Night in Nanaimo

 

 

 

THIS IS LIKELY TO BE THE LAST night I’ll have an Internet connection for a while—and a good thing it is, because the wireless vultures have descended on me in force.

Great trip today from Blakely Island up to Nanaimo, where we gassed up. Then we moored in Mark Bay, on Newcastle Island, and went for a paddle. I showed Sam how to perform a bow rudder stroke; then I heard a big splash behind me and saw he had capsized. The water in  Mark Bay was very warm, and Sam seemed to actually enjoy his involuntary dunking.

After dinner of Mountain House beef stroganoff, I sat down in the back porch, looking out across the bay at the lights of Nanaimo—and my iPad started ringing as Verizon started sending me bills for the past three days of service. It was supposed to be $5 a day for their travel plan, but somehow—they allege—I have already rung up $50 in charges.

Anyway, we’re heading out across the Strait of Georgia tomorrow, to a place where (I pray) the wireless vultures can’t find us. The weather forecast calls for light winds Monday morning, and with any luck we may make it as far as Desolation Sound.

I’ll be able to send short messages to this blog using my Garmin inReach satellite device, but no pictures and—hooray!—no cellular data!