Strange Things Done.....: Past Cape Caution and on to Calvert Island

Jade 1 Wing-on-Wing (taken from Koukla)

We had a relatively early morning (for me, at least) - up at 0630, breakfast done and Ray and Kathy arrived shortly after 0700 for an 0800 departure. There was the promise of a very good sail, with the weather forecasting 25-30 knots Southeast which from any other direction would be a problem, but being behind us, would be great sailing! The wind in the marina was already 18 knots, and made it difficult to turn around and get off our berth. But leave, we did...and by the time we'd sailed five miles northwest, we had 10 knots of wind, and had slowed considerably. We shook out the reef we'd conscienciously put in on leaving, but even with full sail it was slow. So back to motorsailing....with out 5 knot speed from the motor, the 10 knots of wind behind us effectively becomes a 5 knot wind (extremely light, and not much help), so we had a very quiet motorsail across Queen Charlotte Strait, arriving on the northeast side of Queen Charlotte Strait in Richards Pass, by 1230. The wind finally picked up to 15 Southeast, and we were sailing again, and getting a lively sail, broad-reach, passing Harris Rock, and approaching our goal - Skull Cove. We lowered the sails, and the engine refused to try to start - not sure if the start button had a dirty contact, or we have a solenoid problem. The wind had died to almost nothing, so we lowered the dinghy into the water, tied her alongside, and used the outboard motor to propel ourselves toward the anchorage. One more try on the starter, and....no problem...it started! So by 1400 we were safely anchored in 35 feet of water, in Skull Cove - a pretty little anchorage, which we had all to ourselves. I did a bit of contact cleaning, but couldn't find a problem with the starter - every try worked, and turned the engine. So after a nice dinner and a few cocktails, we had an early evening.

Skull Cove

Tuesday, May 28 - Another early day, partly because I wasn't sure about getting the engine started right away, and partly because the weather was forecast for SE gales late morning. I'm happy to sail in such weather, again, when it's behind me....but we needed to clear the reputedly nasty Cape Caution first. The engine started up right away, and we were away by 0630, motoring northwestbound in calm seas. By 0900 we were abeam Cape Caution, with the BC Ferry Northern Expedition a mile further off. By 1000 we were off Egg Island Lightstation, with light northwesterly winds developing. The newly issued forecast at 1030 advised we should be experiencing Southeast 15-20, becoming gale force by noon - when actually we were getting light northwest winds. By 1300 we entered Fury Cove on Penrose Island, with light NW winds, and set our anchor in one of the prettiest anchorages in BC. It has lovely white sand beaches surrounding the anchorage like an atoll in the south Pacific, and for wind, it's pretty bomb-proof. We have no way of knowing if the gales ever came...in our quiet little spot we never saw more than occasional catspaws on the water, and a patter of raindrops on our coachroof as we settled down and read.

Fury Cove Anchorage

29 May - We'd had a few early days, so today was a bit later....up at 0800, leisurely breakfast, and up anchor at 0900. We again had calm conditions, and motorsailed into Fitzhugh Sound, northbound for Pruth Bay. Not a very long run, and by 1200 we were turning into Kwakshua Channel, anchoring at Pruth Bay by 1300. There is a Government Research station here, with marine biologists doing various studies ( we met one studying Sea Otters). They also have a conference centre and lodge, as well as wi-fi which is accessible from the boat - hence the blog entry today. Ray and I took a hike on their well-maintained trails, to visit West Beach (the other side of the island on Hecate Strait), and North Beach (Hakai Pass)....both of them very pretty sand beaches.