Moving North
20 June 2011
Today Ken and I pulled the anchor and headed out of Roscoe Bay in Desolation Sound. You have a short period of time to get in and out of the bay because there is a narrow, zero depth area crossing the entrance. We draw 6 feet so need at least a 6 foot tide to get through. The big rock in the center prevents me from being comfortable crossing with a 6' tide so we crossed when it was about 14' (even though the depth sounder showed only about 2 feet under our keel).
Our friends Tom and Jeanne on Eagle had been at Roscoe Bay with us the whole time. The 4 of us went on a 6 hour hike to the top of a mountain. I'm happy that we did it now but wasn't exactly myself when we reached the top! While I was struggling to get to the top Ken was walking behind me with his hands in his pockets, doing deep knee bends. He thought it was a casual walk! The mountain was nearly 2,000 feet up. I have a right to complain! When we got back to the boat both Jeanne and I spent time soaking our blistered feet in the cold water. A few minutes later Tom yells over "wanna go fishing?" so off Tom and Ken went for more adventure. I stayed behind and nursed my aching legs.
We brought beer and popcorn over to Tom and Jeannes boat last night. Tom and I worked on finishing up the installation of his Sailmail/SSB link and then we all chatted until way past bedtime. They've been so much fun to be with!
We motored halfway and sailed halfway (as wind permitted) to our new destination of Rebecca Spit on Quadra Island. Dad - Remember the problem we had with the hot water not heating off the engine? We had an air lock in the coolant lines. The engine coolant was circulating fine but the part that was supposed to divert to the hot water heater had stopped circulating. Ken bled the system and it seems to work okay now.
For those of you who have been wondering why we haven't been in contact much lately: There hasn't been a way! We couldn't get a cellular signal (unless we went to the top of the mountain again), couldn't get internet access, and couldn't even get an SSB signal to reliably bounce over the mountains that surrounded us. Heck, we couldn't even get a weather report off the VHF!
We had a cell signal for a short time on the way over here but it has since faded away. It was good to talk with Darlene. Sorry that we've been out of contact for so long.
All is well. We will be heading into a town called Campbell River in a few days. I should be able to post pictures then.
BTW. For those of you that want to track our location, you can do so on this page but you first need to have Google Earth. I think the link is off to the right.
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