I woke up fairly early today and got underway for
Shearwater. I had seen just about
everything there was to see in Oliver Cove, and figured it would be nice to
have more time in Shearwater. That, and
the fact that some of the worst weather I’ve had this whole trip was an
afternoon in Seaforth Channel on the way up to Alaska, provided good motivation
to get moving before the afternoon winds filled in.
Sure enough, the trip down Reid Passage and through Seaforth
Channel was as easy as could be. The
ocean swells topped with several feet of chop that made Seaforth Channel so
miserable last time were thankfully absent.
Traffic increased markedly as I got closer to Shearwater and
New Bella Bella. Lots of fishing boats,
several yachts, and a massive Holland America cruise ship returning from
Alaska. Notably, I heard on the
satellite radio that the Baranof Wind tour boat I had been on in Glacier Bay
ran aground and the passengers were all evacuated onto a Holland America
ship. I wonder if the same crew was
running the boat as when I was on it?
The guidebook said Shearwater doesn’t have potable water,
and though I probably had enough to make it down to Sullivan Bay in the
Broughton’s, I swung into New Bella Bella to top off the tank before making my
way over to Shearwater.
Just about everything is more expensive in BC than it was in
Alaska. Moorage in Shearwater was no
exception. The going rate in Alaska was
$0.35 per foot plus $5 for power. BC
seems to average $1.25 per foot, plus $5-40 for power. Internet was an additional $11 in Shearwater
and the connection was painfully slow.
40 minutes to download email headers is outrageous!
Soon after I arrived I got the oil changed in the engine and
caught up with several people I had seen earlier in the trip. Chris, a 30-something computer programmer
bought a decades old Bayliner sailboar in Haines for $500 and is moving down to
Seattle for the winter. I first saw him
in Petersburg, then Wrangell and then Prince Rupert. Boats of all types cruise the Inside Passage
without too much difficulty. It’s just a
matter of carefully choosing when to tackle the rougher sections of the trip.
Later in the evening a big group from the dock went up to
the pub. Among the group was a guy from Vancouver who built his own electric
car (he’s rabidly anti-oil, but when I asked him how often he sails he said
less than 10% of the time. Go figure…)
and a 75 year old guy named Tony who bought a boat a few years back after his
wife died. He’s from Manchester, England
originally but has lived in Vancouver for decades. He hadn’t sailed before, but his wife’s
passing was evidently a wakeup call and he decided to have fun while he can.
19.3 nm today and 2,740 total
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