Day 22

We had a measured pace and woke up at 7:30 for a target leaving time of
09:00; we were 5 minutes late. There was wind in the inlet but as we
neared the light at Cape Parkins (Quatsino light) it dropped. In fact we
finally got the sails up, including both jib and staysails along with
the main, but could not move faster than 2 knots. It was flat with
nearly no swell. We called it quits and went back to motoring.

Aside: we had a legal crab in the trap when we raised it in the morning
to stow it; however no one seemed keen to deal with it before raising
anchor so it was lucky and was returned to the sea. Hopefully we will
get a bunch in the next hunt. So now the score is Ralph 1 fish 2.

We finally saw another boat on the water; they were stopped and moving
erratically and could only assume it was some sort of tour or a sailing
course. There was fog but it was relatively high and visibility was
still about 5 miles.

The inlet for Klaskish inlet is very hidden and very narrow. Fishing
boats have to raise their side poles to make it in apparently. It is
pretty here but the clear cut scars take away from the scene somewhat.
Stewart and I went on the dinghy to try to get up the river, but the
tide was going out and we hit gravel bars so we turned around and
returned to the mother ship. We ran out of gas enroute but had
fortunately taken the spare gas with us; it would have been a very long
row against the wind to get back.

Strangely, with the steep sides we are still able to occasionally get a
sat phone connection and I was able to reach Robin; while we talking a
sea otter was slowly floating by watching me. They look quite funny with
their back feet sticking out of the air and their large beaver-like
heads. They can get up to 6 feet long and spend all their lives in the
water. They sleep in kelp beds by wrapping kelp around their bodies to
keep from floating away.

Today marks the official end of most of the fresh food; the green
storage bags for veggies work well; we have 2 tomatoes that are still
fresh from Port Hardy and a cuke. We ate the last of the bagged salad
tonight with supper (supper was an improvised beef stroganoff using
canned beef). I make another loaf of beer bread so that we have
something for breakfast and lunch... downside is that it decreases the
beer stores by yet another can!

Tomorrow we plan on rounding Brooks peninsula, the second last
"milestone". The winds there get accelerated due to it sticking out from
the coast. The books say it marks the division between the cold north
water and the warmer southern water. it is also about the 1/2 way point
for our circumnavigation. Our planned target is Columbia Cove which is
on the south side of Brooks with a short walk to large open sandy
beaches. We may even convince Ralph to get off the boat, I hope. So far
he has only left the boat when we have been on a dock.

I feel more privileged to have seen the sea otters that we have after
reading that in 1910 there were only 2000 left on the pacific coast from
Japan to California. The last sea otter on the B.C. coast was killed in
1929. They were re-introduced from 1969-1972 with 89 otters at the
Bunsby Islands just south of where we are now. Even so, there are only
about 1400 on the entire west coast; seems like we saw most of them in
Quatsino sound yesterday and today!

I've been unable to upload any photos to the blog site because we can't
seem to get a sat. phone connection long enough. It will have to wait
until we can find an internet cafe.

Over and out from Klaskish Inlet.
Miles today: 30, total miles so far: 429