Jeff Weathers the Gale...

Saturday August 20

Jeff writing here.  Sitting at anchor in Whittaker Cove, or what we call that, just off the east side of Hecate Island near Hakai Pass.  Kim and the boys flew out yesterday afternoon, and despite the forecast, it's very still now.  The forecast is for this to come out of the south, so I’m considering moving to Pruth Bay with more protection on that side.  Decide instead to stay in this cove, but re-anchor for more swing room. I pulled up the hook to drop more in the center of the cove in 50’ of water and put out 225 feet of chain, then marked the spot on the GPS.  Sat in the cockpit and watched the local eagle swoop down, grab a fish and take it to his favorite rock. I visited the rock later and it was covered in fish and crab carcasses, his dining table I guess.

During the night the wind built, and was steady at 25 knots when I went to bed. I checked the GPS to measure position, and the boat was swinging further back (taking slack out of the line), but the anchor was holding. Barometer dropped .3” in 2 hours, so it looked like this system was coming through. Couple of hours later, the wind was 30-35 knots and gusting higher. At about 3am, a side gust heeled Heron over enough to cause all the galley cabinets and drawers to fly open (we never secure them at anchor) with a great crash, so a pretty good indication of the rocking.  That said, the boat held position, stayed dry and was mostly quiet down below. The wind was coming out of the east, not south, so Pruth Bay would have been a bad night since it is entirely exposed to swell from the east.  Glad to have stayed put!

Storm night anchor-swing.

Sunday it just poured all day. Probably 3” or 4” of rain. No reason to go anywhere, it was a good day to just read and do projects on the boat.  Hakai Lodge had brought in a group of 14 guests from Beijing, China on the plane that Kim flew out on. Of the four families, including small kids, only one spoke English (Tina).  Their first night in BC was an interesting one given the storm, the remote lodge and the distance from home. They were determined to fish and went out for most of the day Sunday and apparently had a great time.  They caught some fish and Clyde, owner of Hakai, gave them half the kitchen to use so they could prepare the fish however they wanted.  I talked to Tina the next day and she said they had a great time and couldn’t imagine the vastness of space with no building, “So much unbroken green here with no towns, air is so clear."  Kim got back on schedule Monday, we head north to Bella Bella and will tie up at Shearwater.