7/13 Silva Bay

With the windows out up on the bridge, the two straps at the back of the canvas get into a harmonic vibration when the wind blows, putting out a quite noticeable hum. I think that's what woke me up around 5:00 or so this morning. The wind had changed directions and was blowing in from the straits through the narrow channel to the north of Shipyard Rock. We seemed to be holding our position, and so did Trav, although he was closer to both the rocks and the RVYC outpost dock than he would have liked. I watched the Bar-T-Na for 10 or 15 minutes to assure myself it was holding its position and it appeared to remain in the same area relative to its surroundings.

Trav was up watching as well, and we were soon in contact on the radio. After reeling in 20 feet of chain to see if that would improve his position he decided to relocate. I larger classic yacht had just left its anchorage out in front of the outpost dock, and with Barb at the bow, they hoisted anchor and relocated to that spot.

We were swinging from side to side in the wind, and while we were staying put, when we were sideways to the rollers that were now coming into the harbor, we were rocked quite a bit. The docks were looking more attractive all the time, and around 8 Trav headed over there for a closer look, mooring at the end of the B dock at the Silva Bay Marina. A 47 foot Bayliner on the same dock was preparing to depart, so Trav radioed that info to me and we headed on over as well.

Silva Bay is directly across the Georgia Strait from Vancouver, and is a weekend destination for many. We had assumed that a lot of boats would be headed out, and by noon or so about three fourths of the docks were empty. The winds, which had been blowing from 14 to 18 mph and seemed to be increasing, subsided a few hours later, leaving us with a beautiful day.

Once we were situated, Erin prepared blueberry pancakes for all of us and we took all the fixin's over to Bar-T-Na for breakfast. I found out that moorage is handled at the liquor store up a ways from the head of the dock, but that it didn't open until 9 o'clock. I went up a little later to make sure our spots were okay. I was sure they would be unless the marina was expecting a 90 footer that needed the entire length - they weren't.

Our dinghy has two seats - a bench seat up front, and an after-market seat back near the engine with a vinyl cushion and a storage box underneath. A lid covers the opening to the storage compartment, and the seat cushion holds the lid in place. We didn't use our dinghy while in Nanaimo, so somewhere between Ganges and here, the cushion came unsnapped (actually, one of the snaps broke), and the lid fell out. As luck would have it, it didn't land on the swim step and stay with us. This made for a fairly uncomfortable seat from which to drive the boat, so this morning I went ashore looking for some material to use as a replacement. There is a boatyard and wooden boat school here at the marina, so my chances were pretty good. I came upon the marina attendant while roaming about, and together we scrounged through the scraps and came up with a nice piece of marine plywood that could be cut to size. Trav had offered the use of his battery powered saber saw, so I made some measurements to cut off the piece we needed. We placed the wood so that the saw blade would follow the gap between the planks on the dock. Trav stood on the board while I cut - fortunately he had two batteries for the saw, and there was just enough juice in both to make the cuts. We're back in business on the dinghy seat.

The day seemed to go by quickly even though we weren't doing much. Erin prepared a dish of lasagna and Barb and Trav brought over a salad and wine. After dinner we watched a movie, 'The Bucket List". We had seen it a few weeks earlier, but it was so good we brought it along as an option for a movie night.