Sailing away from paradise

    We woke at about 9am. Miguel and Brooney left their addresses and offered an extended invitation whenever we were in the neighborhood. We all had coffee on my boat then sadly said goodbye. As we were leaving, Miguel’s friend Ben showed up from Taxada Island and asked if he wanted to go fishing. Miguel said, "Well I guess that hot water heater will have to wait until tomorrow." And before I was off the dock, they headed off into the sea. The motor back to Sechelt was a bit depressing. Betsy packed, we made knot work bracelets for each other and soon we found ourselves back in the bay with the barges and we could see Ivan’s house with the red roof.

I tied up on the Indian Nation’s float. There seemed to be a lot of room. On the way to shore Betsy and I dropped off a note and a little gift on Ivan’s small green sloop as a thank you for the good advice. We walked back to Betsy’s car and drove back to the boat.

We said goodbye and just like that she was gone.

Alone again, I made my way to the beach to row back to the float when I realized that an Indian fishing boat had returned to the float. I rowed over and asked if I could stay there. He said, "No. These are private. The boats will be back soon and they need to tie up here." I apologized and said I would just anchor for the night. When he realized I wasn’t looking for a place to live, and leaving in the morning, he explained that the fishing boats were on their way back from Alaska and were still a couple of days away. So I rowed back to shore, walked into town made a few calls and ate at the SunFish Caf� again. Who knows when I am going to find a lentil burger again anytime soon? I wandered back past the totem poles and cemetery. Once onboard, I stowed the anchor line and plotted a coarse for tomorrow’s "Long schlog to Lund" as Ivan would say.

Frank

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