Ganges Harbour to Princess Bay, Portland Island

The first mission of the day was to go to the famous “Saturday Market” in Ganges. In fact, this was the only “hard date” we had in our itinerary because we had never been able to time a visit to this famous event.  

  

 A very small part of the Saturday Market at Ganges

The city’s park is overtaken with vendors selling their art, crafts, food and most anything else. Karen was able to find some very unique earrings and we a great “walking breakfast” as we worked our way along the rows of tents. We started out in a group with Anne, Doug, Bart and Jan, but we all dispersed to look at various items of interest. There was an amazing array of fresh cheeses, breads, rolls and organic produce. Too bad we didn’t really need anything!

 

Ganges Harbour panorama

Bart and Jan's dog, Bear, says goodbye

Back at the docks we took on some water and shoved off for Princess Bay. I know this name may seem familiar to readers of this blog, but Princess Bay is a very popular name with this version being found on Portland Island.

En route to Princess Bay

Our typical view as we travel to the Gulf Islands

As we were about three quarters of the way to our destination, the port engine lost RPM’s and eventually shut down. I went into the engine room and finding nothing obviously wrong, I called Northwest Explorations for advice. We, along with added advice from their engine expert, ran through a series of trouble shooting procedures. However, success was not to be had. Therefore, our plan is to arrive at Sidney Sunday night and have the Caterpillar dealer look at the problem first thing Monday.

So, on we went on one engine to Princess Bay. A small but very popular spot, we tucked in along with about another ten boats. We may spend most of the day here tomorrow, exploring the water at low tide in our kayaks and enjoying some of the hiking trails on the island. It’s a nice place, though very shallow at the head, and apparently quite popular with the Sidney crowd, being a scant five miles away.

Karen sat at the bow on a deck chair for hours, snooping with her binoculars, scoring anchoring attempts, and following eagles as they swooped and soared. It was a lovely and clear afternoon, and we took advantage of it!

Karen cannot resist a good snoop