7/18 Silva Bay

This morning I sent email queries to marinas in Telegraph Harbour and Maple Bay asking about availability of moorage, as we were considering heading out to one of those locations today. The best time to leave would be late in the afternoon, both for the current in Gabriola Passage and to take advantage of the ebb current heading south. They all responded with varying degrees of availability, from "no problem" to "you'll have to call us", but in the end we decided that where we were was a nicer place to spend the weekend, so we'll stay and play here for a couple more days.

Trav's knee was less angry today, but I think by now we've all come to the conclusion that it's going to need some external intervention for repair. He was going to call his orthopedic surgeon today to see when he could get in and also to get any advice on immobilization and pain management. Our cell phones don't have reception here, so the plan was to use the pay phone at the head of the dock with a calling card. It's a nice level walk at high tide, but at low tide, which it was, the dock ramp was an obvious knee killer. The phone call was postponed, but Barb and Erin had returned from their excursion to the village yesterday with an elastic knee brace with Velcro attachments. Hopefully that will restrain some of the twisting motions that aggravate it.

In the early afternoon, Erin and I decided to go for a walk and find our way over to Page's Resort, a marina just to the south of us. It's not much more than a stone's throw across the shipyard entrance from us via the water, but it's a half mile or more up and down some steep hills by land via a shortcut through the woods. The trail we found was narrow at first, tunneling through overhead shade trees and lined with ferns. It eventually widened to a single lane road, where we found the remains of a pickup truck that had probably been there for at least 30 years. We then came to a T and headed towards our left down a steep drive that led us to Page's.

The cruising guides describe it as a smaller marina that provides 15 amp power. We had to laugh at the electrical system. There were two sets of docks, and at the head of each one was a bird's nest of wires, with extension cords trailing off towards each berth. They had a great view of the southern shallow entryway, where the locals and the seaplane come and go. The marina office was also a small bookstore, with mostly nautical selections. Next door was a building that we learned used to be a dive shop, and was in the process of being returned to service. The owners had recently purchased the marina from their grandparents, so it's a continuing family operation. In front of the former dive shop was a gas pump that probably hadn't seen service since the early 60's. It was the kind where you had to reset the dials via a separate lever, and the price was set at 26 cents per gallon, not liter. Across the way were the remains of an even older pump, the kind with the glass reservoir on top.

Although we had cool breezes out on the end of the dock at our boat, it was fairly warm on the roads and trails of our hike. We were glad to get back to consume some cold beverages and relax a bit. Business had been fairly slow here mid-week, but boats were pouring in by later afternoon. A 57' Chris Craft Constellation of 1970 vintage came in and moored across the dock from the Bar-T-Na, and a little later the Monaco, a mid 1950's Constellation in prime condition that we've seen at several Chris Craft Rendezvous came in. With three on the same dock I donned my Canadian Chris Craft Rendezvous cap to chat with the new arrivals. Our prime spot here on the end was coveted via phone by a 70' yacht towing a 20' dinghy, but we are still here and they took a spot on the A dock next to the fuel dock.

Another combination dinner was the order of the day. Erin prepared a rice and bean casserole, including some sausages contributed by Trav and Barb. On the Bar-T-Na Trav cooked up some potatoes and eggs, chopped onions and made other preparations that Barb came in from her art work to transform into a potato salad. By now Trav and his knee were ready for a field trip, so dinner was aboard the Potentate. It was scrumptious, and followed by a light dessert of vanilla yogurt with raspberries.

We all went to the Bar-T-na after dinner, where we started a new game of dominos. We're halfway through and will pick up where we left off tomorrow night.