6/17

Awake early, it was light out of course, it always is, i was away by 5:30, moving initially slowly and quietly, respect for otherwise silence. Sprinkling rain. Back out in the channel, it rained, the mist obscuring the cliffs either side. At times it felt disorienting. Made worse as the windows kept fogging, there's no defroster. So i'd stand, steer with 1 arm behind me, toweling the windshield with the other.

Ahead, mid-channel, 2 dark forms. The chart showed no islands. From the squarish bulk, I deduced it was a tug & barge, but which way they were headed was unclear. The visibility was so poor, i had my nav lites on, but he did not. (He did not have a visibility problem; he had radar.)

[All boats big and small (tho not tiny) must have navigation lights: a green to starboard, red to port, a white astern, and, if under power, a white ahead. So at night, even if you cant see the vessel itself at all, the configuration of lights tells you which direction they're headed.]

In any case, i headed for the edge of the channel. (The chart showed plenty depth even at the water edge; as usual the mountainsides plunged steeply down.)

Back in Canada, with its copyrighted charts, the GPS was giving only a very rough idea of what was going on. I ~hugged the mountainside for continuous orientation, used the rough outlines of GPS chart display to then find similar land shapes on the paper chart; and so i made my way, but it wasnt fun.

Got gas at Klemtu. I described the visibility problem i was having to the older 1st Nation attendant, but added: "but you must do it blindfolded". He agreed he knew it all well, he'd been a diver for researchers for many years. Low tide, we both complained about the ramp, this one i wrapped the rail tight with both arms going down, it was so steep, wet. There was abundant tide pool life adjacent to the dock.

Ahead was 1 of the scary sections i'd experienced on the way north, and i definitely didnt want to do it in this weather. So tho it was only ~10am, i picked out a cove close to Klemtu and parked it. It's not the greatest spot, it's a bit overexposed to the south wind, which is forecast to increase thru the afternoon. But there's cell coverage. Indeed it's raining & winding harder, even briefly fierce at times, but my stern anchor system (to any mariner, clearly i dont know what i'm doing) is holding as i bob along in the cabin, dry and almost warm.