Finally, an internet connection!

First: Happy Birthday, Dad! I hope you have a good one!

Second: Thanks again to Judy and Jerry - we had a fine time sailing with you!

Rebecca and I are currently exploring the Canadian Gulf Islands, located on the E coast of Vancouver Island, BC. We spent the last two or three weeks cruising in tandem with our friends Jerry and Judy Roloson, who sail in a fabulous Aleujela 39 cutter. They are very experienced cruisers and we followed them from harbor to harbor, learning all we could. They sailed back to Bellingham a few days ago. We had a great time with them, and we're especially glad they were around when our motor went kaput. At the time, we had just passed a prominent point of land and, luckily, had gotten out of the worst of the current. We quickly put the small motor on the dinghy and used it to push the big boat into a nearby inlet. I phoned Jerry to let him know we were going to miss out on dinner in Ganges Harbor that night, but they gallantly came to our rescue, and selflessly towed our little boat the few remaining miles into harbor! Thanks again - it sure was great to see you steaming in to save us!

Right now, we are back in the selfsame Ganges Harbor, on Salt Spring Island. We're anchored a bit offshore, and we'll probably stick around a few more days to wait out some bad weather. Then we'll head back N, up to Nanaimo, which we'll probably use as our jumping off point for the Sunshine Coast, over on the mainland.

Cruising season is about over for most people, and the anchorages and marinas are relatively empty. Nice for us, as long as the weather stays sunny!

Here's some random pics:

Generic sunrise(s), whilst otter hunting. No luck, though - I guess they don't get up that early!

Speaking of otters (sorry, no pics), I've encountered a dozen or so, so far. They are all river otters, which took over the vacancies left when the sea otters around here were hunted to extinction for their pelts. The river otters are cool and curious and I've snuck up on most of them in my kayak. One, spotting me watching him from 20 feet away, eventually dove under the water. Next thing I knew, he was kicking the bottom of my kayak! I recovered in time to see him do a summersault underneath me before swimming away. Yes, that was very, very cool. 

Rebecca finally got a pic of a seal. This is the ubiquitous Harbor Seal, which often look alarmingly like dogs swimming miles away from shore. Click on the picture and you can see a larger version (this works for most of these pics, btw.).

House boat row, in Birds Eye Cove. There's a few of these places around the Gulf Islands. Pretty cool, though damp, I suspect.

Becks will touch anything! This is the slimiest starfish I've ever seen (it's upside down), which Jerry caught in his crab trap. Only Rebecca would handle it. Ugh.