Day 17 Shearwater to Rescue Bay

June 4^th  Mary’s Birthday!!!      6:00 am departure  Still raining

SHEARWATER TO RESCUE BAY

We were going to stay another day in Shearwater but decided to press on with the intent of giving us a bit of a cushion to add another day somewhere else in case of bad weather. We left early to avoid the predicted 20 mph winds in the afternoon. During most of the trip, we were nicely protected by islands but crossing two open spaces, it got choppy and we definitely felt the rolling waves.

When David showed me Reid Passage on the chart, my first thought was, “Can we fit through that?” It is a very narrow and shallow passage and David was hands on the wheel all the way through (no autopilot for this one!) He did a great job.

When we reached Mathieson Channel we were pushing against the current and slowed down to a crawl of 4 kts. David has found the RPM “sweet spot” that has been giving us the best fuel mileage. We are certainly not breaking any speed records, but we are conserving fuel which is a necessity.

David was doing his hourly engine check, and I was at the helm when I spotted three extra large harbor seals just in front of us!  What a sight!

Today’s destination was to be Klemtu but our timing was just slightly off. We needed to go through Jackson Passage, but it was low tide as we came up on it.  Entering at low tide was not a good idea so we pulled into cozy Rescue Bay after 5 ½ hours of boating. We had the option of pulling up anchor around 6:00 and making our way through the passage and on to Klemtu, but I voted to stay here and my vote counts double.

We have been joined by at least eight boats here at Rescue Bay…we saw most of them back at Shearwater. The rain is relentless right now and there are lots of seals close to shore that are having a grand time slapping the water and diving under.

                                                               Another floating tree

When the boating is easy, and you are staring out into the water and sky for hours on end, it can, much like when snowflakes are falling on your windshield, become slightly hypnotic.  Your mind can wander, and you can easily become distracted.  At one point both of us were happily daydreaming and when we both

snapped out of it,  a deadhead (vertically floating log) floated close to our starboard side!  Those deadheads can be immensely destructive when hit head on. Someone was looking out for us on that one.  New rule: There can only be one daydreamer at a time.

We have a long cruise tomorrow. Will skip Klemtu and, hopefully, catch it on our return trip.