Today's goal is northwestward as far as the wind and seas let us comfortably go. We hope to make Hartley Bay. Further would be great. It was daylight at 5AM when we exited the Bottleneck and this departure time helps us utilize favorable current. We continued up Findlayson Channel exiting at Hiekish Narrows onto Princess Royal Channel. Larger fishing boats and tugs pulling barges led and followed. We passed by Butedale, another nearly abandoned cannery town. The wind and seas stayed moderate so we passed Hartley Bay, motoring over the top of the wrecked Queen of the North BC ferry, and entered the monotonous Grenville Channel, just hoping to make Lowe Inlet before the tide changes against us. At Lowe we were still being pushed by the current and the weather was great, so we opted for Klewnuggit Inlet. By Klewnuggit the tide reversed in our favor so we kept going, making it a 12-hour day until Kumealon Inlet.
We anchored at the head of the Inlet and consulted the skipper of Jeannie, a sailboat anchored here too. The BC forecasters had been carrying on and on about gails and lows, but our barometer was steady. So the topic was the weather and the Jeannie skipper was pretty sure that the wind would stay down overnight. We differed, pulled anchor, backtracked 3 miles to Baker Inlet, "the best weather fortress on Grenville Channel" per the Douglass guide. We ran Watts Narrows at 8PM slack water and re-anchored at the head with two prawners and the 140-foot passenger ship Island Spirit. Apparently others like the security of Baker.
A pretty waterfall on Princess Royal Channel.
Butedale continues to deteriorate.
Butedale's pretty waterfall.
Crab cakes ready for the pan.
Side one almost done.
Ocean Falls crab cakes and Popeye's favorite.
whoa those are serious crabcakes!
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