Continuing Winds

February 1st (Saturday)

After I finished writing last night, we stayed up cringing at the sounds of the gusts, and feeling sorry for our boat having to ride it out. We were getting no protection from the wind, and very little from the waves. It is very nice to be tied up to a dock with shore power, however, one advantage to being at anchor is that we can pick and choose our anchorages to try to give ourselves the best protection from different wind directions. The Ocean Falls marina is not protected at all from the southwest. 

At around 21:30 last night, after a particularly strong gust, we went out into our cockpit to look around. We saw a massive-looking boat coming up the inlet; they had their spotlight on in front of them, which illuminated the large, whitecap waves and flying spray. It looked very dramatic in the otherwise pitch-black night. As it came past the marina we realized that it was the Nimpkish ferry.  They were flying in towards the dock with the strong winds behind them. It looked as though they had a tough time getting turned around and docked, which was not surprising in those conditions. We were very surprised that they were running at all. They remained at dock in Ocean Falls much longer than normal; presumably they were waiting for the winds to calm off. They were still there when we went to bed, and they left sometime through the night. 

I talked to my parents today, and they told me that apparently the Nimpkish had sustained minor damage while docking in Shearwater due to mechanical difficulties, and that the sailings were now cancelled until repairs could be completed. It is amazing the conditions in which that little ferry makes its journey through the winter. I would imagine that the crew of the Nimpkish have the worst BC Ferries route on the whole coast of BC, and yet we also found them to be the nicest and most personable crew.  

The gusts had continued to increase in strength until they were consistently over 50 knots, and we were bucking around in the waves and grinding against our fenders. At around 23:00 we went to bed and laid in our v-berth bouncing around in the waves. We were actually able to sleep surprisingly well, as the worst noise, which came from our fenders, was quieter in the V-berth. And, luckily, the wind did start to lessen, and gradually, throughout the night, the gusts got weaker and more spaced out.

When we awoke in the morning the worst of the wind was over, and the sea had calmed off once again. In 24 hours our barometer had changed by 47 millibars, it had dropped rapidly yesterday and then rose quickly again last night. It was not surprising that we had had such strong winds; it’s just too bad that they had to be from the southwest.  
When we went out into our cockpit in the morning we were greeted by a good view of the mountains, and a high cloud. Looking down the channel towards Martin River, however, we could see an approaching wall of cloud. 

The cloud was a snowstorm, accompanied by strong winds and low visibility. After about an hour, the snow passed and the clouds lifted again. Throughout the day these passing snowstorms continued to come and go. 

In the afternoon the snow changed to snow pellets. We went for a lovely, blustery, snowy walk up to the lake, and then around through some of the forested areas. The river flowing over the dam was flowing the strongest that we had ever seen it. 

It was amazing to watch as the curls of water flowing down the river shot jets of spray straight up into the air.