After a couple of days at Royal Cove on Portland Island, we sailed to Port Browning on North Pender Island.
We chose Port Browning because there is a little village only a short 10-15 minute walk away. Here we were able to reprovision, do laundry and shower! We decided to tie up at the marina so that we could do things more easily and also so Ellery could repair our dinghy as it seemed to have a leak.
Ellery got the first load of laundry in, had a shower and went to get groceries all within Maddie’s nap. It was probably faster for him to do it on his own but I had some serious cabin fever, being stuck on the boat with 2 sleeping girls.
We were desperate for some fresh produce but groceries sure are expensive on the Gulf Islands so we didn’t stock up quite as much as we would have liked. We are also still finding our groove in the galley. We really need to find more easy recipes we could make on the boat.
Once Ellery was back and the girls were awake, we all headed out to the village as I knew there was also a cafe where I could get a coffee. It was great to stretch our legs and let Maddie run around. We also chatted with some locals, which is a great window into the island life. Having kids definitely makes us more approachable and Maddie is pretty friendly these days. Amelia also wins the hearts of locals, especially the older ladies.
Here we are walking along a calm island road to the village.
We tied up at the marina for two nights and the middle day Ellery was able to repair the dinghy (see picture below) and get a couple other things done.
It was my job to get the second load of laundry in while hanging out with Maddie. I was so distracted with her that I took the freshly washed clothes out of the washer and put them into the machine beside, which also happened to be a washer! I didn’t notice my mistake until Ellery went to take the clothes out of the dryer but found them still wet in the washing machine. I felt like such an idiot! At least the clothes were clean and we did eventually get them dried.
We spent one afternoon on the beach exploring and showing Maddie crabs, shells and shipwrecks. She had a bucket and collected treasures in it, which mainly turned out to be rock weed.
Above is a picture of Ellery and Maddie with one of the shipwrecks on the beach.
Our time staying at the marina allowed us to see and meet some of the local and transient boaters. Our last evening, I watched as the local Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue, which is a volunteer organization, return a man’s dinghy which had floated away. The man lives on his boat in the harbour and he hadn’t tied up his dinghy so it had floated away.
We were excited to leave the marina and sail to Montague Harbour next!
– Chari
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