Last night’s soak totally relaxed us, and we had our best sleep since the trip began. Sleeping in a V-berth takes some getting used to, especially the irregular-shaped bed that the 290 Adventure has - one side is shorter than the other, to make room for the head (bathroom).
Anyway, we didn’t have a morning bathe in the end because didn’t want to go all melty and sleepy this morning, since the sea was foggy and we knew we’d have to concentrate on navigating.
On our way to get diesel and water at Hartley Bay, we skirted along the coastline of Gribbell Island. Apparently, Gribbell Island has the highest concentration of spirit bears (a white-coated sub-species of black bear found only in coastal British Columbia) in the world. The whole Island has a steep coastline, so it feels extra mysterious to imagine these ghostly bears going about their business up in the inaccessible interior of this fog-shrouded island.
Our Hartley Bay mission did not work out in the end, as the fuel dock was closed today. Neither could we get out and visit the community because it is still closed to outsiders (apart from the fuel dock) due to Covid. Luckily, we still have enough diesel for heating and cooking until Prince Rupert, and we’ll just have to be economical with the water.
The trip through Grenville Channel didn’t have any waves to speak of, but we fought the current the whole way. We ducked into the first nice anchorage we could find along the channel and will time our departure tomorrow so we catch the tail end of the flood to the halfway point through Grenville Channel and then ride the ebb the rest of the way out. Great in theory, we’ll see how that works out in practice!
Our anchorage tonight is in Lowe Inlet. There’s a big waterfall at the head of the bay that you’re reportedly able to anchor right in front of, but we weren’t comfortable with the current. We found a nice spot next to some grassy beaches where we have already watched one black bear doing his thing.
As I was typing this up, some motion caught my eye in the water beside us. Something like a branch was thrashing around and making it’s way to shore. Then Ryan realized it was a big Dungeness crab, but what was it doing? We waited with bated breath, and out popped this tiny little otter with a crab nearly as big as it was! The crab fought it all the way, but the otter was in control and dragged the doomed crustacean off the beach and into the trees.
Heavens, we never know what we’ll see next. Well, the otter is making dinner, so it’s probably time for me to work on our evening meal, too. We’re staying in tune with nature, here.
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