We decided to skip Waddington and go straight to Lagoon Cove. Slow Flight wants to get to Roche by the second so needs to make tracks. The marina had room for us so we headed that way. As we were leaving Booker Lagoon a Humpback jumped very near Slow Flight. Dave saw the splash but couldn’t be sure how far behind Slow Flight it was and wondered if they saw it. Not only did they see it, they got a movie of the second jump. If that wasn’t enough, Slow Flight and SS7 were entertained by Dall’s porpoises swimming on the bow wave when transiting Spring Passage.
Along the way, Melissa made another batch of spicy salmon for happy hour. The pot luck was a nice spread. More boats than expected came in so we had plenty to choose from. And lots of prawns! Afterwards, Melissa went and picked blackberries for tomorrow’s dessert.
The gang all wanted to make it as far through Johnstone Straight while the weather was good. We picked Thurston Bay because it is an easy hop into the Octopus Islands the next day. SS7 decided to stop at Blind Channel for a few things from the store and rejoin the caravan. Melissa cooked all the shrimp for a snack - albeit a small one.
Mimi and Jeff on Victory decided to join us in Thurston Bay because they were not going to get through Seymour Narrows in time to get to Campbell River. We all convened on Slow Flight after dinner for a pleasant evening. Melissa brought the blackberry crisp she made underway along with snacks for Gus.
We pulled up anchor at Thurston Bay around 8. This is a bit earlier than necessary to time the rapids going into the Octopus Islands but Melissa had a meeting at 8:30. We just putted along at 6-7 knots so as not to arrive at Lower and Upper Rapids too early. SS7 arrived first and anchored. Slow Flight and Platypus rafted not far away.
It rained all afternoon. The plan was to do a pot-luck on SS7 so Melissa cooked all day wiping out the galley.
While Melissa and Dave hid from the rain in SS7, the others went out in the Whaler to explore and got totally soaked. After drying off and giving the dog a bath, they all piled back in the Whaler to come over for pot-luck. We enjoyed a very nice collection of appetizers followed by Melissa’s A/B-test paper-wrapped fish. Inside were big chunks of halibut and rockfish that we caught in Alaska. It seemed everybody enjoyed the rockfish the most. No wonder there is a one-per-year limit on yelloweye. After dinner, we said good bye to Slow Flight now that they are moving south faster than we planned to. We are pretty sure we will see Platypus in the Gulf Islands after they get done exploring Desolation Sound.
Dave and Melissa hung out for a lazy day on Friday watching and listening to the rain. Dave did make it out between showers to fetch a piece of wood for the 2026 addition to our sign at the cabin. He confirmed the sign at the cabin is totally faded - no wonder the others could not find it. So, he puts together a plan to restore it on Saturday when the weather is supposed to be better.
Restoration project before and after:
