Wednesday 8 September was a short trip from Clothes Bay (south of Klemtu) to Bella Bella (at Shearwater) N52º08.82' W128º05.29'. We arrived in sunshine and bright blue skies. With shore-power available, water, laundry and grocery store, it was time for the big tidy up. And shortly after we arrived, who should come walking down the dock, seabag in hand, but David C, our replacement crew for the remainder of the cruise. David has jumped in the deep end of the pool and ordered a Diesel Duck from Seahorse - just another lunatic, seeking a personal asylum.

Thurday 9 September, we departed the float at Shearwater, heading out the Lama Passage to FitzHugh Sound south to Nalau Passage, Wallace Channel and Hakai Passage into Pruth Bay N50º12.28' W123º46.16' (Calvert Island). While transiting a portion of the Hakai Passage, we were open to the Pacific - all the way to Japan - but the seas remained placid. Pruth Bay was our one-day stop-over on the marathon run north the beginning of July with brother John's family and Mac aboard. You may recall my mentioning the fantastic white sand beach (and the mystery bug bites that I carried all the way to Juneau). The beach was still there, and we stayed pretty much covered due to the cold, windy weather, so were not troubled by any new bites. As usual, Rusty fully appreciated the beach, running and playing himself to near collapse. That night, aboard DE, Rusty skipped dinner and just snored away.

Note: as we were departing Shearwater, in the dawn's early light, we had a radio call from SV Marcy, which had come into the Shearwater anchorage sometime in the evening (I presume) . We had a quick exchange, and I encouraged them to come down to Pruth, which did not (as far as I know) happen. Darn! We enjoyed Peter and Ginger's company, and would like to have shared the beach with them.

Friday 10 September, we awake to heavy rain, which lasted just long enough for Dorothy, David C and I to get all geared up in our foulies and Sitka Slippers to raise the dingy into position for getting underway. Pruth Bay, Kwakshua Channel, FitzHugh Sound and there we were, clearing Cape Calvert and fully into the dreaded Queen Charlotte Sound!... We had a lovely, misty, sometimes a bit rainy, but totally without drama, 10-hour passage from Pruth Bay to Port Hardy (via Egg Rock, Pine Island & Gordon Channel). Wind out of the SW, never more than 10 kts, and a 1+ meter swell more west than south, which disappeared as soon as we passed the latitude of Cape Scott (northwestern tip of Vancouver Island).

Port Hardy is the northern-most major town on the east side of Vancouver Island. We found lots of dock space at the fuel docks at the north end of the Port Hardy inner harbour N50º43.13' W127º28.83' (We'd decided, back at Pruth Bay, to skip the west side of Vancouver Island for this trip. Just not enough time... and it'll still be there next year.) Across the float from us was a Canadian Coast Guard / Fisheries research vessel, and the other side of the pier, on another float, was a CCG version of the USCG 47' motor lifeboat. Through the night several major fishing vessel came and went.

Saturday 11 September is forecast for strong-to-gale force winds, out of the south, in the Queen Charlotte Straits, but looking things over it doesn't appear there will be sufficient fetch to generate seas of any consequence, leaving it as just wind; so we decided to put some more miles under the keel. Exiting Hardy Bay at about 1000hrs, we discover the strong wind forecast is correct - 29kts -- although it has backed to ESE, then E already. The only problem is finding "room in the inn" further down the straits. The fishing fleets are in at Alert Bay and Sointula, and there's little or no space for two 50' cuisers - DavidEllis & Alpenglow. We made one aborted attempt to dock in a modest wind at Sointula, but the only available space turned out to be the float plane dock - not allowed.

We persisted though, and found excellent dock space at the fuel docks in Port McNeil N5035.56' W127º0536'. Alpenglow has been into Port McNeil previously and had noted it being more open to the wind; as it turned out, the fuel dock, had added float space, which was facing directly into the wind. So, even though we docked in a 17kt breeze, it was "mayo wenti" (Mandarin for "no problem") as we were facing into it. The guy on the dock was extremely helpful, and even invited us to a movie theatre birthday party for a 6 year-old that evening in town. We didn't actually go, but the thought was nice. The pub at the end of the dock had surprisingly good food, and we were content with that.

On another float near us was docked a Benford design cruiser - Teddi Bear - complete with R22 helicopter equipped with floats, parked on the boat deck...

Sunday 12 September we left Port McNeil and entered Johnstone Strait - famous for it's orca pods. And we did see some orcas from a distance, but more interesting was a school of small porpoise - about 100 members -- which passed us heading up the strait with the current. A beautiful day. We stopped for the night at Port Neville N50º29.11 W126º05.30'. This is our second time at Port Neville, which was once a hub for fuel, groceries and mail in this part of the coast. Things have changed, and Port Neville is now a place that once was. Dorothy mailed postcards from there last August, and the post office was decommissioned in January of this year. The caretaker allowed us a peek inside the old general store - hand hewn beams and caulked seams. There's no doubt everyday living was hard work in those days. I wonder if we really appreciate all the ways our technology has made our lives easier...

Shortly after our arrival at Port Neville, SV Marcy arrived and joined us for dinner. We had a fun visit... and freshly-baked cookies too!

Monday 13 September; a gorgeous morning with ribbons of low cloud, and bands of golden sunlight. SV Marcy got away from the dock at 0630 to make the slack water at Seymour Narrows later in the morning. Our route skipped Seymour Narrows, so we didn't let our lines go until later. We did catch the slack at Race Passage (on Johnstone Strait) and continued into Discovery Passage before leaving the main channel at Okisollo Channel - where we experienced some swirlies and overfalls -- past Hole-in-the-Wall channel and through Bodega Anchorage into Waiatt Bay N50º16.76' W125º13.68' Quadra Island. We actually got our anchor to set - have been feeling snake-bit lately about this - then the crew took Rusty in the dinghy to the beach for a run. Waiatt Bay, and the approaches to it, had a half dozen or more other cruisers anchored about - more cruising boats than we've seen in SE AK (except at marinas) - we must be getting closer to civilization...

Tuesday 14 September - Dorothy and my 42nd wedding anniversary, seems like yesterday... (except when I look in the mirror - who's that old guy?!) From Quadra Island we traversed Hole-in-the-Wall Channel exiting into Calm Channel then Lewis Channel, with a short stop at Refuge Cove N50º07.41' W124º50.41'. There's a small community there, along with a general store and post office. The store was getting ready to close up for the winter (although there were a fair number of cruising boats coming and going); we bought a few things, and David C. kindly picked up a bottle of bubbly with which to celebrate our anniversary. A couple more miles, a narrow "S" curve entry and we were in our anchorage for the night, Prideaux Haven N50º08.65' W124º40.81'. 15 cruisers, kayaks, a rowing dinghy, a PWC, a partridge and a pear tree! Taking Rusty to shore turned into a rout (defined as "defeat combined with disorderly flight") , as just getting close to shore in the dinghy attracted a mob of mosquitoes, who then pursued us back to DavidEllis. We closed the doors and checked all the screens. Later we shared bubbly and chocolate with Alpenglow, and talked about jack-shafts and thrust bearings - boat stuff (I'm sure this was exactly the romantic anniversary ambience Dorothy had in mind).

Wednesday 15 September - an early start (0700) through Desolation Sound, into the upper Straits of Georgia; down past Powell River into the Malaspina Strait between the BC mainland and Texada Island. I'm writing this as we approach Smuggler Cove N49º30.80' W123º57.72' on Sechelt Peninsula where we plan to spend the night. Although high overcast, we've had a pleasant run today, mostly on glassy flat water. David C. played the ukulele that I've had sitting in a case for the past two years; Rusty showed a great deal of interest. Had a telephone call from Andrew C. / Hong Kong (in ShangHai at the moment - must have been 0300 hours there) called to talk about things and stuff. We miss Hong Kong and our friends there, but can't figure how to be in two or three places at once.