OK, some catching up.

Starting with yesterday (Tuesday), we went for a hike on the lovely Newcastle Island where we are/were anchored.  We ended up doing a 7 mile hike around the outside of the island.  Really lovely!  The trees!!  There were maples, pines, firs, redwoods, all kinds and they were old.  Some huge trees.  Reminded us of Muir Woods in California.

We dinghied ashore to a nice welcoming sign.

The first thing we saw was this lovely totem!

Much of the hike was among beautiful trees such as this.

Then…after some “hammock time” and etc, we went to the Dinghy Bar where we met up with some friends we met last year (Morgan and Douglas on Tumbleweed) and some friends we met last week (Phil and Betty on Pilgrim).

Tumbleweed. Morgan and Douglas are headed to the South Pacific after one more season in this beautiful area. They were so kind to give us their cruising guides to the area and we traded our PDFs of the South Pacific islands.

Pilgrim and their guard dog; "Thomas".

And dumb-us for not getting actual pictures of us with the crews of these yachts.  Damn!  Maybe we’ll catch them and get pics.

But we did have a get together at the “Dinghy Dock”.  A well known local “floating” establishment where you tie up your dinghy and stop in for a beer and some – as it turns out – really good food!  Music as well!  Much fun was had by all.

Looks like my kind of place!

Fun to motor over, tie up and enjoy good, friends, good beer and food and live music! (OK, the sign says no tie; dinghies tied up on the right)

So, we’re now up to today; Wednesday.  We moved over to the Nanaimo Yacht Club transient slip where we got a pretty good deal ($20 Canadian/day) to tie up.  More importantly we can use their showers and laundry!!  One of us – no names now – was getting a little ripe!  We also did some provisioning as we’re close to “jumping” to the other side – the BC coast where we’ll head up into the wilderness.  First stop is Princess Louisa, then on to Desolation Sound and up to the Broughtons (for those who know).  The only downside is the slip we are in is 1/4 mile from the showers/laundry!  Oh, well it’s good exercise, except when it’s raining (like now!)

But for now – we’re staying here for a bit since literally a couple hours ago, Ann broke her tooth!  It doesn’t hurt, but the whole  corner of a molar is gone.  We’re going to scramble to find a dentist tomorrow and see what can be done.  Bummer.

OK, and here’s today’s Mystery Message Contest!  What does the following message mean?

Mystery Message.