Day 17 - Nigel and Patrick

At 11 AM on Monday, our fourth day in Vancouver, we met Nigel and Patrick at the dinghy dock under the Cambie bridge. Nigel is a cousin of Caroline and Miles back and Perth, and I have known them for perhaps close to ten years.

It was another bright, sunny, and warm day and we took the scenic drive to Stanley Park then had a pleasant walk along the sea shore to get to "The Tea Rooms" restaurant where we enjoyed splendid lunch over a bottle of chardonnay courtesy of Nigel and Patrick.

After lunch we visited the marina and promenade at Coal Harbour where we had leisurely stroll enjoying the weather and the sights.

We returned to the dinghy dock to give Nigel and Patrick a tour of Pachuca and Captain Robert made the less-than-wise decision to transport the entire group to the boat on the Zodiac. Bottoms got wet (including Captain Robert, who deserved it) but we reached the boat without major mishap.

We spent about an hour on the boat sipping beer and discussing various aspects of the boat.

Before they departed Nigel and Patrick presented us with a bottle of 2005 icewine from the Gehringer Brothers Estate Winery of Oliver, B.C., in an elegant wooden case. They also presented us with very cute "Sumi" 2010 Winter Olympic Games mascot. We have already found a safe and visible home for him on a shelf next to the ship's clock. This was accompanied by a very appropriately worded card that we will tape to a bulkhead. These were very thoughtful gifts that were a complete surprise to us and Brenda and I greatly appreciated their sentiment.

I am looking forward to seeing Nigel and Patrick again at Fremantle.

The top two photos are of us at the restaurant.

The last three are of the visit to Pachuca.