On the 24th of April, we untied our dock lines at Port McNeill and headed for Miles Inlet, 42 nm Northeast. We arrived at 3pm, about 6 hours later. Before entering the narrow, some swell was rocking our boat, but it was calm inside the inlet. Light rain started.

Below, we are looking out Miles inlet from the anchorage.

Below is our track on the InReach GPS device.

I had a little afternoon nap after staying up late the night before to work on a blog. Monty said he heard cats fighting in the woods. What they could have been, cougars, lynx or bobcats, middle-aged women?

We had a game of cribbage (Monty won as usual) and yummy dinner of Thai chicken curry.

Early the next day, we headed to Pruth Bay on Calvert Island. Monty served French Toast for breakfast, using the last of the sourdough loaf from Ed’s Bred in Whistler. We had benign conditions passing the famous Slingsby “Slingshot” Channel and Cape Caution. Though the currents were ebbing, it was a non-event with no SW swell and light wind.

We raised the main as the apparent wind became favourable. The winds gradually backed to the north so we furled the main but it was nice to have the energy from the sail for a couple hours.

Attention has to be paid to avoid logs of all sizes and shapes. Monty thought this log looked like a cow. Calm conditions persisted until we got closer to the east side of Calvert Island when we hit head winds which slowed our progress.

Arrival in Pruth Bay on Calvert Island was around 230pm. Only one other boat was anchored. It was Pelorus Jack, friends of Al & Irene, but Brian and Kathleen were not aboard.

Monty dropped the dinghy and we went ashore to visit the Hakai Institute and walk across the island to the West Beach.

Below a few shots of the Hakai Institute which is dedicated to science. Before being purchased by the Tula Foundation, the property was a high-end fishing lodge.

Above is the main Institute building which was a fancy fishing lodge. The original resort grounds included a shooting range and a tennis court. We were told by the manager that many famous guests had been at the fishing lodge including George Bush with his secret service team. During his stay, visiting boats were turned away at gun point.

Excellent signage and trails to the beach on the west coast.

We strolled up and down the white sand beach, a rarity on the west coast. It was nice to stretch our legs.

A teacher and a few students from Bella Bella were on the beach enjoying what they reported was the first nice day while they had been at the Institute on a week-long trip. A couple students braved the cold Pacific Ocean and surfed the waves on a paddle board. They stayed in the water a long time, oblivious to the temperature! We put a finger in the water to test it but it didn’t seem warm enough to be enticed to go for a swim!

A variety of migrating birds were stopping to feed along the beach. Below are Western Sandpipers. Semi-palmated plovers were in the flock with them. We heard grouse on the trail to the beach. We were told that sandhill cranes are resident in the Pruth Bay Lagoon but we had no time to visit.

The sun shone through the clouds for a time and we stripped off some layers to enjoy the warmth of the sun. Monty was sporting shorts, his preference just about every day.

On our row back to the boat, the couple on Pelorus Jack returned from a hike on the island and we had a brief chat. They updated us on our friends on Darwin Sound who were now anchored just 20 NM north.

S/V Whistler in Pruth Bay.

Monty took advantage of the weather (it wasn’t raining) and prepared a steak and mushroom dinner with parsley potatoes and green beans. We don’t starve!

Dinner in the cockpit! Our enclosure acts like a solarium.

A view from our cabin hatch as the sun set in the bay.

Off to Shearwater tomorrow and try to meet up with Irene and Al on Darwin Sound.

Post Views: 236