Weather: Sunny and warm. Winds: Light and variable. Seas: Flat.
After a day with the ladies in Hunter Bay, made our way to Poet's Cove. Woke, cast off from Captain's Mast before anyone was up. Motored Strider to the public dock, tied off and walked the dogs.
Got a phone call from MM, apparently there was some confusion when Strider wasn't there. RT figured we were getting a head start since we motor more slowly than C-Mast. MM wasn't satisfied with that and called. Walking back to the dock, MM was there with the dinghy and dog for their morning walk.
Since we do motor more slowly (5kts vs 6.5kts), we took off! C-Mast followed about 45min behind. Taking route and sail cues from us, they followed and we led them a merry chase. Main up, motored out of the Bay, north through Lopez Sound, counter-clockwise around Frost Island. Rounding Upright Head, picked up some wind from Upright Channel. Kept switching between the genoa and the screacher as the wind strength changed. Once past Upright Channel, back to motoring...the rest of the way.
Went the Harney Channel route north of Shaw Island. Then the north side of Bell Island and through Pole Pass, a narrow, but deep pass between Orcas and Crane Island. Reputed to have strong currents, caution is demanded. RT had never been on this route so it was good for him! Then, north side of Reef Island through North Pass and into San Juan Channel. Cleared Canadian Customs here using our CanPass!
At this point, the currents were against us. C-Mast continued north out of San Juan Channel while we broke west into Spieden Channel. Clinging to the south shore of Spieden Island, we managed a bit of a back eddy. Went between Sentinel and Spieden Islands. Rounding Spieden Bluff, headed north through John's Pass between Stewart and Johns Island. Current through Johns Pass was 3kts against us, but it only lasted 15min. Once into Boundary Pass, clung to the north shore of Stewart Island avoiding the NE bound current and picking up another back eddy.
At this point, C-Mast was directly parallel to us, but because they were further north, were actually ahead of us. At Satellite Island, turned north towards Bedwell Harbor arriving about 15min behind C-Mast. They went to the Customs Dock, we went to our slip!
More crab had been caught prior to departing Hunter Bay. This night, cooked the crab in fresh water, I needed the stock for what became known as "Clearing Customs Stew." While the crab was not a tasty as cooking in sea water, the stock was great!
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