Day 369 Rain, more boats and excitement

That's the way the day went.  We had rain just about all day.  Nice slow showers for the most part.  

About middle afternoon, boats started showing up(nine in total).  You can see from the Google Earth photo where Zephyr is currently located.  With North being up,  three sailboats(see picture)all anchored together in just behind that little jetty of land to our Northeast(looks like a pointed beach pointing out into the cove).  As you follow the shoreline around northward and west, you will see the dingy dock jutting out from shore almost right above Zephyr in the photo.  OK, here is the setup.

Yesterday afternoon, boats started coming into Pirates cove.  We're anchored out in the middle due to our depth requirements.  A 36 foot(give or take) sailboat pulled up next to that North dingy dock and dropped his anchor and backed in and did a stern tie to shore.  He's pretty much tied up to the dock for all intense and purposes(not allowed).  Next, in comes a 41 foot tug shown in the picture of two boats(tug is to the left, picture taken this morning).  He drops anchor just to the East of the sailboat and does a stern tie also(leaves the shoreline slack).  Next, in come the three sailboats you see all rafted together.  They each dropped their anchor and backed in just above that jutting reef in the photo I talked about above.  There are now 5 boats all tied up between the little reef(above water at low tide) and the small dingy dock just around the shore.  A tight little group.  

About 2230 hours, a wind comes up.  Maybe 10-14 knots from the Southeast and blows across the cove.  I'd checked earlier to see how many boats actually ran their anchor lights at night as is required--none(not the first time).  Suddenly, there are lights all over that side of the cove.  The 41 foot tug had apparently broken loose from his stern tie.  He's swinging down on the sailboat tied up at the dingy dock!  Mass chaos breaks out on that side of the cove.  Suddenly lots of people are out on their decks watching.  Tracy is looking out the stern port lite and I'm in the cockpit.  This is better than late night tv!!

The tug starts up his engine and pulls away from the shore and the poor sailboat that was about to be broadsided.  He's pulling up his anchor and trying to figure out what to do.  This late at night in a bit of wind blowing you across the cove is not the best time to be trying to figure out where to reset your anchor and find another(and better) stern tie on shore.  

I can hear the people on the three sailboats talking.  Their boats had been all dark in the cove.  Now, they have their anchor lights on and their deck lights for good measure.  The sailboat that is at the dingy dock now has all his lights on.  The tug is lighted like a Christmas tree.  

There are four people on board the tug so they have plenty of help.  One of the people on the sailboat at the dingy dock is walking along the shore looking for another stern tie hook for them to tie up to.  I could see his flashlight.  The tug drops his anchor and takes is dingy to shore and ties up to a chain that is well fastened to the rock ledge.  After about 90 minutes, he is set all over again.  The anchor lights stayed lite on all the boats through the night.  Ah, the excitement of another night at anchor.  I'm just glad it wasn't us.  Personally, I think I would have pulled over to one of the docks at the tiny marina  just West of Zephyr and tied up for the night.  It's a private marina but I'm sure they would have understood given the lateness of the hour.  

Today is supposed to be horrible with 30% chance of rain.  All I see is beautiful blue skies out there.  I'd rather have what I see than what they are forecasting.

I called the Nanaimo Post Office yesterday to let them know that there was a package coming via UPS.  I'd Googled the post code to get their phone number.  It ends up that the Google got it wrong as to the address of the post code I put in.  I spoke to a very nice woman who was sort of amazed that UPS would deliver to a post office like I was.  Her husband works out of the main hub in Nanaimo.  She's going to talk to him so he can watch out for it next week.  It's due in on Tuesday.  She took my phone number and said she would call when she got any information on it arriving.  She even thought she could have her husband drop it off at the dock we  will be tying up to while we are there.   This is not the USPS!!

We're going to make arrangements to rent another Enterprise Rent a Car while in Nanaimo so we can get to Costco, Walmart and a grocery store not to mention West Marine.  With them picking us up at the dock, it's the only way to go just like we did in Bellingham.  We'll have all the maps we need since everyplace we will be going is all within a few blocks of each other.  Unfortunately, they are too far from the dock to make walking  an option.  Another surgical strike day.  In, shop and out all in 24 hours.  Once we have the part from the post office and supplies we need, we will be free to head North.