Patterson Bay

June 7             Day 33

36.2nm          Security Bay to Patterson Bay

Security Bay, Kuiu Island, seemed "just one more fine anchorage", nothing special but perfectly adequate. Can you tell how much sushine or lack thereof impacts my attitude?! Sunshine makes everywhere seem special. 1 sea otter circled the boat early in the morning, warily keeping his distance as he went round and round. 6 more otters paddled around the entrance to Security as we departed after a comfortable evening at anchor in a protected passage between two small islands.

More low clouds and thin fog accompanied us across South Chatham Strait on the way to Patterson. Trollers worked both sides of the channel, some answered my waves of greeting and others ignored us as we passed. We paused inside the bay to watch a lone whale repeatedly blow, surface and disappear. No acrobatics, hardly even a tail display as it disappeared underwater.

Locating a good anchorage in this deep, narrow fjordlike bay was somewhat of a challenge, especially with predictions of changeable-direction 20 knot winds in the next several days. Should we anchor in deep water with a 5:1 scope on the chain and risk swinging too close to a shoreline reef in this narrow fjord? Anchor farther inside in shallower water near an island at the head of the bay and risk dragging if/when the wind switched direction? We took our time and made it work, but there were moments when I was ready to give up and move on to another less challenging anchorage! 

Patterson turned out to be a lovely, comfortable spot to spend several days. One black bear with cub popped in and out of the brush, just beyond good camera range. We settled for binoculars and some long-distance wildlife viewing.