We launched the tender. Matt spent some time tweaking the motor and it seems to be working well now. He caught us a ling cod and we ate it (most of it) for dinner last night. We heard blow holes while cleaning the fish at the dock… orcas! So we jumped into Merva and headed out for a quick (and respectful) look (video to be added here later).
Matt took off on the tender, once again in pursuit of more fish. He saw some porpoises – but caught no fish. While he was gone a new boat pulled up to the dock (its name is ‘Islander’). Just a little boat 🙂 Sure makes Merva look small. The owner (Ed) had a 1920’s classic yacht about the same as Merva before Islander…. talk about an upgrade in size!
The boat/ship is based out of San Diego – as is the crew. So we enjoyed some lively chat in the evening with the Captain and the lead crew.
Awoke to more sunshine this morning.
Starting the engine about 7:30am got Matt and Lukas’ attention. We quickly departed for Blind Channel to get fuel topped up (we seem to be burning about 1 gallon / hour), a few groceries, and wait for something close to slack before heading through Green Pt rapids. Matt cooked breakfast and we headed off in short order. Matt finished breakfast (while underway) and took the helm where he remained for both Green Pt and Whirlpool rapids. It was a bit of a stretch to get through both in one go but we made it – inching our way past the post at extra throttle and about 2 knots. Making it saved us about 4 or 5 hours of waiting about. To do it again we would have hit Green Pt about 30 minutes sooner… similar to when we went through Y&D a few days ago. In both cases there was little sign of the kind of turbulence you see at Sechelt Rapids.
We have just entered Johnston Straight (Lukas on the helm) and its like glass (hot and sunny to boot) so we are going to cruise for the rest of the day. We should make Port McNiel.