So yes, I do heave a pretty big sigh of relief when the last tour is over for the season.  I have a personal motto for our company (certainly not carved in brass over the corporate head-quarters, more like a small benediction), “Safe, fun, viable.” Meaning, everyone safe: guests, crew, ship,  everyone has fun, and we make enough money to pay the crews well and maintain the Columbia III properly.

So the last guests flew out of Bella Bella, and with relief and thanks, we headed south looking for a weather window to get around Cape Caution.  We had one sandy beach stop where Fern and I got to stretch our legs . . . I don’t really get off the boat a lot so it was nice.

Once we got home, we had, of course, lots to do. I have some up coming work scheduled for the boat so we had her hauled briefly to give her a “season end” inspection. Of course, my mentor/skipper/intentional uncle, Dennis came to check  on the Columbia III and to advise me on all things “wooden boat”.

My skipper/mentor of 41 years, Dennis poses . . .

And then we got home, we unloaded all the mattresses and left-over food, and cleaned the boat and changed the oil on the main engine so she sits with clean oil over the winter and FINALLY slipped the boat back into her custom built shed for the winter . . . aaaahhhhh.