House duties

We have been anchored in Squirrel Cove for 3 days now and are sharing this tranquil place with only a handful of boats, most of who seem to be using it as a stop-over on their way north or south and only stay for one night.

At the North end of the cove is a tidal lagoon with its entrance only about 15 feet wide. At high tide the water rushes into the lagoon at around 15 knots. Katya and I have been having fun in the evenings running the rapids in the kayaks into the lagoon for a swim and exploring.

Another strange anomaly with the cove is the high number of jelly fish. I suppose that this is due to the higher than average water temperatures in this sheltered spot. Fortunately for us the jelly fish don’t sting unlike their Australian relatives.

We have now been on the anchor for three weeks now and it was time for a trip to the laundry. This involved a 2 mile trip in the dinghy to the Squirrel Cove General Store, laundry, restaurant, petrol station, liquor store, hardware store and craft shop and general place of local gossip and “interesting people”. Yes one place on this island does it all.  You would think that laundering your clothes is a simple process, but we were soon enlightened by a local that certain knowledge is required to operate the machines. The Laundromat has about 7 machines and apparently some are better than others. Some clean clothes whilst other destroy them. Some require more money than others and some throw your clothes on the floor. This was all explained to us in great detail by one of the locals. We managed to wash and dry our clothes without so much as a lost sock.

Whilst we were there we also ordered two new propane tanks as the two we currently have apparently expired two years ago and nobody would fill them. (people have been filling them for the last year though) They do look a little over used and corroded. Strangely enough they are cheaper here than they are in Vancouver although we have to wait for 5 days before they will be delivered. We do have one tank which is ¾ full so we will have to make that last until the tanks arrive. Baking bread will be temporarily suspended.

Tomorrow we will be heading off to the Octopus islands which are about 25 miles north of where we are and through the Hole in The Wall Rapids, which run at about 10-12 knots. So it is an early start to get us there for slack water.

I went for a walk this afternoon over to Von Donop Inlet, 3 kms each way. The walk winded its way through the forest. The colours have started to fade. No longer are the greens vibrant but they are turning yellow and brown. The mosses and lichen are not soft and spongy but dull and crusty. The streams no longer flow, instead stagnant pools have formed. The long dry spell will be coming to an end soon but hopefully not too soon. Whilst doing our laundry we were told by a few people that although there are no bears on the island there are wolves and mountain lions (cougars).