Logbook: Errands completed in Port Hardy and we turn left instead of right

Eh. I could give or take Port Hardy. It was nice to set off for the West Coast with full tanks and errands completed but otherwise Port Hardy was just a pit stop for us.

We were able to top off fuel, water AND propane at the fuel dock in adjoining Bear Cove which was great. Propane on a dock was too good to pass up even though we were only about a month on this tank. And we were able to do laundry. We moored at the public dock downtown which unfortunately is over a mile to the only laundry…at the other marina in town which was full. The good news is that we had bought a rolling cart and this huge backpack dry sack and so we were able to manage the laundry without breaking our backs. And the other marina had a pub so we had pints while we waited for the final dry cycle.

The internet cafe - Cafe Guido (yes, yes, terrible name isn’t it?) had possibly the worst wifi I have encountered in N America. I think they put their router in a lead room and connected it to the cable company with a rusty wire. Still, we were also able to upload and download email, schedule the blog posts I had written and I could catch up on Interview With A Cruiser correspondence.

I also don’t miss being at a dock in heavy winds. I would much rather be at anchor, at least in the conditions we had, because I can’t stand the sound of us heaving against our fenders on a dock.

Yet..there was the salmon gift from our neighbor. Tasty, tasty. And the grocery store (Overwaitea – pronounced overweighty) had gorgeous produce.

After Port Hardy we made a two night stop in Port Alexander while we waited for conditions to be right to round the Northwest tip of Vancouver Island and head down the West Coast. Yes, you heard correctly, the Queen Charlottes are out for this summer. We knew we were pushing our luck hoping for Southerly winds of any type this late in the year and after putzing around for a while in Queen Charlotte Strait, we admitted that the Pacific High was well set in and the NW winds were out in force. Our consolation prize is a few months on the West Coast of Vancouver Island (woohoo! we win!). Port Alexander was deep and not as protected as we had hoped but nice to look at. We heard there was a good hiking trail but had a monsoon the day we were there and decided not to row in the rain. It was a good thing we rested because the weather window opened for rounding Cape Scott and we took it (more on that later). The Coast Guard came and joined us on the second night.

- Livia