Day 2 ~ Oven’s Island, B.C. to Campbell River, B.C

The rain was pounding on the boat when we awoke, each of us felt rested after a wonderful night’s sleep. We had a few minutes before departure so I made smoothies for breakfast with my new Magic Bullet, which I love!  As we were sipping on the smoothies we heard voices and realized that Dad’s laptop was streaming the nightly news, so much for our MiFi minutes!  We departed, in calm seas, shortly after our goal of 8:00 a.m. Shortly thereafter, Eileen safely powered us through the currents and whirlpools of Dodd Narrows and then on towards Campbell River.

The day was rather uneventful with the exception of an issue with the primary navigation system which thought that we were miles away when we attempted to use it to set a course. Good thing we had redundant systems.

We arrived in Campbell River in time to get fuel. While Dad was fueling the boat, Eileen and I hustled to the shops before they closed. I was on a mission to find a power cord for my camera to replace the one that I had left at home. Eileen was successful in her search of liquor and we found the water pump that Dad wanted. I ended up buying a new camera because I couldn’t find the cord and I didn’t want to miss documenting the trip.  

Once in our slip, we did our boat chores, which included washing the boat and creating a technology corner. We were exhausted, so we decided to wander up the dock to the Rip Tide restaurant for dinner.

During dinner we talked ourselves into pushing all the way to Port McNeil. Eileen was only going to be with us for a few days and her flight was out of Namu which was around Cape Caution. We also discussed the importance of timing our passage through Seymour Narrows and debated the appropriate departure time. By the time we got back to the boat I had clearly determined the need for a spreadsheet!  The rest of the evening was spent designing an electronic float plan that could be created and kept for each day. We identified individual way points, calculated nautical miles and estimated arrival times based on departure times.