Hello Followers. We are in Gorge Harbour on Cortes Island. We had plans to leave this morning but due to weather forecast of winds up to 50 knots we, being the purdent sailors we are, stayed hooked for the afternoon and moved to the marina due to 3o knot forecast for the night.

Let's do some catch up - in the Comox Valley we had 14 guest aboard to celebrate Juliet's fourth birthday - she is a big girl now. The following night Ron and I had friends over that we had not seen in some time - Donna and Eddy, Bunty,and, Leanne and Gracie.

Dad came over yesterday to have coffee with us and say good-bye before we headed north. When leaving Comox to head north you have to cross the Comox Bar. It was a beautiful morning and lots of boats were out fishing. We had light SE winds - thought we could do some genneker sailing but alas, the winds were tooooo light. We motored to Gorge Harbour.

On the way to Cortes Island there is a small island called Middlenatch. This is approximately where the tides that flood around Vancouver Island meet. When Ron and I now look at the charts we need to remember and check that the ebb tide is north and flood tide is south. That is opposite to when we are in the Victoria area.

Middlenatch is also the island that my Dad was stranded on for a night or two abut 38 years ago. If you ever meet up with a fellow by the name of Bud Hayward buy him a beer and he will tell you the story.

Prior to getting to Gorge Harbour we spotted a boat perched on the rocks at the SW corner of Marina Island. Poor folks had to wait for a high tide.

We had a great night on the hook (anchored) last night but the winds did pick up fairly early this morning. Winds were gusting to 25 knots so gave our new Rocna anchor a good test.

I forced Ron and Winston to walk to Whaletown and wouldn't you know it -it poured rain too. We have all the rain gear but left it on the boat. Who knew...

The good news - this morning Ron added another strip of copper foil for more grounding. The SSB worked and we finally made connection with Barbara of the Great Norther Boaters Net. I am not sure who was more excited-us for contacting Barbara -or Barbara for finally hearing from us! It was wonderful to check in. Tomorrow our plan is to transit the Yuculta Rapids and Gillard Passage then stay at Dent Island the night. The following day we will transit the Dent Rapids and then pick a spot to anchor before heading out to Johnstone Strait. The winds are 30 knots in Johnstone Strait right now but will calm before we get there.

Winston is enjoying having Ron and I with him 24/7. He is getting lots of attention from other boaters we meet.

Tonight we are going to feast on steak and prawns - yes Bill, they are OUR prawns!

Finding internet connection is getting more difficult but say tuned and I will update in a day or two.

Cheers for now!