Small Inlet Marine Park, Quadra Island

CAMPBELL RIVER to SMALL ISLET: 19 nm / 3.75 hrs*
- *Ended up taking 5.5 hours because we didn’t time Seymour Narrows very well. This added almost 2 hours to the trip!
- En route Michel saw a whale just after we left the marina, and close to Kanish Bay we saw dolphins! Noa would have loved this leg of the trip.

ANCHORAGE:
Amazing spot - definitely up there with Desolation Sound: it’s incredibly shallow and the water is like bathwater, and there is ZERO cell signal - thank you Starlink! Besides us, there are only 2 motor boats anchored tonight so it’s super quiet. Well worth going through Seymour Narrows! We didn’t time the tides very well, so going through when we got there - going North - would mean travelling 7 nts making it really hard to steer Bisou. We pulled into Menzies Bay and putted around and had lunch to wait out the worst. Another sailboat decided to go for it and went flying past us only to turn around very quickly! When we did go, a huge motor boat coming the opposite direction actually got caught in a rip tide and was spun at least 45 degrees around, heeling pretty hard to port! It was actually really freaky, but we went through unscathed and ended up in a beautiful spot - this is definitely going to be a 2 or 3 night stay!

DAY 2:
Well - what an evening changes! Gusts last night were CRAZY - up to 25-30 knots. The NWs off of Johnstone Strait are not to be ignored - turns out there was a gale warning we didn’t check! A bit scary but Michel’s anchor held very well - smack in the middle of all of it! Not the greatest sleep but we learned 3 things:
1. There’s a reason why you check the weather EVERY evening and morning - not just occasionally - especially when planning for our next stop;
2. The dogs are ok in a gale and, if they can handle no bathroom break after 4pm!; and
3. Michel really is a master of anchoring - if we can do it in 30 knt winds, the usual anchorage hold is very secure.

It is amazingly hot here though - 29F at 11:30am!

NEW PLAN:
We’re not doing the Island - instead, we’re finally going to do Princess Louisa’s Inlet!! So excited about that - apparently the “holy grail” of sailing. And, we get to do Desolation Sound again, which is never a bad thing. It also means we’re closer to spots others can get to and join us for part of the trip. :)

After very careful planning over breakfast - we’ve decided to sit out another night here but re-anchor to a spot with a bit more protection. Forecast says the winds will be as bad tonight, but should start and end earlier tonight. We did a little exploring and had a swim - dogs too to cool down - we saw a turtle, HUGE racoon and a mama otter and baby. The night was much better and we’re off to Francis (Fanny) Bay early tomorrow morning.Läs mer