Date/Time: Friday, September 12, 2014
Location: Shearwater Resort near Bella Bella
Weather: Mostly clear, warm, perfect
We set the alarm and woke up at 5:00 this morning, to take advantage of favorable tidal currents. After morning chores, I took Elsie for her morning walk in the dark.
Manually raising the anchor was a little easier this morning, since we were anchored in shallower water. I used the manual crank on the windlass and worked up a bit of a sweat, but that was much easier than yesterday’s hand-over-hand effort.
By 7:10 the anchor was aweigh and we started down Mathiason Passage in beautiful clear, calm weather. Barb served an excellent breakfast in the cockpit while we enjoyed the early morning travel. We went through Percival Narrows on the last of the ebb tide, then cut over to Reid Passage, a narrow and beautiful passage that saves a couple of hours and keeps us out of the ocean swell in Milbanke Sound.
We arrived at the fuel dock in Shearwater at 12:30, took on water and fuel, then moved to the main dock. We did laundry, took showers, gave the dog a long walk, and had dinner at the restaurant. We looked in the Marine Store for an anchor windlass switch but the had just sold their last one.
As usual, we experienced sticker shock at the prices here, but we have always received first rate service and good food here. The resort is strategically located in the most remote part of the B.C. Coast, and they have to make ends meet, so we just grin and bear it. It was a perfect day weather-wise, and a welcome break from the shipboard travel routine.
Tomorrow we head south, and in two days we should be rounding Cape Caution to the north end of Vancouver Island.
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