May 6th

May 6, 2016

Latitude
Longitude

Bedwell Harbour, South Pender Island, BC, Canada to Nanaimo, BC

We headed out early to get a good day of traveling in.  We had to time our travel through Dodd Pass so the current would be at slack water.  Dodd Pass is smaller than Deception Pass but the water looked to be as turbulent.  I again stood on the bow and took pictures.  I can't imagaine what happened but the pictures I took from today seem to have disappeared from my camera.  What a fun ride through the pass it was.  

I’m learning a lot about navigation and charts from Vaughn and Mary.  They are both excellent instructors.  Mary is a retired sailing instructor and has even won a national award from the ASA!  Could I be any luckier than to be crewing on this sailboat? 

Today I got to dock the boat in Nanaimo.  You can’t really call it that though, because Mary was right there guiding me in each step.  Afterwards Mary explained in detail why we did everything and how the winds and currents affect docking.  I hope I get more practice doing this but the majority of places we are going we are going to be at anchor. 

Nanaimo Yacht Club Marina

We walked to the grocery store a few miles away by following a paved waterfront path called the Queen Elizabeth II parkway.  It went through a lovely park that you could spend a lot of time in.  There were shops and a few restaurants along the way.  We filled our shopping basket with items we thought we might need until our next provisioning stop.  The return trip wasn’t as much fun because of the groceries.  Vaughn was the pack mule for our group, carrying most of the heavy items.  Mary wore a backpack filled with lighter items.  I carried 3 bottles of wine in front of me due to my back.  I’m sorry to not be able to help more but I didn’t want to injure my back again.  I have to be very careful and not lift heavy things. 

Nanaimo is a charming city that I would like to come back to.  There is an island called Newcastle Island across the channel that looks beautiful and fun to explore.  I’m told it is filled with walking paths.

Loon

Dragonboat Racers