We discussed whether or not we should head further north. There are a couple of barriers to doing so - one is Cape Caution, an exposed cape at the northern end of Queen Charlotte Strait which has a bad reputation. It is one of the “gateways” to cruising north of the 51st parallel. Rounding the cape, you are fully exposed to the Pacific Ocean (which I always say was badly mis-named), so you must pick the right weather window. Predominate winds are from the northwest this time of year, so if they are blowing, it is at the least uncomfortable going into large waves, at the most, dangerous. The other barrier to going further north is our boat insurance. We are insured only up to the 51st parallel, and if we go further, we must get a rider to our policy with restrictions as to when we can go, and how far we can go north.
We have heard so much about the area north of here, and several people have said we just have to go, so we decided we’re going for it. I emailed my insurance broker and we studied the weather reports and decided to skip Port McNeill for now and stage ourselves for a rounding of Cape Caution. We left Sointula a little late at 12:30, considering the wind usually comes up in the afternoon, and headed up the Queen Charlotte Strait to a protected cove between Staples Island and Kent Island, right in the middle of the strait. We did run into some 3-4 foot seas for a short while, but they calmed down and we anchored in the nice, calm cove about 4:30. We have the very isolated cove all to ourselves.
I got the crab pot out before happy hour and will pick it up later this evening. We want to be ready to go very early in the morning, before the wind comes up. It gets light just after 4 AM, so we should be on our way by then for the 6-7 hour rounding of the cape. We have a couple of bail-out anchorages identified, just in case it gets too rough out there…
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| Spades Island |
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