Soaking in the Atmosphere

July 9, 2020. Nuchatlitz to Westview Marina, Tahsis. 19 NM.

 

It was another early start this morning. The rain woke me at around 0130, but as it eased off, I managed to get back to sleep until about 0530. Then, I lay in bed thinking about how shallow everything had gotten around me yesterday at low tide. By 0600, I realized I wasn’t going to get back to sleep, and I’d rather go back through the shallow and narrow pass into Nuchatlitz at mid-tide at least. It would be a falling tide, and if I got hung up on something, it would be a long wait to be lifted off again.

Breakfast was quick, and I had the boat moving by 0700. The tide was about the same height as it had been when I first entered, and the lowest depth I saw on the way out was 14 feet under my keel. At one point, I picked up a long piece of kelp, which I needed to pull off the rudder with the boat hook, but otherwise, the departure was uneventful.

I turned up Esperanza inlet with the sun trying to peek out from behind dark clouds. The rain held off. I passed the Canadian Coast Guard Atlantic Raven, anchored in the inlet, which was a reassuring sight. Otherwise, there was little wind and I motored calmly along. Lots of small fishing boats zipped past me in the other direction, heading to try for salmon in the open ocean.

CCGS Atlantic Raven, 249 feet long

Marine farms dotted the inlet as I got closer to Tahsis narrows. I knew I would be early for the turn of the tide, but I didn’t know exactly what time slack current was, so I figured I’d just give it a go and see what happened. As it turns out, I must have hit it at almost exactly slack, since there didn’t seem to be much resistance, or much assistance in either direction.

This is where your farmed salmon come from

As I came out of the narrows, I saw the first sailboat I’ve seen in a long time, heading down Tahsis inlet in the other direction. It was reassuring to see that they weren’t sailing either. There was still only a few knots of wind.

Coming through the Tahsis Narrows

As I came up Tahsis inlet, I was surprised to feel my phone buzz with incoming messages. I had been told there was no cell service in the inlet, but it turned out that Telus LTE was pretty good here. I spent 20 minutes deleting most of the email that had built up in my inbox over the last week or so, as the autopilot guided me along.

It was only about 1030 by the time I was drawing close to the Westview Marina in Tahsis. Sara had called an made a reservation, I think yesterday. She had texted me the details, and told me to set up for a port side tie, which is our usual. She had also verified that there was good internet on the docks, so I could catch up on work.

Coming into Tahsis.  A metropolis in the wilderness!

I put the engine in neutral and floated out in the middle of the bay, while I set up all the lines and fenders, ready for a single handed docking. Once I was set up, I radioed the marina to let them know I was on my way in. “Sure thing”, came the reply. They didn’t know anything about a reservation, but they had lots of space. “Set up for a starboard side tie, bow in.”

Oh. OK. I shifted back into neutral, and moved all the lines and fenders over to the other side. Once that was done, it was a fairly easy approach through the log breakwater into the small marina. The marina staffer popped down to the dock and grabbed my bowline, but it was still so calm it would have been an easy single-handed landing. He pulled me all the way forward, away from the marina office, which was OK with me.

 

Once I had the lines all sorted, I headed up to the office and filled out the paperwork and paid for two nights. There is a nice little dockfront café here, with some good seating looking out to the bay, so I treated myself to a hamburger, and called Sara to let her know I was safely tied to the dock. She was at work, so we only chatted briefly, with a plan to talk this evening.

Back on the boat, I tested the internet. At the spot I had tied up, I didn’t get any signal at all. I walked back up to the office and verified it would be OK to pull the boat forward, closer to the marina office. “Yup, no problem!” One of my dock neighbours helped me, as the afternoon wind was starting to come up a bit, and would have made it a tricky operation without some help.

The afternoon cloud blows up the Tahsis inlet

I got as close to the office as I could, and found I just managed to pick up a weak internet signal. Slow, but it was the best I could do. I sat down and caught up on some emails, and started to chip away at lung function studies. I can pick up a slow internet signal, just in the cockpit, so it looks like the next couple of days will be mostly sitting here, getting caught up on work.

At least I have a phone signal as well. I can use the data off that to speed up the process if I need to. I also called my parents to let them know I was safe, and they sounded relieved.

The dockside cafe.  I’ll probably eat here a few times in the next couple of days.

Now, it looks like some real weather is moving in. There is a grey fog and rain bank blowing up Tahsis inlet, and the winds is pushing hard against the cockpit enclosure. I’m well protected, though, and nice and warm, so I’ll enjoy being somewhere secure while the systems keep blowing through.

Turns out the dock right next to me is where they dump the remains of the fish that are cleaned on the dock at the end of the day.  It was a full on eagle feeding frenzy for a while there.  During the afternoon, I also saw vultures and river otters poking around looking for remaining goodies.

Sheryl Crow, Soak up the Sun just came on.  Soak is appropriate.  Sun, not so much.