Shawl Bay

 It's quiet in the Broughtons.  Shawl Bay has survived another winter.  Robbie is back for the summer to help out Lorne and Shawn with some repairs from the ravages of Winter.  Another grandbaby on the way for the Browns - how exciting!

A good rain last night but sunshine this morning peaking out between some nasty clouds. It's not 10:30 yet, so not sure if we are staying or leaving.

10:30 - Staying another Day.  Lorne has a gimped knee and Robbie will not be up for another few weeks.  Out comes the paintbrush and I carry on where Penny left off.  Dave and Penny were here for 5 days and managed to get all the benches (at Party Central)painted so now its up to me to start the white trim.    Lornes' flowers are looking great and we fully expect that on our way down, they will be in full bloom.
7:00 pm ish - Congrats Lorne and Shawn and of course Robbie, a new baby "Brown" enters the world.  Congrats to you all.

Port Harvey

Young Buck swimming to the other side



Mittlenatch Island in the distance

 Thursday - Waking up in the morning to absolute dead quiet, we both looked at each other and said....are we aground?  It was so quiet, we thought for sure that we had broken anchor in the night and were sitting on some soft sand somewhere.  All was good, and the inlet was so calm, you could of hear a conversation on the other side of the bay.  All of the previous nights trials and tribulation were washed away with some blue sky and sunshine once again!  After exploring the inlet by dinghy (gunkholing) we lifted anchor and headed to Port Harvey.

It was good to see George again, (Gail was on a grocery run on Vancouver Island) - it was muggy and hot for most of the day and our mouths were watering to have the best pizza on the Coast in the Red Shoe Restaurant.  We were cajoled into joining the Port Harvey Yacht Club.  We aren't quite sure what our membership entitles us to, but I am sure we will find out. A spectacular Thunder and Lightening storm was upon us after dinner and after watching a bit of TV, off to bed.

Friday - Its grey, windy and raining -  No decision as to whether we are staying or leaving yet.....its not 10:30 yet!
10:30 - off to Shawl Bay

Day 2 - Jedidiah Island to Port Harvey

Goats running for their lives on Jedidiah

Heron

Man and His Dog going exploring

A slight chop from the northwest greeted us in the morning, but the sky was blue and the sun is shining brightly on us.  We headed out at the crack of 10:00 am to Campbell River for Fuel and a few last minute items forgotten in the packing frenzy before we left Vancouver.

The closer we got, the warmer it got and the wind had all but died down.  Fuel was $1.35 (all taxes in) and we topped up our tanks and continued toward Johnstone Strait to head to Port Harvey.  We made the tides heading up Discovery passage and were gleefully remarking on how we were getting a 2 knot push the whole way up Johnstone Strait.  Push ---  Smush ---- we broke our own Johnstone Strait rule - never travel up Johnstone Strait with opposing winds and tide - the push is not worth it in the end.  But - Hey -  There was no wind where we were so we assumed that the radio weather was off by notifying us of this 25 knot wind. We were on schedule to arrive in Port Harvey @ 9:00 pm but the weather gods did some conferring and we did not make that time.

After remarking that I would make dinner when we arrived at Port Harvey and some back slapping on the bridge that we were getting a 5 knot push, we rounded the corner out of Current & Race Passage to be greeted from flat calm to nasty ass 6-8 foot waves.  After taking water over the top of our bridge and hearing all the crash bang booms going on downstairs to a dog shaking so bad ( I swear she was on her way to a doggy heart attack!) - we made the sage decision to head into Port Neville for the night.  Besides we reasoned, we had never been there and it was only 4 miles away, only short 4 miles of hobby horsing and hanging onto the dog to save her from jumping overboard!  We anchored securely around the corner from the Post Office Dock and spent a couple of hours throwing out broken glass, rounding up all the lemons that flew out of the fridge and then squeezing same lemons to have a martini!

Leaving Vancouver

With our chores behind us, and the wind at our backs, we departed Vancouver on Tuesday of this week and headed up to Jedidiah Island.  A favourite destination of ours and a place we haven't visited in quite sometime.  A beautiful, sunny, calm day for travelling, we arrived a little before 4:00 o'clock to our destination - Long Harbour.  We did not have set plans for this year so our path will be strictly on a daily basis - dependent on wind, weather and how we feel that day! 

Summer 2014

Since I have been lax in posting for 2013,  I will try and atone for the "error in my ways" by trying to keep the 2014 Summer highlights updated.

Perhaps because in 2013, I was a bit greedy in holding that vacation close to my heart.  We enjoyed a great summer in the Broughtons with our Son, Daughter-in-law and our grandson - "Mr. Keaton."  I hope to one day update this blog at least with the photographs of some spectacular sights we saw and the fun we had.

But now onto 2014.