Windy Bay – Riveted

Day 15 – Windy Bay to Bishop Bay

Laura Domela — Mon, 01 Jun 2015 01:01:00 +0000

Airship Goes to Alaska – Day 15

Departure from Windy Bay: 8am

We stopped in at Butedale for a quick look at the waterfall and the old cannery (apparently being restored):

We continued on and met up with several Pacific White-Sided dolphins and got a nice show. We could see them jumping and splashing around the boats ahead of us first:

We noticed after a few minutes two of them coming up along side us fast.

Pretty soon, we had two bow riders!!

The scenery in here just keeps getting more and more grand.

As we turned toward Bishop Bay, more Pacific white-sided dolphins joined the flotilla again and surfed Cabernet's bow and then ours:

Here they come!

We’re now in Bishop Bay for the night. The two biggest boats took the mooring balls (one with a rafted boat on its port side) and the other four of us are on the small dock.

There was a very large tree floating next to one of the mooring balls when we arrived. Lanette and Ron (and their dog Bailey) towed it out into the bay a little ways.

Someone apparently stole the ramp from the dock up to the hot springs walkway, so we dinghied over and climbed up the rocks to the hot springs for a pre-dinner soak.

Tonight we had a potluck party on our little dock. After dinner several got together over on Thelonius to smoke their Cuban cigars (procured in Canada and must be done away with before U.S. Customs). Here's Larry on Thelonius before the cigar party started:

Margaret’s crab trap was unsuccessful at catching crab, but it did pull up a predatory starfish that was wrapped completely around the bait jar, with its “stomach tendrils” down inside through one of the vents in the lid…already eating and digesting the crab bait. Weird and cool!

Lanette and Ron headed back to Cabernet with the mosquito lantern:

(I need one of these strapped to myself 24 hours a day, since I apparently have "Skeeter Syndrome".) It's really not awesome. At all. I'll spare you the photo of my legs covered in giant red bite/welts. You're welcome.

Today's track (56 nautical miles):

Tomorrow: Lowe Inlet

Day 14 – Rescue Bay to Windy Bay

Laura Domela — Sun, 31 May 2015 00:45:00 +0000

Airship Goes to Alaska – Day 14

We slept in, made breakfast, showered, and departed Rescue Bay at a leisurely 10am.

Sea Raven leads the flotilla:

This weather!!

We headed up Mathieson Channel and made a left turn into Kynoch Inlet, then over to Kynoch Falls where we oooh’d and aaah’d at the pretty water.

Sea Raven with Kynoch Falls:

Looking up Kynoch Inlet to the Fjordland Recreational Area. I believe we’ll be spending more time here on the way home.

We’re now anchored in Windy Bay, which is on the north side of Pooley Island, on Sheep Channel. It’s not windy at all. Some light clouds moved in and we’ve gotten a bit of drizzle.

Rob and Jean on Big Red, the American Tug 41, invited everyone over for wine and appetizers on their boat at 5pm. We dinghy-pooled over there and had a really fun evening with delicious appetizers (which ended up being dinner for most of us I think).

Kevin had put out two crab traps so we checked them on the way back to Airship, but no crab today. We took a scenic dinghy tour around Windy Bay and then watched the sunset from the top deck. (Sunset being around 10pm).

Gorgeous sky.

Since we crossed Cape Caution on Monday, we’ve been cruising in some of the most remote and uninhabited wild areas that we’ve ever been in. We’re cruising between countless islands that look like modern humans have never visited them (for the most part). There are no roads, no signs of human activity, power lines, any kind of structures…we’ve hardly even seen any other boats. There is no cell service, virtually no traffic on the radio but for the chatter of our flotilla. It’s even rare to detect a plane flying over. Pretty much the only noticeable signs of humans are the occasional patch of clearcut on the mountainside.

I think we’re going to purchase a sat phone for our trip south when we’re not with the flotilla any more (and back in more remote surroundings).

Sunday we’ll have a longer passage (56 miles) to Bishop Bay Hot Springs, with a quick stop at Butedale.

Here’s today’s route (30.8 nautical miles):