After a fabulous Friday in Pruth Bay, the promised storm arrived on Saturday morning, bringing us about 18 hours of often-VERY-heavy rain and some gusty winds as well. We spent a mostly-quiet day reading and writing, mopping up some water that, from some unidentifiable source, seeped into the area around the navigation station (no damage to the electronics, fortunately!), and raising the anchor, moving the boat, and dropping the anchor again in a wind-whipped downpour that provided Walt with an unwelcome but not unexpected dousing (a large sailboat had anchored uncomfortably close to Braesail, and so we moved out to a safer distance).
This morning (Sunday, September 4), sun rays bade us a good morning, and we prepared for a departure that included draining several inches of rainwater from Coracle’s interior. Our boating friends, Tom and Michelle, arrived on their boat, Paraiso, from the anchorage in which they had ridden out the storm, and rafted to Braesail. We had a pleasant visit, and they presented us with freshly-caught salmon and some prawns that they’d caught and frozen–welcome gifts indeed! They stayed in the bay to enjoy the amazing beaches and hiking trails, and we motored off to our current location: Fly Basin next to Fly Point in Takush Harbour on the northern BC coast. Our six-hour journey was “book-ended” by whale-sightings; early in the trip, we spotted several blasts of mist at a long distance from us, followed by brief views of humpbacks’ dorsal fins and then tails. The spoutings moved closer, and suddenly, two whales’ heads rose from the water and quickly splashed from view! Very exciting!
Toward the end of our trip, after enjoying many more displays of skyrocketing surf along our way, we saw several more whale spouts and watched another whale surface and dive.
We enjoyed a lovely, relaxing evening in our anchorage, resting and reading in the cockpit (Walt) and on the foredeck (me) and watching inky clouds pass above us and drop brief drenchings, mixed with a bit of hail, every now and then. Tomorrow we plan to round Cape Caution–I hope that winds, seas, and clouds all cooperate to give us a comfortable, safe passage!
Braesail - A grand yacht in the Salish Sea 