Our whale luck continues to hold!  Welcome Passage was welcoming with two humpbacks and Merry Island was quite merry with another.  Even better, the 20-mile run across the Strait of Georgia went off without any significant wind or seas.  The torpedo testing range, Whiskey Golf, was closed for the day so we were able to sail directly across.  By noon we were through Gabriola Pass and back into protected waters.

Montague Harbor was surprisingly roomy for a beautiful Friday night in August.  Thea, Arctic Star, and Patos even found moorings available at the Provincial park.  As usual, the park itself was wonderful.  Doug and Marta from Bonum Vitae, and Clyde and Wendy from Thea went ashore to take it in.  Whole colonies of marine invertebrates clung to the dinghy dock including sea cucumbers, sea urchins, chitons, tube worms, and sea anemones.  A vibrant community in miniature.  On shore, the shell beach recorded the seafood dinners of hundreds of years of native occupation in the discarded clams, oysters, cockles and mussels.  A single Pacific yew tree, continued to guard the beach.

The evening proved eventful, for the entire fleet went ashore to the Hummingbird Pub.  The pub is a bit inland from the harbor, so an old school bus shuttled us back and forth.  And what a bus!  Each of us was handed a musical instrument upon boarding and everybody was expected to sing.  As the stereo blared classics from past decades, we all played along.  We found, surprisingly, that Ed from Discovery swings a mean tambourine, and Doug from Bonum Vitae has a keen sense of rhythm.  When we reached the pub before the Beatles’ song “Yellow Submarine” ended, we hooted our disappointment.  We could have gone on quite happily for a few more miles.

Dinner was also great fun, in that we celebrated birthdays for Doug on Bonum Vitae and Cathy on Patos.  Clearly, a birthday party to remember!  Particularly since Helayne from Arctic Star baked birthday cupcakes for the entire fleet and delivered them to all the boats for dessert.  With such an eventful day, and with the anemometer registering a solid 0.0 knots of wind, the fleet retired to a peaceful and well-earned rest.