One of the colorful statues in the Maffeo Sutton Park along Nanaimo’s Harbourfront Walkway is “Admiral Of The Fleet,” a tribute to ‘Black Frank,’ a prominent Nanaimo community leader, who helped launch the Nanaimo Bathtub Race. A colorful pirate costume was worn to promote the bathtub event.

We ended up staying another day in Nanaimo due to weather. It was rainy, foggy and windy. Not a good time to try to cross Georgia Strait—a 35 mile trip with about 15 miles in open water—and known to be nasty when the wind kicks up. It was a good day to work on inside things…and NOT have to work on the engine! We did some reading, organized some of our supplies, and caught our breath from dealing with the engine issues.

Another view of the “Admiral of the Fleet” statue in Maffeo Sutton Park.

We walked up to Thrifty Foods and Harbour Chandler. Not much more needed in the way of food or marine supplies, but we did manage to find a few things to add to our provisions, particularly another carton of fresh, local strawberries—the first of the season and wonderfully sweet. Jim also had time to linger in the chandlery and look at their excellent supply of marine goods.

Alice stands by this neat crab carving in the Maffeo Sutton Park. It’s called “Dungeness Crab,” and the artist, Dan Richie, carved it from red cedar using a chain saw and power tools. He also used aluminum and fiberglass resin in the sculpture.

We filled our water tanks and took up our accumulated garbage to the dumpster, so that we will be ready to leave early in the morning, assuming the weather will cooperate. I had a chance to take one more walk on the Harbourside Walkway, and take one more look at the artwork in the Maffeo Sutton Park.

The foot ferry between Nanaimo and Newcastle Island Marine Provincial Park picks up passengers at this dock in the Maffeo Sutton Park. Newcastle Island is in the background on the left, which is where the foot ferry lands. You can see some of the cruising boats in the Newcastle anchorage.