2010 Potentate Cruise: 9/2 Nanaimo

We had some great apple strudel for breakfast – it was one of the items in our $50 grocery bag from yesterday’s trip to the store. One of the other snacks we picked up yesterday was some garlic sausage. In the early days up here, the garlic sausage was in open bins in big coils. There was a knife on a string, and you could cut off whatever size you wanted and bag it. Now it’s all tidily wrapped in plastic in sizes someone else cut. I suppose it’s for the better as I’m sure fewer flies have walked on it.

Erin with "Black Frank", a former Nanaimo mayor
and local celebrity

We had a relaxing day today, doing some reading and walking about a bit. We both watched the daily ceremonial cannon firing at noon. A bag piper plays for about an hour, then they go through the ritual of loading the cannon with a wad of powder and a wad of paper in place of the cannon ball. There are two cannons, both kept in immaculate shape. They alternate which one they fire, as I’ve seen them do both. They were initially installed to protect the harbor but have never been fired in anger.

folks fishing for pinks

Later in the afternoon we went for a longer walk, about 3 miles total along the waterfront promenade past the tide pool, following the path as far as the marinas on the other side of town where one would enter the passageway to Departure Bay. A river runs into the bay here, and there were several people fishing for pink salmon. Most were standing out in the water – some with hip waders, others just in shorts. We noticed some older and wiser folks standing on the shore casting their lures. We didn’t see a lot of action as we passed by, but on the way back we watched two people reel in their dinners for the night.