6/20, now with photos

I've been waiting for better weather, anxious to get moving again. Today, partly blue sky, i motor back to Shearwater, have breakfast, check the weather forecasts. Looks like tomoro will be a good weather day, so today i'll head south, intending to anchor north of Cape Caution, then make the dash around it tomoro morn.

The sizes of the boats at Shearwater is ridiculous.

Initially the water is perfect. In the distance there's a whale, then tail. Many cruising boats, mostly going north of course.

Along the way there's an opening in the barrier islands and get rollers thru from the ocean, nothing serious but portent. I buzz along on a following wind, but at some point now it's stern-quarter, plus there's some combo of angle/speed/wave-height that gives a horrible vibration as certain waves pass. Tho i think all is mechanicly OK, the sensation is that my drive-train is about to fall off.

The Cape of course is open ocean, so at 1 point i lose my barrier island protection. It's afternoon now too, so the wind waves are bigger. So i'm getting wind waves from the stern, ocean rollers from the beam. It's a confused sea. Which is what i expected, so i have a place picked out right there to duck into. The indispensable Cruising Guide describes the place as 1 of their faves.

Trouble is: i cant find the entrance. I have a GPS map display, but this being Canada (copyrighted) the display is extremely crude. I have a great Canadian chart. But i have only a rough idea of where i am. And the shorelines all look alike: trees, rocks, islands big & small, all over. The Guide tells me to look for the white-painted rock, which tells you something: the entrance is so hard to spot, someone painted a rock, very unusual. Meanwhile i'm being tossed around in the chaotic sea, the drivetrain sounding like shaking itself to death.

I'm coming to the island's end, no white rock. There's only 1 thing to do: keep going, on to the next Guidebook anchorage, across a channel that's open to the ocean.

It was pretty crazy, but the worst part was, once again, where the heck is the entrance? The coastline ahead all looked alike. I could see 2 offshore islands, which might be the 2 islands on the chart (can't ever be absolutely sure, it's not like they have little floating labels over them). Assuming they were the islands i thot they were, i saw that as i approached the coast, at 1 point the islands would line up on the left and point right into my target cove on the right. And as it turned out, that worked, and i was successfully off the sea.

(Just outside, but still amidst the carnage, were 4 little sport fishing boats, anchored, fishing? Those guys are crazy.)

This is a cool little spot, sun, steep forested granite all around, and (so far) all mine. Only problem is there is minor waves coming in thru the entrance, so i'm getting rocked around as i sit here, but minor detail. Off the sea.

- - Dang, isnt that islet getting closer? Wow like really closer? I start the engine, pull up the anchor (which is weighted solid with green & brown weed, broken shells, and 1 live crab) fast, and miraculously avoid crashing the hull on rock. The wind is blowing right up the channel. So i relocate to the next cove over. The guide book says this is a resort here, but all i see left is a 1/3-sunk boat and a rusty water-or-gas tank. I anchor again, and first thing i know off we go again. So i try 1 more time, we'll hope for the best. It is quieter wind-wise here, but not nearly as purty.