Cruising Adventures of the Red Witch

August 30th (Friday) We pulled up our anchor from Pruth Bay on Calvert Island at around 07:15 and motored out of Meay Inlet, into Hakai Passage, and up Fisher Channel. We turned into Lama Passage, and came in to anchor in the beautiful anchorage of Fancy Cove.  It was a beautiful sunny morning, and we quickly transitioned from the crisp morning air to a warm summer feel.  The building of the Hakai Institute on pilings indicates just how low and high the tides get. There is a sign warning about tying up a tender under the building, as one's boat could get crushed as the tide rises. I had prepared, and let sit, a triple batch of bread yesterday, so we cooked it in the tented bread pans, timed so that it was done just as we were finishing up with anchoring.  That bread recipe works really well in the bread pans with aluminum foil tented over the top for the first half hour of cooking time, instead of the cast iron pot with a lid on.  We e...

August 29th (Thursday) We were up early so as to be on the beaches and exploring for the low tide at 06:55.  It was clear blue sky and the sun was coming up, and it was not long before we were all taking off our morning layers.  Sunrise just after 05:30. Getting daylight as we arrive at the dock to begin the hike at 06:15 This squid was on the dock. Not sure how it got there. It was a beautiful early morning to be on the shore, and at first we were all too warm and we took our jackets and sweaters off, but it did not take long for the distant fog bank to roll in, and then for all of us to be putting our layers back on.  We started the hike from West Beach. On to Second Beach. Sandhill cranes were on the beach, but they easily startle so needed to zoom in with lens. Sandhill crane footprints. We enjoyed exploring along the shore and looking at the abundance of sea life that lives below the high tide line.  S...

August 27th (Tuesday) It was a rainy misty socked in morning, and very unmotivating. Eventually J and I went out to pull up our traps, and as we rounded the rock to where they should have been we were confused and worried as our buoys were nowhere to be found.  We carried on a little further, and then stopped to examine the horizon.  Unfortunately it was socked in and misty, and our visibility was terrible, but as we peered into the distance we momentarily caught sight of a tiny orange dot as it bobbed into view on the top of a swell.  The swells also did not help us in our search as the timing to see anything had to be right, with us on the top of a swell at the same time as what we were looking for was on the top of a swell.   We sped over towards what had looked like an orange speck, and were very happy to find that it was one of our buoys.  It had been pulled, presumably by the current, into deeper water, but was luckily ab...