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| View from Comox Harbor |
Yes, the weather has definitely changed. It is fall with a vengeance. We have had gale force winds - 20 - 40 knots for the past three days - and rain, needle sharp, prickly, side-ways rain. And did I mention the wind? At 25 kts it's enough to blast poor Zippy right into the drink.
Jim has successfully repaired the fuel problem - we think, but won't know until we go back out and at 30 Kts of wind, that's not happening- especially since the engine quit in 0 kts of wind. We are aiming for a Saturday departure as the winds should be 5 -15 kts. then.
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| Deer lounging in the park in Comox |
In the meantime, we enjoy Comox but we know we have been here too long as the Harbor Master, Liz has invited us to her home. On Friday night, our last night here, we have dinner with our new friend Gavin - the head of BC Search and Rescue - and his wife and daughter. They send us off with fresh sockeye salmon, red wine and homemade blackberry jam. Provisions should we get stranded again.
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| Leaving Comox at Sunrise |
On Saturday morning we leave Comox - again. This is the first day without rain or gale force winds in 4 days. We cruise out of the harbor at 7 AM sharp and 35 minutes later pass the scene of our last break down. I hold my breath but we sail right by and continue on without incident. I resume breathing.
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| Fog Rolling In |
Clouds start to gather and heavy fog rolls in but we roll on. The water is calm - I guess it's either fog and glassy water or wind, rough seas and clear skies. Right now, radar is our eyes so we enjoy the smooth waters. After several hours the fog breaks and we are in sunny skies - and still no wind.
This good luck holds for 8 hours and when we can see Thetis Island, our refuge for the night, the engine stalls. Stopped. Dead. Finished. Over and out. Deja vue all over again. Veterans that we now are of being engineless in the islands, we remain calm and call the marina. Dan, the harbor master, says he will come get us - and he does. In a smaller boat than our last tow, he expertly tows us in and two hours later we are safely docked. Only then do we find out he has never towed anyone before in his life, this is only the second time he has ever driven the tow boat, it is in fact not a tow boat, and it's not even his boat. Hmmm....
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| Our Novice Tower |
The Tow Boat
The Welcoming Committee
Jim diagnoses the problem - again, a plugged fuel line - and we also discover it is a defectively manufactured and or assembled fuel line. The lawyer in me is churning and I proceed to bag the evidence and mount my legal arguments. But clearly, this will have to wait until later as we are now stuck on an island.
Oh, and did I mention our water line sprung a geyser so we also have no water. We're on the water, yet we have no water. We prioritize and Jim mentions that we are now aiming pretty low when all we are wishing for is some hot water to wash our hands. But on the plus side - we have wine and now seems an appropriate time to guzzle some.
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| Thetis Island with storm clouds |
On Sunday, Bob,who works on the fuel dock and lives on his boat here, generously lets us use his car (no rentals to be had on the island or within 45 miles of the mainland) so we can take the ferry - $46.00 and 30 minutes - to cross to the mainland, drive to the nearest city, Nanaimo - 45 minutes away (gas $38.00) - to buy 2 feet of water hose for 5 bucks. But hey, they have a Starbucks! Mochas for everyone!
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| Not Us - But Outside Our Harbor on the Rocks |
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