Dodwell Group Inner Basin

Last night before bed, we had agreed to go kayaking into Dodwell Lagoon in the morning, on a rising (near high) tide. It was overcast and kind of gloomy when we awoke, but we decided to press on, because we’ve found that as soon as we’re in the kayaks, we have fun exploring no matter the weather.

We headed out of the inner basin, around the rocky islet and off for the lagoon. It was a good ride, with favorable current and the tide still rising. We went through the first narrows in the lagoon with no issue, but when we came to the second set, it was all whitewater. We expect that was because it was so shallow. The Hamilton’s book says that you need at least a 12’ tide to explore the whole lagoon, and we’d agree. We were on a 10’ high tide, and it was about 2’ too low to get through this second set of narrows.

Low tide reveals lots of colors and textures

The fate of the trees on the bank is certain

No worries, though, because the lagoon is large and there was a lot to look at. I wonder how many people venture into this lagoon each year? We were certainly all alone except for some birds, and we felt like we could be the only people on earth, it was so quiet and still.  We realized we haven’t seen another pleasure boat, or fishing boat, or spoken with anyone else since we left Pruth Bay 5 days ago. But that’s just fine with us!

Karen explores a small drying area

A great place to explore is when you first enter the drying area into the lagoon. On a 10 foot tide we could paddle all around this area, which for the most part is dry at low tide. It also provided us with a current free exit when we left and the tide was still rising.

The tide was too low for us to enter the second lagoon, the rapids were fast and shallow

We spent the afternoon doing some chores, I worked on the blog while Bob did engine room chores.  I also cleaned the interior, as it is about 10 days since we left Port McNeill. We pretty much took it easy. Bob called the owner, Barry, on the Sat phone to find out where the multimeter was, because we needed to trouble shoot the battery on the dinghy. That was the total of our interaction with other people for the day!

As it turned out the owner had put five new batteries on the boat before the start of the season(no small expense there), but one he did not replace was the dinghy battery. I checked out the battery and the charging circuit coming from the Honda outboard and the battery was diffidently the culprit. I’ll try to find a replacement battery in Shearwater.

Dinner was delicious grilled pork tenderloin with orange marmalade glaze and mashed sweet potatoes, which made an excellent dinner with some good Argentinian wine. One episode of The Good Wife later, it was time for bed.

I can do no wrong if I serve Karen sweet potatoes