Day 21: hello from "rubby dub cove"

We had a leisurely get away after stocking up on some cubed ice(no block
ice available) and a jar of pickles. They had no fresh stuff at the
store other than onions, so we will be living out of cans and the fat of
the land ( i.e. Ralph better start catching some fish!!). Our
destination is Rubby Dub cove up Quatsino Inlet about 6 miles; we are
going to take the slow route by going back out to the Pacific and return
trolling for salmon. Our anchorage is only 7 miles away so it is not a
tough day.

En route we saw a group of sea otters swimming past us in formation, all
on their back doing the back stroke but making very good time.

Unfortunately Ralph had some gear problems with the down-rigger and he
ended up trolling by hand; about 2 miles from our anchorage we still did
not have a fish and so the score so far is Fish-2, Ralph-0. We made our
anchorage, after a false start by the skipper as to where it actually
was. Once inside and anchored, Stewart and I rowed to a small islet to
explore. We noticed that it shawllowed up quite quickly so on the way
back we used a stick to determine about where it got more than 6' feet
deep; which was about a boat length away from where we were. That
coupled with a 10' tide drop made the decision to re-anchor a simple
one. It took 2 more tries but we are now well situated in deep enough
water with a wellset anchor so that the skipper can sleep soundly.

We had some canned chicken, rice with curry sauce, canned peas and the
penultimate fresh salad before we are officially on 100% canned goods.
We also had the last of the bread for lunch. I had asked Robin for her
scone recipe and she fortuitously also sent along her beer bread recipe
which is now baking in the oven as i write this. Now if I can get a sat.
phone connection I'll ask her to send along my pita bread recipe and we
can have sandwich material again.

Ralph has deployed the crab pot but so far the catch is zip!....
pressure is on Ralph to produce some protein pretty soon.

Just before dinner, Stewart called us up on deck to watch a deer
swimming by the boat; it didnt go to the island, so not sure where it is
heading but it didn't seem too concerned!!

Weather forecast is for moderate to strong winds; we have a short day of
about 16 miles, which will be typical from here on in. We are going to
Klaskish Basin; a narrow, well protected inlet on the north side of
Brooks peninsula that has mooring buoys and anchoring space. It is
written up as a place to go and was confirmed by the Ming's ( people who
did this trip last year and also have a Valiant moored at Canoe Cove).
This will also position us close to the peninsula to cross it early in
the day before the winds pickup. They can be local gale force here;
there is a 'corner effect' that accelerates the normal wind around the
point. This coupled with shoaling can make for some bumpy conditions.

I hope that we can get a good steady sat. phone connection and upload
some photos also.

Over and out from Rubby Dub Cove.