July 27th, Port Hardy

Reflections on a perfect morning



Outer passage, south bound from Prince Rupert

We crossed Queen Charlotte Strait this morning with relative ease. Chris did not much like it but it was a much easier crossing than the one we did northbound. We had little wind and 4 foot rollers that were a bit uncomfortable but nothing that caused us to take any spray over the top. We kicked up the speed to shorten the time in crossing and were over in less than four hours. Glen decided he was going to go and explore Nakwato rapids despite the storm warning that came out this morning. There is a 920 MB low in the gulf that is going to be making it presence known sometime early tomorrow morning in the way of 45 to 50 mph winds from the SE. The coast guard made a special weather warning announcement at 10 am this morning. The weather service is calling this an unprecedented low pressure system for this time of year. According to the books this type of wind is virtually “nil” during June, July and August. Not sure where Glen is tonight, hopefully somewhere nice and snug.

Were secure at a fairly substantial dock outside of the breakwater at Port Hardy. There was no room inside, all space was reserved and occupied so were relegated to the outer docks. It could be an interesting day tomorrow but it should not be too bad where we are. The worst part of this place is the fish smell. We are adjacent the fish processing plant and every once in a while, no almost always there is an overpowering smell of fish wafting through the air. It is not very pleasant. Our only other option is to make a run for Port McNeil but there is no guarantee of dock space and we cannot raise the harbor master to see if there is any. So were going to weather the storm and the smell here. We moved behind the new concrete dock and off the old wood dock and pointed the bow towards the direction of the wind so we should do better when it does get here. The advantage of the storm is we will be up wind from the fish processing plant so the smell should blow away from us.



Our view and the source of the offending fish odor

Apparently the fishing is very good for the last couple of days anyway. We wove our way through dozens of small fishing boats out on the point today and have watched them come in all day long with their catch.

We walked the town today, a nice walk but it being Sunday, most everything was closed down except the latte stand and book store.

Our AT&T go phones are not working. For some reason AT&T says my phone number is not valid and so I cannot add any money to the account which is at a zero balance. Chris’s phone just will not work. So we are back to being phoneless again.

We are a day ahead of schedule to get Sherm and Nancy off due to weather so we will sit around tomorrow and read books, play dominoes and try to keep the boat from breaking loose from the dock.



This is the direction the wind will come when it does arrive

Marine Forecast
Winds
Issued 04:00 PM PDT 27 July 2008
Tonight and Monday Gale warning in effect. Wind northwest 10 to 15 knots diminishing to light early this evening and becoming southeast 10 to 20 late overnight. Wind increasing to southeast 20 to 30 early Monday morning and to 30 to 40 late Monday morning. Wind increasing to southeast 35 to 45 Monday afternoon.

Waves
Issued 02:00 PM PDT 27 July 2008
Today Tonight and Monday Seas 1 metre building to 2 to 3 late Monday morning and to 3 to 5 Monday afternoon.