Bickley Bay to Alert Bay

We left Bickley Bay thinking we'd figured the slack times for the next (and final) two sets of rapids. We must of been wrong in our calculations. We reached Greene Point Rapids during a strong ebb flow that had us straining along at less than 2kts. We took pictures of the swirling, churning, bubbling water but in the end, they just look like pictures of water! The Whirlpool Rapids were also a tussle with strong currents and whirlpools that pulled the boat down and tried to send us off in directions that we didn't want to go (like towards the rocks and shoals!). We made it through to our night's anchorage at Forward Harbor.

I awoke early on Saturday morning and went outside to look around when what should I see? A beautiful black bear foraging along the shore! He was turning over rocks below the high tide line and munching on the little crabs that lie under the rocks. We watched him for more than an hour as he worked his way down the shore then back again. Must have taken more than 40 pictures and even a video of him. See above for a picture of Deja watching the bear from the boat. The sibs were, of course very interested in the bear. They each 'woofed' at him but very quietly. Little quiet 'woofs' that satisfied their egos but didn't disturb the bear at all. What a life we lead - sitting in our cockpit, eating breakfast and watching a bear just yards off our stern! This is why we cruise.

The weather forecast was for high winds and even gales in Johnstone Straits for Saturday and Sunday so we just stayed where we were and did boat projects. I polished the winches in the cockpit; Christine scrubbed the deck to get rid of the doggie pee smell. The bear didn't come back while we were watching. He must have other beaches he dines at. We were up at 0600 Monday morning and departed by 0700 heading north.

Our day's destination was flexible. Did we want to go through Havanah Passage and spend the night near Minstrel Island? Did we want to just go up Port Harney and spend the night where we were when we came south in '07? As it turned out, we lucked on an ebb current headed in our direction and were able to ride it almost to Alert Bay. We made more than 48 miles today in less than 9-hours for an average speed of more than 5-knots! That's great for this boat - especially as it hasn't had its bottom painted since June of 2007!

The forecast for tomorrow is high winds again. We may stay here in Alert Bay for a day or more. We'll see. The weather guys say Wednesday and Thursday should be good days to cross the Queen Charolotte Sound and get inside Calvert Island (see our Trip Log #27 on the Queen Charlotte Sound in 2007 logs). If we can get there early, we'll head over to Port Hardy and restock and fuel up before we jump off for points north. If the weather sets in earlier than forecast, we'll just stay here and look for some of the geocaches in the area.

David and Christine and Sibs
SV Raven
Juneau, AK

Currently lying Alert Bay, BC