There was never going to be a good time to leave Desolation Sound … there never is. But we upped anchor yesterday morning and left Prideaux Haven for the city of Westview regardless.
It was a quiet day on the water; the sun was shining and the sea was still. David’s shoulder continues to be an issue, so he stayed down below and rested most of the trip while I kept an eye on things. As I sat in the cockpit alone, I couldn’t help but feel sad as the cruising season slipped out of our grasp with each passing nautical mile. If he had said, “let’s turn around,” I would have happily gone. But it’s time.
We motored down to Westview where I hiked up the hill for a few provisions and to visit the pharmacy. I spoke with a pharmacist about David’s issue and, from what I told her, she believes (as we do) that there’s a pinched nerve involved. Her husband had a similar problem and it took two months to work his way through it – the good news is that we’re over half way there.
David stayed on the boat to change the oil and speak to the local Volvo dealer about the engine gasket. From his explanation, they said it would cost CA$5,000 to fix. Needless to say, we’ll be shopping our options. He’d hoped to uninstall the windlass and bring it down to Vandercamp’s to be tested but was concerned he couldn’t manage the job with his shoulder, so it’ll have to wait until we reach Poulsbo and he feels better. Until then, we’ll just keep babying ours and hope it makes it.
It was nice to plug in and tie up for the night but after twenty-four hours we were ready to move on. So we did. It was a different day on the water – the sunshine was gone and suddenly it’s much cooler. The high that’s been blocking most of the bad weather and keeping us warm is dissipating and strong southeasterlies are on the way.
By six o’clock our anchor was down in Pender Harbour where we’ll wait for the weather to move through the area. I’m feeling a bit uneasy about anchoring here. Though you wouldn’t know it by the current forecast, which is only predicting winds of 15– 25 knots, something wicked is headed our way. I can feel it. And the holding in Pender Harbour is questionable at best. But our options are limited for this section of the coast, so we’ll just have to see how it goes.
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