The
cat wakes us early most mornings but this morning he let me sleep until almost
6! With a cup of coffee in hand we
listen to the Environment Canada weather forecast that is updated four times a
day. The last update was at 4 am. Listening to the weather forecast on VHF
radio requires patience and experience.
The forecast covers a very large geography and you have to know which
area to listen for and which buoys and lighthouse reports relate to the area
you will be traveling in.
There
has been a change in the forecast from last night. The winds shifted overnight and are coming
from the southeast at 5 to 15 knots.
Later today they are forecast to shift again to the NW and grow to 25
knots. We look at the route from
Clayoquot Sound to Barkley Sound and agree that SE winds could be okay. For over half the trip, the winds would be on
our bow with a following sea. This
combination can cause the seas to “pile up” and create big choppy seas. But this wind shift is new and won’t last
long. We need about 4 hours to make the
30 mile crossing and decide that we will poke our nose out into the open ocean
and see how it looks. Then we can decide
to continue south of decide to remain in Clayoquot Sound longer.
The
sea swell is perhaps 2 meters but it is nicely spaced and there is not a white
cap in sight. Still for the first 5
miles, we have the sea on our beam and the boat rolls back and forth. The cat heads below decks and under the
covers for the remainder of the trip – “fraidy cat.” An hour into the trip we change our course
and that wonderful thing called a following sea is with us again. The rolling abates and we relax a bit. We were quite surprised to find crab pots so
far from shore but they are everywhere.
We play dodge ball with crab pots for most of the trip.
Before
long, the Uclulet lighthouse is in sight and we round the bend into Uclulet
Inlet and find ourselves in a channel with lots of fish boats and plenty of red
and green buoys. Just before we reach
town, the first public dock comes into sight and there is a space between two
fish boats. We use a starboard tie and
snug up the spring line since the wind is starting to howl down the inlet. We close up the boat, tell the cat to hid his
head under the covers (since the wind is creating quite a rukus) and walk four
blocks into town.
Today
is Barrie’s birthday and we are heading to town to celebrate. Uclulet is a very pretty small town with
several wharfs and lots of coffee shops.
We walk to the end of the pier and see the Frances Barkley unloading
both passengers and freight. This ship
looks a lot like the one our neighbors Mark & Paula took a few years
back. Maybe it is the same one? We stop at the Municipal Building to ask
directions and are rewarded with a map and Uclulet pins for our hats. We head next to the Visitor’s Centre (we are
in Canada – you know) and get a recommendation for lunch. She suggests several restaurants and then the
gourmet fish food truck – Raven Lady. We
have gourmet tacos for lunch in the park.
Great suggestion.
Our
next plan is a walk on the Wild Pacific Trail that will take us out to the
lighthouse we passed on our way in this morning. Except we go the wrong way on Peninsula
Avenue and find ourselves at a bakery instead.
After a soft chewy ginger cookie we head back to the boat. We generally prefer to anchor out (quieter
and no dock fees) but the wind is still howling down the inlet and staying tied
securely to the dock is looking good to both of us. We each grab a beer (a rare occasion for me
since I have been pretty good about avoiding alcohol while I have been on
antibiotics for the past two months – just four more to go) and sit on the aft
deck watching the fish boats come and go.
By 8 pm, all the fish boats are gone from the dock and we wonder why
they are all fishing at night. They must
know something we don’t but we are happy to at the dock tonight.
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