We transited most of Johnstone Straight and then exited into a side channel and dropped the hook in Cameleon bay last night. That set us up for transit through three rapids today that will lead us to Desolation Sound. Timing is everything here at Dent, Yuculta, and Gabriola Passage as these rapids are faster than we motor. We really only make 7-8 knots and many boats and people have had been lost here as the currents can run upwards of 12-13 knots, with serious whirlpools that have swallowed both boats and people. We timed our arrival for slack water and were surrounded by many other boats doing the same. We transited the three rapids in a flotilla of boats heading in our direction.
We arrived Pendrell Sound to 76 degree water but with many boats. We saw so few boats north that now this feels crowded to us. We have not been here for many years and it appears that there was a forest fire several years ago, that was a shock to us. We have been here at least a dozen times before and never had water this warm. It is in the swimming pool temperature range now. 76 degrees!
After trying to decide where to go, we decided on a sort of secluded spot near the oyster farm area. There was no activity at the oyster farm and the depth was not ideal (a bit deep). The only way to anchor here, due to the steep shoreline, is to drop the anchor in deep water, back the boat towards shore, and then take a line to the shore. This secure your boat with it's stern facing shore. On our first attempt we backed up and the anchor just dragged. so we pulled it up to start over. When Kathy took her foot off the deck switch the anchor kept coming up. The switch had broken. Steve ran quickly to the engine room to kill power to the anchor windlass. Fortunately he made it before the anchor reached the boat. We then spent the next 15 minutes floating in front of our anchor spot while Steve replaced the deck switch. We have spares for just about everything! On the second attempt, we anchored in over 80 feet of water and backed up to about 35 feet deep and did a stern tie. Success. It is nice having children that can be crew now and not too young as the last time we were here, over 7 years ago with them. We spent the afternoon and the entire next day here playing in the warm water. It was a nice break from all the motoring south.
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Kathy and Cindy rowed over and Cindy climbed up the rocks
to take the stern line around a tree. It then comes back to the boat. |
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| Floating in the warm water |
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| Cindy jumping from the boat deck, Kathy in the water |
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| Kevin Jumping |
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| Steve, his turn |
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Float plane did a turn over our boat before landing in the water
to drop or pick people up from a 130' yacht just around the corner from us |
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| Another Cindy jump |
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| Our beautiful spot, stern tied to a tree on the rock wall |
This sound has been awesome for us but our second night here proved to be a sleepless one. In our entire summer we have had nice calm nights. The wind here our second night would be calm at 5-8 knots and then gust to over 20 knots, sometimes 25-26 knots. This puts a lot of strain on the shore tie line. These winds went on throughout the night until 6am or so. We slept a bit late which was fine since we are planning to move to Prideaux Haven, only a few miles away.
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