We had a long (nine-hour) travel day yesterday, heading north. We left Rescue Bay on Mathieson Channel at about 0930 (after pulling up the prawn traps with some nice juicy prawns inside). At the anchorage in Rescue Bay we met Bill, a kayaker from Iowa, who was paddling to Skagway from Olympia, Washington! He picked a good summer for it -- at least so far the weather has been very kayaker friendly.

After about three hours we stopped at Klemtu, a Kitasoo First Nations village, where we topped up our fuel and searched for fresh vegetables in the band store. I did manage to find a cabbage and some broccoli, but the best time is just after the ferry has come in with the weekly order. Some of the shelves were pretty bare yesterday.

I had a very interesting conversation with a man on the dock about fish farming. The Kitasoo have signed an agreement with one of the fish-farming companies and have six fish farms that they run together, employing altogether around 60 people on the farms, in the processing plant, and on the supply boat, although not all of them are from Klemtu. He works on one of the farms and insisted that the radical environmentalists have it all wrong. Nice man. Opposing points of view.

On the water, we saw very few boats all day. After leaving Klemtu we headed through Meyers Passage, which can be a bit tricky since the low water is about 9 feet in the shallowest part, but we passed through with no problems. Our call on the VHF for opposing traffic was met with silence: no other vessels were seen. The sun was shining, the water was dancing, and it was quite lovely. On the other side, the landscape is low to the water, the trees are weathered, and you can tell it can get wild out there. Since it was getting late in the afternoon, we began looking for anchorages, pushing on another hour or so before we found one that looked quite lovely.

It was at the top of the uncharted waters of Thistle Channel, which we poked through very carefully, me standing at the bow looking for rocks. The anchorage was a series of scenic islets that together offered protection according to the cruising guide. It really was beautiful, and there was NO ONE around, except the eagles, who swooped down over us like we were dinner. So we poked along some more, finding a path through the islets, avoiding whatever dangers were there, but to our great disappointment couldn't find the promised 45 feet of depth to anchor in and so decided to head back out and up Laredo Channel to Alston Cove, which we knew was a good anchorage.

Another hour up the channel with the wind picking up but the sky still a brilliant blue against Cone Mountain with it's smooth rock faces and snowy patches, still no other boats, looking forward to a snuggle into Alston Cove to revel in the solitude that this part of the coast offers. We round the corner into the cove and find two other boats already there. God's little joke.

We were here three or four years ago and at that time it was grey and drizzly and my back went out so we were invalid-bound with me flat on my back in great pain for five days: not too pleasant. Nice to be back when the sun is shining. There are fish weirs at the head of the cove and we're hoping for some bear sightings. Lots to explore.