Sailing on Alcyone

Yvonne invited us to go sailing on Alcyone with her. We had three lovely days but very little wind. We left from Semiahmoo Marina near Blaine by the Canadian/U.S. Border and spent the first night at the Marine Park at Stuart Island. The next day we motored down the channel to Friday Harbour on San Juan Island and rowed ashore and wandered around the town. Then the next day headed back past Shaw, Orcas, Waldron and Sucia Islands to Semiahmoo Marina.

Ships

Just a few of the craft we saw out on Haro Strait.







This freighter came out of the fog.








Pollution! ..... This craft has some serious engine problems.

Brian and Marilyn's Victoria Townhouse

We spent a month in Victoria at Brian and Marilyn's townhouse at Royal Links over looking the 3rd tee of the nine hole golf course. A very nice area with a large wooded park on the other side of the complex. The weather was very warm when we arrived but the temperature steadily rose in the month that we were there to break the hottest temperatures that Victoria had recorded. There was no breeze off Juan de fuca Straight to cool the city down and on the back deck we were recording temps of 40c to 43c.

Jaguar Classic Cars

On Sunday of the August long weekend Victoria hosts a very festive Jaguar 'Show and Shine'. It was a hot and sunny day with Jaguar models stretching back to the 1940ies right up to the current 2009 model years.




















This near perfect Mark 2 has less than 20,000 miles on the clock and is one of my favourite sedans of all time.

Some of the older models

A beautiful example of a late 1940ies Drophead Coupe.








The red XK140 and XK150 show a number of changes between the 2 models.










Oh, the memories as this black XK140 is exactly the same as the model I had except for the leather interior which was red in my '140'. This is the car that Mike and I drove when we moved from Montreal to Vancouver so many years ago!

Mike and Deb's

While over on Vancouver Island we drove north to Duncan and Cobble Hill to visit with Mike and Debbie. Stopped at a small country pub for a cool drink on a very hot day.




Had a lovely lively dinner with Mike and Debbie and Steve and Amanda, but the 'boys' just don't have the staying power these days that us girls do. That's Monty on the couch and Mike in the chair, Bill took the photo.

Dinner in Victoria

At Brian and Marilyn's Town house we had a great dinner party with friends.

Derek, Peggy, Malcolm, Hilary, John and Bev.



Brian's cousin Bev, Bill, Marilyn, Brian, Kath, Derek, and Peggy.

A great time was had by all, with many conversations going at one time.