3 Sep 22

I got up at 05:00 to listen to the 04:30 weather forecast; it still sounded grim for the day, but the current conditions were calm in Port McNeill and further down the Johnstone Straight. So, we decided to get going at first light and aim for Waddington Anchorage, which is only 21 N-m (~3 hours) away, figuring we could get there before the front finally arrived; plus, the last 6 or 8 miles is inside a group of islands, so even with a strong wind, there would not be much fetch. We pulled away from the dock at 06:10 and headed out into the channel. After we passed Haddington Island, we moved up into Cormorant Channel to the north of Cormorant Island. As we neared the west end of Malcolm Island, the wind was still light, so we changed course for Baronet Passage, thinking we would head up to Potts Lagoon. At the junction of Baronet Passage and Johnstone Strait we spotted a few humpback whales feeding in the tide rips, so we carried on in Johnstone Strait. We got several good sightings of the whales’ tails as they sounded. The wind freshened a bit in the Strait, but was still only 15 knots of so and the seas were manageable, so we carried on. About 5 miles down the Strait, the “Nimkish” hailed us on the VHF to advise that they were following a pod of Orcas that was coming right at us and to make sure we slowed down and maintained a safe distance. Sure enough, about 5 minutes later a pod of 6 - 8 Orcas passed us heading NW in the Strait. Not long after they passed and we throttled back up, a pod of Dall’s Porpoises joined us for some fun in the bow wave. We soldiered on against SE 15-18 knot winds and turned NE into Havannah Channel about 11:30. After making a short detour to get a look at Boughey Bay (as a potential shelter spot should the winds really get up), we moved on up to Warren Islands, where we anchored at 13:00. After lunch, we decided that we were not going to see any bears here (we anchored at upper LW and none were present), and as the wind was continuing to get up, so we moved over to Boughey Bay, where there would be less fetch.

50-34.943’N, 126-11.040’W; Log = 40.8, Sum (2022) = 824.3; Eng. hrs = 7.0, Sum = 3044.1

We got the hook up at 14:15, motored past Burial Cove (it looked OK, but we have been there before and it is not remarkable), then on to the south end of Boughey Bay, where it was fairly calm (although the wind seemed to be coming from all different directions every few minutes) and flat. About the time we got the anchor down, we heard from Massilia, who had just turned into the bottom end of Havannah Channel and encountered 30 kn of outflow. So, they bailed out into Port Harvey. It’s a shame, because, 3 miles away at the top end of Havannah Channel, we had 15-18 kn. Anyway, we are settled in here for the night and it looks like Massilia is staying at Port Harvey.  

50-31.175’N, 126-11.113’W; Log = 45.7, Sum (2022) = 829.2; Eng. hrs = 8.2, Sum = 3045.3