The forecast for Cape Caution today still looked good when we checked the 4am weather forecast (yep, it’s early).
Queen Charlotte Strait: Wind northwest 5 to 15 knots increasing to northwest 15 to 25 this afternoon.
Queen Charlotte Sound/Eastern Half: Wind light increasing to northwest 10 to 20 knots this afternoon. Wind northwest 10 to 20 tonight and Sunday.
Central Coast from McInnes Island to Pine Island 4pm: Wind light increasing to northwest 10 to 20 knots this afternoon.
We would also be checking the West Sea Otter buoy, because knowing the reported wind and wave height out there is super helpful, but it’s down, so not an option.
Windy showed favorable conditions, and the light station reports (once they refreshed) were: PINE ISLAND OVC 15 W15E 3FT MOD LO W (overcast, 15 miles visibility, 15kt wind, wind waves 3ft moderate, low westerly swell). EGG ISLAND OVC 15 NW10E 2FT CHP LO W. Pine Island is the station south of us, and Egg Island is where we were heading, so we expected conditions to be dying down as we went, and that’s just what happened.
When we passed Slingsby Channel we had a nice boost of current, but it was also pushing against the westerly swells, which created a bit of a stackup of steeper swells against us, luckily just for a brief time.
The ride after we rounded Cape Caution was rolly for sure…this is when you find out what isn’t secured on your boat (and when you start dreaming once again of stabilization if you don’t have it). We were secure, but still the items in every cupboard were banging around and might be worth a revisit with some wadded up towels for next time.
We opted to go another hour past Fury Cove and anchored at Green Island, which is beautiful. The sun is out, the water is calm, and we’re the only ones here.
The afternoon consisted of some boat chores, some dinghy exploring, and some relaxing on board. We got together for happy hour on Airship tonight and tomorrow we’ll head up to Codville Lagoon.
Bill over on Ithaka sent this photo last night….too pretty not to include!
