Sheya's Birthday and Forit Bay

September 9th (Monday)
After sleeping in, we headed out salmon fishing. I was hoping to get to have sushi with sashimi for my birthday dinner, and we were hoping to top up our freezer before leaving the area. The amount of salmon activity was way less than the last time that we were out fishing, and although we caught a couple at first, they were quite small, and we let them go.  Jason and I each also got one sizeable bite, but they got away. Jason's was the most frustrating, because it got away just a net's length away from the boat. The salmon was fighting its way in, and right at the last second it did a jump and spat out the hook. 

In the end, we managed to get three keep-size Coho into the boat, although they were all much smaller than we had been used to. I think it was nature’s gift to me for my birthday, because I caught all three of them. The majority of the fish seem to have left the area, and each time that we have caught salmon here we have wondered if they would be the last for the year, and this time I seriously imagine that it was. 

Sheya with nature's birthday gift.

The three fish topped up our freezer, and gave us a delicious dinner. We had salmon sashimi, salmon nigiri, and salmon rolls; it was delicious. For dessert we made a plum-and-apple crisp. We used the fresh homegrown apples and plums that Laurie had given us, and it turned out delicious. We had never combined plums and apples in a crisp before, but it was perfect, and it almost tasted like the rhubarb taste in a strawberry-rhubarb pie.
It was a lovely birthday! I wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else, doing anything else. What an awesome way to spend my birthday.

September 10th (Tuesday)
It was our only nice-weather day left in the forecast. They were forecasting a gale and rain for the next four days. So, we decided to pull up anchor and left Codville Lagoon. 

We motored up Fisher Channel, and anchored in Forit Bay at the east end of Gunboat Passage. It was a beautiful area, and we will definitely be back to do some exploring. This time, however, it was more of a stopover spot, and after anchoring around 14:00 we loaded up our tender and made a trip into town, Shearwater. 

The beauty of Forit Bay.

It was only 8 nautical miles through Gunboat Passage, and since the winds were light it was much quicker to do by tender. We picked up our mail, got a few groceries, and filled up our jerry cans of gas and diesel before heading home. We saw several sea lions in the passage on the way home, as well as many massive towering cumulus clouds, one of which produced a heavy thundershower with thunder in the distance.
Back at home we prepped the boat for leaving early the next morning. We also took the time to install our new water maker low-pressure pump. We looked forward to trying it out, with the hopes that it would work with the system flawlessly.
We enjoyed a beautiful evening in the bay, as the sun got lower the cumulus clouds dissipated and we were left under a beautiful sky to watch the sun set and the stars and the moon come out.