Coughlan Anchorage, Hartley Bay to St. John's Harbor, Milbanke Sound June 17

This morning the seas were almost magical. The water in Wright Sound was like glass and Barrie and I decided that the day was nice enough and the weather forecast good enough that we would take the outside route to reach Millbanke Sound. From Wright Sound we headed south into Whale Passage. As it turned out, the passage is perfectly named and we saw a group of 4 or 5 humpbacks who were making a real scene. We saw as many as 30 breaches and it all happened just a few yards from the bow of the boat. We put the boat in neutral and both Barrie and I stood on the bow watching the activity. Nearby on the starboard side a large grouping of sea lions were hauled out and making a racket. As we continued on, I pulled out all of our guidebooks trying to get a better understanding of what lay ahead. Clearly, this is the road less traveled. Most guide books had nothing and those that did said to leave this route to the more experienced mariner. Let's hope we are up to the task. The one guide book with any instructions at all tell us that Casanova Passage can had significant current and rip tides. It is possible to go on the outside of Laredo Island but as luck would have it, we have arrived at Casanova Passage at slack tide. We cross several tide lines and find some small rips but easily move through the channel into Laredo Passage. We continue to stay mid-channel and work our way down to Laredo Sound. Out here we have seen two fish boats and two sailboats. Suddenly we see a Hobiecat with a red hull and mast. This a a very small boat in a very large sea and the sailor is clearly alone. A close look through the binoculars shows no motor of any sort. We are amazed to see him here and hope he knows what he is doing! All morning we have studied our options and from the base of Laredo we could head east to Meyer's Passage and find an anchorage or we could continue 40 miles to our destination in Milbanke Sound. The weather continues to be favorable and at 2:30 we decide to press on for another 6 hours. We arrive at St John's Harbor and opt to anchor in the outer cove. The inner cove is where Mel and Bernice and friends have their camp but once we have anchored we will drop the dinghy to try to locate them. This is one of the few times that we have not set the anchor on the first try. Our first attempt turned out to be in a kelp bed and we had some untangling to do before we could try again. Soon we are secure and have the dinghy in the water. We both think we remember where the hidden dock lies and we are both looking to the left when it appears on the right. Mel tells us that this year the had to move the location across the inlet. The effort to move the dock and re-anchor it is astonishing but this gang is ingenious and gets the job done. Mel agrees to take me fishing tomorrow afternoon. We head back to the boat and stow the dinghy for the night.