Day 7 ~ Shearwater, B.C. to Bottle Neck Inlet, B.C.

When I woke in the morning, it had been a week since departing and I was a bit sad to be away from home. Fortunately, I called home and all was well within minutes. Even though we had perfect cruising conditions we were reluctant to depart because we knew that it would be days before we had technology again. We got a firsthand lesson how dependent we have become on our ability to communicate with others. Getting off the dock with just the two of us and a breeze blowing turned out to be a challenge for me, which caused me to summon Dad to the bridge to coach me out of the pickle that I had created.

As we approached Ivory Island we spotted a beautiful light house atop the island that I captured in pictures. We also picked up 6 foot swells, the largest swells that we had experienced since leaving Seattle. The stabilizers that Dad had installed on the boat got a good workout and it was an interesting sensation as the stabilizers worked to minimize the effects of the swells.

Once we rounded the point, the wind dissipated and it got really hot, so I stripped down to my bathing suit. I thought that I was a fool for bringing my suit, sun screen and aloe, however, it turned out to be a good plan. When we rounded Martha Island, I went down to the bow and watched for rocks, we got a real rush as we conquered each challenge. As we headed up Mathieson Channel, the water was like glass. I took over at the helm on the bridge and soaked in the beauty of the scenery. We were a bit behind schedule which worked to our favor because the tide was coming up thus allowing us to go through our original choice of Jackson Passage. Due to the timing of the tides, we originally plotted a course avoiding Jackson Passage because it has two spots that were pretty shallow, including one point that got as low as 10 feet. As we reached the entrance of the passage I went to the bow to be Dad’s bow buddy. The water was so clear that I could see the bottom coming up as we reached the first shallow spot, Dad slowed the boat and we squeezed our way through. I looked ahead and I could see that the second shallow spot appeared more shallow, which for a fleeting moment caused me to envision us stuck in the middle waiting for the tide. Fortunately, Dad was at the helm and without fear he slid us through the shallow area and we were on our way.

We made our way to Bottleneck Inlet where we anchored for the night. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get the satellite phone to work and we quickly learned that calling before entering an inlet was a better plan. The water in the inlet was so calm that you could see all the detail of the trees in the reflection of the water. Later that afternoon we were joined by the Celtic Song which is a 40’ sail boat from San Diego that was on the dock with us in Shearwater. We learned that the owner of the boat was a retired attorney and he hired a woman professional boat captain to sail with him to Wrangle, Alaska and back.

Up on the upper deck, we dined on crab and the horseflies dined on us, which caused welts the size of Texas. Good thing I brought lots of stick deodorant because it really does the trick with stopping the itch. Dad looked like a ghost he had so much of it all over his arms.