31 Aug 22

It was foggy when we finally got out of bed about 08:15. We all loaded ourselves onto the harbour courtesy bikes and rode into town to have breakfast at Coho Joe’s. After breakfast, we visited a few of the local gift shops and art galleries and ended up going back to Coho Joe’s for lunch, since the Upper Crust Bakery did not seem to be open for lunch. Then, Terri and I rode back to the marina and headed over to Port McNeill to get ready for Ashley’s upcoming visit. The fog had burned off by the time we got going at 14:00, at least between Sointula and Port McNeill, but it was obvious and thick to the north of Pulteney Point and to the east and south of Malcolm Island. John and Laurie are spending another night at Sointula and then going to Alert Bay to visit the First Nations museum and will rejoin us in Port McNeill on Friday. We topped up the fuel tank (66 L of diesel) on the way in and after we got tied up (at 15:22), we walked up to CAB Industrial and filled up both propane tanks (#1 was empty and #2 was about 1/2 empty). On the way to CAB, we also dropped off the recycle trash; in the process of closing the bear-proof lid, I dropped the lid on my left thumb and damn-near took the end of my thumb off; “fortunately”, the two pieces of metal that tried to shear off my thumb hit right on the knuckle joint, so I only got a bruised knuckle and lost two big chunks of skin, one from either side of my thumb. It bled like a stuck pig, so we came back to the boat to clean it up and apply a good bandage. I also found a 3.5” hose clamp and got that installed on the generator enclosure cooling air duct; hopefully, it will not fall off again and cause the generator to overheat. After Captains Hour, we went up to Devil’s Bath Brewery for dinner; not bad, and that is obviously where the young people hang out in Port McNeill. Then, it was early to bed in preparation for a heavy day of laundry, boat cleaning and boat chores tomorrow.

50-35.333’N, 127-05.348’W; Log = 3.9, Sum (2022) = 783.5 N-m; Eng hrs = 1.2, Sum = 3037.1

1 Sep 22

Dawn came early at the dock, but it was very foggy when we looked out at 08:30. Terri headed up to the laundry just after 09:00. I dropped her off and made a stop at the local marine hardware store, then on to the liquor store. Back at the boat, I took care of the 1st of the month routine maintenance list, then we had lunch. After lunch, Terri cleaned the inside of the boat while I did the outside; 3 hours of hard slog saw the back end of that and the boat is now presentable for guests. In the late afternoon, Terri went back to do another load of laundry and I did a few more chores, then went up for a shower. We went up to Gus’s Pub for dinner, which took awhile, as they, like everybody else, are short-handed. While there, we found out that Gus’s will be the only restaurant open in Port McNeill this weekend; bummer. In the mean time, we listened to the weather forecast for the next few days and it is not encouraging; a couple of lows/fronts are moving down from the Gulf of Alaska and threatening our cruising ground for the next few days. We may be stuck in Port McNeill until Monday.

2 Sep 22

It was foggy again when we got up. The forecast for tomorrow has worsened between last night and this morning. John decided to bug out and head down the Johnstone Strait while he could, so they left Sointula this morning at 10:00. After breakfast, we headed up to IGA and did a major grocery shop. Back at the boat in time for lunch. After lunch, Terri defrosted the freezer and put away all the groceries, while I made another trip to IGA. Ashley and AJ landed at Port Hardy just after 16:00 and made the bus connection from Thunderbird Mall to get down to Port McNeill at 18:05. We had toyed with the idea of moving on to Waddington Bay this evening, before the front arrives, but it is 20 miles from here to there and I do not want to enter the bay after dark. So, we stayed put here and had dinner on board and a good chat with the two of them. We will see what tomorrow holds weather-wise (i.e., we may be able to move a few miles down the strait before it gets too bad), but I expect we will be here for at least one more night; c’est la vie in the Pacific northwest.