Leaving Desolation Sound

I think I read somewhere that once you pass through 'the rapids', you have left Desolation Sound. We took the route through Surge Narrows, our destination was the Octopus Islands.

Even though it is considered a 'lesser' rapid than others in the area, we did have some whirlpools. Maybe if we had waited another hour for the true slack it would have been flat. But another powerboat, smaller than us, went through 20 minutes before us and they appeared to have no trouble. Neither did we.

It doesn't LOOK very 'rapid', does it? The pinch point is ahead.

A view of the chart plotter at the point in the above photo.

A couple of people had told us this area was one of their favorite places. We ran into one of them on the dock at Heriot Bay, and they told us that's where they were going to hang out for a few days before heading up Johnstone Strait. Yup, we spotted them in Waiatt Bay when we entered. But that's a BIG bay. We were looking for something a little more cozy. There were already two boats (one that passed through the narrows ahead of us) swinging on anchors in the more western cove in Octopus Island Marine Park. There was only one in the inside cove, a little bit tighter fit there, so a stern tie is more polite.

After a day of rest, we took the dinghy down for a ride. We were told not to miss visiting the settler's cabin, so that was our first stop.

It is now a 'driftwood museum'.

HEY, we wintered in Friday Harbor one season with these folks!

The first listing in the current book is also friends! We hope to meet up with them, somewhere, sometime, this summer.

Another sign for the roll call.

We are tucked in the cove behind it.

Wow. A beautiful day, with no other boats in sight.

Silly heron!

 In all, we were anchored in our spot for 10 days. We had intended to stay only 3 or 4 days, but we were still debating what our next destination would be, and then some winds came up so we just stayed put. We were trying to figure out a way we could go up Bute Inlet, but tides and weather were not going to make it easy. We decided to leave it for another year.

Another day, and a LONG dinghy ride to the head of Waiatt Bay, and we took a little hike to...

Tread lightly!

We're glad we saw the sign, because we hear you have to be part goat to make it to the lake...
(Just to be clear, we did NOT go to Newton Lake!)

A feet picture for Sharon

Small Inlet

Valley of the Stumps. Look closely for Al.

We are always glad to see our dinghy where we left it. We had carried it WELL up the beach, mostly because there wasn't anything to tie it to, and we knew the tide would rise while we were gone. It was  almost floating when we got back. We could stand near the water line and WATCH the tide come in.  Al said we could have just got in and waited 10 minutes and we would have been floating.