Today turned out to be much better than we expected. Strong winds were forecasted out in Queen Charlotte Sound with 2-3 meter swells rolling in off the ocean. I pictured wind and waves funneling up into the Laredo Sound, where we would be after our transit of the Meyers Passage.
We started late to let the water level rise in the narrows and to let the current moderate. The trip down into the Meyers Passage turned out to be the toughest part of the day. A light rain and mist moved in with fog and reduced the visibility to less than a mile. What drove us nuts though, wasn't the weather, but the flotsam. Long eddy lines of junk in the water (logs, stumps, branches, boards, sticks, and plenty of seaweed) blocked our way off and on all day. We posted Kay on the bow to keep a sharp eye out for the less obvious hazards and agreed on hand signals to guide us through it all.
The signals are designed to be clearly visible to the helm. A straight arm out means start a slow turn in this direction to avoid and obstacle ahead. Bending and straightening the arm to make a pointing motion ads urgency for a quicker turn. Both hands out means slow down. Both hands out raised high above the head means full stop. Our signaling is a work in progress. The first iterations were difficult to see at the helm and difficult to interpret, but we're getting better
We hit the narrows right about when we wanted to and the passage proceeded smartly. We found about 18' in the narrows at 3/4 tide, that's a little less than twelve feet under the keel: plenty of room.
Poking our noses out into the sound we were delighted to find mild conditions. It turned out to be a lovely afternoon and evening in spite of the forecast.
There were two wildlife viewing highlights for the day. A pod of a dozen or so porpoises escorted the boat for a while. Then after the narrows, a whale put on a show for us, taking full body leaps out of the water (breaching). It seemed as though it was trying to make the largest splash posssible. It blew fountains of mist into the air and then launched itself up out of the water again and again, like it thought we were National Geographic photographers. It will be sorely disappointed when the next issue comes out.
With the going good, we made a long day of it today and anchored in Smithers Island Cove, rather than Hague Point Lagoon (for those back home who are keeping score). The setting is beautiful, but the anchor holding can be difficult because the bottom is rocky. Thankfully our oversized anchor set easily and we spent another lovely evening with our transom fifty feet off the shoreline. Nice.
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