Always Onward Adventures

7/25/2023 We woke up the following morning to a fairly strong wind coming into the bay - which meant even stronger winds in the strait. We checked the forecast on VHF and decided that today was not our day. Thankfully - we really liked this hot springs, so we did it all over again! Back up to the natural hot springs, hike all the boardwalks and explore some of the trails that lead up from the boardwalks, repeat.

7/21/2023 We departed Merrifield Bay relatively late - around 9:30a - so we could pass by Point Baker at max ebb (currents flowing the hardest) in the hopes that it would make for good whale watching. We were successful and there were quite a few whales and they were very active. We even saw them doing bubble net fishing - which is where one whale blows bubbles underwater to corral the fish for the other whales to eat.

7/17/2023 We leave Ketchikan heading north to Meyers Chuck - about a 30 nm push - leaving at about 7a and expecting to arrive at just after noon. The highlight (or lowlight) of the morning was listening to the coast guard talk to a resort ferry called the “Miss Sadie” from the Calder Mountain Lodge who first fowled their prop on a bow anchor line that came loose and then their engine started smoking.

7/12/2023 We have been busy - the last couple of days in Prince Rupert have been a flurry of activity… We got groceries for the next 3-4 days (we don’t want to stock up too much before dealing with US customs), we did laundry, we refilled our propane, we refilled water, we got Oakley into the vet, we did a huge shopping run to the local marine store, and we completed some much needed repairs on the boat (eg re-mounting the toilet!

7/5/2023 We gave a sad goodbye to Ocean falls - the place had really grown on us over the last couple of days - and made our way toward Klemtu. Seas were calm and only a slight headwind, not great for sailing, so we motored back along Dean Channel and past Shearwater/Bella-Bella. The goal for today was to make it to just this side of Klemtu - but that was a tenacious goal of almost 45 miles.

Monday was our rest day in Port McNeill - we considered leaving early (marina life is far less enjoyable than being on anchor somewhere beautiful), but we still needed groceries and the weather looked much better for rounding Cape Caution on Tuesday/Wednesday than it did Monday/Tuesday. Either way, we got some delicious coffee from Mugz, did some laundry, and then purchased ferry tickets over to Alert Bay - which was advertised as the place to learn about the native peoples (called “first nation” people in Canada).

Our final rest day in Garden Bay was 6/19 - the heater finally arrived at around 5p. We started the day with a provisioning stop at the local IGA - this was our first grocery shopping by dinghy, kinda fun thing to do. We went on a hike to the nearby park (Garden Bay Provential Park) and found a fun loop trail & beach hike. We also spent a few hours up in the Sunshine Room, doing watercoloring and playing games.

We have officially entered Canada - perhaps the most anti-climactic event of our trip. We left Henry island at around 11:30a and headed for Bedwell harbor. Henry island was a magical place in the morning and we wished we could have stayed another day, but we were eager to keep going - and it will be relatively easy for us to come back to Henry island in the future. We headed for a customs clearance point called Poets Cove and docked at the dedicated customs dock.