Prawns for dinner tomorrow?

May 8 -11, 2012

Tuesday, we left Cutter Cove about 9 AM and followed the protected waters within the Broughton Archipelago through Knight Inlet to avoid strong winds in Johnstone Strait. Then headed into Queen Charlotte Strait and half of the way out where we anchored in Blunden Harbour, a well-protected anchorage in front of an abandoned native village site. All that is left now of the once thriving village are moss covered beams from houses lying in the grass above the beach. No other boats in the anchorage.

Wednesday, we considered rounding Cape Caution, one of the two major stretches of open water that we need to cross this summer. The marine weather reporting stations along the way were reporting up to 6 meter waves, the result of the previous day's storm. We decided to get a little closer to Cape Caution and anchor in Allison Harbour. Unfortunately, some of the route was not entirely protected from the high waves. Everything that we had planned to put away the next day, fell onto the floor: all Magpie's toys, books, soap, a candle with its plate; the plate was the only casualty! Magpie was not impressed and regurgitated her breakfast after a long mournful cry. She calmed down in my lap. The seas finally smoothed out as we got behind the reefs leading to Allison Harbour.

Thursday, marine weather reporting stations reported swells to be 2-3 meters. So we stowed everything as we should have yesterday! and headed out. Another slalom around the reefs and rocks. Two meter waves didn't sound like much, but after 4 hours, it got old. Magpie was not happy but resigned to the life of her family. There are no inlets in which to take refuge for about 4 - 5 hours around Cape Caution. Maybe that is the reason that we saw so many sea otters (ca 18) lazing on their backs in the swells - not many people there and lots of safe places for them to hide. We still haven't seen any whales. We crossed Smith Sound and Rivers Inlet and followed Fitz Hugh Sound and turned into Fury Cove, one of our favorite anchorages with sandy beaches and a view of the mountains.

Friday, we motored up Fitz Hugh Sound with only a light wind on the nose but nice sun. Saw our first hump back whale!! It looked like a log in front of us. As I debated whether to avoid it on the left or right, it made a shallow dive, then surfaced again a couple of times, until he disappeared behind us. Very exciting! We anchored in Codville Lagoon after putting out two prawn traps. We've caught prawns here several times before but this time, we saw a commercial prawner and lots of floats over his traps. Put out a crab trap, too. And there is a curious, probably juvenile seal that keeps checking us out.