Day 2 – Campbell River
(Written Tuesday evening, May 14, 2012)
Nothing to exciting today…
and I like it that way.
We had a perfectly still anchorage last night and we all
slept great. After doggie duties, engine
checks, etc., we throttled up and made the 4 hour run up the Strait of Georgia
and stopped at Campbell River for some fuel as well as a slip for the
night.
I needed to do some business and
there was a gale blowing in Johnstone Strait so a slip made sense for
tonight. Normally, we much prefer a
quiet, secluded cove. My Garmin tells me
that we put on 147 nautical miles (169 statute miles) in the last day and a
half. We normally cruise a couple of hours
a day and then we go hiking, fishing, or whatever. This afternoon, I made calls and worked on my
e-mails while Connor home-schooled and Val read/napped. Then we all went out to dinner, got our
fishing license, and, of course, more provisions. It was a beautiful night.
Tomorrow, weather permitting will be another bigger day up
North through Johnstone Strait. The
weather has been typical, sunny, comfortable, Northwest winds. It can get lumpy on these straits when the
wind opposes the tides. We had about an
hour and half of lumps today and hoping our timing will give us a smooth
passage tomorrow. The current runs
through Seymour Narrows just North of Campbell River up to about 10 knots…even
the cruise ships have to stage their passage.
So, tomorrow, we’ll have to wait for the current to subside before we
sail but I don’t want to wait to long as the winds tend to kick up in Johnstone
Strait as the day goes on. We've learned to plan "loosely" on our cruises allowing plenty of room for weather, fish cravings, and who knows what else. That's part of the joy (and curse) of boating.
Have a great day. We'll be in touch in Port Hardy, Lord willing.
