We were up at 04:30 to hear the forecast; wind and wave conditions look good for the crossing, so we decided to go and got breakfast going. The engine finally started at 06:00 on the 3rd attempt, after cranking for nearly a minute. Whew!!! We dropped the line to the mooring ball at 06:30 and pulled out of Larsen Harbour into intermittent thick fog. As soon as we cleared the harbour, we turned WSW and headed straight across the Hecate Straight. Just after 08:00, we crossed paths with 4 or 5 humpback whales, who were headed north. The fog finally burned off about 09:00 and we soon spotted another humpback (or maybe grey) whale. About 10:00, the wind got up enough that we could sail. With some trepidation, I turned the engine off (and hope like hell that it will start again when we reach the other side. Shortly after, I pulled down the jib and ran up the Genoa. The rest of the crossing was unremarkable; we sailed all the way across, cleared the bar without issue and turned down to Sandspit. The engine fired up without too much trouble and we were tied up in Sandspit Marina by 18:30. We all walked up to Dick's Wok Inn for a celebratory dinner. We have made it to the Queen Charlottes. Woo hoo!!

53-14.31'N, 131-51.80'W; Log = 65.3 N-m, Sum = 370.2

The 22nd was devoted to boat chores in the morning and a reprovisioning run to the grocery store. On the way there, we discovered that today was Logger Day in Sandspit, so we spent the afternoon watching various logging competitions: i.e., chopping down trees for speed and accuracy, one and two-man buck-saw races, tree climbing races, etc. - lots of fun. As we were walking back along the beach, some residents invited us to come back just before sunset to watch them feed the eagles; we accepted and later watched as about 25 or 30 bald eagles gathered overhead in anticipation of these folks throwing out chunks of raw meat. The eagles took turns swooping down and grabbing the tasty morsels - it was fascinating. We went back to Dick's Wok Inn for take-out.

On the 23rd, we walked all the way to the Sandspit Airport to receive our Gwaii Hanaas orientation; this informative and interesting presentation is required for all visitors to the Gwaii Hanaas preserve and discusses their history and culture in some detail, along with giving advice about where one can and cannot visit. The library is near the airport and we had previously arranged for a couple of copies of the latest issue of the Harry Potter series books to be delivered there; this was a real treat for the kids, who immediately wanted to go back to the boat to start reading. On the way back to the boat, we happened to pass a house on about an acre of ground that was filled to the brim with all sorts of interesting flotsam. It turned out that this was the Sandspit home of Neil and Betty Carey (Betty of "Bijaboji" fame), and all this stuff was what they had collected on the beach of their remote homestead on the west coast of Moresby Island, where they lived for years, until they finally got too old to subsist in the wilderness. While we were standing on the road gawking at their incredible collection of whale bones, Japanese glass fishing net floats, etc., Neil stepped out in the yard and we started chatting. After a few minutes, he invited us in for tea and we got to meet Betty, who was unfortunately suffering from dementia. Nevertheless, they were wonderful hosts and we ended up chatting about all their adventures for nearly 3 hours. We ended up taking Neil to lunch at the local Golf Club. We bought a copy of Neil's book "Bijaboji", about Betty's unbelievable solo paddle, in a salvaged native canoe, from Anacortes to Alaska to join her father and brothers, who were fishing in the Barents Sea. As we were leaving, he gave the 3 boys each a copy of his personal memoir of the Battle of Guadalcanal, "No Bended Knee", and a very nice glass net float for our daughter. What an incredible day.