Day 429 Sunshine again!

We had to come back to Canada to get sunshine. The last time we had this much sunshine was the two days in Ketchikan back on June 9th. Since then, sunshine has been precious commodity as far a Zephyr is concerned. It has been few a far between since we have seen the sunshine we have had over the last two days. Today dawned with an absolutely cloudless sky and just a bit of haze that burned off later in the morning. Not too hot and not too cold. The temps were just right. What a nice day.

We took off this morning from Coughlan Anchorage by Hartley Marina at 0515 and having done our planning, we hit every good tide and current all the way to Bottleneck Cove just North of Klemtu. We were here exactly a month ago--June 1st. Boy, what a month this has been. All the way to Juneau and back in 30 days. Whew!!

We pulled into Bottleneck(52 42.514N 128 23.843W) at 1340 hours making the 59.2 miles in less than 8.5 hours. That's over 7 knots per hour again today. We got as high as 8.6 as we passed Khutze Inlet just off Graham Reach. The water was pouring out of the inlet and it just threw us forward for a while.

We left Coghlan Anchorage and headed South into Wright Sound on our way to McKay Reach. The last time we were here, we had gone North to Bishop Bay for the hot springs. Unfortunately, not this time. We turned Southeast into Frazier Reach heading toward Butedale. An old fishing and canning town that closed up quite a while ago and now only has one resident. He takes care of the place and has even put in his own hydro electrical system in the local waterfall that flows past the "town". People stop in from time to time but it isn't a good place to anchor and the docks aren't in the best of condition. Even the ferries slow down as they pass to make sure their wakes don't hurt the docks that are left.

Into Graham Reach for the final shot down to Finlayson Channel where Bottleneck flows off of. We saw more sailboats than we saw fishing boats surprisingly. Only one under sail. We have two sail boats in our anchorage this evening.

On our trip today, we noticed that the auto pilot wasn't behaving properly. It beeped at us saying it couldn't maintain a course. If you wanted to turn, you had to turn it off and make the course correction yourself then turn the auto pilot back on. We've had this problem before. Down below I went to look at the steering assembly under the bunk in the stern cabin. We've had the problem before that the bolts come loose even though they have two nuts on each and lock washers to make sure they don't come loose. Typically, I check them every so often. The last time was several months ago when I found them to be perfectly tight. Not this time. The nuts had come loose on both sides. I grabbed my wrenches and tightened them down and we were back in business. Once we pulled into Bottleneck, the first job I did was to get back in there and dismantle it all over again and this time, I used Loktite 262 on all the threads. It's not coming loose again(but I will still check it regularly)

Once the steering was fixed, we launched Puff and started cleaning Zephyrs hull at the water line. We have done it regularly but not for the past few weeks and it shows. Lots of growth of icky green stuff starts to take over if you don't stay on it. Tracy grabbed a scrub sponge and a brush attached to the boat hook and we went after it. We even had some barnacle growth to contend with. Around the boat we went. Scrubbing and brushing till it was all gone. Then out with the hoist and Puff was stowed back on board. Many boats simply tow their dingies behind them as they travel We prefer to have ours stowed on deck. Less chance of catching the line that holds her in the propeller.

Strangely, we saw more sailboats today than fishing boats. We have two sailboats and no power boats in the anchorage with us this evening. It's the first time that we have anchored with no power boats.

We've gone through so much seaweed and floatsam that I pulled the filter for the seawater inlet for the engine to make sure it wasn't clogged. It did have some things in it but now it is all cleaned for tomorrows trip. It's one of those things that needs to be check regularly to keep you engine running smoothly.

We watched some seagulls pestering an eagle this afternoon. We've seen everything from crows to seagulls go after them to stop them from coming near their nests and the eagles don't fight back. They may be bigger but they don;t stand up for themselves very well.

If you have been reading the blog, you will remember me talking about the problem with the zincs on our boat dissolving faster than we think they should. These protect the other metals on Zephyr from being "eaten" by the saltwater as stray electric current goes through the water. It can be really bad in marinas. I bought what is called a "Guppy Zinc". It's a large piece of zinc that hangs in the water from a wire that attached to the grounding strap for you boat. Then the stray current will attack it rather than the more expensive zincs that are on the boat. It's a really big chunk of zinc. We can only put it in the water when at anchor but that is fine. Better some protection than none. We'll see if it makes any difference.

Surprisingly, we saw no larger cruising ships or ferries today. Visually or on our AIS. Not a single ship showed up. It was a relief not having to deal with big ships and the wake they make for a change.

Well, the course is laid in for tomorrows trip to Fancy Cove just South of Bella Bella. We have to pull in to Shearwater Marina for some more diesel and with luck, I will be able to post these posts to our blog for you to read on Thursday. If not, well, you'll get them as soon as I can find some internet connection.

Sorry about not posting any photos, but until I can get on line for an extended period of time, I can't show you any of the wonderful things we have seen. From waterfalls and other ships to ice bergs and glaciers, we have seen it all. Please be patient. We'll get them posted as soon as we can.

On Friday, we will be off for Millbrook Cove just North of Cape Caution. That's where we will be having to make the decision as to wether to go off shore and down the West coast of Vancouver Island or continue in the inside passage. Weather will make all the difference.

As always, stay tuned. There is more to come.