor duty so I can see what the issues are with this boat’s anchor locker. It’s slow going and R Shack Island beat us out again, but we were soon on our way.

Around the spit there was still no wind and we crossed the channel heading for the zigzag path that is Uganda Passage which goes across the end of Shark Spit. A few minutes up the channel and we turned heading toward the entrance to Gorge Harbour, which is the gorge the harbour is named for.

It is a narrow entrance with steep rock sides that opens up after a couple of hundred yards into a huge harbour.

Just before we hit the entrance Dave radioed back to say he’d stalled. This is an ongoing issue he’s been having with vacuum locks and pressure systems. We swung back to follow him in ready to grab a bow line and effect a tow if necessary. It wasn’t necessary.

Into Gorge Harbour we radioed ahead and had to do laps while several boats fueled up in front of us. But by and by we pulled up to the fuel dock and filled ‘er up. Then we cast off, switched sides and tied up in our slip.

[flexiblemap src=”http://macblaze.ca/kmz/2014-9.kml”]
2h16m 10.4nm

All tied up, we filled the forward water tank, which we had finally emptied, and settled in on a scorcher of an afternoon. It’s beautiful here and the marina/resort has showers, laundry, store, pool and a restaurant. Expensive, though: $1.65/foot.

Today I am wrestling with the fridge. I thought it was choking on the battery power but it seems to run continuously on shore power as well. An email to Nanaimo Yacht Charters leaves me with just running the engine. That’s sailing…

I wandered the docks for a bit and checked out the resort. A quick beer with Dave and then we booked C’s flight home. Still not sure of our agenda.

Afterwards I headed up for a shower. Clean. The problem was that my damn mosquito bites stared itching again. Back at the boat a refitted 136’, 1930s motor yacht had appeared across the finger from us. Stunning boat. Acania.

Dave has tied his boat 6 ways from Sunday and is going to run up his engine to see if he can stall it. He has a pressure gauge on his fuel line so he had me stand at the helm and run it, in gear, at 2200 rpm. Me? Nervous? Abso-f*cking-lutely. But in the end, it worked. He figured out it’s most likely the fuel filters.

C, L & I sat and had a pre-dinner beer and talked future, present and then tense. Grammar people… Huh. The conversation varied and roamed. Anyone want to win a cookie? Guess who said, “You whip it out and suck it while you’re at it.”

Dinner in the patio was delish with another stunning view and warm evening with great company. After we walked back to the boat we enjoyed a glass of red in the cockpit of Baraka Too and then said good night.