7/3 Westscott Bay

No decision was made by anyone to leave anytime today, so we stayed. We joined Trav and Barb for a dinghy ride around the bay late in the morning, and watched as the herons did their fishing and hunting along the shore. The tide was at minus 3.6 feet, and there were a few locals out on the beach as well digging for clams. It was more muck than beach - one gal had on knee high boots, and was struggling with each step. She had to put her bucket down on each step for support while she tried to pull out the foot still behind her.

After the ride we checked our two crab pots, a combination of Trav's pots and our buoys – Trav left his buoys at home. First we retrieved last night's catch, 5 nice Dungeness crabs so big that the gauge was not necessary. These would have been legal crabs even in Alaska. Later we retrieved 4 more. We stored them in buckets with lids and holes that we can hang below the water to keep them nice and fresh.

After an afternoon break for napping and other leisurely activity, we convened here on the Potentate for a crab dinner extraordinaire. Trav and I cleaned the crabs on the back deck and delivered them in batches of 3 to the galley, where Erin and Barb boiled them on the stovetop. We each had two baggies full, and the last batch became dinner. We stuffed ourselves with crab, accompanied by a salad that Barb brought over. We ate up on the bridge for a wonderful evening of harbor viewing. The sunset was spectacular and Erin captured the event with several photos.

Tomorrow's plan is to head to Ganges, on Saltspring Island, after a brief stop at Canadian Customs.