Day 23

To all of our American readers, happy Independence Day.

We left Klaskish inlet at 09:00 as planned, under grey skies with
potential rain it appeared. The anchorage is so narrow and steep that we
were unable to receive VHF radio and did not have reliable weather info
before we left. We did learn that winds were forecast to build up around
Brooks Peninsula in the afternoon. Our get away timing meant that we
should be south of Brooks before the early afternoon and hopefully would
miss the wind build-up.

We ,motored for about 2.5 hours until we had enough wind to get up the
sails; we had a reef in the main and the jib up and had about 4 hours of
wonderful downwind sailing. The winds were up to about 15 knots as we
got around Brooks then once we were fully in the lea of the peninsula
they died and we were motoring again. Through the binoculars we could
see the sea lion colony on Solander Island.
The guide book says that Brooks not only divides the cold north but that
the weather soulth of Brooks is in the "bannana belt" ; we were joking
as we approached Solander ( in our toques, gloves) that we hoped the
banana belt was a bit warmer. As we got closer you could see blue sky
ahead and sure enough, there was a dividing line at Brooks with grey,
overcast to the North and sun to the south. There was a cap of clouds on
Brooks, which we read is called, strangely enough the Brooks Cap.

Once were around Brooks, we could see the higher central moutnains of
the Island in the distance and the beaches on the shoreline; a very
different aspect from the North Section. Our anchorage at Columbia Cove
is truly beautify; we look out towards the south east and the open water
towards Klaquot sound and beaches and rock formations in the cove.
Between us and Brooks are a number of beaches, one of which can be hiked
to from here, according to the guide book. Stewart and I went to shore
on the dinghy to find the path but only found bear tracks on the beach!
We went back to the boat to re-read the guide book to confirm exactly
where the path starts. After much stomping around ( and following what I
thought were paths only to find a lot of bear shit) Stewart finaling saw
a Park sign hidden in the forest. We clambered over a root strewned path
and eventually made it to the beach that is open to the Pacific. The
sand is so thick that you sink up to your ankles in the dry sand. We
didn't linger as it was getting late and we didn't want to be on the
path when the bears came out for their walk to the beach.

Before dinner (stewart is cook today) under Ralph's tutilidge I did some
sextant shots of the moon and will try to "reduce" them later this evening.

Not sure yet what our plans are yet for tomorrow; we may stay here for
a layover day or move on; it is getting late and i'm going to try to get
these updates off IF i can get a clear Sat. phone connection.

today's mileage 33.