Onward to Ocean Falls

December 14th (Saturday)

We untied our lines and left Bella Bella at first light. It was a foggy morning and everything was white with frost. Our deck was also slick with ice so we had to be very careful, although we did wash part of the deck with salt water before leaving to help the ice melt. 

We motored around to Shearwater where we pulled up to the fuel dock to fill up with gasoline and diesel. We then went over to the marina dock where we tied up for an hour while ashore. We filled up our propane, and went into the post office where we picked up our mail. It was lovely to get our Christmas cards and letters, and once we were at anchor later we opened and read each one. So nice.
In town we met a lovely couple who work on the Central Coast as divers taking samples to test for paralytic shellfish poisoning for the commercial geoduck fishery. They have lived on their sailboat on the north and central coast for several years, so there are other people who are as crazy as we are up here; they seemed very nice.
By 10:20 we were motoring away from Shearwater. We went through Gunboat Passage and came into anchor in Forit Bay at the east end.

December 15th (Sunday)

This particular morning was our whitest morning yet. It had not snowed overnight, but it sure did frost. The fog rolled in last night, and although it had cleared by morning everything had been coated in moisture and then frozen. Every surface was growing in frost, the inside of our enclosure fabric was white, and both sides of our window panels were ice. Our water bucket that we had out back for collecting rainwater had a thick layer of ice in it, and our deck was slick. We waited until the sun was on our boat and started to melt the ice on our enclosure windows so that we could open them without the risk of cracking the clear plastic. 

While we gave the sun a chance to melt and dry our enclosure we headed ashore. There was plenty of fluffy frost on Kiki to make several frost balls to throw, and when we got back on board the windows of our enclosure were nicely cleared for us, and we started the engine and headed out of Forit Bay. As we came out of Gunboat Passage and into Fisher Channel heading up to Cousins Inlet and Ocean Falls we found that a steady 20 knot outflow wind was blowing against us. In the forecast they had called for South East winds with no mention of North Easterly Outflows. Although 20 knots is not strong, over the course of its uninterrupted journey down Dean Channel it had built up a very large chop.

Walls of spray came hurdling back across our deck and at times our nose almost buried into the next wave; our progress was slow. The mountains, however, were beautiful, snow-capped and powdery. Thankfully as we entered into Cousins Inlet the waves diminished. The majority of the wind was coming down Dean Channel and not out from Ocean Falls. Making our way up Cousins Inlet we had many beautiful snow-capped, granite faced, mountains to admire, and as we rounded the last corner we saw Ocean Falls at the end sitting under a big, snowy mountain that was still lit by the sun. It was very pretty. 

Ocean Falls in the Distance.

As we approached the marina we got called on the VHF radio. There was a group of divers doing an inspection to the docks, and we were requested to come in to a certain area. What we did not know, and what the person directing us had not take into consideration, was the strength of the current coming out because of the water being released from the dam. This current, combined with the 15 knot outflow wind, made it near impossible for us to position our full keel, heavy displacement, single prop sailboat where they had requested that we dock. 
When we did get docked and tied up, we plugged into shore power for the first time in 8.5 months. We started our little electric heaters, and felt our boat begin to warm without the fire burning. What a novelty to not have to think about power consumption.