MONDAY, SEPT. 21st

We are back in Ganges for a few days... Mischa and the boys have come over for a visit, so we're having a family interlude here.

MUCH needed, because just before we left Ganges the other day to head over to Prevost Island, we got a dreaded call from our friend Sri about Susan. It is with heavy heart that I write this: my funny, smart and wonderful closest friend Susan has been officially declared brain dead (after 5 weeks post-brain surgery with still absolutely no positive response on her part), and she will be transferred soon to a long-term care facility in Nanaimo (nearer their Qualicum Beach home) to live out her days. Sri is crazy with grief, confusion ... and still recovering from his own prostate cancer surgery, and Michael and I are still in a state of disbelief.

So we dropped anchor in a quiet little-used cove on Prevost, and spent the last two days IN a daze ... alternatively crying, reminiscing, praying and having a lot of (apparently) false hope. It's SO hard to process this ... but I'm also glad we're on this holiday while we do that processing. We asked Sri if he wanted us to come home, but he's got other family and friends around, and of course he (and Susan!) would both want us to continue.

In my last post, I mentioned that our trip from Cabbage to Galiano was uneventful until we got to the Active Pass entrance... where we had a few anxious moments! We had to cross the pass to get into Sturdies Bay, and that entrance has a lot of currents, and traffic -- and of course, reefs and rocks off the Georgina Point lighthouse, and we still had the wind. Here's Georgina Point...

We were approaching the pass from the south-east, and there was a huge research vessel approaching from the north-east. After determining that we couldn't win that race, we held back, but knew we would have to 'cut in' behind it in order to get across the pass and steer clear of the reefs. The research boat went by and headed into the pass ...

... and, as we crossed behind it, we then saw that there was a huge yacht directly behind it and moving even faster... and then we noticed the new huge ferry coming OUT of the pass toward us at about 15 knots!

Whew... that was a little nerve-wracking, to say the least. (Those boats are much closer than they appear, but at least they were off our stern!)

Sturdies Bay is lovely, and we had a nice visit with Mike. The visitor's dock is in behind a ferry dock:


And the whole Sturdies Bay experience is like a throw-back to some other century or something... the mailman arrives by boat at 6:45 a.m., and the SCHOOL BUS arrives a bit later -- check it out!



You may not be able to see the name on the side of that boat, but it's called 'Scholarship.' How cute is that?

This was pretty cute, too -- this otter entertained us from 10' away...



Our friend Mike is the Wharfinger at Whaler Bay on Galiano, but it's easier to do the 10-minute walk there than it is to take the Wind Walker in...

Lovely surroundings for wireless access, wouldn't you say?


I finished knitting a plain pair of socks, and the baby blanket while we were there:


The baby blanket was timely, because we were able to go by inflatable into Active Pass and over to Miners Bay on Mayne Island ...

... where I presented the blanket to my friend Monica, over lunch at the historic Springwater Lodge:

Monica's daughter Amanda has a new baby boy, so Monica is a grandma for the first time!

I'll do another update before we leave Ganges with the Prevost Island pics and stories ... but today is a day for grandson therapy! :-)