Today’s cruise from Pender Harbour to Squirrel Cove was about 48nm. A longish cruise, but the conditions were perfect — calm water and just the slightest breeze. A long but uneventful cruise is nice sometimes, especially when we have internet! We took advantage of the calm cruise to catch up on blog posts and some other flotilla business. (New flotilla t-shirts for 2018!)
Cassidy (Nordhavn 40) and Rhapsody (Ranger Tug R29CB) left Pender Harbour on the “real early” side, Safe Harbour and Airship left at 7:30a.m., followed closely by Fortunate (Nordic Tug 37).
We arrived in Squirrel Harbour and after getting settled, Kevin took the drone up for some aerial shots.
Pretty quickly everyone headed out in their dinghies for a bit of exploring. We went to check out the store at the head of the public dock. This is a surprisingly well-stocked store with everything ranging from hardware and fishing stuff to fresh produce, snacks and canned items, and even sushi rice! Hardware is downstairs, and the food, liquor store, and post office are upstairs. There’s even a small gift shop that stocks Squirrel Cove hoodies and shirts, as well as other gift items and souvenirs.
Back on the Slowboat raft, we prepared the plan for tomorrow, which happens to be “Rapids Day!” We plan to tackle all five rapids tomorrow: Yuculta, Gillard, Dent, Whirlpool, and Greene Point. The currents are more favorable than we’ve ever seen (maximum currents in the ~4-5 knot range tomorrow…we often see 10 knots). This gives us a relatively big window of time to go through, which is helpful.
The group gathered for some snacks and a little sun on the top deck before the evening briefing and dinner. We expect some rain tonight and for the wind to pick up a little, but we welcome having some of the salt washed from our boats while we sleep!
Today: 42.7 nautical miles, 6 hours 43 minutes
Flotilla total: 119.6 nautical miles, 17 hours 27 minutes underway
