Day 10 - Lagoon Cove to Port McNeill

A cool and cloudy morning, we sure have been enjoying the new diesel heater for the last few days. Cap’n Adam figured out how to program it to come on at 6:00 am, so the cabin is nice and toasty when we get out of bed. A luxury for certain, but it will also extend our boating season into the autumn (and maybe even winter?) months.

We left our isolation at Lagoon Cove and headed west along Baronet Passage, between West Cracroft and Harbledown Islands. Our intended destination was Hanson Island, where we knew there were some potentially good anchorages to check out.

We got to our first spot, the Sprout Islets, to discover we had no internet reception. This would not do, so we continued along until we got to Double Bay, hitting small pockets of weak connection along the way. But, absolutely no reception in that bay either. We also didn’t have our cell phones working, and since we have a new crew arriving tomorrow who we have not been in contact with for a few weeks, onward we continued. Our next stop was the Plumper Islands, and for a brief moment we had great connection, but that seemed to disintegrate as soon as we threw the anchor down. Frustrated, we decided to make lunch and then decide what to do.

This was a day that we needed to be on the grid. So, up came the anchor and we headed west to a spot we spent a night last year, Cormorant Channel Marine Park, where we were pretty sure there was good connection. Again, no luck, and with increasing annoyance (and, after Cap’n Adam unclogged our starboard side salt water engine coolant) we decided to head all the way to Port McNeill, a decent sized town guaranteed to have Telus reception. This is also where we are meeting our new crew anyways, so we would just be getting there a little sooner than planned.

We knew something must be wrong when we were tied up to the Municiple Marina, but there was still no internet reception. Thinking our internet stick must have some issues (oh Goddess, what are we going to DO with no internet for the next 4 weeks?!), we headed to the gas dock for the password to their wi-fi. That’s when we found out that the Telus system was completely down for the entire area. Content that it was not just us off the grid, we headed to the pub for burger and a brew. Followed that up with hot onshore-showers, and we’re happy sailors again. Yarrrr – and we’re back online, maties!!