GALIANDER TRAVELS - 2005

This was supposed to be a quick haul out year: Only a touch up of the bottom paint was required and with any luck at all we expected to be hauled out one day and dropped back in the next day. But when we tried to leave home port to head for the boatyard at Canoe Cove, Sydney, Galiander wouldn't budge. Fortunately the local scallop fishermen were heading out at the same time and agreed to dive the boat when they returned. The prop was a mass of barnacles. Ten minutes, $60 and 2 beer later we were on our way - late but not too late. An uneventful passage under power and occasionally sail allowed us to grab a mooring buoy across from the Marina at Sidney Spit at 6:30pm. We hauled out early the next day and things were going very well indeed. Then, alas, fate intervened again in the form of a broken lift machine at the marina. We had to go home by ferry and return several days later to put Galiander back in the water.

The trip home to Galiano became a nice little mini-cruise. We visited old anchorages on Pender Island and had friends down for a visit. We sat out some rainy weather at the Port Browning Marina listening to the "Saltwater Cowboys" sing. The trip was topped off by a stop at the new commercial development at Hope Bay Dock half way up Navy Channel. We were bucking an unexpected tide and it was a good excuse to wait it out. Tides in Navy Channel do not seem to follow the rules!

It was a rainy spring and so we tended to stay home and wait for breaks in the weather, then take little cruises during the nice weather. One such trip was to James Bay on Prevost Island. The land around James Bay is all parkland and provides excellent hiking. From there it was a short hop to Ganges Harbour on Saltspring and then back home again before the next weather system moved in.

The final outing of the season was a six day cruise of the Southern Gulf Islands with the Pender Island Yacht Club. This took us to more of our favourite spots; Wallace Island Marine Park, Pirates Cove Marine Park and Silva Bay Marina where we enjoyed a group barbecue and celebrated Eleanor's birthday. We met many new friends and had a wonderful time.

Our cruising season was unfortunately interrupted by the need to attend to John's prostate cancer. A prostatectomy (surgical removal of the prostate) occurred in the middle of July and the need to avoid lifting heavy objects for six weeks afterward pretty well forbid any cruising. The good news is that the surgery was entirely successful and the cancer is almost certainly gone. So we will be back again next year as usual. We look forward to meeting our sailing buddies again.