day 13 – Koskimo Islands

Today was the first day that the Carefree Isle did not go anywhere, except for a couple of feet sideways in either direction as she drifted with the waves and wind against her anchor and stern lines. Another 04:30 wake-up call, another day of resigned acceptance that the sea was too hectic for us to venture into. Environment Canada’s marine forecast on VHF told us that another Gale warning was in effect, with big waves for company. When we created our tentative itinerary for this journey, we factored into it that there may be periods of time when the weather would prevent us from going anywhere. Especially on the west coast. We have been making pretty good time up until now, so we don’t mind stopping and smelling the roses for a while. But we are looking forward to rounding that elusive Brook’s Peninsula and visiting more of the island. Our protected anchorage is not in one of Telus’s pockets, so this morning we ventured out in the dinghy with our laptops, in search of communication coverage. On our way back to the boat, we passed close beside 2 mink whales as they breeched the surface. There was just enough time to get the video camera rolling and catch a pretty good image of these enormous beautiful beasts (which will be posted as soon as possible!). This afternoon, Cap’n Adam and JP finished working on a project started a few weeks ago – replacing the first netting on the bow, between the 2 hulls. Armin & Julie headed out with rods in search of food. Getting the stinky bait off of the poopdeck, and giving the poopdeck a good scrub-down seems to have curbed our Quatsino Sound horsefly situation, which is not as painful as it is overwhelmingly annoying. Let that be a lesson to you all – keep your poopdecks clean! This afternoon most of the crew headed out for an exploration of a secret-special-magical-creek-bed, accessible only at high tide. One of them will have to Blog about that, for I opted to stay behind and enjoy the silence and solitude for the afternoon. I also made a stir-fry dinner for everyone when they got back, so we had a relatively early dinner tonight at 6:30, so we can try to get up, again, tomorrow for the 04:00 Environment Canada Marine Forecast Update…