day 9 – Sea Otter Cove to Quatsino Sound, Browning Inlet (Lo50°30.0’L128°04.5’)

The crew felt fully recovered from yesterday’s adventure, and we were ready to hit the seas again. This time some arrangements for the journey were made ahead of time – lunch and snacks were pre-planned so no preparation in the galley had to happen at sea. The waters that we crossed yesterday around Cape Scott point were bubbly and confused as the southeast flowing current from the Pacific Ocean and Queen Charlotte Sound crashes into the tip of Vancouver Island. These were the crazy seas we met yesterday. From our departure point this morning, we were back into the smoother flowing southeast current. Sunny skies, perfect winds and both sails hoisted made for a hypnotizing day on the swell. There is most definitely a rhythm to the sea – ride the wave, rock back and forth at the bottom of the trough, wait for the next wave. Up. Down. Rock side to side. Up. Down. Rock side to side. In a catamaran, at least we don’t also keel side to side like mono-hulled boats do. With an increasing northwesterly wind at our backs, we reached a top speed of about 9.3 knots just before we arrived in Quatsino Sound. A significant increase from our average of about 5.5 knots when under power. No crew members were sick today, although I did feel pretty nappy at about the 4 hour mark, just before we found the calmer waters of the sound and just after the winds increased from about 10 to about 20 knots. Even at that speed, somehow Armin was able to troll a Chinook salmon off the stern, which about 20 minutes later we began eating. Then we ate it again for dinner. As we pulled into Browning Inlet, we saw an adult bear foraging on the shore, bald eagles soaring overhead and perching in treetops, and otters floating on their backs. But no other boats. We anchored just outside a tidal bed. We(well, I) learned the hard way about conserving power on the boat. Do not use heating elements (toasters, etc…) unless the motors are running, they consume way too much battery power. There was just enough juice left to fire up one motor, barely, so we had dinner by candle light and an early evening.