Photo: The anchorage at Tangent Island in the rain.

We left Petrel Passage on the Inside Passage's outer channel and turned into a maze of islands. Leaving Sine Island to starboard, we turned south and passed between Tangent Point and Logarithm Point to anchor in a small cove on the side of Tangent Island. Don Douglas, author of Exploring the North Coast of British Columbia, called this group of islands the Math Islands. Steve insists they should be called the Navigator Islands since the names are the functions that navigators use. I think of them as the Trigonometry Islands since Trigonometry is the high school class I learned them in.

We had come here from Captain's Cove, only 22 miles to the north and it was only 2:00 pm. On other trips here I had paddled around the anchorage in my kayak but no sooner had we entered the islands than a fine mist began to fall. Kayaking no longer appeared appealing. I shivered and thought of lighting the heater, then I had a better idea: baking biscotti in the oven. The oven would warm the boat up almost as much as the heater.

Anyone who has cruised with us on Osprey knows we always bring a supply of miniature biscotti from Trader Joe's to enjoy with our morning coffee. But by now we had run out - despite the extra contribution brought from Seattle by Mike and Cheryl, guests who had joined us from Petersburg to Juneau.

Baking biscotti is easy but tedious and lengthy; they have to be baked three times. First you shape the dough into rolls and bake them on a cookie sheet. Next, you cut the baked biscotti into slices, then you bake the slices. Then you turn them over and bake them a third time.


Photo: Rolls of biscotti out of the oven.
W
hile I mixed and baked, Steve fished off Osprey's stern and Jack watched Steve. By the time I finished the biscotti, he had three smallish rockfish -- enough for a dinner of blackened rockfish, rice and okra pickles. It's one of our favorite dinners and I always bring Cajun Power Garlic Sauce to top the rockfish.


Photo: a rockfish on the line.

The biscotti weren't perfect. The 375 degree oven must have been more than 375 degrees because they burned slightly on the bottom and when I cut them and baked the slices the outside of the slices browned but were a bit soft inside. Boat gas ovens are never perfect.

But the biscotti still tasted good.

To see a map showing the area from Prince Rupert to Tangent Island search for Tangent Island in Google Maps. You'll see the other Trigonometry Islands as well.