Born to Run

June 11, 2020. Pender Harbour to Gowlland Bay. 59 NM.

It was a long day today. We started in Pender Harbour. The wind gusts eventually settled there, and it turned out to be a very peaceful night.

Still, I was up at 6 and ready to go. Sara wasn’t far behind, and we had finished with checking the engine, and were raising the anchor by about 7. It is still surprising to me when things work right on the boat, but the anchor came up easily, and once we dragged it through the water a bit to get the mud off, we headed back out into Malaspina Strait, and turned north.

We weren’t the only ones up at that hour; several boats were out picking up crab traps that presumably had sat overnight.

Initially, we had some wind on our nose, and as the day wore on, it faded away to almost nothing, so we put in another long day of motoring in calm waters. Our initial thought was to head north to either the Copeland Islands, or Cortes Bay on Cortes Island, with a goal of heading for the Seymour Narrows tomorrow. Slack tide at Seymour Narrows is around 11:30 tomorrow a.m., so we didn’t want to be too far away in the morning, as we need to hit the slack to make it through the Narrows. Hitting it wrong can result in currents strong enough that you simply can’t get through.

Modelling my foul weather gear

As we motored along, Sara continued to research our options, and realized that if we kept moving, our timing would work out about right to start into Discovery Passage off Campbell River tonight. We’d have an ebb current pulling us up the Passage toward the Narrows. But it would make for an almost 50 mile day, and there was no real room to slow down at all, as we wanted to be starting up the Passage by about 3:30 to get to a good anchorage before the current turned against us, and pushed us back down.

So, we checked the time, checked our speed, checked the wind, the weather, and the currents. Then we double checked all of that, before deciding to go for it, and head for Gowlland Bay on the east side of Quadra Island, a few miles up Discovery Passage. After dodging a lot of floating debris in the water, we set the auto pilot, and revved the engine up to cruising speed, and started to slice through the water toward our destination.

The highlight of the day was passing a playful pod of Orcas that we first noticed by the white water splashing up from their breaching. I even managed to get a few seconds of video of them passing, which is always hard, since they seem to dive every time you point a camera in their direction, and then come up just after you point it somewhere else.

        

                                                                    Orcas in Malaspina Strait

We spent the rest of the day using our time wisely. I did a few repairs to the bimini hardware, and adjusted some of the electronics. Sara kept busy cleaning windows and chrome on the boat, which desperately needed a wipe after a long winter on the dock.

We had grilled cheese sandwiches, carrots, and apples for lunch. It was so smooth by then that the only real sign we weren’t sitting still was the ongoing drone of the engine.

After a while, we realized we should take the opportunity to take a break, so I went and lay down for a rest, while Sara kept watch, and after about an hour, she went down below while I took a shift of my own. Shortly after I came back on watch, we were hit with a squall that soaked us down a bit, just as we entered Discovery Passage at Campbell River.

It turned out Sara’s timing and calculations had been right on, and we enjoyed the last 45 minutes of an ebb current sweeping us toward Gowlland Bay. As we turned south back into the bay, we drove straight into a gusty south wind, the same as when we got into Pender Harbour yesterday. It seems to be the weather pattern this week. The gusts were up to 20 knots, and seemed to come every 5 minutes or so, with calm in between.

We set the anchor in about 45 feet of water, in a large anchorage with only one other boat, and no signs of life around. We had all the space and swing room we could ask for, so we let out a healthy 5:1 scope, and set the anchor well, given the gusts.

 

Showing our Canadian colours to an empty ocean

Left over dinner from last night went in the oven, and as it cooked, we took advantage of the hot water from running the engine all day, and both had a quick shower. Then, another delicious deli butter chicken on rice with a salad, and we are now in the cockpit, enjoying the late sunshine that has finally broken through a bit, and the waning wind gusts.

As I write this, Bruce Springsteen is singing “Born to Run” on the Bluetooth speaker, and Sara is planning our next couple of days up the tricky Johnstone Strait, figuring out times of currents and distances between anchorages. Tomorrow morning, we attempt Seymour Narrows, which is still about 5 miles north of here. Hitting it at slack current will take a bit of calculating, and some good luck, since we will be motoring up against a waning flood current to try and catch the slack and then get pushed up on the ebb.

Wish us luck, Blog! So far, it has been a voyage of discovery, with some long days, and little off-boat exploring. But we are getting more familiar with Monashee III all the time, and it is great for us to get to know each other in these beautiful but tricky waters. After all, tramps like us, baby we were born to ruuuuuuuun!

See you tomorrow!