Maple Bay Government Docks

Before coming into Bird's Eye Cove I stopped to check out the Government Docks. No reservations, electricity or showers but it's also only fifty cents a foot. There is a restaurant and pub nearby.

Brad stayed here for the night and I went on to Maple Bay's Haul Out station where Cupcake will get pressure washed, a new zinc, and a quick look at her transmission by a mechanic. I'm concerned about her transmission which is spraying some oil. This is very reminiscent of how tranny #2 started to go bad.

Telegraph Harbour Stuff

Artisan carves with flame made by sun/magnifying glass.







The coffee roasters office had rows and rows of jars with oddities found in the coffee bags from all over the world. There was quite a bit of corn in some of the bottles and they said that's because it gets blown in from the fields.





Island Coffee Roasters





Ocean




Bible Camp

Honor System Grocery Store, Telegraph Harbour

Fresh baked pies, breads, veggies from the garden, fish, meat, cheese, and a lock box to put your money in.

Telegraph Harbour

Telegraph Harbour Marina is charming and cozy. It's everything you could ask for and it's yours for just $2,390,000. Nestled in a narrow channel, surrounded by trees, it reminds me of summer camp. Kayakers and wildlife thread through the small boat channel to Clam Bay. There is a general store famous for it's soda fountain, a shuffle board, horseshoe pitch, and picnic tables. Nearby, about a 20 minute walk away, is another marina I want to check out this afternoon. It's built around a pub. Other than the two marinas it's all trees and a few homes.

Ladysmith Town and Marina

Ladysmith, the town, has some excellent marketing materials.

"One of the top 10 towns in Canada for charm...
One of the most lovely revitalization efforts...
Preserved turn-of-the-century architecture...."

Didn't see it.

Ladysmith town isn't close to Ladysmith Marina, one of four marinas in the immediate area.

Brad walked to town while I decided to give Cupcake a good bath.
After Cupcake was spotless I got a ride to town with a fellow boater in a lovely white BMW convertible. Brad showed up in town about 30 minutes later. He was hot and sweaty, spooked by the eerie dirt road. He walked for miles. After a quick stroll through Ladysmith I got the health food manager to give me a ride back to the marina. She was happy to do it. Apparently the grocery store does the same thing for boaters. Didn't see Brad on the way back.

He walked back to Ladysmith Marina only to find there are no showers (for people). That is a first. Even at the government docks there have always been showers. If you could see this place you would know how strange it is. There is no water shortage here. Each boat in the marina has it's own spicket and we have a choice of 30 or 50 amps. Not only are there no showers, basically there are no facilities for people. The sad looking coffee shop seems to have closed years ago.
Now it's self serve with juice from a machine. The bathrooms are far from inviting, I don't plan to even look in. It's hard to figure out what is going on here because this is a stunning marina. Someone is putting a heck of a lot of money into Ladysmith Marina. I was told they just did another 6 million in renovations. There are rows and rows and even more rows of enormous new boat houses, many of which are filled. The smallest slip here is 35 feet. The fairways are the size of some marinas which works out well for the large yachts all around us.

It's like this marina was brought here by spaceship.

Tranny leaking again?????

Yellowish brown spots are spraying near transmission number three which was replaced last August. This is just how the leak started last year. What the???

Day 30 Solo, Day 233 as Skipper of Cupcake

Left Seattle on Friday, the 15 of May, at 9am for a summer of solo sailing. That's counting only moving days, not days in towns or at anchor. This is also my 233rd travel day (includes days with crew) on Cupcake in just about 2.5 years as her skipper.

Even though I've been solo on Cupcake this summer, I am buddy boating which is safer than being out here without anyone in radio contact.

Solo sailing is really a time to get your brain in gear and put into practice all those lessons. It takes much more planning since there is no one around to help 99% of the time. For example, I get my fenders out well before it's a rush.

Now that I live on Cupcake every inch is taken up with gear or manuals. It would be hard to be a good hostess. It does get lonely and I would like to buddy boat with more people around.

Even that can be a bit hard to arrange since boats travel at such different speeds. aWe all like to travel different amounts of miles in a day. We like different levels of challenges. What is an easy day for me is taxing for someone else. I personally like 15 to 20 mile days and others prefer 40. I love to explore new towns and others just want to play with their sails. Do we like to plan or do spur of the moment things, stay at marinas or be on a hook etc. So in the end, a lot of people end up solo sailing.

Along the way I am meeting new friends so soon I will have people to visit in each port. That will be great.