Shearwater to Bottleneck Inlet

We awoke this morning to wind and rain, with wind gusts to 30 knots, and wondered whether we were going to be able to leave the dock. However, the weather forecast predicted the winds would calm to 10 knots or so by noon, so about 1017 we and Sea Jay departed Shearwater, with a planned destination of Bottleneck Inlet. We both headed up Seaforth Channel in increasing seas but decreasing wind and by the time we got to Ivory Island Light we decided to go out in Milbanke Sound and directly up Finlayson Channel to our destination. We were shadowed by the Canadian Coast Guard vessel "Bartlett". The seas in Milbanke Sound were not too bad, running 5-8 feet on the port bow and then changing to beam as we rounded Ivory Island. The visibility had dropped to less than one mile, and we lost visual contact with Sea Jay and Bartlett as we headed across Milbanke Sound. We are the slow boat!

However, soon we were in protected waters with the seas on our stern. The seas continued to subside as we headed up Finlayson Channel. We were greeted by several Dall Porpoise and then later some whales as we headed North. The rain continued to increase as we entered Bottleneck Inlet at 1530, and by 1545 we were rafted alongside Sea Jay in a rainy but beautiful inlet with a stunning view to the still snow covered hills on Sarah Island. Although the rain was heavy, the wind was calm. The temperature continues to remind us of February, never getting above 50 degrees.

Dinner this evening was a potluck salad and pizza dinner with Jim and Cheryl (leftover from Shearwater) while we watched several episodes of season three of the "Big Bang Theory".

Today's run was 46 nautical miles, for a total of 440 nautical miles since leaving Anacortes.