aaahhhh, now just think back to a lovely week....
I even made a map so you could try to follow my trail!
It all started with an invite to watch the fireworks and go sailing on the August long weekend.......
I had a great weekend on the sail boat. Blair, his brother Kevin, his 88 year old dad, and his pal Todd were all living on the boat. My link-up, JoAnne, thought I had no where to stay in Van, so she told Blair I'd be staying aboard, which was totally convenient, but slightly weird when I realised I was the only GUEST staying.... Oh well. Sat night we watched the fireworks and had a pretty boozy party.
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| YUM! Dim sum remains |
Then Sunday AM we went for dim sum (YUM!! I have not done that in years!).
And Sunday afternoon we went to Bowen Island. It started getting late, so we all went for dinner on Bowen, and then the group decided it would be way more fun to stay on the boat in Snug Cove in Bowen.
It's a tough job, but somebody's gotta do it: me n JoAnne, resident mermaids
As we pulled into the dock on Bowen, there was a very drunk woman on the dock, and she liked me instantly. And she said, "You need to meet my friend," and dragged me over to meet Dave. We had a very short convo, then she said, "You guys should get married," so I grabbed to nearest boat captain, and got us hitched! hahahhaha, luckily, he was in fact NOT a current boat captain..... Nonetheless, he and I exchanged numbers.
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| Blair's 88 y/o Dad, who performed the ceremony |
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| Canada Place |
ok, so next day (Monday).....got dropped at Canada Place, collected my car and by then, Dave had texted and wanted me to meet him at the Port Moody marina, and he'd take me for a cruise, and cook me dinner on his boat. What am I, CRAZY??? Like I would miss this opportunity?!?!?!
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| Indian Arm |
Tuesday I headed for Vancouver Island. By this time, I was getting numerous requests for visits and had agreed to help Blair bring the boat back from Campbell River in a week, so....dropped my car at Tsawassen and walked on.
Met Julie for pedicures, and they were LOVELY........ So nice. The Willowstream Spa is fantastic. (It's in the Empress Hotel - I know how to do things right!) Spent that night at Juju's house, then...... Dave texted and wanted to take us for a ride on his boat! He followed me all the way to Vancouver Island! So Wednesday afternoon, Julie and I floated around on Dave's boat in the sunshine. Dave was VERY happy to have 2 bikini-clad blondes aboard :)
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| nautical pedi-toes |
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| Captain Dave, enthusiastic about his view |
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| towheaded bow ornaments |
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| YAHOO! |
Hmmm, what next? Dave and I then motored to Saltspring Island to fuel the boat and "get supplies". (And by supplies, obviously, I mean wine.) While he gassed up the boat, I dashed to the liquor store in town. I chose 5 bottles, then the lady at the counter said that they had a sale on: 10% off if you buy 6 bottles. Well, HELLOOOOOOOO!!! I had already been eying the prosecco, so this was obviously a message from above: GOD LOVES ME AND WANTS ME TO DRINK SPARKLEY WINE!! I was so excited, that it seems I lost track of my wallet on Dave's boat :(
keep that track of that......I lost my wallet on Wednesday PM.........
We then motored to Otter Bay, on Pender Island. I'm sure it had NOTHING to do with the fact that I'd been drinking sparkely wine, but when I went swimming after dark, the bioluminesence was INCREDIBLE. When I kicked my legs fast, it looked like fire. And when I moved my legs very slowly, it looked like I was wearing gorgeous, sparkley tights. WOW. MAGIC.
On Thursday, Dave dropped me back at Crofton, where I had left my rental car. I had pre-arranged to meet some old friends, so had to drive up-island. [details and pics in another post] Let's just say that I was magnanimously offering to buy my hosts ice cream, when I discovered my wallet was missing. :( Ooops.
The next day, Friday, I returned my car to Duncan, and Captain Blair drove down to pick me up. His crew had flown back to Toronto, so I had agreed to help crew his boat back to Vancouver, although admittedly, I know NOTHING about sailing.
So... when Blair collected me on Friday, he had to pay the gas in my rental car. And take me out for lunch. And take me out for dinner in Campbell River. And buy all the groceries. And it's his boat, so he paid fuel, moorage, etc........
We stayed on his boat in the marina in Campbell River on Fri night.
On Saturday, the weather had changed..... No longer hot and sunny, a small gale was blowing up, and it was drizzly and cool. This made it pretty tricky to get the 60 foot yacht out of the marina. (hahaha, when I said it was a boat, I was later corrected. It's a yacht. It sleeps 9, should have a crew of 6, has a full kitchen, shower, 2 heads, tv, stereo....although NO hot tub. What the heck?!?)
Like I said, very tricky to get the big boat out of the marina. Everyone else apparently thought we were a little looney for heading out, as oh, there was a small craft warning!! In the marina, there was a light wind, so Blair did about a 20 point turn to get out, and ALL the other boaters were out and trying to keep him from ramming their boats.....and he did not. I ran back and forth like a yappy terrier, pushing the boat away from all obstacles. When he finally did get us out of there, I said, loudly enough for all to hear, "I'll drive next time, and we'll get out with a 6 point turn!!" hahahah, he wasn't even insulted, as he is a damn good boat driver, and I do not know how to do anything. :)
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| everything's under control with Cap'n Blair |
OK, so Blair and I headed south. The shortest way to get to Vancouver was to cross over pretty soon. We got out into the main channel, west of Cortes Island, and got right into the weather. Blair sort of quietly said, "Go downstairs and put everything away. Anything that could fall off the counter needs to be put away, or it will fall and smash."
I failed to realise I had about 1 minute to do this!!!!! We got into some serious swells, and I was down there, putting the coffee maker in the sink, and then dashing to save the laptop. I apparently jumped a bit too hard, and hit my arm HARD....had to sit still for a couple mins as I really thought I had broken my wrist or arm. Ouch.
While I was feeling sorry for my arm, a box of blueberries had launched itself off the counter, so now, as the boat, oops, YACHT, wildly rocked back and forth, blueberries rolled back and forth in time.
Being the earnest, though unskilled, galley slave I am, I banged my way over to the galley. (This was HARD. I was falling everywhere, and have the bruises to prove it.) I found a good container, and plonked my way onto the floor to sit amongst the berries. They were rolling everywhere, and I had to brace myself under the table or I woulda have been covering as much distance as they were. Blair, who seems comfortable in all sorts of inclement weather, poked his head down to check on my mayhem, and laughed his guts out. There I was, like a slightly seasick grizzly, wedged under the table, grabbing berries as they rolled by. Since we'd washed the floor just the night before, I ate quite a lot, but saved most of them in my plastic bin.
In case you know something about sea conditions (which I do not), fyi, there was a 3 foot swell, with another 1 foot of wind on top. This meant we were in 4 foot waves, and that really means 8 feet from top to bottom. So really it was like jumping on and off the top bunk of bunk beds! So you can understand why I would need to hang on tight, or wedge myself under various pieces of furniture.......
I will guess this lasted about 30-60 mins, but I truly have no idea. It was mostly fun, although I was starting to clench my teeth and wish for an end.... As Cap'n Blair said: "It's not dangerous, just uncomfortable." True, but still we had waves crash over the bow, and I had to close all the portholes as water was splashing inside.
little did I know I'd be sailing in a storm!
Not long after that, we moored at Hernandes Island, south of Cortes. Had lunch, thought about swimming, but....didn't.
Anchor up, we motored south. There really is no other great harbour or safe bay until we got to the mouth of Jervis Inlet. So we pased Savary Island (nice beaches, apparently), past Powell River and its unique breakwater of WWII warships, east of Texada Island, and set anchor safely in Thunder Bay. Yep, we motored across Canada. [haha, obviously not.] It's just inside the south of Jervis Inlet, close to Saltery Bay ferry terminal.
OK, so which day is this? Ummmm, we're up to Sunday. I still had no wallet, but what was I gonna do? Tip an orca, as it swam by? Nah, they didn't show up.
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| I've got my sea legs, and am just hangin out now. |
OK, Sunday we headed south from Thunder Bay. I gave my mom a call from off shore - AREN'T CELL PHONES COOL??? We motored around the southern tip of Texada Island, as Blair wanted to show me Jedediah Island. Apparently his brother Kevin tried to buy this island at one point..... Anyway, it was a pretty nice place to have lunch and go swimming. There were 2 seal pups being weaned by their mom....we had front seats for Animal Kingdom :)
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| Jedediah Island on the left |
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| bummer of a view... |
Back under Texada, we headed south for Gibsons. Wow, I still cannot believe how slow boats go compared to cars! HA, we were going 6 knots.... I can run nearly that fast..... Finally, Sunday night we moored in Gibsons harbour, so we could hang above decks (check that nautical lingo... I'm kind of a pro now) and look at the sparkley lights.
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| on the way to Gibsons |
Finally, Monday AM, we pulled up anchor, headed north around Bowen Island (got the scenic tour....cuz the rest of the coast is not scenic?) and finally back to Granville Island marina.
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| ferry leaving Snug Cove, on Bowen Island |
OK, as you'll recall, I had left my wallet on Dave's boat...... So he had to come and collect me! (I'm not high maintenance at all...) He forgot my wallet, so brought the cash I owed Blair for gas, travel, food, etc etc. And then I made him buy me a coffee (not high maintenance) and listen to all my stories without interrupting (still not!). And we got into.... Dave's Porsche Boxster! YAY for me! First, we went to Mom's house to collect the last of my luggage. Then, out to Tsawassen to collect my car. AND he had to pay for my week of parking. (Oh no, definitely not high maintenance...)
Anyway, so I was cranky and restless. (Wow, I kinda suck as a date...) "I wanna go running." "I wanna go home to my dog." blah blah blah.... What we really did was go for a drive - who knew Port Moody is LOVELY? - and went for a bite at the Keg. Where they have Happy Hour $1 raw oysters!!!!!!!!!!! OK, so I completely fell off my plan... Couple glasses of wine, squeals of delight at oysters.....so we were off to the liquor store for more supplies, and back to his place.
Spent the rest of the evening hanging with him and his son, watching tv, telling stories and drinking wine. Pretty fun night.
The next AM, Dave must have been really desperate for his cash, cuz HE LET ME DRIVE HIS PORSCHE TO GO GET IT!!!!!!! And somehow I managed to get it back to him in under an hour :)
And so I finally made it home Tuesday afternoon. :)
So yes, my life is GREAT.
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Aaaaahhhhhhh, my life does not suck at all :) |
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