CAMPBELL RIVER, DAY 2

We decided a layover day was in order, first because it was a somewhat stressful day going through Seymour Narrows yesterday, second because we had a lot of laundry to do, third because it was very windy, fourth because we needed to do some boat cleaning, fifth because there was a Farmer’s Market scheduled and sixth because there were a couple of museums we wanted to visit.

Farmer's Market

Laundry was first - got that done - then the Farmer’s Market, which opened at 10 AM. It was a very nice Market, right at the top of the dock. We bought a few things, brought them back to the boat, then headed up to the Campbell River Museum. That is an excellent little museum, with a varied number and type of exhibits, everything from First Nation history, to local development history, to natural history. We spent a few hours there, including watching a film of the efforts to blow up a large rock in the middle of Seymour Narrows in the 1950s. The rock was such a hazard to navigation, a massive effort was undertaken to get rid of it. The resulting explosion was the largest non-nuclear detonation in history, and it got rid of the rock.

Campbell River Museum

We then stopped by the Maritime Heritage Museum which, as the name suggests, is focused on the fishing and shipping history of the area. It was not a large museum, but Harold made up for it. Harold is a retired boatman and crabber who constructs incredibly detailed ship models in his spare time and also volunteers as a docent at the Museum. Oh, and Harold loves to talk. Since we were the only two people in the museum, we were the objects of his attention. He actually made the museum much more interesting, although we were relieved when another patron came in and we ran a successful pick and screen.

Maritime Heritage Museum

One of my objectives for the day was to wash down the boat, but that was thwarted when the fellow from the next boat over started up a conversation. Maybe it’s the long, wet winters around here, or something, but people really like to talk once the sun is shining. We had a very long, wide-ranging conversation (which Elaine managed to duck out of) and the boat is still dirty.

Since he is local, part of the conversation focused on tides and current in the area. Elaine & I watched a few boats trying to swim upstream today, and they made very slow progress. We will be heading south tomorrow, so will need to time our exit from the marina to coincide with the slack ebb tide, or the beginning of flood tide. I actually got a lot of good local knowledge from the guy, so the conversation was probably more valuable than having a clean boat anyway…