My friend Frank

Frank was walking down the dock the other day and asked me if I wanted to buy some carvings. I was busy reading and said no rather too quickly. On his return trip I said that maybe I would be interested in seeing what he had. It was all in his pack. Anyways, we started talking about carving, and then his life, my life, his family, my family, ...... and on it went. He stayed for about an hour and I invited him to come visit with me the next day. He did and we spent even longer talking. It turns out his birthday is two days after mine. For whatever reason, I seem to get along with others that are born under the cancer sign.



I also met a college student in Comox that is working as a summer job for a society involved in saving the Purple Martin from extinction. Interesting summer job - eh. She told me that the Martin was used by the natives as an early warning sign when a stranger would approach their village. She talked about .....



And then there was this 65 year old guy (looked 50 ish) that was sailing his 38 foot boat by himself between California and this area. He was saying.........



Author Paul Theroux said it best "I sought trains; I found passengers."

Nanaimo Bathtub Race

I just happened to be in Nanaimo for the bathtub race. If I would have sailed down here a day later, I would have seen the boats racing around some of the islands I was sailing around. I didn't even know that they don't go to Vancouver anymore, not a result of the dangers involved with crossing the Strait, but because Vancouver was getting all the glory for the race, while Nanaimo was doing all the work. (it's good to talk to a local)

Baynes Sound - Tribune Bay pictures

Two nice encounters in Comox

While docked in Comox, I got a chance to talk to the owners of the big sister to my boat, a Yamaha 33. The family were cruising in similar territory to me as they had said "hi" to me when I was anchored out in the Copeland Islands a week earlier. A few days later I see they were also in Tribune Bay when I was there. I got a tour of their boat Irish Whiskey and if I was going to go bigger, that would be a boat to look at. You can tell by the photo that it is well set up for cruising.

The next boat, Dreamspeaker, was recognized by me because the owners, Anne and Laurence Yeadon-Jones are writers of many cruising guides for this area. I have two of their books, one of which I just had to take over and get them to sign it. They also graciously spent some time giving me information on some places I might want to visit on my trip south. They were getting a steady stream of people at their boat with books to sign, while trying to do laundry, buy supplies, email, etc.

Dock Denizens

I just had to do this

Pottery designed and crafted by Bunko - Fish caught and cooked by Goldstone.

Happy Birthday to me.

I think the pictures say it all about how my 60th birthday morning went. The fish was a 27lb Spring salmon measuring 36 inches long. When they reach 30lbs, they are called Tyee or Chinook.