day 12 – Winter Harbour to Koskimo Islands (Lo50°28.0’L127°51.2’)

Fwap. Fwap fwap. Fwap. Fwap fwap fwap. That is the sound that the waves in the harbour made against the hull of the boat all night. When our alarms went off at 04:30, the sound was still just as loud as when we went to bed. The wind causing this chop was a strong one, and not getting any lighter. Before the Cap’n even started up the motors, he turned on the VHF radio for the latest marine weather forecast. “Gale warning in effect, 2-3 meter waves increasing to up to 4 meters in the afternoon. 15-25 knot winds, increasing to 35 knots in the afternoon”. Yikes, too much action for us. Considering there were already whitecaps in the waters of the harbor where we were still tied after 2 nights, we opted to go back to bed and then figure out a new plan when it was light out. Several hours later, the wind was still a’ blowin’, so we changed our intended destination from around Brook’s Peninsula to further up Quatsino Sound. That is, if the cap’n was able to get the boat off of the dock, as the wind was blowing us directly onto it. After breakfast, some pondering, and some strategic bumper placement, Cap’n Adam decided we would go for it, and make it an entire crew effort to get off of the dock. We were not as much worried about damaging the boat (it is, after all, built kind of like a tank) as we were worried about damaging the dock. Clearly it was an important lifeline for the small community, and one of the wharfingers had already told us that he had a sister who could “kick our ass” (no clue why, we hadn’t done anything to deserve an ass-kicking yet). With the stern end tethered to the dock, the Cap’n at the helm, and the dinghy already separated from the catamaran and tied further up the dock, we waited for a lull in the wind and the remaining crew pushed the bow end away from the dock, leap-frogging and being careful not to fall in. Cap’n throttled up, the Carefree Isle was off the dock and under way! And now the crew remaining on the dock just had to hop into the dinghy and catch up to the ship! We considered heading all the way up to Port Alice, but opted rather to explore some little bays and islands in Quatsino Sound, and we anchored in a small protected cove. Although our guide book told us this was a great spot for scallops, abalone and sea cucumbers, our crew member who strapped on his SCUBA gear unfortunately came back with an empty milk crate. We putted around in the dinghy, exploring the local landscape. We’ll try again tomorrow to get up early and hit the seas, but we know that there is a storm system or 2 that we are waiting on.