We are pleased to announce that Nemo the boat's spider made the trip to Alaska and back. This morning, as we enjoyed our coffee and tea at anchor at Sucia Island, we noticed a new web constructed in one of our life rings. When Don placed the dead body of a mosquito he had killed in the previous evening on the web, Nemo raced down to grab it. What a relief to know that after several days in hiding, Nemo was in fact in residence on the boat. Yea Nemo!!!

In Gorge Harbour, which we previously noted was FULL of boats, we were anchored close to a quite old and decaying black ketch featuring a rotted gargoyle like bow ornament and looking very much like a pirate ship. The "pirate ship" was on a mooring buoy, so we awoke to discover that we were closer than we would have liked (could have seen the steam rising from his coffee if he had been up - prompting us to weigh anchor at 6:00 am and sneak out of the marina before our proximity had been discovered. We headed south from Gorge Harbour down the Sunshine Coast, arriving ultimately at Pender Harbour in late afternoon after visiting and dismissing other anchorages as too crowded, exposed, and rocky. We had enjoyed a beautiful day, a truly spectacular sunset through gathering clouds with forecasted rain and a southeasterly wind forecast for the next day.

Back in the late 1970's Don met a colleague, M. David Low (MDL), a Neurologist in Vancouver, BC, through a computer company they were both working with to develop patient monitoring systems. They became dear friends -- both sailors -- and shared many adventures over the years, including leaking split hulls, diesel filling the bilge and also some idyllic sailing in fair winds to beautiful remote spots on the BC coast. Don and MDL shared a love of Princess Louisa Inlet at the end of Jervis Inlet.

Princess Louisa, accessed through turbulent white water at Malibu Rapids, is a 4+ mile fiord into a deep granite canyon, with peaks rising 8000 feet above sea level, 1,800 feet of cold deep glacier water below, culminating in a massive set of waterfalls, including "Chatterbox Falls” at 120 feet ( pic in this blog post), which is connected to the 2,755-foot (840 m) James Bruce Falls, which is the tallest waterfall in North America.To describe this fiord as breathtaking or awesome understates its majesty.

Our dear friend passed in 2018, and following his death, we promised to sail his wife Barbee to Princess Louisa to celebrate his life and to commit some of his ashes to this deep water and profoundly meaningful anchorage. Covid prevented us from fulfilling this promise until this summer's adventure. We are so honored that Barbee will now join us for the next few days to make our pilgrimage to Princess Louisa together.

On Wednesday, we headed from Pender Harbour to the Backeddy Marina in Egmont. Egmont is at the mouth of Sechelt Inlet, which regularly experiences fast - sometimes as much as 16 kn - tidal currents through a narrows just above the town. We arrived at the marina experiencing 15+ kn winds & 5 kn current creating some real challenges as we negotiated first a landing at the fuel dock, and then relocating to a spot on the old wooden dock. Fortunately, kind sailors assisted us with our efforts and we managed to secure ourselves to both without grave injury to us or the boat - but two of our fender/bumpers had catastrophic collisions with the dock and one went floating away in the current until Don, in the dingy, chased it down and reinstalled it on its tether. Following this excitement, we visited the pub for a lager, some delicious fish n chips and kale salad.

Our friend Barbee arrived early the next morning and we set sail for Princess Louisa Inlet. Because we were once again confined to access the inlet only at slack tide due to the raging currents, we sailed slowly most of the way in a 15+ knot trailing wind. Slack was scheduled for roughly 7 pm, but we ventured through at about 5:30 pm - with the boat getting up to 13 kn through the white water. We were thrilled to be able to moor on one of the 5 mooring buoys at the end of the Inlet. We stayed for two days, listening to waterfalls, celebrating our dear friend MDL and finding peace and comfort in enjoying one of the most scenic and spiritual spots in the world.

Three days later, after dropping Barbee back at her car in Egmont, we returned to Pender Harbour for an overnight prior to crossing the Straits of Georgia. We departed Pender at 7:30 am watching a pod of Orcas (in the Harbour ) - including tail slapping and a full breach of one frisky male. This was our first (and we expect only) viewing of orcas on this trip. But what a gift. They were within 50 feet of our boat, diving under boats around us, slapping, blowing and generally have a frolic.

We crossed the Straits with modest wind blowing right "down our gullet" - but the seas were calm, the ferries avoidable, and the sun shining brightly as we entered our final days of sailing for 2022. We will rest in Silva Bay overnight, then set sail south to Sucia Island in the San Juans tomorrow and back to our slip in Bellingham on Wednesday- back to reality, as it were.

Thanks to everyone who followed and engaged with us on our blog. We enjoyed documenting our trip for you - as it forced us to reflect and record in real time - which is a practice that we plan to continue for our future adventures.

Hugs and love to you all.

Having taken on fuel and water at Port McNeil, we headed south into Johnstone Strait. The fog lifted and the wind stayed calm, though we were working against an ebbing current for several hours. The forecast was for strong NW winds, which didn't materialize until we approached Port Harvey. Our goal was for Port Neville, another several miles down the Strait, and the winds, which reached 26+, blew us in about 7:15 - a long twelve-hour 72-mile day. Whew!

Port Neville's claim to fame is that it is the site of the oldest continuous functioning post office in BC, according to Waggoners. The post office was closed in 2010 and the store building and post office are still there under a caretaker. The anchorage was well protected and allowed a view of the waves in the channel as two cruise ships came by on their way to Vancouver. Neither had a water slide on the back.

We left Port Neville and headed on down Johnstone Strait to Chancellor Channel and headed east to our Sunday stop back at Shoal Bay. Spent a sunny afternoon reading and fishing - Janet hooked a nice pink salmon. And we didn't have any sail repairs this time! Nice quiet partial rest day.

On Monday, we left Shoal Bay for Dent and Yaculta Rapids on our way to Gorge Harbor on the south end of Cortez Island. Yaculta Rapids can be quite strong when the tide is running and we missed the timing on it. So, in order to wait for a slack tide/near slack tide, we explored the end of Frederick Arm, had lunch and admired the beauty of the area, including the huge peak of Mt Estero, a giant granite monolith among many in the area.

We launched our crab trap, acknowledging reluctantly that crabbing opportunities were ending soon, yet hopeful for a few more luscious 7" Dungeness for feasting. With a lovely greenling head in the bait box, we could almost taste the succulent crab that would follow. What we caught was a very cranky 4" rock crab, who despite our patient cajoling, clung tenaciously to the trap. After a solid 8 minutes, with our best strategic thinking, we convinced the dude to relinquish his iron grip - and without injury to us or him, he was free to grow into a big boy crab. No crab feast for us.

After our rest and extraordinary crabbing adventure, we entered first Dent, then Yaculta rapids, sailing through them at times in excess of 10 mph and then sailed on to Gorge Harbor, a beautiful spot, but absolutely packed with boats. Suddenly, we were immersed back in civilization - not entirely to our liking. We had a farewell dinner with Steve and Joanie on Hakuna Matata as we go our separate ways on Tuesday.

Sometimes the universe provides a rare gift - and for us, Steve and Joanie are just that. Ever patient - Steve's careful fishing instruction for Janet; ever generous - Chinook, Coho, Sockeye, Pink salmon, crab, ling cod, black cod; ever flexible - let's take a rest day so that Janet and Don can mend a thrashed sail - and, oh yes, let's spend the morning hoisting her up to the top of the mast; ever philosophical and curious - wonderful discussions of science and nature. We could not have invented two more perfect companions for this trip of a lifetime. Being with them was a joy and we will always cherish our deep friendship.

With fuel and water topped off, laundry done, groceries bought (especially wine and beer), and hamburger and fresh fries at the local pub, we overnighted at Shearwater and left at 7:30 AM for Fitzhugh Sound moving toward a jumping off point for the crossing of Cape Caution, back to the southern, Vancouver Island portion of the BC coast. The weather was back to SE winds, rainy and chilly. After a long slog, we anchored at Kwakume Inlet, a beautiful spot midway along Fitzhugh Sound, leaving rain and waves into a peacefully quiet lagoon. Again, we were the only boats there - probably the last time that will happen for a while.

On Thursday, we were greeted by low clouds and glimpses of sun and headed for Fury Cove, the popular jumping off place for the Cape Caution crossing. The sun came out as we journeyed down Fitzhugh Sound and we were greeted by a pod of some 20 humpback whales, feeding along the shores. These amazing creatures were busy preparing for their long fall and winter journey to Hawaii or Mexico to give birth to their young. We arrived at Fury Cove early afternoon, with warm sun and a time for rest before a long day's crossing. We were the first boats there, but soon others arrived, and by evening the Cove was full of boats - 11 including us - ready to leave in the morning or having just arrived from a day's journey.

On Friday, up at 7:00 AM, crossed Cape Caution and into Queen Charlotte Strait by 2:00 PM. Great sunny crossing with 10 knot NW winds and swells 1-3 meters. We decided to enter Johnstone Strait on the mainland side of the channel, stopping at Blunden Harbor for the night. Saturday, morning was calm and dense fog with drizzle. We made our way carefully across Queen Charlotte Strait with visibility about 500 feet, with radar on. We got to Port McNeil about 11:00, got fuel and water and will then head south.

This crossing was bittersweet for us. We could have easily spent another month or two in northern BC and SE Alaska though we are really looking forward to seeing our family and friends again soon! Our brief visit in Alaska and Northern BC coast was just a taste of the myriad, beautiful places to visit, certainly wetting our appetite for more adventures in the coming years. SV Destination behaved wonderfully, though having spent this much time on her left us with several ideas for improvements. Much to think through and make decisions about.

Sunday morning opened in dense fog, delaying our departure. The fog was so thick, even the voracious, biting deer flies were grounded - a welcome change. This being the last day of July, we spent time this morning charting our trip back to Bellingham - the first planning longer than a day or two we have undertaken in quite a while - felt weird. We waited for the fog to lift enough to see logs in the channel and headed south on Mathieson Channel, Perceval Narrows and Reid Passage, a narrow passage through wind-worn low-lying islands on Milbanke Sound of the Pacific Ocean. Leaving the southern point of Reid Passage, we sailed east through rocking and rolling ocean swells in Seaforth Channel to a lovely small and sheltered anchorage at Wigham Cove on Yeo Island. We dined on fresh Chinook, caught about 1 hour before dinner.

The next day we were off for a visit to Roscoe Inlet, a twenty one mile fiord deep into the mountains, classified as "not to be missed" by the cruising guides. Were they ever right about that! Towering granite peaks surround deep blue water. Roscoe Bay is a grand display of coast range granite peaks, rivaling all we have seen before in Fiordlands, and Misty Fiords National Monument. Few sightings of birds or mammals, but we did see a family of Canada geese, which we haven't seen much - we expect due to the fact that they all live on golf courses in the states - and another Red Throated Loon. Roscoe Bay is apparently off the radar of most travelers to this part of the world. We encountered a grand total of 2 other boats this full day, which is, actually, an increase in traffic for us.

Spent the night in Clatse Bay near the entrance of Roscoe Inlet - a quiet spot with us the only occupants. Raised anchor at 7:30 AM in a cloudy day. As we left Roscoe Inlet, we encountered the first rain in several days - out with the rain gear once again as we headed south to Shearwater for fuel, water, groceries, laundry and cell service.

Retracing our steps north, we left Hartley Bay with full fuel and water tanks and journeyed southeast across MacKay Reach and down Fraser and Graham Reaches, settling in again at Khutze Inlet, by far the best anchorage along the Prince Royal Channel route of the Inland Passage. We anchored at the head of the Inlet on Green Spit, the only bottom less than 200 feet deep. This turned out to be a bit worrisome because of the brisk current, one of those times, rarely, fortunately - when concern leads to a sleepless night, even though in this case without cause. We got a treat, though, for night was pitch black and, with no moon, the stars and Milky Way shown brightly - absolutely wonderful to be in a spot with no light pollution at all.

As we mentioned in a previous post, Khutze Inlet and surrounding territory are part of the K'ootz/Khutze Conversancy. Stewarded by the Kitasoo/Xai'xais Nation, he Khutze River estuary is a prime habitat for wildlife, including grizzly bears. In the morning we checked in with Brady, the Guardian Watchman and took the 5-mile journey to the river estuary where we dropped anchor surrounded by snow-capped mountains, birds, and seals feasting on incoming salmon. Brady had agreed to meet us for the early evening high tide for a trip up the river estuary for bear viewing, but got so involved with a construction project at the entrance to the Inlet, he ran out of time. Oh well - next time! Besides, we've had plenty of bear sightings on this trip. And of course, Khutze Inlet is absolutely beautiful, bears or no bears!

After the lack of sleep the previous night, we welcomed the day off and a great night's sleep anchored near the entrance to the estuary. At 7:00 AM on Saturday, again under clear skies and northwest winds, we continued our trip south down Princess Royal Channel in route to Bottleneck Inlet, just off Finlayson Channel. It seems amazing that we are entering the seventh week of our trip and now are aiming for the third week of August for our arrival back in Bellingham. Neither of us is quite sure just how we will handle re-entry into life back at home, having discovered just how the disconnection of the past several weeks has cleared our heads. Surrounded by all this beauty, the solitude, seeing only one or two other boats on any given day, and the quiet of the anchorages we have visited leaves one with a deep feeling of peace. We are so fortunate to have the time, health, wonderful traveling companions and a good boat beneath us allowing us to so enjoy this experience!

We stopped at Bottleneck Inlet on a sunny, warm day accepting an invitation to join Joanie and Steve on their boat for a crab lunch - we suffer so..... Fully sated, we decided to press on down Finlayson Channel and then take Jackson Passage to Rescue Bay, a wonderful spot we had visited on our way north a few weeks ago. Jackson Passage is very narrow, especially at the east end, where is it necessary to travel through a hairpin curve barely 40 feet wide, avoiding rocks on either side - an adventure to be sure. We arrived at Rescue Bay to find three other boats there already - more than we have seen in any anchorage (except city ports) since crossing Cape Caution many weeks ago - population growth we will need to adjust to as we head further south.

As is our custom, we have been reading books aloud on this trip. In a previous blog post, we mentioned Passage to Juneau by Jonathan Raban. The next book on our list was Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest by Suzanne Simard. Her book, based on her research in the forests of the PNW, documents how trees communicate and cooperate through vast underground fungal networks. What a joy to learn about this science, while embedded in the exact forests that she has been studying; watching the bears, salmon, eagles that are equally inextricably linked in this complex ecosystem. We both commented that our perspective on the trees has changed dramatically - and that we now see these vast expanses of tree-lined mountains as a vibrant community. We highly recommend this book to all who love natural science and our wild PNW forests.