June 20th Saturday

From: Roberts Creek To: Newcastle Island
Start time: 1000        Finish time: 1530      Distance: 4 km
Tide: Nanaimo
0329    2.9
0758    3.7
1451    1.0
2212    4.8

     I slept in until 7:00 a.m. and my daughter treated me to a nice homemade breakfast.  She gave me a ride to the ferry terminal in Gibsons. It was a short but nice visit - thanks Laureen. I was a little worried about how accommodating the ferry would be for a guy wheeling a loaded kayak into the terminal, but there was no problem at all. I guess people must do this all the time, and for an added bonus there is no ferry fee for anyone leaving Gibsons.
     I assembled my cart and tied my loaded kayak on top after I was dropped off, that’s when I noticed one of my tires was not fully inflated - oh no, what to do?

Low Tire not good  

I rolled my cart onto the ferry along with the bike riders hoping the tire wouldn’t go flat. All went well. I arrived at the Horseshoe Bay and wheeled kayak off, holding my breath. I waited for the ferry to Nanaimo and wheeled aboard that ferry, still good. Come on, just one more off load in Nanaimo and a short walk to the boat ramp and all would be good. I could tell by looking at the air valve that my inner tube was beginning to twist inside the tire.

Almost to Nanaimo

The ferry landed, ok just a little farther. I started pushing my kayak towards the ferry doors, just as I was about to start up the ramp the tire went flat. Noooooo! Suddenly a rider handed his bike off to someone and with no words exchanged grabbed my bow and helped me up the ramp to the terminal building – wow, thank you very much. Now what? Somebody suggested I walk over to a kayak rental store that was close to the boat ramp where I was going to launch. So I got permission to re-enter the terminal and left my boat and gear there, walked over to the rental shop, hoping they had a cart. I talked to the owner and he gave me a wheel that would fit my cart. When I offered him money or my credit card to hold, he said “no, that’s ok. You’ll bring it back”.  Wow. Thank you.

Launching next to the boat ramp

     After moving my boat to the launch and returning the tire, I paddled down Newcastle Channel to a water front pub with a dock and had an early dinner before setting off to the campsite on Newcastle Island. There was some sort of group function happening at the campsite here and there must have been a hundred or more campers. I set up my tent and made myself comfortable for the night, played a few tunes down at the beach on my grandson’s ukulele and hit the sack around 9:00.

Newcastle Island campground