Mist Islets (Port Harvey) to Lagoon Cove June 12

Woke this morning to cloudy skies but very calm seas.  The tide was up several feet from when we anchored last night and our surroundings were quite different from when we dropped the anchor. 

We checked tides and currents and headed-up Havannah Channel doing 6.5 knots.  The Broughton Archipelago provides an interesting opportunity for “slow boaters” to experience the effects of tides (the ebb and flow of the tide is not always in the direction you might expect at first glance) and currents (there are lots of narrow passages that roil the water).  It is imperative in these waters to know the limitations of your boat and to work with the environment not against it.  We think that is a good deal of the fun of this boating thing.

A few miles up Havannah Channel, we stopped at Matilpi, an ancient Kwakwaka’ wakw settlement with clam shell middens.  As we entered the cove, we could see one small wooden boat at anchor and as we rounded the corner we saw a second boat at anchor.  It took three tries to get the anchor to set (this is same Delta anchor that we had used very successfully on the last two trips to Alaska) but finally we were satisfied that it would hold!  We started to lower the dinghy and wondered why the winch seemed to be balky.  Could it be a low battery?  Our final analysis was that the up/down switch was not working correctly.  On shore, we walked along the midden finding shells, beach glass and old iron parts but nothing remotely related to the First Nations settlement. 

From Matilpi we continued up Havannah Channel to Chatham Channel where range markers make the narrow passage easy to transit.  Here we had a bald eagle fly within a few feet of the boat.  At the top of Chatham Channel we steered to port and passed the long-closed Minstrel Island Resort through The Blowhole and into Lagoon Cove.  The marina was reasonably busy and we opted to anchor in the cove behind “Singularity”, a sailboat out of Seattle.  I dropped my kayak over the side and spent the rest of the afternoon paddling around the calm cove including a stop at the Marina Emporium where there was a reasonable assortment of sweatshirts and jackets to buy but no books or other local treasures.

We enjoyed a simple dinner and settled down with books as the rain began to fall.  Around 9:30 pm, a squall moved through with lots of short-lived wind and rain.