Day Break, we worked our way out of the tricky channel from Sea Otter Cove and the northwest entrance.
When we turned toward Cape Scott the air was warm and the seas were as calm as a millpond. A short distance from the cape we saw a couple of gray whales blow and breach.
We were enjoying fair currents and made our rounding of the cape at 8.5 knots. So much for the tide charts that showed we would be there at low slack tide.
The seas and conditions were ideal all the way to beautiful Cape Sutil, this passage was even more pleasant than our passage to Sea Otter. We were so ahead of schedule we didn’t go across Nahwitty Bar into Bull Harbor on Hope Island. We took the passage along the shore around Tatnall Reefs and directly to Port Hardy via glassy smooth Goletas Channel.
When we got to Duval Point at Hardy Bay we joined the fishing fleet and put out the trolling gear. In less than ten minuets we had a small coho on but lost him at the boat. Not five minutes later we hooked another, a larger one and farmed him out during a jumping fight behind the boat. We fished for another 30 minutes without success, hung it up and went into the Quarterdeck Marina at Port Hardy (50° 42.776’ N / 127° 29.357’ W).
We took on fuel and the same slip we have had the last two visits.
After taking our much needed showers, who should we run into in the laundry/shower area, but Anna of Eclipse. They had attempted to around Brooks Peninsula during heavy Southeast winds that made conditions so rough they gave up on their journey south around the outside of the island and headed the other way to Bull Harbor. They had arrived in Port Hardy shortly before we got in. We had dinner together at IV’s Pub and bid them farewell and headed to the sack. Having been awake since 4:30 am, and spending 9 hours on the water, we were definitely ready for sleep.
We decided to spend a few days here preparing for our journey north. We filled the food lockers, water and fuel tanks, charged batteries, washed clothes, washed the boat, washed the boaters, altered running rigging, made some minor repairs, and generally reorganized our gear.
Now we’re ready to venture north heading out tomorrow Wednesday July 18.
We probably won’t have Internet access until we get to Shearwater toward the end of the month. We will get you caught up then. Possibly Jennifer will post an update or two in the mean time to let you know where we called in from.
George and JoAnne
