June 6th, 2023
We departed Pender Harbor at 10:00 am expecting some wind and wave in the Malaspina Strait. We encountered messy chop but it was very tolerable. (A 3 on Marlene’s scale). This lasted about two hours and then the remaining fours hours was a dream day cruise. Almost like glass. We moved up to the fly bridge and took in majestic scenery of sea and mountains. Photo above is the entrance to Desolation Sound. What at day!! Trust us, the weather in NOT like this in the Pacific NW this time of year. Perhaps in August….maybe, but not now.
Anyway, we enjoyed our day and were easily able to put down an anchor in Squirrel Cove on Cortes Island. We are enjoying our evening after spending some time getting ready for our journey through “the rapids” on our way North.
This is a bit hard to explain but just suffice it to say that there are spots in our journey were the terrain narrows and the water has to pass through. This creates very rapid water flow (hence the term rapids) and they are similar to what you would find in a river where the terrain narrows. We have been through these rapid several times on our own, and once with another Captian that got it WRONG. That was as a very scary experience to say the least, so now we time things very carefully or proceed through at SLACK tide, when the current is changing direction and the waters are calm. Tomorrow if all goes well we should be safely in Blind Channel Marina, preparing for the NEXT move north through Johnstone Strait. Right now everything looks good weather and tide wise for an uneventful long 8.5 hour journey to Port McNeil.
Lovely photos. We are following your journey with great interest, and learning something new every day. Thank you.
Love your updates. Great pics. And tje narration is great prep for a book!! Have fun with the rapid!!