Back again in Vancouver. Safe journey down, despite a layover in Secret Cove after battling 25 knots on the nose. Why is that the wind is always on your nose, especially when you want to get home in a hurry?

Hopefully we'll pick this up again in the fall.

So here we are back in Port McNeill! Seems like we never left. Ron has injured his knee, so, after attending hospitals in both Port McNeill and Port Hardy and consulting with the doctor in Port Hardy (the medical system here is so understaffed that the two communities share doctors and on this day the doc was in Port Hardy) we've decided to head home.

It's not all doom and gloom, though. Because there was no doctor in Port McNeill who could see Ron, the people of the province kindly sent us in a taxi to the ER in Port Hardy. The road between the two communities is called Bear Alley. And we saw two (different sightings) at the side of the road: bonus. And the medical attention in Port Hardy was very good.

(Note to self: Next time, go to Alert Bay. Apparently the facilities there are excellent.)

And we have now seen nearly all there is to see in Port McNeill. This time we discovered the World's Largest Burl! Right here! Imagine! Who knew?

Ron's knee is sore, but not Medivac material. He'll see a specialist when we get back to Vancouver. A drag to be cutting short our already short cruise, but we'll be glad to get the knee looked at and treatment begun. Hopefully we'll be back out in September.

We found the one gale-less day this week and crossed Queen Charlotte Strait to the Broughtons last Wednesday, June 4. Hunkering down in Claydon Bay for a few days was fun, just a couple of other boats, us, and the bears.

Today we entered Drury Inlet and were delilghted that we'd chosen to go there. Very different topography than we expected: low hills, a wide inlet, and lots of sky -- although because of that, the winds do get in here from Queen Charlotte Strait. And they are blowing again.

The timing of the rapids is a bit puzzling, since there are actually two heavy currents, one at the entrance and one in Stuart Narrows a little further in. Even though we didn't hit slack right on at either place, we still made headway and saw some bears on the beach right beside Stuart Narrows -- a bonus.

We've tied up at Jennis Bay Resort, one of the places we missed last year. It's new, funky, and delightful. A young family runs it and they are very welcoming. Tuesday nights are Creole Nights and even though this is only the third season for Jennis Bay, it's become a popular event for cruisers.

It is more complicated than you might think to get a new starter motor in Port McNeill. With the help of local legendary mechanic Graham Macdonald, we were able to get one sent up from Vancouver, however, and Ron installed it today. Successfully!

So now we just have to wait for the gales to disappear. Almost everyday since we left port in Vancouver the gales have been blowing -- 35 to 45 kts. Tomorrow looks like we'll have a window.

Change of plans however. Instead of heading up to the Central Coast, we'll head over to the Broughtons and poke around there for our remaining three or four weeks.

A little bit of unforeseen.

Yesterday when Ron was doing some engine maintenance, he found that the engine wouldn't start. He traced it to the starter motor, and we learned last night that it was fried. We learned this morning that a new one can't be flown in until Tuesday.

We are thankful we're at a dock and not in some remote anchorage up the coast.

And oh yes, we are also thankful for Gus' pub and the TV screens and the fact that it's Stanley Cup time AND NBA playoff time AND the French Open.

It's gonna be okay ...

Okay, one bear. And okay, the image is jiggly. But it's hard to hold a camera still on a moving boat. The jiggles are impossible when you've zoomed in. And zooming is the only way to go when a bear is involved.

This was our first bear sighting. He was foraging on the beach as we passed through Chatham Channel between West Cracroft Island and the mainland on our way to Lagoon Cove.

Sorry the camera work is so unsteady. It's hard to keep the camera still when you're moving up and down on a boat. If you start feeling urpy, put your head between your legs! Or take two Gravol and call me in the morning.

Potts Lagoon is another old friend on our northern route. Very protected from weather, it is also a great place to catch crab early in the season. Guess what we had for dinner last night?

Today is Thursday, May 29. We arrived here yesterday after spending Tuesday night at Lagoon Cove (photo), one of our favourite marinas anywhere. We met up with three other boats--new and old friends on sv Solitude, mv Inside Passage and mv Tonga--and had a rousing good time. Earlier on Tuesday we had seen our first bear on the beach of Chatham Channel (between West Cracroft Island and the mainland) as we passed by. He was a youngster, rooting around in the rocks for food, and only gave us a couple of glances as we went by. We were coming from Shoal Bay, where we had spent the previous two nights after leaving Squirrel Cove.

Shoal Bay used to be bigger than Vancouver in the late 19th Century, but has only a couple of houses now. The old government dock remains, though, and it's a great place to tie up. Crabbing was good there, too!

In order to get from Squirrel Cove to the Broughtons you have to pass through four sets of tidal rapids. To do that safely careful attention to the tide and current tables is mandatory as you need to make the passage when the current is slack, otherwise you're fighting whirpools and rapids, which can be quite dangerous. It's always a bit nerve- wracking because the timing is critical and there's a nagging doubt as to whether you've calculated correctly. However, this time we calculated everything correctly and our crossings were smooth.

Today we're heading to Port McNeill--laundry, showers, groceries and internet! Maybe some photos for the blog.

Moving pictures at Squirrel Cove! Wow! You can post video on this. Seems a little pixilated, but whatever.

These guys came around the boat at happy hour every day we were in this anchorage. Very cute.

It's great to be back in one of our favourite anchorages, even though we're waiting out storm force winds in Johnstone Strait. We left Vancouver last Sunday, only a week later than we intended (!) and later in the day than we intended, so spent our first night at Plumper Cove on Keats Island in Howe Sound, testing systems and getting used to routines along the way. Since it was the end of a holiday weekend, Plumper Cove was crowded, but we managed to find a spot and spent a lovely calm night on the hook.

At about 0700 the next morning we left for Pender Harbour with a 20-knot south wind behind us! We put up the main and motor sailed, averaging 6.5 - 7 knots, arriving in Garden Bay around 1300 hrs with only a handful of boats at anchor, so we had lots of choices for an anchoring spot. In the afternoon, the winds picked up to 20-25 knots in the anchorage, which surprised us since it seemed pretty protected. We figured it meant it was blowing even harder outside and we were glad we were tucked in securely.

We spent Tuesday visiting with Ron's brother Jim and his wife Kathryn in Pender Harbour and had a great time. Wednesday we left early again to make our way to Squirrel Cove, but this time the wind was blowing from the NW 20-30 knots, so our progress was a little slower. We arrived in Squirrel Cove in the late afternoon, making only about 3.5 knots at times, after 10.5 hours of motoring.

The anchorage is great this time of year, with only 4 other boats, all waiting as we are for the big winds to clear so we can head north. One of the GNBN (Great Northern Boaters Net) boats, Monsoon (from Seattle), is here and we had a nice visit with Daisy and Earl on Thursday morning. GNBN is a great community of ham radio mariners, and we had lots to talk about. This morning we had an equally nice visit with Gary on Lets Rock from Nanaimo. Both boats are heading north as we are, so I expect we'll cross paths again.

I'm posting this remotely over the ham radio, so here's hoping it works. Theoretically I can post photos remotely too, but I'm not sure how to do that yet. Think calm, clean, blue-green water; a family of geese with 5 babies learning the ropes; gulls, eagles; blue skies; a big almost-empty anchorage; and lots of tranquillity and you'll get the idea.