We checked out of the Maple Ridge Cottages before 10 am and drove the short distance to the Vesuvius Bay ferry terminal.  When you take a ferry to Salt Spring (and, I assume others of the Gulf Islands) you pay a fare.  When you are going back to Vancouver Island the ferry is free.  Obviously they are aware you are not going to be staying on the island forever.  We planned to catch the 10:50 ferry but when we arrived at the terminal all seven lanes (which is all the boat will hold) were full and there were five or six vehicles in line ahead of us with more arriving behind us all the time.  On any day but Wednesday this would not be a problem as the ferry departs about every two hours.  However, on Wednesday the 12:05 sailing is for ‘dangerous goods’ only.  No private vechicles allowed.  Which meant we had to wait for the 1:45 sailing.  Good thing we have books  to read on our Kindles and games to play on our phones.  We did not want to risk leaving and coming back to a full terminal again.  We knew about the DG noon sailing so we were not shocked to realize we would have a long wait having missed the 10:50.

We arrived at Crofton on Vancouver Island a little after 2:30. We went looking for a couple of geocaches.  One was recently taken out of service for repairs (the neighbour came over and told us) and the other was located back near the dock along a boardwalk.  We turned the truck around and drove back to find it.  There is a large pulp mill at Crofton called Crystal Paper and the boardwalk, which went for a long distance along the shore, was called Crystal Paper Way.  I assume the company contributed some big bucks to have it built.  We took quite awhile to find the cache because it was a magnetic that had been broken and the container was tucked under a stairwell landing instead of where it was supposed to be.  Good thing the tide was out or we would not have been able to walk under the boardwalk to look for it.
I asked John if it is mandatory to have blue sail coverings on your boat?  That is the only colour I ever see.  Does only one company make them and they only do blue?  I think someone should make some out of different colours – yellow, or pink, or purple.  It would make it much easier to see your boat among all the other ones.
While we were searching around for the geocache I spotted this bird, who looked like a recent fledgling, sitting in the sunshine.  It didn’t move while I took it’s picture and then it decided to fly away.

We are spending the next two nights in Chemainus which is not very far up the island from Crofton.  We only made stops to find two geocaches before checking into our hotel at 4:30.  Now that was a short touring day, but I sure feel tired anyway.  Too much sitting and waiting, I guess.  Not  to  mention  not  being  able  to  get  to  sleep  until  about  2 am.