day 5 – Cordero Channel to Turnour Island (Lo50°35.8’L126°29.8’)

A late pancake breakfast and a 10:30 anchor raise. The skies were cloudy, and the wind was cold today, a different flavour of weather for the Captain and crew. We travelled north of West Thurlow Island and into Chancellor Channel, where the Captain was steely-eyed enough to spot a small black bear onshore at the mouth of a river. From there we were briefly visited by dolphins in Wellbore Channel and Sunderland Channel, north of Hardwicke Island. We were forced to make a brief foray into Johnston Strait, a major shipping lane with potential for high waves. Our 12 nautical miles or so in the strait were relatively calm and solitary, but we did lose a Jolly Roger towel to the winds and the waves. Arrrr! Heading north as soon as possible, we entered Havannah Channel between East Cracroft Island and the mainland, then Chatham Channel, then through “the blowhole” south of Minstrel Island. The sun was turning a deeper shade of red as we coursed through Clio Channel, and we anchored in a bay on the Karlukees Reserve on Turnour Island. The broken glass and shell beach which surrounds us holds a marine ghost-town of sorts, an abandoned house and barn, sheds, and dock pilings. A special, almost sacred spot to spend the night.