Grrrrowler Cove, West Cracroft Island

After the water came up a bit at Telegraph Cove, we headed out into Johnstone Strait.  There is a strong wind warning in the strait with winds forecast to be from the NW at up to 20 knots.  The forecast was perfect for us because we were headed SE, which would put the wind on our stern for a nice run down the strait.  However, as it turned out the winds were light and again right on the bow.

Having no wind to carry us, we motored down to Robson Bight in the hopes of seeing some whales.  We could see some of the whale watching boats near the reserve, so were hopeful that we would see some.  Upon our arrival to the area, the whale watching fleet pulled up and motored off.  We shut down the motor and drifted for awhile anyway, but saw no whale.  The whale reserve warden came by on his motor launch to see what we were about and to offer some boater education.  We were already informed, but had a nice conversation with him.

After drifting for awhile, a light wind finally came up from the NW.  We decided it would be a perfect time to play around with our spinnaker.  We really weren’t going anywhere as our nights stop was just around the corner, so we reached back and forth across the strait testing the sail.  We tried several different options for securing the sail to the bow until we found one that we liked.  As the winds picked up, we doused the sail and motored into Growler Cove for the night.  It was our first night at anchor in 5 nights.

Shortly after our arrival, we discovered why they call it Growler Cove as a black bear came meandering out of the underbrush onto the shoreline.  We watched through the binoculars until he decided to head back into the woods.  Paul dropped the crab pot a few feet from the boat with new bait and a salmon head that we got from a fisherman.  We are very hopeful that we will have crab with these new attractants.

Tomorrow we are planning to run back down Johnstone Strait as we begin our journey South and East to the Discovery Islands and Desolation Sound.  It has been a great experience here in the Broughtons.

Heavy traffic in the strait.