Discovery Harbor to Farewell Harbor

Day 1                                    78.0 nm

An on-schedule departure took us through Seymour Narrows near slack, then outbound with the current up Discovery Channel, and out Johnstone Strait until a bit past noon. Wow, we raced along at 13.5 knots (indicated speed over ground) without changing the boat’s RPM, a nice boost to our more typical 9 knot travel. A favorable current is a good thing!

   
Not so good was the horrendous amount of timber along the entire route. Recent high tides must have cleared the beaches of every drift log, refloating them just to keep us alert. At least it felt that way.

   
Not so good was the fog that lingered along the Vancouver Island shore and finally closed in on us mid- channel. Boat traffic, debris in the water, and fog are never a great mix.

   
Not so good was finding the entrance to our target anchorage, Growler Cove, full of logs. One large cruiser already anchored in the cove looked like it might end up in the middle of a log raft by morning. (Mental image: pack ice surrounding old sailing vessels, like Scott and Shackleton, or more recently a Russian research ship, in Antarctica) A good night’s sleep didn’t seem possible, not with the likelihood of bumps, thumps and rafting up by logs, so we kept on going.

   
The current had already reversed, so not so good was the heavy 4-5 knot opposing current running through a narrow passage we needed to navigate to continue on. Whirlpools wanted to spin the bow and sweep us sideways, but the Capt handled the challenge easily.

   
Very good was anchoring in a familiar harbor, a protected spot with far fewer logs and minimal current moving through it. I slept soundly that first night, ready to turn in after being super alert on log watch for 9 hours.