On day five (Oct. 9th) of Jomo’s Autumn whirl-wind work and relax tour of South Van and the Gulf Islands, the decent south began.  Kids and dogs were waiting for us back home.  We planned to depart Thetis Island after Erika’s last meeting of the day.  Not unlike hotels, marinas have checkout times, usually 11a.m.  Erika’s last meeting didn’t end until 2pm so she walked up to the cafe/marina office and asked if a late checkout was okay.  The manager giggled at the question, “take your time”, she said genuinely, noting that we were the only guests in the marina and therefore “it wasn’t a problem in the least.”  Did I mention early Fall is a great time to go cruising?  We would have the same quiet and quaint experience in Maple Bay, our next destination.  
Sunny skies and gentle tail winds made for a very relaxed and scenic sail thru Stuart Channel and, eventually, into the fjord of Sansum Narrows (pictured).  Fourteen nautical miles and three hours later we arrived at the entrance to Bird’s Eye cove, an inlet off Maple Bay and home to the marina and it’s adjacent seaside community.   After striking our sails, we motored down the slender inlet and into our assigned slip.
Later, we counted over 20 empty guest slips, we were all alone, again (pictured).  October 1st marked the shoulder season for the marina and the reduction in the daily moorage rates.  The savings happily went towards dinner at a nice restaurant located at the end of our dock.  One more reason why “Falling” around South Van Isle is a good idea.

Jomo departed Ladysmith Marina around noon for the ten mile passage to Thetis Island.  Before leaving Ladysmith, we planned to stop at Oyster Bay marina to empty our waste tank.  This was the only marina in the area that indicated it had such facilities.  The reputation and policies regarding waste in Canada isn’t new to us but we have been in the habit of pumping our waste properly since Erika and I started living on sailboats back in 1989.  The pump’s location wasn’t clear so I performed a couple drive-bys, eventually spotting the equipment at the very end of a linear dock, packed full of mostly derelict boats.  Due to an unfavorable cross wind, I added a little spice to the throttle and backed Jomo’s starboard quarter along the 15 feet of dock space we had available to us.  It was a little stressful, especially only having a small portion of Jomo’s 43ft secured and the rest hanging out beyond the dock.  A couple locals looked at us like we were crazy, “making such an effort to pump our tank out.”  A few friendly exchanges mirrored their thoughts.  As most of you know, waste facilities in the States are…abundant and free of charge.  Erika and I walked up to the Oyster Bay marina office to pay for tokens required to operate the machine, which came to about seven US dollars.  As a footnote,  we were warned about waiting for a red light to turn green, indicating that it was ready for use, otherwise it would mean the pump is broken, and by the way, no refunds. The man mentioned he “won’t be in the office for the rest of the day anyway.”  We made the walk back to the boat, wondering what we got ourselves into, and inserted a token in the dodgy looking pump and hoped for the best.  The pump displayed the green light but nothing happened.  We tried another token, again, following the indifferent office attendant’s instructions, but again, nothing.  An hour later, Erika emptied the effluent overboard as we blasted across Stuart Channel.