The Broughtons

1000 position 50-51N 126-53W. At anchor in Tracey Harbor, North Broughton Island

The thick fog stayed with us for most of the day yesterday, and we danced for hours with a couple of other boats headed in the same direction. We could see them on the radar, and because our courses and speeds differed slightly we would converge or drift apart until a bend in the channel changed the relationship, and we'd do it again. One of them came within a quarter mile of our position, but we never saw him visually. There was much speculation on what kind of boats they were, and when the fog finally cleared at 2PM we could see that one of them was a large seiner. We never did see the one that came closest to us as he had disappeared behind us about an hour earlier.

As the day progressed we entered the protected waters of Queen Charlotte Strait where Vancouver Island blocks the swells from the Pacific. It was a glorious afternoon with Thankful powering to the southeast at seven knots in a seven knot breeze from the northwest. That put the apparent wind near zero, and the temperature on deck got up to 85 degrees. Matt and Vicki spent a few hours up on the flying bridge enjoying the sunshine and warmth.

At 4PM we turned left out of the strait and into The Broughtons, a group of islands that is one of British Columbia's most popular cruising destinations. We tucked into Tracey Harbor and found a couple of sailboats at anchor already. No problem, there was plenty of room. We anchored Thankful away from the other boats and settled down for the evening.

After dinner and just before we were about to start a movie we heard a shout from another boat. A commercial crab trapper had come in to the harbor and informed us that we had anchored over their trap line. Would we please move so they could pick up their traps?

Wow. There were a couple of trap markers on either side of us separated by about 200 yards, but those markers typically indicate individual traps. There was no indication that there was a line of traps between them. We quickly started the engine, pulled up Thankful's anchor, and moved out of the way. The trapper pulled up his trap line and departed. We reanchored and settled down with our movie. Never a dull moment aboard the mighty Thankful.