And Willie Said: Conover Cove - to Anchor or Raft.......

Find Willie's Tug

We get one last look at the three boats cruising together, as we prepare to cast off for Conover Cove on Wallace Island, a marine park.

As we leave the harbour we see two sea planes ready to take off right along side us.

We can always spot a Ranger Tug a mile away; now we watch to see who it is. This is Osprey, but we don't know who is aboard.

Osprey

Along the way Destiny spots some bald eagles on a navigation aid, and we slow to get photos.

Bald Eagles

The harbour seals get into the act, also.

Cetus Star headed to Vancouver BC

Approaching Conover Cove, Destiny goes in first to see if there is dock space for all of us. She is careful to stay to the right of the entrance because of shoaling on either side.

The dock is already full at one o'clock in the afternoon, so David finds a place suitable for anchoring, and runs a stern tie to a ring in the rocks. Now he calls Bruce to bring in Moondance to anchor next to him.

He rows the dinghy out to the entrance to measure the depth, as it was 3.9 feet when he came through. The tide is rising, so we are hopeful of not scraping a rock.

Unfortunately, there is not a good anchorage spot next to Destiny, so Moondance rafts up. Willie's Tug comes in next and doesn't even try to anchor, but takes the other side of Destiny for rafting.

David does a bit of adjusting to the stern ties to set us for the evening.

Herb takes Jake ashore in Jake's Ferry for some exercise.

Go, Jake!

Then we all go ashore to explore the island. Find Willie's Tug.

Maureen and David show us an old house where visitors have carved their names on driftwood and hung on display. They make a new stick with today's date and hang as an update.

Each of us label a piece of wood with our names and dates to add to the collection.

Jake sees the stick that Herb made and thinks Herb is playing 'fetch the stick' with him. He jumps to try to get it.

No, Jake!

Jake plays 'stick' with Herb -- not the autographed stick -- fetching some and chewing up some! Who threw his stick into the water? He starts to retrieve it, then his ears go up, and this brave dog begins to back up, up.

We assume he sees a crab coming to visit him.

Finding a safer spot, he sits down to cool off in the water, then shakes all the water off. Wisely, we have 'Jake towels' aboard to clean him after his play time.

Jake Cools Off

Jake Shakes!

David and Maureen continue their tour for us with a visit to an old rusty pickup truck. No sign that there has been anyone around it for a long time, as it has no seat cushions, and there are many holes and thin places in the metal.

Oh, and the tailgate is not firmly attached!!!

Exciting Ride

After a spin around the block in the colorful truck, we stroll back to the pasture area, enjoying nature's beauty.

Herb and I are introduced to a game of bocce ball. We are told that one person throws out the small white ball, and the other players try to roll their ball to it. The winner is the ball closest to the white one.

Rules allow one to knock another person's ball away from the target, and also to hit the white ball into another area to change the previously predicted winner.

Hilarious! and good exercise.

It even got funnier as some tried to lose, so as to end the game and get on to Happy Hour!

Herb and I have the yellow balls.......... Beginner's luck?

It is a tight game!

Vicki Wins a Round

Now time to go, Herb walks the log to retrieve his dinghy to take a wet dog back to Willie's Tug. With the rising tide, dinghys don't stay where you leave them. I ride with Bruce and Vicki! Their kitties didn't come on the trip, and I don't think they swim.

Ouch!

I ask to see David's binoculars, and he explains the compass combo.

We are having a few days of sunshine and take every chance to photograph its effect on the scenery.

The enchilada dinner prepared by Maureen is complete with a bowlful of cherries, and we collect the pits. This leads to a discussion of a destination later in the week -- Sidney Spit......