The group departed Shearwater just after 8am.
Conditions were great for the entire cruise today.
Conditions at Ivory Island showed 1ft chop and a low westerly swell. Perfect!
Conditions were so nice, that we changed the plan mid-cruise to go further than our planned stop at Rescue Bay today….and on to Bottleneck Inlet. This takes advantage of today’s conditions, and cuts tomorrow’s 43nm cruise to Khutze Inlet to about 29nm.
We transited Perceval Narrows early and had a 2.5kt current helping us along. We continued north in Mathieson Channel, turning into Jackson Passage at the top of Susan Island (waving as we passed Rescue Bay). The water was high in Jackson Narrows, so it felt much wider than last year when we went through at low water.
Mike on Two’s Out took this shot of the first three boats going through (Airship, Ithaka, Melissa Lynn):
Out in Finlayson Channel we pretty quickly were greeted by a handful of Dall’s porpoises surfing the bow.
Here’s the turn into Bottleneck Inlet (which is never as narrow as that one time we left in the morning in thick fog!)
We got Airship’s dinghy down and went out to explore the bay a little and look for bears. We met the folks on a boat we’ve been leap-frogging with for a few days, a custom a solar-electric power cruising catamaran called Electric Philosophy, owned by Ed and Eileen. Hope to meet up with them again somewhere along the way!
We didn’t spot any bears on shore during our dinghy excursion, but later when we all met on Melissa Lynn for happy hour, Bill from Ithaka spotted a big black bear on shore and we watched it eat grass from one side of the shore to the other. Pretty far away (and not on Airship with my long lens), but cool…first bear of the trip!
What a great day! The weather tomorrow promises sun and higher temperatures…we’ll take it!!