#28 Cape Scott and Sea Otter Cove

Today, Sunday, we leave Bull Harbour, cross the Nawhitti Bar, enter unprotected Pacific Ocean waters, cruise over the northwest end of Vancouver Island, then down the west coast to Sea Otter Cove. It's a 4-hour journey in what we hope to be moderate conditions after last night's southeast winds.

It's 6AM as we leave Harbour turning northwest into Goletas Channel. In 15 minutes we're on top of the Nawhitti Bar with a 4-knot current, pushing us into low westerly swells. The boat is pitching fore and aft a bit for the 30 minutes it takes us to clear the Bar. The ocean is moderate for two hours until we reach Cape Scott. We are so close to shore, the Cape's lighthouse with 25-mile range light is barely visible through the trees on the Cape's top.

The Nawhitti Bar can be a nasty place, but not today!

The current of Scott Channel is our next challenge as we turn south along the west coast. We struggle against 1.5 knots and finally turned into the sea foam covered entrance of Sea Otter Cove.

Once inside we tied to one of the four anchored moorings. There were four boats already moored and two more came in during the day.

These moorings aren't always secure. It is a "use at your own risk" policy. Hopefully no boat was tied to this one that ended up on shore.

After securing the boat we launched the tender for a shore cruise. We discovered a wet shoreline, more suited to rubber hip boots than our tennis shoes.

Wild Blue moored inside Sea Otter Cove on Vancouver Island's West Coast.

The weather experts say the wind will blow tonite and early tomorrow morning. We'll leave at 6AM again for Winter Harbour and Quatsino Sound, futher down the coast.