Napier Bay and Blunden Harbour

We tried a new anchorage last night at the head of Tracey Harbour off Wells Passage. This protected bay was great except for the logging operation that had moved in last year. The process of unloading logs from trucks, stacking them and then pushing them into the water was in fact educational. The operation was actually pretty quiet and did not disrupt our enjoyment of the protected cove. The work crew is living on a fairly large vessel (think commercial off shore fishing size ship) and seemed to bed down early. I was able to take the kayak out later in the evening and do some exploring while Paul hung out on Talos IV. I discovered a wrecked vessel in the little bay behind us and saw remnants of floating homes from years ago. I continue to seek out bear sightings during morning and evening hours while in the kayak. So far I have had no sightings. Paul set a crab trap but came up empty this morning. Around 9:30am we departed in fog heading out Wells Passage toward Blunden Harbour. The fog started to clear as we left Wells Passage and headed into Queen Charlotte Strait. We sailed most of the way with NW winds building from 10kt to over 30kts later in the afternoon. We worked against an opposing tide to wind later in the day which produced building seas and slow progress. We thought we would make Blunden prior to the tidal change, but with the winds on our nose we needed to fall off and make several tacks to our destination. Talos IV handled it all in stride. We were doubled reefed by the time we arrived in Blunden, tired and in need of some food. The new sails were great and the boat seems well balanced with the new canvas. We are planning to stay here a few nights and then head to Port Hardy. I would like to make the passage across the strait with calmer conditions which are due to settle in a few days. Meanwhile, Bill and Claudia on s/v Sabbatical have diverted to Port McNeill for some minor repairs of their windlass. We will hopefully link up with them soon while in Port Hardy. We advised them by SSB sail mail that we can join them in Port McNeill if they need additional help. Having the ability to communicate this way has been great as there has been no wifi or cell service since Kwatsi Bay.

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