Bird Droppings: And Things That Go Bump in the Night......

Now to backtrack a bit and show you beautiful Annette Inlet...

On Wednesday we anchored in beautiful Annette Inlet, one of the finger inlets on Prevost Island. The Island was originally owned by an Irish Lord and his descendents as well as a few other families live on the Island today. Very sparsely populated, there is a farm – both cattle and sheep, forests and moss covered trails. We came in at very low tide and set the anchor in a nice muddy bottom at the head of the Inlet. A huge oyster bed was just off our starboard side. After scraping more varnish (!) and a relaxing dinner, we went to bed with the sounds of bleating sheep in the background.

Awh, do I really have to varnish again?

Somewhere around 3:00 AM, we had visitors. A mysterious mammal of some sort decided to play with our boat. A bump to the bow, one to the stern and one amidships. Richard got up to investigate but couldn’t see what it was (I stayed in bed!!!). I think the sound of a human scared it off and we had a quiet night after that.

Anchored at the head of Annette Inlet on Prevost Island

Early Thursday morning we made our way in a constant drizzle to Ganges on Saltspring Island. We moored at the Kanaka Public Wharf and treated ourselves to dock power. A few docks away from us is “The Graduate” – a 40 foot Canoe Cove fitted out as the Island School Bus. It brings children from the smaller islands into Ganges for High School each day. A walk through town located the wharf manager, the garbage dump (free with moorage) and the Laundromat. Little Ganges is now all grown up with many interesting stores and services. Mowat’s is still there, of course, and has taken up more real estate adding to its hardware, kitchen, bath and clothing store. We brought our garbage ashore, did our laundry and had lunch in a funky little café where no one seems to mind if you spend the entire morning lingering over your computer. Back to the boat after lunch, we did some ironing – must make use of that luxurious power…. It seemed like a walk was in order so off we went to Mowat Park (everything being a Mowat on this Island). On the way we ran into Dave Howell, an old friend from New Westminster and a former Coast Guard captain. He and his wife are now retired and living permanently on Saltspring. Dave captained the hydrofoil out of Tofino on the West Coast until he retired.

Just love my new galley!

After catching up, the rains began again in earnest so we decided to forgo the walk, rented a movie (Fracture – Anthony Hopkins & scary as usual), topped up the larder at the grocery store and back to the boat for dinner. Another gorgeous sunset and off to bed.