Egmont Public Wharf

We arrived midday Friday at the Egmont Public Wharf. Most of the day was uneventful; we cleaned the boat a bit and walked around the village (as they call it). After dinner we walked to Skookumchuck Rapids where we got to see he kayakers play in the current and waves.

Kayaker in Skookumchuck Rapids

The first incident at the Public Wharf had to do with the Inlet Raider, a large landing craft that came in to drop a crew member off to pick up groceries. Rather than coming into the dock at a moderate speed, the captain came into the dock at several knots, slamming the engines into reverse at the last possible moment. This created not only a lot of noise and smoke from the engines, but uncomfortable waves throughout the marina.

The next incident involved a shrimping boat that came in around 8:30 in the evening. One of the deckhands quickly hopped off and pulled out a pack of what looked like cigarettes. I was doing the dishes outside and he asked if I "wanted to blaze." I politely declined. I guess some things are more acceptable in Canada than in the US...

There's an old sea shanty that asks, "What do you do with a drunken sailor?" Well, we were faced with just such a conundrum tonight. An older gentleman pulled into the wharf aboard a beat-up 13 ft motor boat and asked for us to tie him up. He was slurring his words and it quickly became clear that he was drunk. Minding his manners, he quickly offered up his half empty bottle of vodka. He was momentarily disappointed at our refusal to partake before staggering up the wharf knocking on the docked fishing boats - apparently looking for drinking parters. When the prawners returned to their boat, we let them know about this drunk gentleman. The captain quickly said, "Oh yeah, Uncle Lucy. Totally harmless." Apparently he is a regular around here.

Other than this excitement there really isn't too much to report. Everything has gone smoothly so far. We have found that running between 1800 and 2200 rpm is very comfortable. Most of our days have been fairly short (less than 15 nautical miles) and moving slowly allows us to save fuel and pay more attention to the scenery.

Here are a few pictures of the trip so far:

Secret Cove

Blind Bay

Harmony Islands

Anchored in the Harmony Islands

Leaving the Harmony Islands