08/30/2010

Photo: Sunset at west beach, Hakai Recreational Area.

In the morning we take our dinghy ashore and learn that the Hakai Resort has been sold to an outfit called the Hakai Beach Institute. There's a sign saying we are welcome to tie our dinghy to the dock and walk their trails to the beach. Quite a difference from the Hakai Resort which only grudgingly met their legal obligations to provide access. We meet Charlotte and Glenn of the sailboat Amazing Grace who are walking their dogs on West Beach. They tell us the Institute has excellent wifi with no encryption code.

We walk across the peninsula to the beach on newly maintained trails, enjoy the broad sandy beach then hike another newly maintained trail towards the North Beach. Everything's so beautiful we decide to stay another day. We go back to Osprey and move it into the main bay off the Institute where we confirm that in fact the wifi is exceptionally good.

Just before sunset we take the dinghy ashore, hike back to West Beach and watch the sunset over the Pacific Ocean. There's quite a group of yachties and Institute folks there and we all walk back together, stumbling on the dark trail.

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08/30/2010

Photo: Islands in fog

Winds are predicted for 20-30 knots but when we wake up we find calms and fog. We wait awhile for the fog to lift, then motor around the south end of Hurricane Island, through narrow Brydon Passage into Kildidit Sound. The fog out there is thick and we've done so much twisting and turning through the islands that I've lost all sense of direction and find it difficult to recognize the islands when they pop out of the fog. Thank heavens for the chart plotter!

We cross Hakai Chanel and enter Pruth Bay. We're surprised after several days of hardly seeing any other boats to see three big megayachts, a sailboats and several powerboats anchored at the head of the bay off the Hakai Resort. We anchor in the south arm of Pruth Bay all by ourselves. As we're tidying up the boat I hear a raucous honking and croaking and see a flock of sand hill cranes flying across the bay.

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08/30/2010

Photo: Spider Island, Queens Sound

From Goose Island we sail east across Queens Sound and then through a group of little-known islands hidden between Queens Sound and Kildidit Sounds. We wind our way among islands and rocks looking for an anchorage. These rocky islands are topped with only a shallow cap of soil supporting only stunted wind-swept trees which give them a wild appearance. The passages between them are deep, narrow and twisty, punctuated by the occasional rock. It makes for challenging navigation since every island and rock looks like all the other islands and rocks. We first try Triquet and Lyte Anchorages but despite the enticing descriptions of them in Jennifer and James Hamilton's book the Secret Coast, we find them too windy and open to swells for a day where the weather report calls for 30 knots northwest. We finally settle on Hurricane Anchorage, so named not because it would make a good hurricane hole (although it would) but for its location next to Hurricane Island. I launch the kayak and paddle among the rocks while Steve takes the dinghy out fishing and catches three rockfish. We have a fine dinner of blackened rockfish and save the head for crabbing.

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