Shearwater

SHEARWATER

Anouk Chook (spelling?)

Like the primeval urge for the Monarch butterfly to return to the source of nectar, we must take wing to Shearwater. I am down to one bottle of Irish whisky. “Ravens” is out of go juice (gas), the salads have gone off and we need some more veggies.  We have birthday and anniversary cards to mail at the Post Office.  Lest we forget to pay BYC, we pop a cheque in the mail to Laura at the office everything else we can pay on line.

We have been into the Shearwater Post Office a number of times over the span of weeks this year and asked for the correct postage to mail letters. The postmaster said he has ordered stamps but they have not come yet as they are in the mail. WHAT’S WITH THAT?  

Speaking of BYC we have heard the Commodore on the VHF traveling with another member. There is a tradition in the Club that when passing the Commodore’s vessel you dip the ensign in respect to the office. For the indiscretion of not doing this honouring you owe the Commodore a bottle of alcoholic beverage. If for some reason that he is caught with his flag not half-masted on your salute, the bottle awarding goes the other way. This presentation takes place at the gala Change of Watch event. It is a tricky business sometimes as he or you will be in stealth mode to catch each other unawares. It is so much fun messing about boats.  WE and HE will now be on double watch to avoid  losing a bottle of grog.

We have been in contact with our offspring as we have been in the North Coast wilderness. We might as well be in down town Vancouver; there are reports from our young’uns by text and email. Tracey, Drew and families are tearing up the Desolation Sound with their party boating. As to the  blog, I don’t know if anyone is following it?  It pleases us that if only one person outtttttt there is enjoying our fun and wants to share it. ”GOOD!”  

We reconnect with many former boating acquaintances back at Shearwater. The vessel  “SUMPIN SPECIAL” is in on the dock.  We have shared with them the same bays on previous adventures. We are invited over for cocktails to view their new, to them vessel, 50 OCEAN ALEXANDER. It is all shinny like new with acres of teak throughout. They are towing a 20 ft whaler dinghy that by my best guess is almost half the value OA and defiantly has better electronics. Needless to say they are so proud of her and so they should be. It is a shock to go back to “Oceanaire” as it is more like hanging out in the neighbourhood pub. That’s what you get for being formerly in the business of designing them, OH WELL. 

Also on the dock is "HULIKAI" that belongs to Yale and Donna boating acquaintances. It stands storys above “Oceanaire”. OH WELL!  It too has a large shinny 20 ft. Whaler. You think I have a touch of WHALERITUS? I promised not to display this malady in front of the “RAVENS” (our dinghy). 

Potable water has been a concern in the North Country as this has been a record dry summer. It is not now. Anyway, we are low on water and as we carry about 500 gals.  I am concerned even at this late date that we are not being hoggish in front of the Wharfmaster with taking on the clear gold that was unattainable four weeks ago. I am up early in the morning locate the water hose and proceed to fill are tanks to the top without feeling guilty. I deposit the hose in the tank careful not to spill a precious drop. As this is a long process it gives me time to study the hose and in faded worn letters I see "NOT POTABLE WATER" (not till the tanks were almost full). Before I proceed to drain of 500 gals of water I trek up to the office and ask Jean ,the nice lady in the marine candy store, about this. It turns out the potable water is from their wells and the water that has been ingested in OA is lake water that is the colour of tea. NOW Penny and I are not much at drinking the water out of the S/S tanks and the only difference will be the TEA COLOUR of the water.  The water that comes out of the tap is to make ICE CUBES for me and if they are the colour of scotch, after the second dram DO I CARE? THE CUBES will blend in nicely as they are colour coordinate. 

Ocean Falls, that we visited early, are spilling millions of gallons a day over the dam. LOCATION, LOCATION ,LOCATION. Penny and I had the discussion if there was no water at SHEARWATER we would make the 60 mile round trip to Ocean Falls (out of our way) to have full tanks for a trip south. THERE IS NO WATER IN THE BROUGHTONS yet, as south of CAPE CAUTION has not shared the rain we have had.

On next year’s BUCKET LIST is the hike up to the WORLD WAR II bomb shelter that we have somehow missed in all our visits here. (Shearwater was a seaport for flying boats).