August 30-31 -- Friends at Pender Harbour

We leave Grace Harbour with Tangleberry, bound for Pender Harbour. We can make it home tomorrow with only this one stop, if we choose. It is a beautiful, sunny day, with a northwest wind, and we sail for a few hours. It finally seems as if summer has arrived! It is so nice, in fact, that we radio Tangleberry to let them know we are slowing down to take advantage of the lovely weather for a few more days. They continue on, intent on getting home tomorrow. We pull in to Blind Bay at the entrance to Jarvis Inlet and scout around for a while before dropping the hook in Ballet Bay. Next morning, Cliff makes pancakes before we motor the short distance to Pender Harbour, where we tie up at the VRC outstation dock. It is Labour Day weekend, and we expect it to be crowded, but we have the dock to ourselves for 24 hours. We noticed a sign on the way in inviting boats to tie up and tour the open house in a beautiful development, so we dinghy over for a look. The house we see is a dream—waterfront property with moorage and a view to die for, through arbutus trees and past small islands to Georgia Strait and the Vancouver Island mountains in the distance. Oh, for an extra $1.25M.

Continuing our dinghy trip, we buzz through a narrow channel down to the end of Gunboat Bay , where our friends Richard and Alisa have a lovely summer property. We catch them at the cottage and have a good visit, then Cliff and some other men help Richard put away all the canoes, kayaks, sailing dinghies and other toys for the winter. Winter!! We’ve just found summer! We make a quick sidetrip to the IGA in Madeira Park for groceries, then extend our visit over dinner with Richard and Alisa at the Garden Bay Pub.