Wonderful Day in Eucott Bay

October 5th (Saturday)
It was a lovely day! It was one of those days that feels long, restful, productive, and fun all in one. What a perfect combination.
It rained all through the night, and it was still wet in the morning, so we did not rush to go out. Instead we baked the two loaves of fresh bread that I had mixed up the night before to sit, and had fresh bread for breakfast. What a nice way to start the day with a steaming hot piece of fresh bread and butter. The boat was filled by the smell of fresh baked bread, and the fire crackled away as the raindrops pattered on the deck. So relaxing.  

After a nice combination of relaxing and doing morning chores, we headed to the hot springs for a mid-rainy-morning soak. We were very happy to find that the tub was fully full and overflowing. The temperature was also quite perfect, on the hot side, but incredibly relaxing.  There was a poor little salamander floating in the pool when we got there. He looked quite pink and well cooked. Poor guy, I wondered how he got there.  Because the temperature was hotter than it often has been, we were fully heated through more quickly than other times, and soon headed back home.
We did a service to our generator, changed the oil, gapped and cleaned the spark plug, and checked the air filter. Then we did a bit of work to our windlass. The rain had stopped, the clouds were starting to break up, and the sun was breaking through.
We headed out for a bit of fishing, as we were hopeful that we might catch a bigger Cod. On our way out we saw our friendly family of resident otters. They were coming up and munching on food, and playing around the dock. They were curious about us as we went by, and they did not swim away as we watched them. It was a gorgeous, late afternoon and early evening to be out on the water outside of the anchorage. Dean Channel was glassy calm once again and as the clouds were parting around the mountains we caught glimpses of a newly snow covered distant peak. The low-lying clouds were draped over the rolling rocky ridges like a fluffy duvet. 

We saw a whale go by in Dean Channel. It was quite close to the shore where we were fishing in from, and surfaced and came up three times between the shoreline points that we could see.  Two times when it came up it was feeding and had its mouth open. We are not sure what type it was, perhaps a Minke or a Fin whale. About ten minutes after the whale had gone by, a pod of at least six porpoises came right into the area where we were fishing outside of Eucott Bay. So cool!! They came in, dove and disappeared, then came back up in about the same area, and then made their way back out.  Later when we were heading back home we saw a loon swimming over the glassy water. How lovely!!
Unfortunately we did not catch any Cod. We did catch one very big Quillback Rockfish, but we let it go because they have less meat than other rockfish, and can grow quite old. It was a strong and healthy looking fish. The rest of the fish we caught were all too small. Oh well. It was a wonderful time out fishing.  

It is amazing, we often comment, “You just never know what you might see.” It seems we usually see something awesome, a bear, a mom bear with cubs, otters playing or feeding, a whale, porpoises or dolphins, a cool bird or a cool behaviour from a normal bird. You just never know.
Back at home we were feeling a bit of a chill so we headed once again to our oasis! A quick soak, and we were fully heated for the evening. At home we put on our comfy clothes and it was amazing how long our bodies retained all the warmth. We had a wonderful dinner of noodles with spicy peanut sauce and cabbage, with wonderfully crispy, fried rockfish. It was delicious!
Then we just relaxed and listened to the crackle of the fire. As I said, a wonderful day!!