It really was a terrible spring for painting! It rained relentlessly for weeks and then the sun would poke out its head for far too short a time. Eventually we managed to paint the entire exterior of vessel (from the top of the mast to the base of the keel) but it was not without ample use of tarps and some sleepless nights hoping of a break in the weather before our early season Natural History tours with Bill Merilees. When the sun finally did shine it was ironically often too hot! and the paint was setting up too quickly. But with the entire family out with rollers and brushes we succeeded, with only the skipper seeming to have acquired the extra grey hairs…

How do you spell “Colmubia” again? (upside down)

Painting myself into a corner!

We left home on the turn to flood, picking up two neighbours, Robin 13 and Frieda 11, and headed for Nanaimo. The sea was glass calm and we couldn’t resist the temptation to visit Mitlenatch Island in the middle of the northern gulf. We then continued on to Jedidiah Island to anchor for the night. Of course Fern and Luke were instantly off to hike to the top of the nearest hill (any hill will do!) and discovered many feral goats and the amazing farm. After all these years on the coast and we finally landed on this gem of an old homestead. We explored the meadows and marveled at the work that went into the clearings, and thanked the generosity of the people that helped turn the island into a park. The following morning saw us carefully being hauled out at Nanaimo Shipyard for our annual below-water painting and bi-annual Ministry of Transport “out of water” inspection. The shipyard workers did all the work below the waterline but the rest of the family used the opportunity to scrub, sand and paint the areas of the vessel that are hard to reach when the boat is floating: the swim grid, bow-iron, waterline gumwood and boot-top. Captain Sultan Virani from Transport Canada made his inspection on the 7th and all was fine.