Grenville Channel is almost perfectly straight for its entire forty-four mile length. It is also remarkably uniform in its width of approximately three quarters of a mile. If you get your autopilot set just right, you can almost make it the whole way without adjustment. The channel is deep right up to the edges, and the mountains rise steeply to about 1,000 feet on both sides. It almost looks man made.
It is a beautiful but monotonous passage. After we left Baker Inlet, which is about a third of the way down the channel, we found ourselves bucking the flood tide of about a knot. The helmsman worked the shore to try to find some relief from the adverse current. The process required constant attention, staying close enough to the edge to get into a current eddy but NOT run aground. At least that relieved the monotony of the long channel.
About half way down the channel we came across Lowe Inlet, a provincial marine park. We hadn't planned to stop, but wanted to get out of the damned adverse current for a while so poked our nose in to have a look. As we entered we passed our pals Helen and Ian on "Tease for Two" headed out. We hadn't crossed paths since Wrangle, a few weeks ago.
We did a fly by without anchoring and headed back out into Grenville Channel, passing Tease for Two who was under sail about a half hour later. Vicki and Helen caught up over the VHF as we passed.
Thankful finally exited the channel at 3PM, and we stopped for the day in Coghlan Anchorage five miles or so past the end of the waterway. Tease for Two joined us a couple of hours later, and Helen and Ian dinghied over for cocktail hour. It was fun to see them again.
It seems frivolous to be writing about the daily happenings aboard M/V Thankful as a hurricane trashes my home state of Hawaii. I'm worried about my children, friends, boat, and home. We have no cell service here in the fjordland of the central British Colombia coast, no internet, and no TV, so we can't readily get information on what's happening in the fiftieth state. Our satellite communications system allows us to send and receive emails and text messages and make an occasional poor quality voice call, but that's it. I've sent out a couple of texts this morning begging for information, but so far have heard nothing back. It is frustrating and worrisome, but I'm trying to keep my imagination under control. You can't do anything about it now, so don't worry about it now....
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