This was our first visit to Mound Island with a flotilla. Mound Island is a small island in a cluster of islands near the west end of the Broughtons. It was nicely situated for our planned trip across Queen Charlotte Strait in preparation for rounding Cape Caution in a couple days. There is ample dinghy exploring available through the maze of little islands and rocks and small shallow and intertidal passages.
We left on the early side again in order to catch the favorable current in Johnstone Strait. There were few other boats around, and there seem to be fewer logs in this section of coast compared with previous years.
We lucked into a playful group of Pacific white-sided dolphins who surfed our bow for a half an hour or more. Always such fun to ride along with these amazing animals.
The approach to Mound Island took us through the narrow White Beach Passage, which looks a little skinny on the charts, but is plenty deep with moderate current, laminar flow, and wide enough for our vessels to easily pass.
We anchored mid-day, then took some time to do boat chores while we waited for some rain to subside. In late afternoon, we jumped in the dinghies and noodled around the numerous small islands. We saw a doe and very young baby deer, numerous water birds, and miles of interesting shoreline.
This is a scenic, peaceful anchorage and definitely one we’ll reuse. We had an abbreviated happy hour on Airship and then called it an early night.