June 24th Secretary Islands to the Finnerty Islands

June 24^th Secretary Islands to the Finnerty Islands       This morning finds us waiting for the slack current to scoot through Porlier Passage.  Tides and currents are critical up here.  You need to know when to shoot through passages and how much extra elevation to leave when anchoring so a big tide change does not leave you, literally, high and dry on your anchor.  We time our Porlier passage using the booklet “Canadian Tide and Current Tables.”  We still seem to hit the pass on a higher than slack current which makes for some anxious maneuvering on Captain Carl’s part.  After we make it through and watch many other sailboats slogging through Pam decides to look at another reference book, “Ports and Passes.”  What she determines, (and remembers vaguely in the recesses of her brain) is that Canada tide publications do NOT use daylight savings time so all times given need to have an hour added to them.  Glad we figured this out on our first passage through a current zone!

Raccoon in the oyster bed Secretary Island

Then we settle in for a long day, destination the Finnerty Islands, a small group of islands on the north tip of Lesquiti Island.  Today’s trip up the Georgia Strait takes us along the outside of Valdes Island, and along the edge of the “Whiskey Gulf” military testing grounds.  We keep an ear to the radio to make sure “WG” is not active today.  We have heard stern radio transmissions from military when a boat comes into an active military action in this area.

Entrance Island Lighthouse

The wind is on our nose all day long so it is a long ‘motor’ up the Strait.  When we change course to angle across the Strait Pam hoists the main sail and we get a little boost in our speed.  Lunch is peanut butter sandwiches made more tasteful by adding some of Barb’s Huckleberry Jam.

During our 9+ hours of travel today Pam decides to break out the “Penetrol” that has been on the boat for 3 years.  She will use this product to condition all of the wood surfaces in ExTerra.  Our beautiful teak has had years of damage from small leaks and is in need of some love.  Thankfully the product (a modified linseed oil used to thin paint) does not have fumes and she is able to spend a couple hours bouncing around in the bow of the boat restoring the wood in the ‘head.’

Before

After

       

We pull into the Finnerties around 7:00, set the anchor and bbq our small fish harvest from yesterday.  We are treated to an awesome sunset.  Our son Zach had downloaded a couple movies when he and the kids were on board and we settle in with popcorn and a movie on our “big screen” 8” tablet.