We left Port Hardy around 9am on Saturday after topping off the fuel tanks (cha-ching$).  It was overcast and looking like rain but seemed fairly calm.

The next stop was scheduled to be ‘God’s Pocket’ only 12 miles away.  When we got there the weather still seemed relatively calm and the forecast wasn’t too bad so we pushed on through Queen Charlotte Sound.  This was our longest open ocean crossing for the trip and had caused lots of anxiety just thinking about it.  The crossing was rolly due to moderate swells but there wasn’t much wind or wave action so we got through without too much stress.

Once we were through Queen Charlotte Sound, we decided to keep going up Fitz Hugh Sound and were passed up by the Police boat parked across from us in Port Hardy (Alan will appreciate this one).

We decided to go to Pruth Bay, a place we heard about from some people on a sailboat in Port Hardy.  There is a former resort at the head of the bay that is now used as a research facility.  The setting was magnificent!

After a pleasant dinner at anchor, guess who showed up and parked right behind us?  Our big, unfriendly neighbor from Port Hardy!

We had a very quiet and peaceful night and when we got up in the morning we got the tender down, took a short ride to the dock and hiked to the beach on the outside coast.  It was a great trip.  It was raining when we left the boat and beautiful sunshine when we got to the beach.  The sand was amazing, too bad it wasn’t very warm…

We had an enjoyable walk on the beach and then went back to the boat to get ready to head out.  Right before we left, a Gruman Goose landed and came into the dock.  It looked just like the one from the Port Hardy airport.  It was leaning over and looked kind of odd.  I’m not sure if that’s normal or if it was having a problem.

We left Pruth Bay about 1pm taking a route out to Hecate Passage which had some pretty big swells.  We were only in them for a little while and they were spread pretty far apart but it was kind of like surfing in the boat.

We arrived at Shearwater about 5:30pm.  Thank goodness they had a restaurant that was open so I didn’t have to cook.

They have a really cool wind indicator up at the top of the ramp that looks like the planes that were used in this area during World War II.

After a nice dinner and wonderful showers, we got a call from our friend Alan who left us yesterday morning and is now in Dallas.  He could see us on a webcam in Shearwater!  He had us go up to the top of the ramp and sit on a bench so he could take our picture which he emailed to me.

While we were waiting for him to get the webcam situated, I looked up and there was a big eagle sitting in the top of the tree right next to us.

All in all, a pretty good couple of days.  The sunset tonight is beautiful.  I hope the old adage is right,  ‘red skies at night, sailors delight’.