7 Aug 18

After breakfast, we all rowed ashore to check out the beach, which is made up of small, flat, black, angular stones and shingles, apparently shale. The forest behind the beach is also beautiful; I wonder if this may have been a summer camp for First Nations folks before the white man came along and spoiled everything. We got the anchor up just before noon and headed out into a thick fog, with visibility less than 1/4 mile for virtually the entire crossing of the Queen Charlotte Strait. The wind was in the WNW and as soon as we got into the strait, it was fine for sailing, so we turned off the engine and sailed all the way across. We found the very narrow entry to Miles Inlet without difficulty. The entry was magical, as it loomed slowly out of the encompassing fog. Inside, the fog lifted and we anchored in the north arm of the lagoon just after 15:00. Massilia arrived about 45 minutes later and rafted alongside. We immediately launched the dinghies and went exploring. The north lagoon was still draining and we were unable to get through the rapids against the ebb current, but we were able to get right up to the rapid in a back eddy and sat there for a while observing the sea-life. Low water was at 17:30, so we rowed back over after dinner, but by the time we got there the now flooding current was stronger than the Admirals were comfortable tackling, plus we were a bit concerned that we might be stuck in the lagoon for 6 hours until the next slack. So, we turned and rowed down to the south arm of the inlet, which turned out to be even more magical than the north arm, with several sub-branches and a couple of other lagoons begging to be explored. We decided on the spot to spend an extra day here. At the far south end of the south arm, we found a nesting osprey, who was not happy with our presence. We were all alone in Miles Inlet until a small commercial fishing boat came in and anchored south of us at about 22:00. 

51-04.049’N, 127-34.930’W; Log = 17.2, Sum (2018) = 535.1 N-m

8 Aug 18

It was still foggy and dead quiet, except for the numerous bird calls, when we rolled out of bed. After a leisurely morning, we rowed back to the north lagoon rapids at HW slack at 11:50 and had a long row around the north lagoon. This end of the inlet is not as cool as the southern end, so we rowed back for lunch aboard. In the afternoon, we launched kayaks for the Admirals and headed for the south lagoon. Unfortunately, when we got there, the water level was about 1.5 m lower than yesterday evening and we were not able to get into the lagoon at all. However, the water flowing out of the lagoon was warm enough that John, who had had the foresight to bring his swimming trunks, went for a swim; no one else dared. Back at the boat, the Admiral and I had warm solar showers to wash off the last few days’ accumulation of salt and sweat. The fog set back in later in the evening and we feasted on a dinner of salmon and fresh corn cooked on the grill.