Moving to inside waters

Sun. June 1 Patterson Inlet

Drat! the mid-morning VHF broadcast announcing upcoming gales got our attention. We headed to a more protected, inside route - and passed a Canadian coast guard cutter heading outside on patrol.  Environment Canada puts out extensive forecasts 4 times a day, supplementing them with almost hourly wind/wave/swell height updates from lighthouses and buoys. This really helps with route planning and the occasional decision to just stay anchored for a day or two.

100+ white-sided Pacific dolphin cruised Blackfish Sound with us, but showed no interest in playing with the boat. They were too busy feeding. Just the memory of those sparkling black and white bodies leaping and slicing through the water makes me smile!  Finally, several dolphin pods traveling Nepean Sound  broke away to ride the bow wake.

Patterson Inlet looked like the best anchorage in southerly gales. Entering in mid-afternoon, we had time to anchor -- and re-anchor -- in the southerly arm. (ask the captain for additional information, I’m not talking.) The weather front must have stalled, because we only recorded moderate wind gusts.

Mon. June 2                                                                              Patterson Inlet

The predicted gale arrived this morning, but not inside our sheltered bay. A weather station west of us reported 40 knot winds with higher gusts, but we’re comfortable here in light to moderate winds. That’s a good thing since we’re sitting in 90 feet of water with more than 300 feet of chain down. The captain prefers shallower water and more chain during a blow.