We are making tracks down the ditch stopping at Lowe Inlet for a night and then onto another favorite: Khutze Inlet.
The guide books say to call the Kitasoo Guardian on the VHF when entering the bay. This bay is part of a large wildlife protection area and visitors are limited so as not to disturb the grizzlies. There was no answer but we headed in anyway. We were the first boat to arrive for the night so we got the perfect spot right in front of the waterfall. Soon, Platypus tied alongside. Keaton and Dave put down the crab trap soon to be full of big Dungeness (and a little halibut!). Melissa got over 2 pounds of meat out of those crabs. Yum. We set the little halibut free, of course.
Melissa made us crab mac and cheese for dinner! And then a special treat for dessert for Keaton:
Discussing our Queen Charlotte crossing strategy, we decide to slow it down. The winds won’t be bad but the waves got stirred up by a gale and won’t die down until the weekend. So, we decided to add a stop on the way to Shearwater and anchored in Rescue Bay. Rescue is a pretty and super calm bay. Dave sent the drone out to document Platypus coming through the narrows. It almost ended in disaster as Dave almost ran out of battery power making it back to the boat with only a couple of minutes left. Unfortunately, the movie was corrupted so we failed to document the passage.
Along the way, Melissa cracked crab. 2 full pounds!
We head out in the morning for Shearwater. Coming out Reid Passage is nerve wracking because it is very narrow but it removes considerable exposure to Millbanke Sound’s swells and waves. Platypus discovered a cool little bar at the marina with a pool table that we had all to ourselves. They treated us to dinner at the pub. A lovely way to spend the afternoon and evening.
It was a foggy trip once we got back into the main channel the next morning. AIS sure makes navigating around traffic a lot easier than just radar. All the big vessels have it but more and more pleasure craft are equipped. We had two big encounters - a tug with a barge and the ferry. Visibility was less than ¼ mile and we never did see the ferry. Just a blip on the radar and a loud horn blast. The fog lifted making the entrance into the anchorage less stressful. Platypus decided to keep going and anchored down in Fury Cove.
