Friday, July 14, 2000
Ganges Harbour
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I
could live here.
I
seriously fell into the "I could live here" syndrome. I usually do that when I
find myself in a cool place with a cool community and I definitely found that in Ganges
Harbour. I love it.
I
have
discovered a lot of great places and people; and I haven't strayed more
that three blocks from the marina!
While walking into town, I met a guy from California that keeps his boat
on a lake there and trailers it to Port Townsend every summer. He is a schoolteacher and
he and his wife take their friends sailing for a week at a time around the San Juan and
Gulf Islands. Looking at him, I realized that he was so many faces I’ve known and so
many people I’ve learned from. It is weird. Sometimes I think that there are only
really like 12 different kinds of people. And we find the ones we need wherever we are
whenever we need them. This guy could have been Leon’s brother. Leon I met on the
beach in
Baja when I thought I was going to dehydrate to death. After days of being unable
to hold down fluids,
I
was
out of drinking
water and too weak to ride my motorcycle back to La
Paz for supplies. This round, gray-haired man approached me out of nowhere and asked for
my help planning a motorcycle trip to Ireland. Then he offered me an ice cold Coke from
the fridge of his RV. That was the beginning of a beautiful and weird friendship. One
thing’s for sure, I will never forget him. And as I am tying down my lines I
did a double take looking at this guy waddle toward me and ask about my boat design, where
I was from, where I was going... We talked at length about sailing, weather and life. Then
I went exploring a bit.
I walked through the park and across a stone bridge to find this glass-blower's
gallery/kayak rental shop. The road to the right leads up to the wooded hills out of town.
I found a wonderful restaurant called the "Tree House." I was built around a
beautiful tree with all the tables in a courtyard around it. The place was literally alive
with flowers and plants. It seems they have music every night under the tree.
Here is the view of the harbor from town. Check out the nearly full moon in these three
shots. These photos don't do this bay justice. There is an expanse of water as far as you
can see with islands dotting the left side.
I tried to capture the moonrise with this self timed shot from government dock.
Tomorrow I will head north as early as I can. I have been averaging about
10 nautical miles per day. Tomorrow I will try to make it all the way to the top of the
Gulf Island in order to meet Betsy on the other side of the Strait of Georgia by Sunday. I
hope the weather holds out for the crossing. The Strait of Georgia will be the largest
body of water I've ever sailed.
Frank
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