Alaska 2018 Blog Post 4 - Pender Harbour to Port McNeill

May 2, 2018

Sometime during the night, the wind shifted to NW, but remained light.  At 0740 we began the stinky and dirty process of pulling the anchor from the muddy bottom in Gerrans Bay.  The day was sunny, but still cool.

Heading out into Malaspina Strait we found calm seas and little wind.  Looking at the times of high slack through Dent Rapids it was apparent we would have to take two days just to get to Dent Island for moorage only since Dent Island Lodge does not open for full operations until June 1.  However, the morning high slack current at Seymour Narrows was at the right time to cross on May 3, so we changed our plans.

BC Coastal Range from Malaspina Strait

Reaching the top of Texada Island we crossed northwest towards Discovery Passage and Campbell River, passing Cape Mudge at 1350 and securing moorage at Discovery Harbour Marina.

Cape Mudge Lighthouse

Spirit was docked on K dock at 1430 after a 54.5 nautical mile run for the day.  We spent the afternoon wandering around the shopping center, finding some plastic non-corroding snap-on hose fittings for the salt water washdown system.  Dinner was Asian chicken salad, prepared on-board since we have an early night for an early departure in the morning.

May 3, 2018

Departing Discovery Harbour Marina at 0555, we nudged out into the flood current still running south, joining a number of other boats all heading to Seymour Narrows, about 7 nautical miles away.  There was virtually no wind and a high overcast.

Waiting our turn behind Maud Island, we watched some southbound traffic riding the last minutes of the flood tide passing through and at 0720 we headed around Maud Island and passed east of the underwater remains of Ripple Rock.  By 0845, boosted by the ebb current, we passed Chatham Point.  We were making such good time and the weather forecast was so encouraging for crossing Cape Caution that we changed our destination and headed directly for Port McNeill.  At times we were boosted by nearly 5 knots of current.

As we passed Fanny Island, the wind and seas increased from astern, further boosting our speed.  Just south of Robson Bight we spotted a new shipwreck on the beach close to a logging operation,  

Wreck on beach in Johnstone Strait

The favorable wind and current persisted until we reached Cormorant Island and Alert Bay at 1450.  We docked at North Island Marina at 1550 in brisk westerly winds.  Spirit logged an additional 88 nautical miles today.  We have logged 276 nautical miles since departing Anacortes.

Tomorrow we plan to cross Cape Caution and will be out of cell phone and internet range for a few days.