The meteorologists called for another stormy day today. They were right. The rain began falling around 9:00 a.m. and didn’t let up for more than a few minutes all day. Although the wind didn’t make it into North Harbour or Winter Harbour, the reports from Solander Island weren’t encouraging. Sustained winds in the 30s, with gusts near 40. A good day to stay off the ocean. Since our progress has … Read more
The weather for rounding Brooks Peninsula continues to be problematic. Today looked like a relatively light day of wind, but tomorrow it’s supposed to be blowing from the south (again) at 30 knots or so, possibly making Columbia Cove (one of our favorite anchorages) uncomfortable. So even if we were to go around Brooks today, we’d have to find wait somewhere for a couple more days before backtracking to Columbia … Read more
This morning we moved from Varney Bay over to Kokwina Cove, just 3.5nm away. We had little information about Kokwina Cove, so yesterday after anchoring the big boats in Varney Bay, we dinghied over for a look. Since it sounds like we’ll be waiting out some stormy weather tonight, we wanted to be as tucked in and protected as we could be, and Kokwina Cove seems to fit the bill! … Read more
Environment Canada predicted light winds and a 1-2 meter swell this morning, not quite perfect, but pretty darn close. But by noon the winds were supposed to be blowing 15-25 knots from the southeast, and even more wind was predicted by the evening. Then, the real storm was scheduled to arrive the following day, with 45-55 knot winds. We needed to be somewhere safe and comfortable. We left Sea Otter … Read more
We met the West Coast Vancouver Island group at North Island Marina in Port McNeill on August 14th. This gave us a few days to get to know people, do lots of provisioning, and answer questions before departing on the 16th. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t cooperating. Winds on the 16th in Queen Charlotte Strait were predicted to be blowing from the northwest at 20-25 knots, which would make for a … Read more
We didn’t care much about timing Whirlpool Rapids and Greene Point Rapids yesterday, but we do care about the timing at Dent Rapids, Gillard Pass, and Yuculta Rapids. Thankfully, getting to the rapids at slack isn’t that hard. Frederick Arm to Dent Rapids is about 6.5nm (we’ll call it an hour) and Dent was predicted to be slack at at 7:01 a.m. So we left at 6:00 a.m., and as … Read more
We left the dock at Port Neville and headed east in Johnstone Strait, then peeled off at Sunderland Channel. Today’s destination is Frederick Arm, the inlet just east of Phillips Arm at the top of Nodales Channel. We transited Whirlpool Rapids midway through the flood with a few small whirlpools and eddies, but nothing too dramatic. Greene Point Rapids was much the same. Four knots of extra speed was nice, … Read more
Sharp-eyed readers may be wondering why we’re continuing down Johnstone Strait since this flotilla was set to end in Port McNeill and the next one is leaving from Port McNeill. Part of the reason is we need something to do for the next week. Part of the reason is that one of the boats we’re with is heading home after this leg, they haven’t transited the “five rapid” route before, … Read more