On Aug. 9th, we woke up at 5:30 a.m. so we could make our way to Dodds Narrows. We were underway before 6:00 a.m. Sunrise was terrific and the water was so calm.
We made good time over to the Narrows but we were too early so we sailed long tacks back and forth. When it came close to going through, we started our motor and did circles around like many other boats. Finally, it was time to make our move through Dodds Narrows. Timing through Dodds Narrows using the tide and current book is important. When we started to make our move, a call on the radio stated that a tug under tow was coming through the narrows towards us. Marty immediately turned around as he didn’t want to approach Dodds with a tug coming through. Another sailboat ignored the call and proceeded in. The boat was greeted with a few loud blows of the tug’s horn and the boat immediately turned around!
We arrived at Port Nanaimo with a long long line up to get in as all the boats that went through the Narrows floored it to the marina ahead of us. While docked, we did our usual boat clean up and a few maintenance jobs that were due.
No matter where we are, we always meet people from Prince Rupert. When we were on a short walk, we came across Gord Rutherford. When we went to a marine store, Marty met one of his old students from over seven years back. On the way to do laundry, Marty ran into Jeanie and Merve from “Meridian Passage.” They came over for a visit. Merve, who has enough tools to build another boat, helped us fix our fuel filter which had a loose air bleeding bolt (which would not tighten). Thus the old boating saying, “Cruising is making boat repairs in multiple locations!” Later that evening, we met two teachers from Comox and they came for drinks. We talked boats - they had a C&C also. (We did very little teacher talk!)
