Don/sunny and windy
05/19/2013

This is a fish farm, one of many we saw today. BC permits them, Alaska does not. Many believe they pollute clean water by concentrating fish so tightly. They also are thought to spread disease and escapees threaten the gene pool of natural run salmon. Some disagree.

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Don/sunny and windy
05/19/2013, Johnstone Strait

This is the tug, Seaspan Pacer, that Debbie passed in Johnston Strait.

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don/sunny and windy
05/19/2013, Port Harvey

Tied up at the dock at Port Harvey.

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05/19/2013, Port Harvey

We got up early to fix breakfast and prepare the boat for travel. We took a lot of time cleaning the anchor chain, as it came up, with our forward high-pressure, salt-water, hose. Debbie was on the forward deck with these duties while I managed the windlass from the main cabin. We anchored in sticky mud so it took some time. Finally, we were off and made slack water in the rapids near the Okis Islands in Okisollo channel. Coming out of the channel, we turned to starboard and headed north into Discovery Passage and the Johnstone Strait. The winds had been forecast to be 20 knots in the early morning, dropping to 15 later. We found 21-knot winds but it was blowing in the same direction as the tidal current so they were not as large as if they had opposed one another.

Debbie had the helm and it should be noted that she is an awesome pilot, much more careful and precise than I and much better on the radio as well. Today, she chatted up the pilot of the tug (with tow) Seaspan Pacer who was ahead of us and that we needed to pass. She asked him which side he preferred her to pass, a wonderful gesture of courtesy that he very much appreciated.

We had a bit of the pounding waves today that are typical for Johnstone but made our way up the Strait and entered Port Harvey, to explore a new place for us, Port Harvey Marina. It was not fully open for the season but we were able to tie up for the reduced rate of only $22. It had looked much nicer in the Waggoner Cruising Guide but no worries. We always enjoy seeing new places. We will run our generator tonight since power has not yet been installed on the dock.

Debbie went for a short photo hike. She returned after finding some fresh bear scat on the trail. Later, the folks from a sailboat, Bagheera, who also tied up here, came over for some wine and cheese.

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don/Cloudy and cool
05/18/2013, Waiatt Bay

The shore, next to our boat held all kinds of images for the official photographer to consider.

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don/Cloudy and cool
05/18/2013, Calm Channel

This follow joined us for a ride today on the pressure wave from our bow.

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Don/Cloudy and cool
05/18/2013, Waiatt Bay

Waiatt Bay provided us with a quiet and calm anchorage to test our anchor windlass and chain. Good thing, too!

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Don/Cloudy and cool
05/18/2013, Octopus Islands

We slept in a little today and did not depart Gorge Harbour until 8:15 or so. Debbie got some shots of pictographs in the gorge that were much better than mine. Then again, she IS the official photographer on this jouney. We wanted to correctly time our passage of Hole in the Wall, a place where tidal currents can get extreme. Hole in the Wall is one of several routes north through the maze of islands that separates northern coastal BC from southern. The tidal currents in each route can reach 9-10 knots or more in some places at some times. Change of Latitude's high end speed is 12 -15 knots but with tidal currents that large there are also overfalls and whirlpools that can spin a boat right around. One notorious place, Devils Hole, has even sunk a boat. So, one always plans the timing for transiting these passages very carefully. Current tables on our Furuno chart plotter told us that slack water at Hole in the Wall would be a little after noon. We planned to transit just before that time with a 1-2 knot flood towards us.

This area is historically significant, too. When George Vancouver was mapping the coast, it was not clear if the west coast of what we now call Vancouver Island was the western side of a continent or an island. Charting interior waters in the Georgia Strait, Vancouver's men found a very strong tidal current running from North to South out of one of the passages, what later was named Seymour Narrows in Discovery Passage. This indicated, given the strength of the current, that the land to the east was probably an island.

On the way to Hole in the Wall we saw another large pod of white sided dolphins, in Calm Channel. We have never seen so many so soon on a trip. Perhaps another good omen?

We approached Hole in the Wall on time and transited with another boat, Patriot, a vessel we had passed the day before off Texada Island. We chatted a bit and discovered that we were both headed to Alaska. We hope we meet again.

We crossed the small bay and entered a very narrow channel into the Octopus Islands and Waiatt Bay, traveling to a protected cove at the far end of the bay where we dropped anchor. We had yet to test our anchor chain and windless and thought this would be the perfect place, since it was protected and calm. It was fortunate that we did. The chain jammed going out so I went down to the holding locker to investigate. It was a horrible tangle and it took quite a while to sort out. It was strange, sometimes this happens when our chain piles up and falls over on itself when we have a wavy transit and things get tossed about. Our transit of Georgia Straight, though, was flat calm so that is not a likely explanation and the rest of the trip has been remarkably calm.

In any case, we spent considerable time sorting everything out. Afterwards, the chain paid out nicely and we set a secure anchor in about 30 feet of water in a very quiet little bay. We had it all to ourselves, something never seen once the summer season really begins. We read and caught up on organizing the boat for the summer. We had leftovers from a mix of restaurants for dinner and Don fixed popcorn a bit later for a treat. We went to bed early since we determined that we needed to be at the next set of tidal rapids at 6:45 for slack water.

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Don/nice
05/18/2013, Off Texada Island

This pod of Pacific White Sided Dolphins, the kind that like to play, found us and came over to our boat to surf bow and stern waves. It is always a treat to see them. These dolphins just like to have fun, my kind of marine mammal!

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don/windy in the afternoon
05/18/2013, Gorge Harbour

Across Georgia Strait and Pacific White-sided Dolphins

We had a long day today, all the way across the Georgia Strait, inside of Texada Island and north to Cortes Island, where we had reserved a slip at Gorge Harbour Marina and Fuel Dock. I got up at 5 and fixed coffee for me and oatmeal for both of us. Checking Weather Station 1, the Canadian Marine Forecast station, winds were predicted in the 10-20 knot range, low enough to cross Georgia Strait and Whiskey Golf was not active so we could pass through that area in the Strait. No need to worry about any torpedoes! Whew!

Deb took us out of a tight slip like a pro and we were off at 6:30 am, to take advantage of the light winds typically found in the morning to get across. Georgia Straight can be nasty, especially with south easterlies opposing an ebb tide or northwesterlies opposing a flood tide. The tide was flooding (coming in, to the north west) and we had southeasterlies. So current and winds were moving in the same direction, much better for smaller wave formation. It was an easy trip across with just a few Nainaimo ferries and a working tug and a few other boats to keep things interesting.

We headed up Malispina Straight, inside Texada Island so we would be a bit protected from any rising winds. Just south of Powell River, we encountered a really large pod of Pacific White Sided Dolphins, the really goofy ones that like to jump and play in your bow wave. They saw us and headed over. We had a great time watching them for 5-10 minutes surf our bow and stern waves. It is always such a treat to see them! Then, as quickly as they appeared, they disappeared for more interesting pursuits.

It was a 79 mile trip today and we were tired as Deb took us through the gorge inti Gorge Harbour. I took a few photos of the pictographs that are stained red on the gorge wall at one location, unknown messages from the indigenous peoples of long ago.

Gorge Harbour is really neat. Once through the gorge, it opens up into a large, cove. The last time we were here, they had just done a full make over of their facilities, with new docks and restaurant. It was quite expensive. A number of people stayed away because it was thought to be too upscale. This time they seem to have moderated their prices. Moorage was $1.25 a foot, May rates. We maneuvered over to the marina and tied up, paid our moorage fee and made reservations for dinner. Deb had snapper and I had soup and salad. It was good, not great. Last time it was something to write home about.

We returned to the boat to plan the next few days of the route to Port McNeil.

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