Heading South

The weather has been fantastic - blue skies, highs of 28 degrees C.  However, with this stable, high pressure cell comes high NW winds.  We are heading South so when we are in the channels a NW wind doesn't cause much concern.  We motored from Ocean Falls due South, looking for an anchorage for the night.  Fish Egg inlet was written up as a good place but we couldn't find a sheltered enough spot and had trouble getting the anchor to set because everywhere we tried was rocky.  Onward to Frypan cove on the North side of Rivers Inlet.  This was much better.  The winds hit forty knots outside and we were safe with only a few breezes wafting through.

After two days in Frypan we decided to venture out.  It was tough to hear the weather reports on the VHF so we didn't know what was in store.  We crossed Rivers Inlet without a problem and tied up in Duncanbly fishing resort.  These guys are mainly there to charter fishing tours but they have some dock space for transient boaters.  But they really charge for it!  $40 for power and $1.50 per foot.  They have intermittant internet so we downloaded the weather reports. Not good.

The NW winds are still howling out between the Charlottes and the mainland.  The seas are over three meters and hit a high of over six meters.  So we waited. And waited some more.  Eventually we tried to head South but ten miles out I bailed because the seas were over two meters and building.  We pulled into Smith Inlet and spent the night.  The next morning was worse so we snuck back up to Duncanby, paid and waited some more.

Finally on day five we went across Queen Charlotte Sound in seas of 1.5 meters and winds of 15 knots.  We tied up in Port McNeill very tired, very salty and completely out of groceries.

Coast Guard rescue boat headed North to help someone.

I don't have photos because I was too busy watching the boat and the seas.  I took this shot after we were across.  The Coast Guard boat was heading out to help someone in the really rough stuff.