Still on Pender Island, savouring the last days of official summer. Millennium Dragon is tied up at Otter Bay Marina, conveniently located for a leisurely walk along deserted quaint country roads - most of them dead ended. Fruit trees, especially apples shed their over ripening loads onto the deteriorating pavement, black berries turn mushy on their thorny bushes, and silky blossoms droop under the influence of cooler nights.
A day of rain gives way to another seductive day of summer sunshine. The marine weather forecast sounds benign, and I make the short hop to Bedwell Harbour at the southern edge of the Canadian Gulf Islands within a short pleasant sail.
I pick up a mooring buoy, install my outboard motor on my little Zodiac (first and last time for this season) just to see it it REALLY works, and buzz across the bay to Poets Cove Marina. Definitely post season atmosphere - the visitors docks are empty, the Canadian Customs dock idle.
I hike up to the one and only road penetrating into South Pender Island towards the 'car stop', one of the official hitch hike pick up points on Pender Island. A brilliant invention, which allows commuting on the island without the need for a rental car (expensive) or a motor scooter (fear inspiring) or a bicycle (too many hills).
An improvement of the car system for this year: each 'car stop' has a glass box filled with sheets of 'transit plans' showing the official stops all over North and South Pender Island.
What it does not say is, that South Pender Island is the remote part of the twin islands - all the traffic inducing facilities are on the North Island: hospital, school, Driftwood Shopping Centre, ferry terminal, public marinas, restaurants etc etc. In order to get a ride one may wait - and wait, and wait....
The 'You are Here' map for the car stops...
Driftwood Shopping Centre art offering
Unusual rock formation at the base of Mount Norman on South Pender Island.
Bull Kelp strands floating over hidden rocks under smooth bay waters
Millennium's rudder and prop lit by afternoon sun
Back to Maple Bay, and my home dock - and to unloading my floating cottage and getting back to land based life in a REAL house, driving a REAL car.
