McDuff woke me at 4:20. Perhaps he knew that the alarm was set for 4:30.
In any event, we were all up before the alarm went off. First order of
business was coffee and biscotti. Next a check of the weather --
forecast is for 10 -15 mph winds in Johnstone building this afternoon
and we will be on an ebb tide. We know it will be calmer than last
night but the question is how much calmer. We decided it was worth a
look. Barrie did a quick WOBS and it was anchors away before 5:30.
We cautiously headed out of Forward Harbor just as the sky was becoming
bright. (Speaking of bright skies - the full moon is incredible!). As
we peeked around the first bend, we were surprised to find a very large
log boom and tug boat that must have come in late last night. Still
plenty of room for us to work our way back into Sunderland Channel. To
our surprise, it was dead calm. Really, dead calm. We rode the ebb
tide and made terrific time down Johnstone Strait. Passed the spot
where last year the engine alarm went off signaling the start of many
days of head scratching trying to figure out why and how the engine was
losing coolant. But this year a completely uneventful transit. Our
original plan was to duck out of Johhstone at our first opportunity and
go up Havannah Channel into the Broughtens to find calm waters. But
Johnstone was calm -- really dead calm -- so we kept going and instead
headed north up Blackney Passage into Blackfish Sound. We had read that
Blackney could be snarky with lots of current but our impeccable timing
had us arrive at Blackney at Low Water Slack. We worked our way north
through the passage and soon found ourselves in Queen Charlotte Strait.
Now, everyone knows that Queen Charlotte Strait can be a rough patch of
water but not today! For miles the water was pure glass. So perfect
that Karen first sat on the back deck sunning and then on the foredeck
watching the scenery! It was simply amazing. And we had the Strait
almost all to ourselves. We have seen fewer than half a dozen ships
including a couple of fish boats.
With beautiful weather and perfect conditions, we changed our objective
from Blunden Harbor to Murray Labyrinth (near Allison Harbor). We will
end the day just 12 miles south of Cape Caution.
In some ways, it is hard to rush through these beautiful cruising
grounds. But this year our goal is to get to Alaska and spend our time
exploring the far north. So far, the weather seems to want to help us
reach our goal.
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