Shearwater Marina: Day Two

May 24, 2025

Oh what a day makes. As we detailed in our blog we crossed Cape Caution yesterday with sea conditions of 6 knot winds with 6-8 knot gusts and 2 to 3 foot waves at 8 second intervals. Today Cape Caution is at 16 knots winds, 23 knot gusts (BTW the deep red and black is a very bad sign) and 8.4 foot waves (also very bad). This is definitely a no go day. We were fortunate to be able to pick a favorable day. Needless to say, there will not be many—if any—boats crossing today.

Oh what a day makes. As we detailed in our blog we crossed Cape Caution yesterday with sea conditions of 6 knot winds with 6-8 knot gusts and 2 to 3 foot waves at 8 second intervals. Today Cape Caution is at 16 knots winds, 23 knot gusts (BTW the deep red and black is a very bad sign) and 8.4 foot waves (also very bad). This is definitely a no go day. We were fortunate not to have to wait to long in Port McNeil for a favorable crossing day. Needless to say, there will not be many—if any—boats crossing today.

As many of you know Marlene is a quilter. When we bought our boat I wanted a nautical theme or look in our stateroom. This is the quilt Marlene made. I enjoy it everyday for its beauty and warmth.

It’s pretty quiet on the dock today. The group of boats from Roche Harbor left early this morning leaving us, a sailboat, a Lord Nelson, and then this big bad boy who came in mid morning. Note the size of the side dingy.

As I mentioned when we called the marina yesterday we couldn’t raise anyone and this was very concerning. Geoff and his wife have been the harbor masters for 22 years and they do a fantastic job. Without them this harbor would degrade quickly as we have seen with so many of our previous favorites like Gorge Harbor, Pierre’s Echo Bay, and now Lady Smith. And ShearWater marina is the only place between Port McNeill and Prince Rupert. Without this marina there would be no where to tuck in, refuel, get provisions, etc. I feared the worst but was pleased to see Geoff’s familiar face at the Harbor Master office this morning.

We are planning a departure tomorrow around 6:00 a.m. for a destination of either Bottleneck Inlet or Butedale docks. The sea conditions look reasonable though we may have some choppy weather for the first couple of hours but relatively smooth thereafter. The main reason we are leaving so early is to help the captain of the Lord Nelson boat in front of us who lost his bow thruster and without it he is going to have a challenging time getting off the dock and turned around. To make it easier we will depart first giving him plenty of space to maneuver his boat out of the marina.