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 Cove.
Instead, we decided to hang out in Quatsino Sound. Today we anchored in North Harbour, near the ocean, and tomorrow we’ll move a few miles to the dock at Winter Harbour. Then, hopefully, we’ll get around Brooks on Saturday.
We left Kokwina Cove under sunny skies and light wind. As we motored towards the mouth of Quatsino Sound we felt increasing swell, but it never became uncomfortable.
We turned north into Forward Inlet and then west into North Harbour, where we dropped the anchor. The afternoon was overcast with plenty of time for napping, fishing, and exploring.
In adjacent Browning Inlet we spotted several black bears:
We met on the raft for a delicious Italian-themed potluck dinner: David from Dog Star made homemade gnocchi with a red sauce, Scott from Impulse made bread sticks, Roberta from Nereus made angel hair with red sauce, Laura made creamy garlic butter Tuscan salmon using one of the cohos Kevin caught (great recipe, found here!), and the Salish Rover folks brought over a delicious salad.
