July 17th through 19th positioning to round Cape
Scott
Having topped off the
diesel already we are now ready to start our final uphill climb to the top of
Vancouver Island. We anchor one night in
Beaver Harbour, Cattle Islands. We tried
to anchor in Patrician Cove only to very firmly wrap our anchor chain around…..something! We circled the chain using the boat to pull
us this way and that way and the bow of the boat was pulled ominously DOWN a
few times. We finally break loose and
head for the other small anchorage, Cattle Islands, sharing it with a very
large power boat and a very salty sailboat.
Pam awakes around 0445 to
find Carl working in the bilge, changing yet again, the alternator belt. We need to figure this one out as each belt
appears to simply be another bandaid! At
0545 we start the straight, nearly east west run up Goletas Channel to Bull
Harbour, our haven before rounding the Cape.
It is a melancholy day for
us as just before we lost cell coverage we received an email about the
accidental death of one of our RCYC friends, Dave. He died doing what he loved, at the controls
of his glider. Our hearts go out to your
family and friends and you will be missed.
Bull Harbour is all native
land in a beautiful spot. We are snug
for the evening and share the anchorage with 3 sailboats and 2 power boats. We share stories about Dave and toast him as
the sun sets. Rest in peace Dave.
Departing at 0450 we enjoy
the sunrise as we leave Bull Harbout. We
use the guidance from our friends Walt and Odile as well as guidebooks and
regular weather reports. We have chosen
a day with favorable light wind and seas that have reduced from 2-3 meters to
an estimated 1-2 meters. We carefully
make our way across Goletas to behind the Tatnall reefs, hugging the shore
until Cape Suitil. This is the “inner
route” to Cape Sutil, first identified by June Cameron in 1992. It saves one from having to cross the
Nahwitti Bar, often quite rough as this is where the great waters of the
Pacific enter Goletas channel.
We see two of the
sailboats from Bull Harbour, Wind Gypsy and Alcidae far outside the bar. They have chosen to cross the bar and sail
further out. All of us have the same
goal and eventually reach it. We are to
get to Cape Scott at slack water as the Scott Channel can be extremely
dangerous for ships large and small.
Thus the anxiety of planning this part of our trip!
Like ducks in a row, we
cross the Scott Channel at slack with a 780 foot cargo ship to our starboard
and the two sailboats behind a few miles to the stern. We have an uneventful, safe crossing, a
milestone of our trip!
As an added bonus we are
surrounded by humpback whales, spot the fin of two Orca, and see playful sea
otters along the way.
We continue for eight more
hours making our way to Quatsino Sound and our anchorage in “Rubby Dub” in
Koprino Harbour. It is steaks on the
barby to celebrate our meeting our challenging yet exhilarating goal. Exhausted, as the seas had not really subsided
to 1 meter, and the constant swell and chop wore us out, we head to bed early
having been up and ‘on the road’ for 13 hours.
Cheers to us and our
sturdy boat ExTerra!
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