Photo: Sand Hill Cranes.

We take our computers to the restaurant at breakfast only to find the whole system down. Later, we see someone else working on a computer and learn it's up again. We get some of our email done in between system crashes. Just to be sure I burn a disk with my manuscript proofs on it and mail it. But I don't have that much faith in the Canadian mail system either.

Check-out time at the marina is at noon. At 11:50 I run up to the store for a few last purchases we couldn't make at Bella Bella while a big fishing boat hovers off the end of the pier waiting for us to leave. We finally get underway at 12:05.

Our destination is Kaskushdish Harbour, less than five miles away. Another boater told us she saw flocks of sand hill cranes there. Steve isn't convinced. He points out the rain clouds hovering over the inlet where Kaskusdish is located and clearing sky out towards the ocean. But I'm determined. I not only want to see the cranes but I want a chance to relax after the frustration of a day in port.

Kaskushdish turns out to be one of the most beautiful spots we've seen all summer. Low lying forested hills are rimmed with bright green marsh grass while intriguing outcrops of rocks jut out from the shore like walls. In our dinghy we see three different groups of cranes. We also discover two fish traps: rows of rocks put across a river mouth by Natives to trap fish. When the fish go in, they close off openings with more rocks, trapping them with the outgoing tide.