Cruising Adventures of the Red Witch

On June 5 th  (Wednesday) we got up a bit early, and raised anchor and headed out. We wanted to catch the last of the ebbing tide for our trip out of Grappler Sound and up Queen Charlotte Strait. We had a good push from the current, and were actually surprised by how much turbulence there was around where Drury Inlet joins with Wells Passage. While going through this area of upwelling we saw a pod of dolphins zigzagging their way back and forth through it.  Out in Queen Charlotte Strait we were amazed by how much the current was still affecting us, and we were still seeing areas of visible current. Motoring at an rpm that would usually have us going around seven knots we were doing over nine knots. We anchored behind one of the many islands in Blunden Harbour. After lunch and some time of making water the wind picked up from the SE, and we were getting the full strength of it along with the chop on the water. So we pulled up anchor and moved in behind a different island tha...

May 26th - June 4th On the evening of May 26 th  (Sunday) we went out for a lovely evening kayak at our anchorage in Waddington Bay. We paddled to the outside of the small islands and enjoyed the stillness of the world around us. It was so calm and quiet that we could hear the distinct puff...puff...puff of two different groups of porpoises. We eventually were able to pick out one porpoise with its little black fin surfacing way in the distance. The other, we never did see, as we were looking into the light of the setting sun. Back on board we had a cup of hot chocolate to ward off the evening chill before heading to bed.  On May 27 th (Monday) we raised anchor and headed to Cullen Harbour on Broughton Island. We snaked our way through many little islands and islets, passing by a barren rock covered in sea lions. When we anchored in Cullen Harbour we had the place to ourselves. We spent a bit of time exploring with our tender while putting out the crab trap. We also found a...

On May 20th, (Monday) we wanted to catch an ebb tide, so we got up at 04:45 and headed out of Forward Harbour. Our journey down Sunderland Channel and through Johnstone Strait was uneventful this time. The forecast had been for SE winds and we had been hoping to do some sailing, but the winds never materialized, and we had calm weather the whole trip. There were a LOT of logs in Johnstone Strait, so we had to keep a very good lookout, and we were happy it was calm for spotting them.   We saw a whale along the shore, which we think was either a Minke or Fin whale. It came up to breathe a couple of times, and then did a nice big dive showing us its tail fin before disappearing.   When we were coming through the currents of Blackney Passage we saw splashing in the distance. With camera and binoculars in hand, I went up on the foredeck and could tell that it was dolphins. Next thing we knew they were headed our way and then playing at our bow. Up, splash, down, across to the oth...

On May 16th (Thursday), we did some chores around the boat in the morning as we watched the clouds around the mountains break, and the sun slowly start to poke its way through. We had planned out our next move, which had us leaving a bit after 14:00 to go through Green Point rapids a bit before slack tide. We raised anchor and headed out, reassured that our timing was good since another sailboat was a bit ahead of us, and a fishing boat a bit behind us.  There was definitely still turbulence, and we passed several whirlpools, and many boils and upwellings. We saw some dolphins in the rapids.  We had basically two options after Green Point. One was to turn up Wellbore Channel and go through Whirlpool Rapids, however, our timing would have us there with an increasing current of over 5 knots which was not a very appealing option since we had seen what rapids could be like with 1-2 knots of current. The other option was to go down into Johnstone Strait and go through Current Pass...

On Friday (May 10th) we were up early to catch the tide, and to time the slack current at Hole In the Wall passage. We headed out and enjoyed a beautiful morning. We saw a pod of Orca whales and later some Dolphins. Hole In the Wall passage was uneventful since we were there at slack tide, although there was definitely still some upwellings and turbulence.  We then motored to the Octopus Islands off the northern part of Quadra Island, and anchored at the head of Waiatt Bay. We had the whole area to ourselves!   Since we had gotten an early morning start we were anchored well before noon, and so we made some lunch before heading out to do a hike. It was a beautiful, hot sunny day, about 25 degrees and no wind. We hiked across to an inlet on the other side of the island called Small Inlet, and saw a family of geese. We then went up a beautiful trail through the forest, past a lovely little stream where we also saw a frog, and then up to Newton Lake. We headed to the only ...