The fog stayed with us most of the day yesterday, so we didn't see much. The wind was gentle all day though, so Thankful had a smooth and uneventful crossing of Milbanke Sound.
The inside passage from Alaska to Gig Harbor, Thankful's home port, is protected from the wrath of the Pacific over nearly all of its length. There are four spots where exposure to the open ocean can't be avoided, however. We had a great day for the crossing of Dixon Entrance in southern Alaska a few weeks ago. With Milbanke Sound behind us, we just have Queen Charlotte Sound and the Straits of Juan de Fuca ahead of us. Hopefully the last two will be as easy as the first.
We put into the native village of Bella Bella yesterday to fuel and reprovision. Both went smoothly, although we had a bit of trouble finding some drinkable beer. Matt and I are not fond of LaBatt's Blue or Molson, and apparently craft beer has not yet found its way into this part of the world. We had a problem with garbage disposal as well.
Like many parts of the South Pacific, local business and government is geared up to sell product to visitors, but are unwilling to assist in the disposal of the waste generated by the sale of those products. No sir, you can't get rid of your garbage here. Sigh.
When we were finished in Bella Bella we headed a couple of miles further down the track to the Shearwater Marine Resort. They were full up with yachts migrating south like ourselves, but we found a place to tie up out on the floating breakwater and dinghied in. Fortunately, the resort was geared up to handle garbage. We also found some decent beer in their liquor store and enjoyed a nice dinner in their pub.
On the way back to Thankful for the evening we noticed Tease for Two tied up in the marina so we stopped by to catch up. Helen and Ian haven't had as easy a time of it as we have. They snagged their anchor on the bottom a few days ago, couldn't retrieve it, and ended up having to cut it loose with 150 feet of chain. Ouch! To make matters worse, they didn't have a spare anchor so had to sprint from marina to marina where they could tie up until they got to Shearwater where they could buy a new anchor and chain.
It is foggy again this morning as we make our last jump south before attacking Queen Charlotte Sound tomorrow. The forecast is for good weather for the crossing.
No comments:
Post a Comment