Last night after catching up with George and Gail about how their season was and the progress they’ve made on rebuilding the restaurant and store, we headed back to Airship to cook up some dinner. Tonight turned out to be tostada night! We grabbed some of the pulled pork (the stuff we made and brought from home) from the freezer, cooked up some black beans with jalapeno, garlic, and shallots, and then got all the toppings together: lettuce, shredded cheese, homemade salsa, sour cream, and some fresh lime to squeeze over the top. I’d picked up a bag of chipotle tostadas in Port McNeill last week thinking it had been ages since I’d had or made tostadas. We heated the crunchy tostadas in the oven and then built on with the toppings. They turned out great!
Port Harvey this morning:
Sabby on the dock:
George came down just after 8am with fresh cinnamon rolls. We took two to go, chatted a bit more and then headed out for Shoal Bay.
The rain started (again) just as we were leaving. We pulled the crab traps we’d set out on our way into the bay, but we only had one male keeper…the rest were females so back in they went.
We saw several sets of Pacific White-Sided Dolphins on our way through Johnstone Strait and into Sunderland Channel:
Our route today took us through Whirlpool Rapids and Greene Point Rapids. Both Whirlpool Rapids and Greene Point Rapids run to 7 knots at max ebb and flood, but can be safely traversed at any time as long as your boat has enough speed, stability, and rudder authority.
We had about 4.5 knots of current with us at Whirlpool Rapids…nothing too dramatic.
Even with what look like pretty good boils, our autopilot kept us on track with not much work.
We arrived at the Greene Point Rapids right AT max flood, and had about 6 knots of current going with u, but not much drama:
A little squirrely back toward the Cordero Islands and lodge:
We arrived in Shoal Bay and docked at the government dock (no other boats when we arrived besides the owners’ boat, but there are two more now). We walked up to the “pub” (the pub that’s never in pub mode when we’re here because it’s either too early or too late in the season) but we met Will inside…he’s from England and has been working here for most of the summer…and he said “Well guess what? It’s a pub right now!” so we had a beer and chatted with him for a half an hour or so. It’s rainy here too right now, but still so beautiful.
Tomorrow we’ll head on to the Octopus Islands. We’ve heard great things about them but never been. We’ll also go through more rapids tomorrow (the Okisollo Rapids). Unlike Whirlpool and Greene Point Rapids, you do not mess with the Okisollo Rapids at any time besides slack (which is exactly what time we’ll be there). During non-slack, there are large whirlpools, and an overfall/standing wave than can be between 5 and 8 feet tall! Eeeek.
Sounds like there’s some great kayaking and/or dinghy exploring around the Octopus Islands, but it’s not supposed to clear up until Tuesday, so maybe we’ll need to spend two days there.
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