We reluctantly pulled our anchor at 0900 hrs this morning and headed north to Nanaimo, on Vancouver Island. The current at Dodd Narrows will be slack at 1217 hrs. Unfortunately, we’ll have the current against us all the way. Luckily, there isn’t any wind to speak of, so we’re averaging about 7 knots.

Al decided to check the bilge after we’d been running for about 30 minutes. Bad news.  He found diesel floating on the water. So, he decided to check the engines again to see if he could find the source of the leak.  While checking one of the the filters on the starboard engine, he discovered diesel running down from the filter and dripping just outside the pan. Mystery solved. The engines were way too hot to do anything about it underway. It will have to wait for Nanaimo. So, he shut down the starboard engine and we continued on.

We managed to get do Dodd Narrows right at slack tide. The wind north of Dodd Narrows was blowing 25 knots against the tide, making for very uncomfortable seas. Luckily, we only had a short distance to go. By 1330 hrs we had our anchor down just off the Dinghy Pub in Nanaimo. We’ll anchor here for the night and then move in to a slip in the marina first thing tomorrow morning. This will be a first, since we usually just anchor out during our stay here. But, we’ve decided it makes a whole lot more sense to go ahead and pay the big bucks and tie up in the marina. Those dinghy rides from the anchorage can get very wet and hairy at times.

Al called our friends, Doug and Marilyn MacGillivray, who live just north of Nanaimo, to tell them we had arrived. They said they’d be down to pick us up at 10:30 tomorrow morning. It will be great to see them and hear all about their latest cruise through the Orient.

Al’s had a toothache for the past few days. Unfortunately, the dentist we normally see in Nanaimo has retired.  But, Al took a chance and called the old phone number.  Luckily, the new dentist, Dr. Dhami kept the old phone number.  The office was closed, but Al left a message asking for an appointment.