Day 51 ~ Bottleneck Inlet to Shearwater

We all woke on a mission to get Eileen and Derek to New Bella Bella to make their flight. The well trainied crew had us off anchor 30 minutes prior to our ETA. Eileen took over at the helm and the rest of us worked on sprucing up the boat. We had two shallow passages to make and we were timing our arrival (by slowing down) to the first one to be after slack low water. It was hard to slow the boat knowing we were in a hurry. Derek spent most of the day in the hot seat while everyone kept asking him ETAs to different points.

The first challenges for the day was Jackson Passage. On the way north we went through the passage and thought that it would be fun for everyone to experience the shallow transit. As we got closer it was interesting to note the difference the prior experience made in our confidence level. We sailed right through without even a shiver of concern.

Next on our list was Reid Passage, which we anticipated being at 1 hour past slack low. We determined that we would have a low of 10 feet. The Simbalaut requires 6 feet so we would have 4 feet to spare. As we approached the shallow spot, we slowed and eased our way through one of the easier challenges we had experienced. We got to New Bella Bella in plenty of time and Eileen and Derek grabbed a cab. We later learned that their flight was delayed and that they went shopping for a cooler for the fish they were transporting.

Once back in Shearwater, we topped off our fuel and found a spot on the old commercial dock without power. We gathered all the laundry and Becca and I went to the Laundromat. For dinner we went to the local restaurant. The amazing thing is that I was going to order fish for dinner.  It was nice to get all the laundry done in 2 hours rather than 36. In Shearwater they also have a lovely folding table, oh the little things.

Back on the boat we decided to make a list of everything that we needed to get finished before we left the boat in Campbell River. We decided that defrosting and cleaning the refrigerator sounded like a good plan since I had already done the bar fridge earlier in the day. Dad’s initial response was that he needed to check out the engine room, which Becca and I have renamed to the ‘man cave’. We have determined that when Dad is either looking for space or wants to avoid chores he finds a reason to go to his ‘man cave’. He wasn’t gone long and then he decided that since we had so many things to do that the man cave would have to wait.

Dad had the blow dryer going full blast to defrost the ice in the refrigerator when a couple from our Navigator Rendezvous Dan and Mimi off the Asante came over to say hello. They were in the area showing a family member the ins and outs of the islands. It seems that these islands were the equivalent to the Canadians what the Gulf Islands are to us. They also shared with us that there was another Navigator boat on the dock for us to invite to the Rendezvous.  It was getting late so we decided that we would do our socializing tomorrow before we left.