Eating Close to Home

Lund, BC - Lund is home to commercial shrimpers whose season is May and June, so they are harvesting fast and furiously now. They leave every morning about 6:00 to set and check their prawn traps that we've seen all around. Local shrimpers here say the Japanese set the price of prawns since they have the highest demand for BC prawns. Right now, the price is $12/pound (only $4/pound goes to the shrimpers some of whom may catch 30,000 pounds this season).

So far we've caught five crabs and only 11 (delicious, sweet) prawns. We got a new prawn trap which will hopefully increase the haul. Steve says, "Picking crab and swilling beer is why I'm here." When we got tired of plain crab, I made crabcakes, and my are they tasty.


Surf and Turf
The little grocery store in Lund carries a good selection of food and supplies, but here at the end of the earth, the prices are exhorbitant: celery $4, cereal $7.50. We're just glad to be able to get what we need. Thankfully, coffee is reasonably priced.

Seafood
I've just spent a couple hours with a hook in the water and no fish to show for it. We sailed to Drew Harbor, near the town of Campbell River, about 15 miles by sea from Lund, on Saturday June 21. There is a nice walking path on the strip of land here known as Rebecca Spit. The view of the jagged peaks to the east is beautiful and thankfully we've had sunny weather to see them. And what'd'ya know -- a wifi Internet connection on the boat.


Litha 2008
June 21 was the summer solstice, celebrated by ancient Celtics as the midsummer in a festival called Litha. We didn't do anything special to celebrate, but it was a sunny day at a beautiful anchorage and we had a nice sail. Daylight happens around 4 a.m. and lasts until around 10:30 p.m. up north here.

Sailing and Fixing

We left the cold, soggy Nanaimo anchorage on June 11 and had a good sail across the Georgia Strait to Garden Bay in Pender Harbor north of Vancouver. The sun came out at 4:00. We left going north the next morning and sailed all day to Savary Island, about 25 miles; good sail, good wind speed and direction. This boat will sail at 5 knots with the mainsail only. We pulled out the jib and the genoa headsails as per the wind and dropped the mainsail manually. It falls in a second of its' own weight: a godsend compared to the roller furling on Beltane (in my opinion). We like the dual headsails too. There are so many things to get used to on this boat. But when a wave hits it, it just stands there, unlike our former, smaller boat, Beltane that would have been knocked about.

We bought a crab trap and license and plan to catch some good Savary Island crabs that we remember from years past. We've seen a boat or two from Mexico and that's interesting. Guess we aren't the only ones with this idea.

Sun and Wind

Savary Island is oriented east and west and the wind came up out of the north early Friday morning, June 13. We were anchored on the north side and had to get out fast because waves were building and it was suddenly quite rolly. We left behind the crab trap; we'll go back for it. The sun came out and it was a bright, windy, warm day for a change. We stopped in at Lund, further up the mainland coast, because the windlass misbehaved. We'll spend the next few days in this area, including the depressingly-named, but beautiful (when the sun is out) Desolation Sound, which is about 100 miles north of Vancouver.

Many thanks to Fran, the nice Lund harbor office lady, for putting more dimes in the meter where our truck is parked in Nanaimo on her trip there. (It's a real hassle having a vehicle in another town when you're out on your boat.)

The Fix List While in Nanaimo, so far:

• 220 inverter fixed
• antenna farm
• changed generator oil, replaced impeller
• cockpit table hinges
• connected TV to PC cable
• freezer compressor remounted and fixed
• GPS installed
• TV, pictures hung
• install shelf in bilge
• install outboard engine hoist
• propane regulator replaced
• radar mounted and connected in cockpit
• relocated VHF radio
• rewire 220 connection box
• seawater pump fixed
• sticking drawers fixed
• water maker checked out
• wind gauge
• XM radio mounted in nav. station

My but captain has been busy.