We decided that there was no way to get through the next rapids today. Lund was too short of a day so we headed to Squirrel Cove to fuel up and spend the night.
The fuel dock is really only usable for folks – with larger boats – at high tide. The calculation is take the Twin Islands tide and subtract 4 feet and that is how much depth there is. The exception is that one side of the dock is less. Fortunately; we arrived just in time for 8 feet of depth but it was dropping as we got back into Merva and headed over (from the government dock). A bunch of guys on majour grocery run jumped in front of us – worse yet they used the deep side – and we had to wait. This is why we tracked (yellow line) all over the place (as we waited). The water was super clear so, for a few minutes, I was convinced my sonar was telling me 2 feet when it was telling me 2 meters. I had Matt stab at the bottom with the pike pole on a regular basis to make sure. In the end Merva used 4+ feet for draft and there appeared to be another 4 feet – as per the calculation suggested to us.
Merva seems to be on track for stellar fuel economy. Porpoise Bay to Squirrel Cove:
We burned about 45.66L/12gal over 11 hrs of cruising!
Lukas heated up chilli and has been soaking up the sun on the beach with a book ever since. Matt did some maintenance on Merva and took to some evening fishing from the dock. I did dishs, organised a bit and took to the ‘office’.
The next fuel stop will be in Blind Passage but the next night will be a moorage somewhere. We are getting up early tomorrow morning for a 5am departure so we can get through Gillards Passage and somewhere beyond. We will probably cook a breakfast along the way.