Photo: A canyon in the Marble River.

The morning after Steve fixed the heat exchanger, we motored a few miles away to Varney Bay where we anchored off a large marsh at the mouth of the Marble River and waited for the tide to rise to half-tide. Then we got in our dinghy and motored up the river. We wound our way through narrow canyons, passing rock walls festooned with ferns and motoring under dark overhangs. We finally came to a boulder strewn rapids and turned back. We had just time to weigh anchor and catch the next ebb through Quatsino Narrows. Just before nightfall we anchored in East Cove in Quatsino Sound. Tomorrow was another big passage: around the fearsome Brooks Peninsula.