Rounding the Brooks Peninsula
August 30, 2022
Today turned out to be such a perfect day!
As we
motored out through the fog we saw our first albatross! 
They are such large, but graceful birds and
beautiful to see. We later identified it
as a Black Footed Albatross, which have a wingspread of 78 - 84” (2m). Apparently, Black Footed Albatross take 10 to
12 years to mature. The young roam the
Pacific, seldom returning to their birthplace before they are 6 or 7 years
old. These birds feed on squid and
surface fish, and they often follow ships and feed on refuse.
Soon after our first albatross sighting we saw a
fin, it was large for a fish, perhaps shark sized, but rather rounded, not
pointy as I usually think of shark fins as being. We decided that it was a UFF, an unidentified
fish fin. It came up, and went back
down, and then back up, but we saw no sign of what it belonged too.
A while later
Jason spotted a large shape just under the water. We recognized it to be a large Sunfish, also called a Mola. 
It was about 6 feet long and just below the
surface. We slowed down and did a large
circle around it in order to get to have a good look at it. As it turned its self more upright to swim we
recognized our UFF, as having definitely been a Mola fin.
They are such interesting and unique looking fish,
and it was very neat to get to see such a large one up close. The Ocean Sunfish, or Mola mola, are one of
the most common types of sunfish in this area, and probably the type that we
saw. They can grow to be up to 13 feet
in length and weigh up to 3,300 pounds.
They usually hang out on the surface of the open ocean and they feed
primarily on jellyfish.
When we
reached the end of the Brooks Peninsula we were beginning to think that we
might pass right by it and not even get to see land, but then the fog lifted
and the sun shone through, and soon we could see everything. 
Solander Island, where there had been 52 knots of
wind only two nights before, had large breaking swells smashing against its
shores. It was a beautiful wind swept
island that reminded me of Scotland, or somewhere else, but not British Columbia. Whereas the actual shoreline of the Brooks
Peninsula was much more BC looking with its rugged, rocky shores lined with
thick windswept trees.
As the fog lifted the wind increased and we set
sail. Soon we were sailing down wind
with 10-20 knots of wind on our backs, riding the swells and flying along at 6-8 knots. Our best speed, while surfing down a large
swell, was 9.4 knots!
It was perfect, absolutely beautiful conditions for
sailing, but even though it was sunny we were still wearing our puffy jackets
and toques, as the wind was quite nippy.
As we sailed, we passed our first true Puffin; we did not get to see it
for long, but it was great to see. They
are such cool looking birds. We were
able to sail all the way to the entrance to Kyuquot Channel where the wind died
off and we started our engine.
As we motored
in through the reefs we spotted a large fin up ahead. 
It was the fin of a very large orca whale. As we got closer it dove, showing us its
fluke. Quite a while later, as we were
beginning to think that we might not see the orca again, it suddenly surfaced
about 100 feet off of our port side. A
loud “Puff” alerted us to its presence as it exhaled from its dive. We got to see it surface several more times,
and it was a massive orca, definitely the largest one that I had ever seen up
close.
We came into
our anchorage in Dixie Cove on Hohoae Island, and it was glassy calm and peaceful. 
The sun was still shining strongly and it was
hot. We put our tender into the water, and
went for a row exploring the shoreline.
When we got too hot we came back to the boat and went swimming off of
our swim platform, before heading back out for another row into the inner basin
where we floated in Kiki, and enjoyed the peace and quiet.
After a late dinner, as we floated on the
perfectly still water, we got to listen to an owl. It was a perfect ending to a perfect day!
Sounds like a perfect day! I remember the area from my fishing days. Quite spectacular.
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