Afterglow Arrives in the Pacific Northwest

On May 28, Afterglow was unloaded from the MV Chipolbrock Star at the port of Nanaimo, BC, Canada. Skipper Allen and crew Adam Goldstein traveled from Seattle to Victoria aboard the Victoria Clipper fast ferry.

We spent two nights in Victoria and enjoyed high tea at Murchies, Miniature world, and other Victoria attractions.

Miniature world has dioramas and doll houses to die for.

We took the Island Link bus for the two hour drive to Nanaimo and a taxi from the ferry terminal to our hotel at the center of town. Nanaimo has a very different vibe from Victoria and we like it. For one, it is a very musical town with many venues, open mics somewhere almost every night, and Karaoke 7 nights a week.

Adam meets his good buddy Bart in Nanaimo

After a night at the best Western we caught the motor launch at 9:45 am which took us to Afterglow alongside the ship. She looked pretty much as we left her except for a layer of grime from the ship's exhaust, which we expected. We motored her around the wharf and docked at the public marina for two nights. That day we cleaned the grime and got the Bimini top and surround up then went to the store for a little pre-provisioning. The big shopping was to be done the next day, as well as putting up the jib and inflating the dingy. On our walks around town we watched an otter scoping out the small boats at the marina. A good reminder not to leave our bait unattended.

Things were looking pretty good on our last day at Nanaimo. We did our big provisioning and stopped by for a photo at the Otter Mural. Later, Allen got a chance to sit in with a local busker and play a few tunes. We both enjoyed ourselves and he told me I was the best thing to happen to him all day.

The next morning we got underway with the tide change at 11 am and headed south through the Dodd Narrows. I post this blog at anchor at Pirates Cove Provincial Marine Park at the south end of De Courcey Island. Today we learned the story of another local character but we will save that for our next blog post. Until then, Allen, Adam, and the crew of SV Afterglow bid you adeau.