The Tall Ships

Yesterday, Friday July15th-05, Cynthia and Iwent to Port Alberni on the west coast of Vancouver Island, to see the fleet of tall ships assembled there. Most of these vessels are training ships for cadets in each of the countries where the ships are based. There were nine vessels there with the two largest being from Russia and Mexico. We arrived around lunchtime and after purchasing our tickets to the festival and for boarding the ships, we looked over the two larger ones. The cadets and officers welcomed us aboard and we tried to make them feel welcome in Canada too. Port Alberni had done a fine job in hosting the ships and there were no waits, either to get the tickets or to get on board. The general public was only allowed on the upper decks of the ships for obvious reasns, but even so, there was lots to see After a while, we stopped and had a hot-dog for lunch then finished looking at the other seven for there were nine in all.
This was the last day the ships were to be in Canadian waters I believe, for the next day they were to motor down the Alberni inlet and then set sail for Los Angeles. They were a glorious sight even moored at the quayside, and we wished we could have been there when they set sail for ports to the south