Photo: anchorage at Goose Island.

A quiet gray day. We motor out of Kaskusdish Harbour, past Shearwater and Bella Bella and south down Hunter Channel, winding through a labyrinth of islands, finally sailing five miles across Queens Sound to the Goose Islands, an isolated group of islands next to Hecate Strait.

Low forested islands with wind swept trees and long beaches, the Goose Islands areboth beautiful and unnerving. The wind howls across the low land giving the place a mournful feel. We go ashore and walk the beach which is strewn with driftwood logs, a sign that this is not a place to be in a storm.

The two other boats anchored there leave before dark, leaving us to wonder if we're crazy to stay. Then another sailboat arrives just at dusk and we know at least there is someone just as crazy, maybe even crazier for arriving so late.

The islands are even more beautiful in the morning when they're quiet. We see more sand hill cranes walking along the beach.