Sunday Evening finds us tethered to dock at Shearwater, BC. The edges of town all fall within a range suitable for a salmon toss. Yet, everything one could want or need can be found within those boundaries. Before we cast off tomorrow, we will resupply with fresh produce, dairy and some meat to supplement our fish menu. Also, we will retest the dinghy motor to see if the resent surgery brought the old 2-stroke Tohatsu back to life. While anchored in Skull Cove just south of Cape Caution, we found the motor refused to idle and eventually would just start, run a few seconds and quit. At 9:30PM in waning evening light, I disassembled the carburetor in the bottom of the dinghy and flushed with Sea Foam (fuel additive... basically alcohol), reassembled and went for a wild run around the cove, returned to idle and shut er down. We set her back on her perch on the cockpit rail and called it good.  I'm no mechanic but I can get lucky.  We will see tomorrow.  There are real mechanics here at Shearwater! We have to wait til 1PM for the Grocery Store to open, so plenty of time for dinghy doings, weather research and trip planning.

Since Dent Island, we have run the rapids at Greene Point and Current Passage at full tilt and in good shape.  These rapids run more like a river without the wild gyrations seen in Gillard and Dent which one would be insane to attempt in anything but a jet boat. Through Current Passage in Johnstone Strait we reached 13.7 knots...a new record. We ended the day of rapids at anchor in Spout Bay poised for our crossing of Queen Charlotte Strait. That next morning came with clear skies and a calm that rivaled any summer day.  A vast improvement from the torrents of rain and 20+ knots of wind the prior day.

Our crossing of the Strait was uneventful, with vast panoramas of surrounding mountains easily visible 70 miles in the distance. The afternoon brought freshening wind and we ducked into Skull Cove after a good beating to weather for the last two hours of our day.  Much debris in two to three foot waves made our entrance into Skull a bit challenging and we were quite thankful to find the cove a peaceful refuge from the elements. In fact, our anchorage allowed a window to the wind waves and surf as we readied the BBQ for a hot dinner.

The following morning at 7AM we exited the narrow fairway to the cove and began our rounding of Cape Caution. By 10AM we were even with the cape and accustomed to riding the 6 foot swells and slight chop generated from a modest 10 knot breeze. Ohana and her crew put the Cape to stern, deployed main and staysail for stability and made for Rivers Inlet. We reached Duncanby by 1:30PM, acquired fuel despite the resort not being operational for another two weeks. We had the range for other fuel but were happy to top up the tank for our run north to Alaska. Thus far we averaged about 0.7 gal/hr. We had traveled 375 nm on 50 gallons of fuel (including running the Webasto heater regularly). Yes, it was a relief to keep the cabin warm, especially underway!

We left Duncanby and sailed north and west to the protection of Calvert Island and a most beautiful anchorage of Fury Cove. Twin white sand beaches spoke more of the tropics than the chilly NorthWest coast of BC. Naps in the cockpit followed by hot showers were our reward for rounding the Cape. The next day would see us 55 miles north through Fitz Hugh Sound and winding our way through the notorious Gunboat Passage to dock here at Shearwater.