Friday, July 3, 2009

July 3 - Montague Harbour to Poet's Cove








Becca slept through the night on the boat! But then being rested she woke me up at 6:30. It was actually really nice once I was up. I took her up on deck to give her breakfast while everyone else was still asleep. She was very content and I even had time to go down and make a pot of tea. Again I was really impressed with myself that I could work the stove without waking anyone. I had two cups of tea and a great “West Coast Trail” Muffin we had delivered to the boat that first day. I have to describe this muffin – it was great! It was the base batter of a carrot muffin but topped with nuts and seeds and raisins. It was such a beautiful morning, the water was so still and the temperature was just right. After a while I heard Rachel get up – unfortunately with quite a case of sea sickness. Because we had been anchored all night, the boat was able to drift around so it was not nearly as stable as the night before.

Bella woke up and came to join me up on deck and shortly after that Dean got up. I made a yummy breakfast of french toast which unfortunately Rachel couldn’t enjoy with us. Around 9:00 we started taking up the anchor. I needed to stay at the helm with the boat in neutral while Dean went up front to bring in the anchor. He just had to press a button and winch pulled it in, but this time he had to wash the chain as it came in So it took longer than it did to put down.

We motored out of Montague Harbour and I put Becca down for a nap. Unfortunately we had no wind. We tried putting up the jib sail, but the winds just weren’t in our favour – averaging around 7 knots. We did get to see a seal up close. We saw him playing and drove over close and he let us circle around him and I think he was as curious as we were. Bella decided she was tired and wanted a nap also, and Rachel was asleep so it was a really nice time for me and Dean. We took turns at the helm and even put up and down the jib sail by ourselves. We saw a dolphin and another seal but they weren’t as friendly as the first one we had met. The girls all stayed asleep until we arrived at Poet’s Cove, however Rachel woke up to help us dock.

When we approached Poet’s Cove we needed to call in on the radio to get our slip assignment – we were 37. Docking was a bit stressful. We got there just in time to be the only boat entering a 2 boat slip however while we were getting ready with the fenders etc. the other boat showed up and docked first. Now instead of having lots of room we had to fit in between a dock and another sailboat. We didn’t hit them, however we came pretty close. This time I waited to get off and didn’t fall – which was thankful since lots of people were watching us and we even had a staff member helping us. Rachel and I pulled on the lines to get to boat lined with Dean yelling at us to pull harder – not trusting that we already had the boat secure. The staff member kindly came and tied up my line for me since I had no idea how to do it. Success! We were docked – it was 1:30 and we had the rest of the day to relax.

I made sandwiches for lunch again and used up the last of the cold cuts and cheese. We snacked on chips and pretzels knowing that we didn’t need to save any more food. As soon as we docked we started talking to the people who had docked just before us in slip 36 and they also had a 4 year old, a little boy named Logan and he and Bella became friends. After lunch we headed up to the pool. Isabella was so excited, she had been in her swimsuit since she got up and even napped in it! Rachel stayed back on the boat but the rest of us went up to the pool. It was pretty nice. Bella and Becca both had their life jackets on. Bella swam all around and jumped and splashed and had a blast. Becca didn’t really like being in her lifejacket and once I took her out and sat her on the stairs in the water she had a blast splashing around. Becca and I headed back to the boat where I got her down for a nap and Dean and Bella came back about 20 minutes later. I got out the computer and was so excited to finally have WiFi after days of writing and no way to post. I finished typing up yesterday and downloading some pictures. It was nice and relaxing to just sit out in the sun and enjoy the stress free day. Rachel laid out with us while Dean sat up at the bow of the boat and read a book. Bella spent a lot of time up there with him, and even carried out a nice cider cooler for him. Since we weren’t driving again the drinks started a little bit earlier today.

At 5:30 I gave Becca her dinner in her car seat again and then she snacked on pretzels while we continued to just hang out on the boat. Eventually I walked up with Becca to the gift shop where I bought a new zip up fleece with the Poet’s Cove Resort and Spa logo on it. I had been really cold the last few nights and I don’t have a fleece that zips so it was great. It was 60% off so I got a great deal. At 6:30 Dean, Rachel and Bella went back up to the pool while I got Becca all settled and into bed. I started making dinner and everyone else got back around 7:15. Tonight we had green peppers, candied carrots, pan fried potatoes with bacon and lovely halibut steaks which we cooked on the barbeque with orange slices all wrapped up in foil. It was very good. We had another lovely bottle of red wine along with some sparkling water. After cleaning up down below we came back up on deck and noticed that the barbeque had fallen upside down – it is just attached to the railing at the back of the boat. It took Dean pushing on it with two tea towels and Rachel pushing on it with rope to get it back up how it should be. We’re still not sure what happened there. Dean suggested it was because the fish was too heavy (he has had a lot of wine), but I agreed with Rachel’s explanation that the heat probably caused it to loosen.

After dinner, Bella watched some Smurfs on our portable DVD player and we made popcorn. For the second day in a row – not sure I mentioned it yesterday – we spilled wine on the boat. This is a big deal because it stains the wood. We did the best job we could cleaning it up both times and I think it will be fine, but it was still frustrating. While we were eating dinner Dean mentioned how glad he was that nothing bad had happened to the boat at that he won’t lose his damage deposit. Rachel and I both immediately looked at him and told him not to say that yet since we still had to sail back tomorrow – I think that’s why we spilled the wine. Another interesting fact is that you are never supposed to clink glasses on a boat because it is bad luck. Of course Rachel and I didn’t know this so the first night when Dean made a toast we all clinked glasses – we blame the dinghy on that clinking.

I went up to the pool are to have a shower – it’s $1 for 4 minutes which was fine – I paid $2 and had more than enough time. I came back and Rachel was up at the bathroom – it’s easier to use the marina washrooms because they are so much larger than on the boat plus it doesn’t use our water. When we all got back from the bathroom we noticed that Bella, Rachel and I were all in our New Kids on the Block T shirts from the concert. What a coincidence!

Now we are sitting on the deck chatting and blogging – Dean is having a shower and will be back soon – we hope. He had pretty much drank the whole bottle of wine himself and was having trouble even getting off the boat without falling. He’ll be back soon and we’ll continue our chat – but I’m going to post this now. I’ll write again tomorrow once we get home and hopefully Dean didn’t jinx us with his dinner comment.

1 comment:

  1. Sounds like a wonderful day! I wish your trip was longer so that I would have more to read. Good luck on the trip back to Victoria.

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