7/26 Waddington Harbour-Bute Inlet
After another lazy morning on the boat, followed by setting, resetting, and resetting again a stern anchor to pull the stern of the boat around so the boat would be bow into the building chop blowing up Bute Inlet, we escaped ashore in the dinghy for lunch and a shore excursion to explore the shoreline mud flats in hopes of seeing Rachelle's grizzly. The bay was windy but warm, and the views were amazing. We went ashore at low tide with the hopes of seeing bear on the mud flats looking for clams and such, but were disappointed in that regard. The wind and waves were wild enough that we didn't want to get out of site of the boat (I was confident that the anchor had plenty of scope and would hold, but maintained a healthy paranoia, not that if the anchor had drug, we would have been able to get back to the boat in time to do anything anyway). After lunch we walked the dinghy along the shoreline in surprisingly warm ankle to knee deep waters and then motored back to the boat.

Unfortunately, the waves and wind decided this was a grand time to build, and by the time we got to the boat we were looking at occasional series of 3 ft waves which made getting aboard somewhat difficult. Rachelle lost her footing during her scramble aboard, renched her shoulder and fell in the water, but was able to pull herself up the stern swim ladder. We secured the oars and seat from the dinghy, leaving the outboard and the fuel tank to ride out the rest of the chop just in time for the stern anchor to pull free of the bottom during a 30+ kt gust, allowing the boat to be blown sideways to the waves again. I pulled in the stern anchor, and checked our position to make sure the bow anchor wasn't dragging. We dried off, warmed up with some hot tea and a thick soup, and rode out the rest of the blow by playing a game of cribbage. Rachelle won, although her victory dance was somewhat diminished due to her injured wing. By nightfall the waves had settled significantly but the frequent williwaws kept the boat sideways to the chop making for a less than comfortable anchoring experience.