Monday, August 18, 2025
We’ve sprung a leak. An exhaust leak but nonetheless a leak. We discovered it yesterday enroute to Secret Cove. At first I just smelled something that wasn’t right but couldn’t place it. The dryer was going, so was the diesel furnace but after checking both of those things, it still wasn’t the culprit. John went into the engine room a couple different times and couldn’t find anything. One more trip to the engine room and he finally discovered that a plastic bucket was leaned up against the exhaust pipe and it was melting. Furthermore he discovered that the exhaust was leaking out into the engine room thus heating things up in the engine room. His melamine table down there was also getting disfigured. The exhaust began to infiltrate the cabin which started to give me a headache. The water was so rough yesterday that we couldn’t have portholes or windows open because we were getting spray over the bow. Ugh. Emails to a couple of repair yards were made requesting bids for the work, so we wait and see today if they will answer. Cruising at 7AM with the windows and doors open this morning makes for a chilly ride.
Last night’s dinner was FABulous! They billed it as a 5 course tasting menu but I think the first course alone was 5 different things. With two pasta courses in the middle, and duck 4 ways as the main, we could barely eat the dessert plate before us and waddle back to the boat! I do highly recommend this experience though, it was really outstanding!
We had hoped to leave at 5AM this morning and were up at 4:30 to drink some coffee and pry the eyes open. Sunrise wasn’t until around 6 so we ended up having to wait until 5:45 to be able to see enough to depart. It’s a dead calm morning and the straits are flat. We are enroute to Vancouver for five nights to explore the city from the water and looking forward to a new chapter in our book of adventures! We had to time our arrival for 9AM slack at the Lion’s Gate Bridge which is called “First Narrows” so we don’t hit the currents.
Arrived! Great location right adjacent to Stanley Park! We are also on the seaplane path so they are ascending and descending right over our heads. Once settled I was exhausted from the early morning departure, so John went walking through the park while I napped most of the afternoon. We hit a local restaurant “Lift” for Happy Hour/appetizers for dinner, which was located right on the waterfront just down the path. Vancouver has a wonderful pedestrian and bike trail system, with separated paths for each so bikes and walkers/joggers aren’t dodging each other. After dinner we took the whaler out and had a wonderful evening cruise through the vast harbor, weaving through Royal Vancouver Yacht Club’s docks and boathouses, and along the main Coal Harbour Marina slips. Great evening.
No comments