Pacific NW

Expeditions

Thousands of bird calls echoed throughout the anchorage this morning. I watched a heron hunt for fish for awhile. It is so cool how the heron’s whole body and behavior is perfectly suited for stalking fish. Without a single miss the heron struck at ten fish in a row, shaking their wriggling bodies in its beak and then swallowing them. It was a great show! Out in Montague Strait we made an attempt at sailing but the winds were extremely light. We passed many rafts of sea otters and were passed by a humpback whale. Arching its back and throwing its flukes high into the air, the whale sounded and that was the last we saw of it. Coming into Snug Harbor on Knight Island I sensed that we would see a bear. It was a strange feeling. Sure enough, as I was scanning the shoreline, there was a black bear on the beach! He ran along the beach for awhile and then ambled off up into the woods. Our anchorage, as usual, has spectacular scenery and is surrounded by craggy peaks. We anchored off a stream but I was unhappy with our swinging room. The weather was showing signs of change. I got “that feeling” about it and we promptly moved the boat out into deeper water. I changed to our storm anchor and put out all the chain, anchoring in 80 feet of water. Sure enough, immediately after we had re-anchored, the first gusts of wind shrieked into the bay. Tonight for the first time we are sharing an anchorage with another boat. It is nice to know we will be riding out the storm with others.