Photo: Khutze Inlet.

We leave Windy Bay, just outside the Fiordland Recreation Area, where we had anchored the night before and motor out Sheep Passage. It's another gorgeous morning without a breath of wind, until we turn into Princess Royal Channel and the wind comes whistling at us from the north at 27 knots. Steve unhanks the 120 jib and hoists the small self-tending jib and mainsail and we tack up channel. The wind builds further and we take a reef in the main. At least there aren't any waves to contend with in the narrow channel and the self -tending jib makes tacking easy as we don't need to pull in the sheets each time we come about. We sail into Khutze Inlet and the wind drops from 30 knots to zero. We lower the sails just as hordes of horse flies zoom in for the attack. We motor the rest of the way into the inlet, swatting flies as we go, anchor off the beautiful waterfall and retreat below behind the mosquito screens. We're in one of the Inside Passage's most beautiful anchorages on a sunny hot day but we can't go out to enjoy it until the sun sets behind the mountains and the flies go somewhere else.

The next morning I have just time for a brief kayak tour around the anchorage before the flies return and we retreat back into the cabin. After lunch we spray ourselves with insect repellent and, swatting at flies as we go, climb into the dinghy for a trip up Khutze River. Once underway the flies disappear. We motor up the river until we reach some rapids, then turn off into an amazing maze of channels leading through and around a large marsh.

We get back to find the sailboat Tenacious anchored next to us. We've seen them before, in fact shared a meal with them at Port McNeil a few years ago. We invite them over for wine and cheese. They arrive at the Osprey in colorful flannel shirts despite the heat -- protection from the flies.