Some superstitious seafarers avoid sailing on certain days to protect against bad luck. Friday has been considered a bad day (the day Jesus Christ has been crucified), Thursdays are believed to be unlucky (day of Thor, God of thunder & storms), the first Monday in April is not good, and we could go on and on.
We finally bid our farewells to Vancouver and cast off on Tuesday, April 13, 2021, leaving Coal Harbour Marina with sunny skies and favourable 20-25 knots to cross the Strait of Georgia to aim for Nanaimo. Outflowing winds from Howe Sound made for an odd wave and added more excitement as expected to our journey, and since we had no agenda, we changed our plans and aimed for Silva Bay on Gabriola Island.
I always pictured the first day of this new chapter of our lives more spectacular, somehow special, with epic celebrations and hoorah! And here we were, just the two of us sitting on the docks, with a nice glass of wine in our hands, tired and happy as we watched the sun disappear on the horizon: it clearly could not have been more perfect than this.
It was almost 9AM when we crawled out of bed on Wednesday morning; I don’t remember the last time we were sleeping in that long. The last days prior to our departure have been occupied with last minute repairs, maintenance, upgrades, provisioning, and farewells. Adrenaline is a good thing as it kept us going – until we didn’t have to anymore; that’s when we realized how all these days filled with activities took a toll on us. And now things have changed overnight: our (well, Torsten’s) spreadsheets were checked off and there were no tasks on today’s to-do list; it hasn’t quite sunk in yet. The life we were living yesterday does no longer exist.
Breakfast in the sun was followed by an easy hike in Drumbeg Provincial Park and a well-deserved nap on board of Fortitude X. Our friends at Bluewater Cruising Association surprised us with an emotional, virtual send-off and the biggest challenge of the day was to find reliable WIFI for that occasion. Life is good!
