19 Aug 18

This morning after breakfast, Graham caught a good-sized halibut off the bow of the boat, while at anchor - another keeper. J1 cleaned and filleted it and we put it on ice for dinner. We got underway about 11:00.  It was foggy outside the bay. “Massilia” took the long way round south of Bilton I, but we took a short-cut on the north side, then pulled up into Wilson Bay for a lunch stop, waiting for LW slack at Draney Narrows. We got going again just after 13:00, rendezvoused with “Massilia” - they had been fishing along the 30 m depth contour, without result - and went through the narrows at 14:10, a couple of minutes before LW slack. Inside the inlet, we sailed for about an hour until the wind died. We anchored at the head of Draney Inlet at 17:00. Draney Inlet is beautiful and very isolated; we did not see another boat once we got past the narrows and beyond a small logging/mining operation just inside the narrows. Unfortunately, the smoke from forest fires in the interior is very thick and has reduced visibility to about 1 mile. Graham’s halibut was dinner, along with another rockfish they caught going through the narrow. Sunset was beautiful with all the smoke. After dinner, we were talking with Karen and Graham about potential names for their expected child (Karen is about 5 months pregnant). They do not know the sex and have made no decisions regarding names, but we all agreed that Rockfish (Rocky, for short) would be an excellent, unusual and unforgettable name, especially if it is a boy.

51-24.246’N, 127-16.575’W; Log = 24.0, Sum (2018) = 671.5 N-m

20 Aug 18

It is so nice here that we decided to stay for a day. In the process of getting into the dinghy for an early morning fishing expedition, Graham dropped is trolling rod and John’s rod holder over the side in 6 - 8 m of very cold water. Later in the day, they made repeated search dives and John and I dragged the bottom with a weighted grappling hook, all (predictably) without result. During happy hour, and while John was swimming and diving for the fishing gear, a good-sized grizzly bear walked along the nearby shore, less than 100 m away, completely ignoring us. To improve his progress to the east, he also got in the water and swam along the shore for about half a mile. After dinner, we had another sing-along and then played Obligato until well after midnight.