Port McNeill to Davis Bay
/We were up early -- and more sun!! We had time to kill before the Lugger parts would arrive in Port Hardy, so we explored Beaver Harbour and Storey Beach by car. The anchorage, written up by Dreamspeaker and Hamilton & Hamilton, definitely looked good and a nice alternative to Port Hardy. We also visited Hardy Buoys, a provider of smoked fish. We bought candy smoked Salmon bellies, which we later found were the most amazingly delicious smoked salmon ever. We also did a little more provisioning at our favorite grocery store in the area, Overwaitea.
Somehow this Paint Scheme Does Not Add to the Nautical Flair of This Boat
An Interesting Solution to Securing a Line to the Dock
The parts were in on time and we called Graham, arranging to meet at the boat as soon as possible. The new breaker from Lugger also didn't quite fit, but Graham made it work and left us the one that arrived by bus as a spare.
Port McNeill
We cast off of the docks at Port McNeil at 3:47pm. According to Karen the EXACT time we cast off last year! “Déjà vu all over again”, to quote the renowned New York Yankee’s philosopher, Yogi Bera.
Our crossing of Queen Charlotte Strait was the antithesis of our experience a few days ago heading back to Port McNeill. Light winds, calm seas, and one of the clearest skies we have ever seen in the Pacific Northwest.
Under Way at Last!
Beautiful Day on the Strait
Deciding to bag any shot at the Nakwakto, we headed for another favorite, Drury Inlet. We used our Nobeltec navigation system to time our arrival at Welde Rock and the Stuart Narrows. Based on our predicted arrival at the narrows, I fine tuned our speed across the ground (SOG) in order to arrive at slack, in this case high slack.
Once inside Drury Inlet, the biggest problem we faced was the sun. We were traveling due west into a setting sun. This made the watch for logs (of which there were many) a challenge. I would adjust our course so that I would keep the sun and the reflection of the sun on the water hidden behind one of the vertical posts of the forward windows.
The good news is that as we turned east to go into Davis Bay, the sun was at our back, making it easy to navigate the somewhat narrow entrance. We favored the North side of the channel, as all who have written about this anchorage advise. Once inside, the bay opens up and you can drop in anchor in the middle of the bay with lots of room to swing.
We were totally alone, and loved this anchorage just as much as we did last year. It's lovely and peaceful. The night was as calm as the day and the skies crystal clear. About an hour after sunset we turned off all our lights, waited for our eyes to acclimate and then moved to the bow to be awestruck by the night sky.
The Milky Way extended from horizon to horizon and starry constellations were too numerous to identify them all. The stars lit up our spirits in a way no other natural wonder can. A sigh of happiness - we were back on vacation!