5/15/13 Left Port McNeil about 4 pm after a couple startup disasters. Pete discovered he had put in to little fuel so he had to return to the fuel dock at the height of the wind to top off. Blew him sideways right onto the dock. Leaving against the wind required judicious use of power to get turned around. He and Glen shoved off and the rest of us started up to follow but Nat blew apart his starting battery, blew the top right off. So we all stayed to help clean up and replace the battery. It took all of us to get it out of the cramped engine room without dumping all the acid out. Got the new one in and decided to wait until the electrician could come down and ensure the new one did not suffer the same fate. Turns out Nat has an old style charger and it just cooked the battery and a spark set off the excess hydrogen gas kinda like a little Hindenburg. The winds were still blowing hard if not harder than when Pete and Glen left so we waited till about 3 when we all decided it was go time. Everyone started up and cast off then it was my turn and the port engine battery was dead. Started with a parallel switch combining both battery's but all my co2 alarms went off and my electronics were dead, no radio, radar or auto pilot.? No charge going in either? Took a bit to figure it out and Steve and Dave came back to help. No charge going in to either battery from genset or alternators? Connect the dots. Yesterday I removed the charger to replace the hot water heater tank. During that progress I shorted out the battery cables going to the charger. That blew the circuit breakers for both the port and starboard charger and once I looked at the panel hidden behind the engine room door it was obvious what had happened. Close the breaker, alarms stop and charge goes in. CO2 Alarms are designed to go off with a dead battery. The attempt to start the engine was enough to draw it down to dead. Got underway at 4 and arrived and Bull Harbor about 815 in the evening. Wind died down and the waters from port Hardy to Bull Harbor were flat calm. This is the jump off for tomorrows run around Cape Caution and is also the jump off point for rounding Cape Scott at the north end of Vancouver Island if circumnavigating the island like I did with Fran and Jeff 2 years ago. Early start tomorrow weather permitting, 0600 up, anchors up by 0700 headed for fish egg inlet about a 40 mile run. 5/16/13 crossing Queen Charlotte Sound 6 am internal alarm clock woke me up to fog but no wind. Check of the weather reporting stations shows all is good in the sound. Pine. Inland 15, Cape Scott calm, Egg Island calm and West Sea Otter reporting SW swell at 1.5 meters. Go! 7 AM d departure. In moderate fog. Visibility as low as 1/4 mile at times. AIS showing nothing, not sure it's working or if there is just nothing out there broadcasting. It's working, finally got a signal from Irish Mist, which is running a parallel course to mine. Sounds like Pruth Bay is our days destination which is fine since it is a new place for us. We have 8 to 10 days to Ketchikan, we can slow down and enjoy the trip now. Only Dixon Entrance left to deal with, the next several days are in protected waters. 3 hours from Bull Harbor to Cape Calvert not bad. Blue sky greets us. It's been a few days since we've seen that. Arrived at Pruth Bay and we continued past it and around to an outside anchorage recommended by Nat. Very beautiful but feels very exposed as were right off Queen Charlotte Sound and a bit of the ocean swell finds its way in here. We got 4 of us anchored and stern tied, miners debt, Nelsea, Panacea and Reflections. A bit of a circus as it is a bit confined and rocky which made Chris a bit nervous with 4 boats milling about. Dropped shrimp pots and crab pots. We went hiking to one of the sandiest beaches I have ever seen, just amazing. From Pruth bay it's just a short hike out to the ocean. Picked up crab pots, no Luck. 5/17/13 Left Pruth Bay for Codville Lagoon. Neat spot but very wet. Hiked to the lake about a mile on a muddy root covered boardwalk to a very pretty red sand beach. Dropped pots in 300 feet and pulled a bunch of nice shrimp. All boats rafted together. 5/18/13 Cruised Via Gunboat Passage to Shearwater.