Marina Life, Ladysmith Style -- 6/9/2015

While enjoying the lazy warm afternoon on the community deck at Ladysmith Maritime Marina, Tracey, whom I call 'The Plant Lady,' brings over some juicy red perfectly ripened strawberries she picked from one of the containers placed around the deck and marina office.

She lives on a house boat anchored nearby and dinghies over every day to volunteer for plant watering and care.  Next she pinches off a mint leaf for me and shows me where Trudy, the Oyster Bay Cafe cook, gets fresh herbs for her dishes.  A raspberry vine is started in the planter below.

The ramp pictured here leads from the marina to a very steep hillside and road to town center.

Later Tracey drives her small boat to tow the dinghy named Hot Tub to moor on a short finger pier.  It is not clear to me whether or not it holds hot water....

Hot Tub

Herb and I are invited to join boaters on the 42 ft. WildeLife, at Happy Hour as we also visit with  Play Hard across the dock.  There are many things we enjoy about Ladysmith and the friendliness of guests, residents and staff is outstanding.

A very pleasant evening....

WildeLife

Play Hard

Willie of Willie's Tug,
   and of Walldog, Willie and Jake
   Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Martini Anyone?-- 6/8/2015

It is pretty warm in Ladysmith, so we open all windows to let a breeze circulate the air in the boat. During the day I hear a familiar sound, and if I were to bet, I would say it is a Ranger Tug.  With the curtains drawn just enough to receive the wind but blocking out the sun, I can't see who it is, but shortly I hear a voice calling.  I look out to see Joan and Keith of R-31 Nit-Sea-Moose.  

I remember her as The Martini Lady.   I am flooded with memories of being at the R-Tug gathering in Comox last Summer when she walks by our boat and hears Herb's martini shaker at 5P.  Herb makes her a martini that day and we have been fast friends ever since.

Today we share Happy Hour again, and use the marina's grill for dinner.

Life is good!

Nit-Sea-Moose means Sweetheart

Willie of Willie's Tug,
   and of Walldog, Willie and Jake,
   Monday, June 8, 2015

Ladysmith Maritime Society Community Marina -- 6/7/2015

We wake to sunny skies promising a good day on the water to travel from Poets Cove to Ladysmith on Vancouver Island.  Just as we finish breakfast, Ray comes across the dock with a pan of fresh baked sticky buns.  Oh, my!  We have breakfast dessert and it is only later that I think that I wished I had taken a photo.  They were so deliciously beautiful!  So I put the last one in a food saver for a later time -- and much later I discover that someone has sneaked his half of the one left.

It has been a wonderful week end, and we are thankful for our friends, but wish others we think of could have been here.  After wishing everyone safe travel to their next destination, we accept the offer from Ray and Jocelyn to release our lines and ease out of the fairway at 8:55A.  There are several ways to go and Herb chooses the Sansum Narrows for less current on the nose.

We like the glassy surface of the water as we go into Swanson Channel.  Then rippled as we proceed.  Squinting my eyes reveals a hazy mountain range on our port side rising up from the foothills with snow atop as far as we can see.  

What we soon see and diligently watch for are several logs and a lot of trash.  Sometimes it is hard to avoid them even with hard turns.  Here a seagull rests while one swims away.

Going north of Moresby Island and Portland Island, we have less than one foot waves.  AIS shows the ferry, Queen of Cumberland, will come within .3 miles of us in six minutes as we round Portland south of Salt Spring Island.   I watch the stanchions as she crosses our bow at a safe distance.

We are in Satellite Channel now and my heart thinks fondly of the harbour at Sidney as we see the ferry landing to her north and I wonder if the Hotel's resident black lab, Dave, is still greeting guests.  On previous visits he allowed Dr. Jake to drink from his water bowl.

We laugh about streets having street sweepers, but it must be the current that moves debris out of our way -- or into it!  More logs and trash ahead, and skipper threads his way through as we turn into Sansum Narrows between Vancouver Island and Salt Spring Island.  A few lion's mane jellyfish float by, but no chance to grab a photo.

It gets really choppy in the narrowest part of the channel as it twists and turns toward the wider Stuart Channel, and we pass a few non-eventful swirls.

We are closer to shore now as we look toward the Sansum Narrows opening and I can smell the fragrant cedar and evergreens like spices in the galley.

Beautiful British Columbia

Cruising north near Maple Bay gives a longer fetch and a sailing vessel crosses our bow with just the right amount of wind in its sails.  Seas are one to two feet.

Just as  we enter Stuart Channel we see a pulp and paper mill near the town of Crofton on the west side of the channel and south of Chemainus and Ladysmith.

 Approaching Ladysmith with the wind from  the northeast, we call Mark, the Harbourmaster, on 66A and he and Logan meet us to catch our lines.  What a joy to be here again at one of our favourite marinas -- Ladysmith Maritime Society Community Marina.

Herb takes photos of Willie's Tug docked by two lovely wooden tugs and I learn a bit of their stories from the interpretive panels.

"Saravan is a 1938 restored tug, with work completed between 2010 and 2012 by Ladysmith Maritime Society shipwright, caulker, and volunteers.

The 30 foot C. A. Kirkegaard was built in 1941 as a crew boat used to ferry workers from Sidney to James Island to their explosives plant.  She was donated in 1992 and the restoration provided vocational training to young people by a government grant."

I am impressed with the size of the bollard on Saravan.

Willie of Willie's Tug,
   and of Walldog, Willie and Jake
   Sunday, June 7, 2015

The Fun Continues at Poets Cove -- 6/6/2015

On Saturday, the last day of the Poets Cove gathering, we soak up all the area has to offer and take advantage of the time to make plans for future cruises. Ray and Herb exchange ideas on the itinerary for a trip up The Inside Passage of Alaska.  On the planning maps Jocelyn sees some of the places that her dog, Lily, will visit.

Whatever they decide is good with me, so I walk around with film to shoot. Halfway up the serious hill I walk to an overlook in front of Poets Cove Hotel and Spa to visit with friends and get a bird's eye view of the Ranger Tugs and Cutwaters in the marina.

Find one of them....

Jim and Joan take a moment from fine tuning systems on their new boat, Bubbles, to pose for me.

Fun memories of our stay at Chatterbox Falls up Princess Louisa Inlet a couple of years ago is brought back to us when Jolly Mon stops by to let us know he will do a gig in the Pub tonight.  He asks us to pass the word!  We can 'hear' his guitar and the Jimmy Buffet songs he plays.

However, I explain to him that we have some activities coming up for the evening and will try to catch him later.  Hmmm....a favorite activity is sampling the appetizers at cocktail hour.  I try to limit myself and save my appetite for the BBQ coming up later.  Didn't work!

Dinner tonight is Potluck with everyone bringing a side dish or dessert, and BBQ hamburgers and smokies provided by Mike of Port Boat House and Dolphin Insurance Company.  They are seen in the photo below hard at work -- or at a talent they do well -- at the grill.  Line forms to the right and the aroma draws us there.

I make Blueberry Cole Slaw especially for Keith.

A fun activity during the day is the blind dinghy race, where one blindfolded person rows, while the partner tells him which way to go.  First, all head back behind the starting line until Jeff calls "Start."

Now underway, there is oar splashing evidence of speed and at this point it appears to be dead heat.  Lotsa strong arms and good co-pilots.

Oh, the entertainment is not over!  Kenny and Andrew start a little competition in a water fight.  Who splashed who first?  Run, Andrew, Run!  Did Kenny threaten to throw him into the water?

Run, Andrew, Run!

Our last activity was not planned by us -- I'll call it Helen's showing of the lion's mane jellyfish floating between our finger pier and her boat, The Bud's Tug.  I had never seen one and am amazed at the size, a  bit larger than a basketball.  And the beautiful orange tan colour.  How graceful it is as it uses its tentacles to propel itself through the water.  

Here it is seen moving toward the bow of The Bud's Tug, then more forward until it reaches the anchor reflection.  In the last photo it gives one last push to capture a shrimp or probably to escape the eyes of the humans.

While getting to know more boaters this week end, I visit with Jimmy and MJ, who brought their R-31, The Glasgow Ranger -- but not all the way from Scotland. MJ tells me she had roots in Austin TX and proudly flies the Texas flag.

Like!

Jimmy and MJ on The Glasgow Ranger

Willie of Willie's Tug,
   and of Walldog, Willie and Jake
   Saturday, June 6, 2015