Darrel had his chemo yesterday and arrived back to Campbell River this afternoon around 12:30. He seems to be feeling okay but said the cold sensitivity is back.

Yesterday, I managed to do several loads of laundry, go to the Real Canadian Superstore for groceries, picked up some steering fluid since we had been having issues with the steering when we came in on Tuesday. Still didn’t find a place for a pedicure, however.

Fixed chicken thighs that had been marinating since Monday when we had my pre-birthday appetizer party. Marinated with hoisin, soy, ginger, garlic, and sriracha. They turned out pretty good!

After Darrel got back today, we decided we would leave in the early morning on Saturday to try to beat the winds. I had lent our chart book and Burgee book to Richard and Suszanne yesterday, so we walked over to get them back. They are quite knowledgeable about the area between here and Nanaimo, so gave us some tips on place we could tuck into if the weather turned bad.

We went back to the boat and decided to get fuel. The slips and docks are very close here so Darrel walked the boat out of the slip and headed it out then jumped on. He immediately realized that the steering was still not working right even though we had added steering fluid.

He was able to get us out of the ‘row’ without hitting any boats. He opened the engine compartment and saw that the steering unit rod was broken. He tried various quick fixes, as we floated dangerously close to boats, docks, and the breakwater, with me going forward and reverse as needed. Nothing worked so he started the kicker motor and we inched back into our slip, again without hitting anything!

Richard and Suszanne had seen us floating by so they came over to find out the problem. Darrel took the steering unit out and he and Richard walked up to the marine store. Suszanne had just had a friend arrive so they went to get her settled after inviting me over for happy hour.

Darrel got back and the part will be in tomorrow at 10:00 – another $650! But, it was the last part in stock in Vancouver so at least we were lucky to get one.

I guess we will probably be here until Sunday morning now, unless the winds look really good tomorrow afternoon and from what I heard that wasn’t happening.