South Again??!?...

When the temp rises to 90... ...the cold water swimming looks more inviting.
Shortly after this photo, Chance met his first seal. A pup, noisily missing his mom, swam right up to us. Chance lept into action and plowed down the rocks. We yelled to get him to leave it be, but he ignored us and walked right up to it to touch noses. Satisfied that it was just a waterlogged dog, Chance wandered back to us at his own pace as the little pup swam away.

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Speaking of Chance. Here's a shot of him in Pirate's Cove Lagoon south of Nanaimo. The cove has a veerrry strange and interesting history, but also a fun treasure chest. Cruisers left the chest and folks can take something and leave something.

Chance took a stuffed fish and left a stuffed starfish that we'd found in Olympia, and he never played with. He's a bit of a snob for vertebrates, it would seem.

Our hero, upon entering Dodd Narrows (our first real serious tidal narrows) hoping the pirate bandanna will give his ship luck. We made it, though we realized we were a bit on the late side for the tide swing, where slack water only lasts a few minutes. The 3-4 knot current, pushy boaters, and tugboats pulling massive log rafts choked the 100 yard wide gap, making this a tricky and stressful passage. Note the "I'm not worried" look upon circling back a time or two.

If you click this photo, you'll see what I mean.

This is what it can look like, and isn't a place to be late getting through. Our second run was clogged with grumpy boaters, but luckily log-free.