Dunn Passage to McMicking Inlet

McMicking Inlet, our next stop, is all about exploring the many large white sand beaches at the entry to the Inlet. So today we will position ourselves there in anticipation of the next few days being sunny, the best type of weather to visit beaches.

Calm seas as Campania island, on the horizon, beckons us

There were a lot of rocks and small islets along the shoreline as we ran down the Campania Island coastline, but they are no issue because the area is very well charted. We passed Betteridge Inlet and promised we’d visit that interesting maze on our next visit.

As expected, there ilests that guard at the entrance to McMicking inlet and there is a narrow “neck” as you head up the inlet to the anchorages. All very well charted.

nothing else looks like Campania Island

Unlike our last visit (2022), we did not see any small boats fishing the area as we entered.

There was just one small sailboat named Sally in McMicking when we arrived, anchored on the 12 foot “mound” charted just outside our favorite cove. We actually set our anchor in the same spot as we did in 2022, and settled in for the afternoon.

About dinner time, a small recreational fishing boat came into the anchorage, and spent a lot of time looking around for his “spot”. Perhaps we were anchored where he wanted to be.  At long last, he dropped the hook not too far away, put down fenders indicating he was expecting someone to raft up later, and started cleaning salmon.  Before too long, a second fishing boat came in to raft up and more fish cleaning commenced.

Later on, the captain from the first boat set out for an exploration in his fishing kayak. He made a beeline for OceanFlyer, and Karen stepped out to chat.  Fishing had been good, he said, but prawns were wiped out from the commercial fleet. She asked him about the unusual grab bar on the front of his kayak – it almost looked like the “staple” you find on the back of swimsteps. He said it was for his wife, who had MS – it was a stable way to get in and out of the kayak from the boat and made kayaking easier for her. Sounds good to us – it’s always a struggle to get back out of the kayaks and onto the boat.

The water and wind were quiet that evening, with a peaceful night in store for us.