June 22, 2019 - Johnstone Straight

We anchored last night in a very beautiful bay, just a few miles from Seymore Narrows.  Our plan is to pull anchor and arrive at the narrows about an hour early so we can get through and start making progress.  Once through the current should reverse direction and give us a good push most of the day.  It is a long passage, about 75 miles.  You don't want to fight the current.  But, you really don't want to have a strong push from the current AND winds coming at you.  The waves will quickly build into very short, steep waves that will make the ride quite uncomfortable.  We are looking at some different forecasts, and conditions look to be pretty encouraging for our transit.

We saw a humpback whale yesterday.

A cruise-ship passes by our anchorage.  I doubt anyone onboard even noticed us.

The anchorage is calm with no wind.  Kevin gets out the drone and flies around getting some great pictures.  The drone is going to give us a fantastic perspective when we arrive in Alaska and are surrounded by glaciers, and chunks of ice in the water.

The drone can automatically create panorama shots.  This one is spectacular.

Adagio anchored in a peaceful bay.  Gowlland Harbor, BC.

A slightly different view, not often seen.

Our new, tiny drone.  It's a DJI Spark.

I awoke to a voicemail from a customer/friend of mine.  He is anchored just a few hundred yards from up on the other side of an Island.  He and his wife used to own a boat exactly like ours.  They had taken it from Maryland on the East Coast, all the way through the Bahamas and Caribbean, through the Panama Canal, up central America, into Mexico and the Sea of Cortez, then up to Alaska.  If that weren't enough, they turned around and the trip in reverse all the way back to their home in Maryland.  The old Hatteras 48 LRC is quite a capable boat!

Fred and Sharon's new boat.  It's 85 feet long.  Spectacular.

What are the odds that we would end up this close to each other?

Fred emerges to wave, and check out our boat.  He owned one just like
ours for about 30 years and estimates he put more than 100,000 miles on her
during that time.

Fred became a customer when he hired me to install all the electronics in his new boat, which he had custom built for him after selling their Hatteras.  It is quite a vessel, both inside and out!!!!

Johnstone straight was relative easy, except for about an hour, beginning just after noon.  The winds kicked up to 25-28 knots and the waves quickly built until we were pounding into them.  We decided to duck out and anchor in a small inlet to the side, but the winds subsided enough that we could continue on for the entire straight.  It was a bit disappointing when the winds kicked up and we thought we were going to have to break this transit into two days.  I really wanted to get this one behind us, which we fortunately were able to do.  We pulled out at the north end of the straight and found a great little anchorage with no wind at all.

A Bald Eagle supervises our transit in Johnstone Straight.

Speed record for our 8 knot trawler.
Having the current behind you is a BIG advantage.

Tomorrow, we will head towards Queen Charlotte Straight, which is the last weather hurdle until the Alaska border.  The forecasts are all looking good for tomorrow and Monday (really good forecasts) to get across, into the very protected inside passage that leads all the way to Alaska.

Internet coverage is going to become very sporadic from here north.  So, don't expect frequent updates.  You can always click on the map link in the upper right to see where we are at any given time.