Day 61-Pybus Bay

Looks like Peter and mom arrived just in time for some terrible weather.  I woke up early in the morning to wind whistling through the straps holding the dinghy on top of the boat and rain pelting the windows.

I listened to the weather and it didn’t sound good.  25-35 knot winds, heavy rain.  Even in our protected anchorage, we sailed around wildly.

When it’s both rainy and windy, all the windows on the boat must be closed to prevent rain from streaming in.  With three people inside a space that’s probably the same size as a Suburban, this can be problematic.  Condensation is a constant problem.  Add in the moisture released from cooking, and it might as well be raining inside.

Even with the Wallas heater running full tilt (any lower a setting and the wind would extinguish the flame), the inside of the boat was wet.  I just couldn’t get enough airflow.

With the terrible weather and poor visibility, none of us felt like doing anything outside.  Around lunchtime a charter boat came into the anchorage we were in and dropped their hook.  We finished lunch and headed out to see the head of Pybus Bay and find another spot to anchor.

We didn’t do a whole lot of seeing.  Even the radar couldn’t penetrate the downpour.  We did, however, find a nice anchorage without any other boats (Peter’s desire…he seems to want to avoid all contact with the outside world unless it’s through his iPhone) that was well protected from the waves.

In the evening the wind subsided, as predicted, but the rain kept on pouring.  We had hoped to see some bears in here, but no luck.  Perhaps we couldn’t see them through the fogged up windows, or the shoreline-obscuring rain, or we just weren’t paying enough attention.

The weather forecast looked like it might cooperate for a trip across Chatham Strait to Red Bluff Bay.  I’d seen a ton of bears there a few weeks ago, and it’s a beautiful spot.  I’ll listen to the morning forecast and see.  If not we’ll head for Rocky Pass and try to get a permit for Anan Creek to see bears there.

5 nm today and 2,206.6 total