Farewell to Friends

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Day 5 required some careful planning to transit Dodd Narrows.  This narrow passage just south of Nanaimo flows a lot of water creating some serious rapids during certain times of the tide cycle.  11:47am is slack tide, so leaving Montague we needed to schedule our passage to arrive right around that time.  Actually I wanted to arrive 20min or so early so water was still flowing slowly in our direction of travel.  As we motored along it became apparent we would arrive too early so we slowed to 5 knots.  The boats were stacked up in both directions to take advantage of the slack water.  One small section of the passage is so narrow two boats can barely pass but you try and avoid that situation at all costs.  As we were just about to go through the dogleg narrow spot a boat comes out from the north.  I slow down to a crawl and notice it’s an American Tug with a blue hull exactly the same model as ours.  If that not crazy enough, we know the owners and they keep their boat in a boathouse literally right next to ours.  What are the chances we would see them right there at that exact spot.

Tied up at the Nanaimo Port Authority docks we had a little bit of time before Marty and Scott flew back to Seattle.  All 6 of us jumped in the dinghy to cross over to Newcastle Island, a BC provincial park.  It was a nice hot day so we walked along the beach to find a place for the kids to swim.

Back at the dock time was running out for Scott and Marty but not before a nice early dinner and Penny’s Palapas.  Penny’s is a great little Mexican food place latterly floating on the docks just a few hundred feet from our boat.  They have great food in an awesome setting.

The guys flight left from across town in the next bay north.  Instead of taking a taxi we loaded all there stuff in the Dinghy for more adventuresome water delivery to the floatplane docks.  Off they went for what was sure to be an incredible flight back to Seattle on a gorgeous day.  It was sad to see them go, I felt like we could have spent weeks on the boat exploring new territory.  Thanks guys for taking the time to go with me, it was a great trip!

After dropping them off it was time for me to visit a BC walk in medical clinic to get diagnosed for this horrible cough I can’t shake.  After a quick wait, the doctor listened to my breathing and quickly proscribed some antibiotics.  I didn’t even ask what I had, wanting to get out of the germ infested office ASAP.  I knew antibiotics would do the trick although I hate taking them.  With a drug store just a block from the boat I had the pills in no time.

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