Harriott Bay

We got a nice slow start out of the octopus Islands since we had to wait for slack water at Surge Narrows. The trip through the narrows was pretty uneventful (The narrows are only 147 feet wide and currents can hit 8 kts!) and we had a quick motor down to Harriot bay. The big plan was to anchor at Rebbecca spit, but it was packed and the weather called for a wind shift so I decided to head into the Harriot Bay Marina. This worked out well because we met a whole stack of cool folks at the Marina and pub.

The next day, the wind switched to the North with a vengeance. About half of the folks at Rebbecca Spit pulled anchor and moved on (good thing we didn't anchor). Later that evening, we had another guest show up for a week (Hi Ana, hope you enjoyed your trip!). She picked up a rental car in Campbell river and took the ferry over to Quadra Island. That night we cooked some primo fillets on the barbie.

The next day we used her car to take a tour of Quadra. I was really looking forward to the First Nations museum, but they were closed for renovations (until next year!). So we headed to the south end of the Island in search of Pictographs. These carving are below the high water mark on the south end of Quadra. They can only be viewed at low tide, and are kind of tricky to see. But, very cool indeed. That night we had appetizers at April Point lodge and the took the water taxi across Discovery Passage and had dinner at Painter's Lodge. April point was voted as one Conde Naste top 500 beautiful spots in the world. Okay, the view from April point is across Discovery Passage and views Campbell river and it's wonderful smokestacks. Now, don't get me wrong, it is a pretty place, but the top 500. No way. The food was also pretty average. Good ingredients, poor execution.

The next day, Kathy and Ana headed up north for some whale watching. I hung out at the boat as it got battered by 20 kts winds from the north. Bouncy, Bouncy. It was so strong that I don't think that I could have got the boat off the dock if I wanted to. I had a pretty damn good day, in that I did nothing. I didn't work on this log, the engine, the bilge, the head ... nothin'. What I did do is have a nice chat on the phone and do some serious power reading.