We so very much enjoyed Fly Basin. It was hard to leave. We needed to get north, though, to pick up Deb’s brother-in-law, Dave Gracy, in Shearwater on July 23rd.

We carefully threaded the rocky obstacle course at the entrance and we went to check out a halibut pinnacle we saw on our charts on our way in. It showed on our charts as a peak that came to within 120 feet of the surface, surrounded by 400-500 depths around it. In the Northwest, halibut hang out at pinnacles like this to feed on the smaller fish that live on these peaks. I was looking for hally (hal-lee), I am speaking Northwest here, spots like this to fish on our way back south. We cruised over it. It was perfect. I marked it in my mental map of good fishing spots. We really had to give it a try. On a calm morning, we could get out to it from Fly Basin in Rubber Ducky, our dinghy fishing machine.

We headed past the Barrier Island Group and over to take a look at Milbrooke Cove, another potentially nice anchorage. I had stayed there on the way south after our Alaska trip when Deb left in Ketchikan. I wanted to show her the cove but it looked like three other boats were headed in and we did not want to disrupt their anchoring and settling in procedure. Boats were heading in here because the seas were up outside around Cape Caution. They were waiting for better weather.

We headed out into Queen Charlotte Sound. Even though we had rounded Cape Caution, there was still open ocean to cross as we entered South Passage into Fitz Hugh Sound and rounded Kelp Head. We would be exposed to Pacific Ocean swells, all the way from Japan. The first several miles were challenging as we experienced the always peaky rebound waves from Kelp Head. They were about 3 meters with only about 6-7 second intervals. Fortunately, as we headed out we faced right into them. But we would have to turn to starboard to make it to Fitz Hugh Sound and then they would be on our beam. Not nice. We would be rocking and rolling. Our boat does not have stabilizers. At times like these, we wish we did. In situations like this, you want to go out far enough, quartering into the seas to gain an angle on things so, eventually, you can turn to starboard and have the seas on your stern. It is a bit like tacking when sailing if you think of the direction of the swells as the wind, only here you wanted to head at an angle to them and then, when you had gained enough distance, swing around and “sail” down wind, quartering down the swells. With the swells at your stern, things would smooth out a bit. Much better than the pitching you get heading into the seas.

After 30 minutes or so of quartering into the swells, we swung the boat smartly and gained a bit more of a stable ride, trying to make for the calmer waters of Fitz Hugh Sound. We eventually made the shelter of Calvert Island on our port and the swells disappeared. Whew! We headed up to Pruth Bay, our destination for tonight.

There were a number of boats anchored in front of the research station’s dock so we anchored in a little cove to the left. We had not been there before. It was really very nice. We dropped anchor, let out about 250 feet of chain to get a 5 to 1 scope, good enough for good winds, but not a gale. None was forecast.

Before dinner, we decided to test our dinghy. We had yet to use our davit to swing Rubber Ducky, our dinghy, over the side and drop it down into the water. We needed to do this before Shearwater, where we could get any issues resolved if they appeared. We unfastened the holding gear and, with a little effort, dropped it down, into the water. The davit sounded like it was straining and when I entered the dinghy and opened up the seat I discovered why. The automatic bilge pump was not automatiking. The bilge was filled with rain water from the past several days. I pumped out the water with a hand pump. We had a new automatic bilge pump installed last year. I am going to have to investigate the problem and see if I can fix it when we have time. Deb and I took Rubber Ducky out for a spin in the cove to test the engine, the radio, and the depth finder. All worked well. We lifted the now, much more slimmed down version of the Ducky, onto the boat and fastened her down. A good test of all the systems.

I made dinner and did the dishes , since Deb had done this for me last night, when I was so tired. For some reason, I had a lot of energy.

Afterwards, we watched a bit of news on our sat TV and then I worked on the reference list for a study that Clint Kennedy, Chris Rhoads, and I were completing. It is a study of two states: one with a one-to-one laptop program (Maine) and one without (Connecticut). I may be too proud for my own good but it is a really nice study. Very carefully done. We hope to submit it for peer review to a major journal shortly.

Then, it was off to bed while Deb stayed up, trying to finish her book, Eagle in the Snow. It was about the fall of the Roman Empire and the last legion to leave Gaul. She reports that it did not read like a novel, more like a military treatise. Not a must read, Deb says.