Our cruise calmed down thankfully. The first part of the day we were bundled up but as the day progressed we shed more and more layers. It was a gorgeous sunny day. We ended up going roughly 47 miles in 7 hours.
We rounded the corner from Sarah Point into Desolation Sound. Our guidebook says the view is dramatic. They were not lying. Jaw dropping gorgeous. Sarah Point was hiding the glorious mountain range that came into view. Craggy snow-capped peaks, towering mountains hem us in on all sides.
“..a furious wildness that beggars all description” – Archibald Menzies’ diary quoted in The Curve of Time.
We were going to Squirrel Cove on Cortes Island. We have 3 guidebooks and I just read two of them when making that decision. We always read about our destination right before getting there – are there any rocks we need to watch out for? Currents? etc. Anyways, as soon as I was into the sound, I pulled out the books and the third guide expounds quite a lot about Squirrel Cove having former logging operations and while they have never had any problems themselves, there has been reported fouled anchors. Um. No Thanks. We opted for plan b – which ended up being Grace Harbor.
There were only 2 other boats in the harbor, so no need to stern tie. It took us 5 tries to set our anchor. Jim thinks that I am not letting out enough scope intially, so we are going to try a new technique. If it is going to set, it sets immediately. If not, it just skips along the bottom.
We headed out after church online. We went to Teakerne Arm and checked out the waterfall that cascades from a fresh lake into the ocean. There are stern tie rings there if you would like to stay at the falls, but our end goal today is Prideaux Haven.
We paid careful attention to the charts at the narrow entrance. Once in, we picked a nice spot. The anchor set on the first try. Yuss. There was a light rain but no wind so we enjoyed sitting on the flybridge reading. I am reading The Curve of Time by M. Wylie Blanchet. It is a biography about a widow in 1927 who cruised these same waterways we are in summer after summer, with her FIVE children in a 25-foot boat!! We are in the exact area that she visited frequently. She was quite a woman. Paper charts, fog, tides, bears, cougars – being the skipper, navigator, mother.
After our coffee, we are going to take a tour of Homfray Channel today and find another anchorage tonight.
Talk Soon.