Day 18 & 19:

So, it is late on the evening of Tuesday October 6th. We had a nice trip down from Princess Louisa Inlet, but the weather is turning colder and there are strong winds forecasted for tomorrow. We sailed for seven hours to get to Pender Harbor where go took on fuel and water, and then headed further south to Secret Cove. The winds were starting to come up this afternoon, but still pretty nice. On arriving in Secret Cove Marina, we found them to be closed for the season, so we have a really cheap rate on their dock, but the restaurant is also closed, but not a worry. When we stopped at Pender Harbor we thought maybe Secret Cove would be shut down, so we bought ice and something else for dinner. We have three nights left including tonight, and we really only had dinners for two nights. We bought chicken noodle soup in a package, and then added more stuff to make it more special. A can of chicken that we use for “Karen Brayton’s chicken salad” and some more noodles we just happened to have on board (who would have guessed?). It was delicious and served with, yes you guessed it, romaine lettuce with a lovely mustard vinaigrette. It tasted really good with fall coming on …. Oh and we had some rosemary flatbread left from our provisioning trip to Costco, so that was yummy. Maybe I am spending to much time writing about what we eat and drink, but then I think…….a lot of thought has gone into making this a perfect vacation, so for us that includes good food and wine. And the wine tonight was, again, a local grown cabernet with another cool label (see tomorrow’s photos).

Tomorrow we are again crossing the Georgia Straits heading south toward the Gulf Islands, and the weather is not good. It is scheduled to be winds of 15 to 20 knots in the morning, then building to 20 to 30 in the afternoon, so we are in for a “sleigh ride” with southwest winds on our port side. It is about five hours for the crossing, then south through the beautiful Gulf Islands where we hope to get a break from the waves. The wind is still constant, but the waves should diminish.

We only have two full days left, with a brief day on Friday back to Bellingham, so we are feeling a little sad, but lucky to be on this boat for three weeks and experiencing an incredible journey through a beautiful part of this planet. As we say, “it is not a sad story”, just a wonderful trip coming to an end, but with memories that will last a lifetime!!

Cheers!