Day 331, Monday May 19th – Victoria Day in Canada

Day 331, Monday May 19^th – Victoria Day in Canada

Dawson washing down the anchor chain

We enjoy a slow start to the day as we are looking at a easy 40 mile sail up to the Solomon Island.  We up anchor just before 9, the bottom provided good holding but the anchor chain needs to be hosed down to get rid of mud before going into the anchor locker.  On the way out of the harbour we pass the fish factory where there was a number of fishing boat tied up the day before.  Today they are all out except for one; proof the menhaven fishery is still going strong.

Fishery plant with the fleet gone

Again the winds are forecasted out of the north.  Dang!  Not as strong though and our heading for the first hour is NE so we are able to sail, but soon enough the cloth comes down and the engine is turned on.   The winds and waves are not too bad so we can motor directly where we want to go which is due north.  There is a current of about a knot against us so our speed is not our fastest, but reasonable.

Aurora under sail

Fisherman on his way home

The current is due to change in about 2 hours so we will be patient and enjoy a push later in the day.

After a couple of hours we hear some announcements on the VHF and there is a spotter boat telling people where to go and asking their intentions etc. as they are doing some military exercises.  Braveheart who is ahead of us is in “their” zone and is asked/told to stand off and change directions.  They do of course as no one wants to get in the way of the military.  Mike radios us and tells us he gets to see a bit of an air show.  We are too far back and miss it.

The winds pick up for an hour or so, but lay down again after lunch so we plod along.  We are able to put our sails back up around 2:00 which is nice.  By 4:00 we are pulling into our anchorage, getting the hook dropped, lowering the dinghy and putting the outboard on it.  We have anchored here before on our way south and it is a well sheltered spot.  It takes 2 tries however to get the anchor to hold.  Winds are supposed to be “medium” tonight so we want a good hold.  We choose to go to town for an

explore.  We find a place to dock the dinghy near a few boats that we sailed with for the day who have taken a slip.  The walk to town is about 30 minutes, but it is 6:30 somehow by the time we sit down to a beer and blog.   We stay at the Lighthouse restaurant for an hour and then head back to the dinghy dock and our mothership.  We recognize a few boats in harbour but do not see anyone we know.  The town is spread out a bit and it is a typical tourist town set up for hot weather activities, lots of restaurants and a nice boardwalk.  There must be about 10 marinas and 2000 boats in harbour, yet the population of the town is probably 2000 people.

It is almost 9:00 by the time we have dinner.  We could have dined at the Lighthouse restaurant, but we have food that needs to be eaten, plus we eat healthier on our boat.  Our typical evening of coffee and King’s cribbage ensues, then we are off to bed for the night.