12 Jul 23

The alarm woke us up at 07:45 and we got going within 30 minutes. The forecast was still light, and it was cool and overcast again. We departed Pinta Bay at 08:30, motored out through Portlock Harbor and into the Gulf of Alaska (a.k.a. the North Pacific), where there was still a bit of swell running; just enough to make it a bit uncomfortable. The entry to Mirror Harbor was achieved at 09:45, 14 minutes before HW slack. The entry was completely blocked by kelp and we had no choice but to simply power through. The depth sounder showed a minimum of 3.1 m. Terri and Ashley were on the bow to watch for rocks as we came in. After the kelp, we motored slowly between rocks until we got to the split in the “channel”, to either Mirror Harbor or West Arm. I elected to go to the first option in West Arm and we anchored in about 7 m of water in a small area surrounded by rocks. As soon as we were settled, I unlimbered the dinghy and went for an exploration around the cove. Mirror Harbor is a beautiful anchorage, if you can get into it. Then I rowed up West Arm to look for the trailhead to White Sulphur Hot Spring. I found the trailhead, along with a 20 foot cuddy skiff that Jake and Christa were traveling in from the Hobbit Hole on N. Inian Island. They were just returning from the hot springs and assured me it was just the right temperature. Back at the boat, I got the drone out and flew around Mirror Harbor and West Arm, and even got some good footage(I hope) of Jake and Christa leaving the harbor in their skiff. After lunch, we all went over to the hot spring for a good long soak.

57-47.664’N, 136-19.506’W; Log = 9.0, Sum = 1406.3 N-m; Eng hrs = 2.0; Sum = 3332.0