A restless night--I can’t believe I’m sick--I never get sick in the summer! I felt even worse today--achy, swollen throat, chills and aching joints--poor me!
After fixing us whole grain pancakes with real maple syrup (okay, I guess I wasn’t too sick to eat..ha!), Kelsey and Peter left to explore Elfin Cove, first by rowboat then a stroll along the boardwalk. I spent the day in my berth, sleeping intermittently and when I was awake, feeling sorry for myself that I’d gotten sick during my grand adventure.
About 3:30 Pete and Kelsey returned to the boat in order to catch the slack tide in our short distance to the Inian Islands. Pete told me I could rest below if I wanted to and initially I was going to but the diesel engine was loud down below and I didn’t want to miss anything during our journey. Kelsey suggested I sit in the companionway to stay warm.
The sea swells were very low today (1-2 feet) and very light wind. To our NW we could see the mouth of Taylor Bay and the dirt covered Brady Glacier.
As we made our way around Pt. Lavinia, Pete spotted some humpback whale blow plumes in the distance and the Inian Islands were right in front of us. Towering rocky cliffs--very pretty. As we turned into Mosquito Pass, Pete spotted the National Geographic boat, Seabird anchored a ways off (which my asa 104 teacher, TC Sheridan is a first mate on). I was too shy to hail them, so Pete did for me but TC wasn’t on board.
In the Inian Islands, big grey boulders lined the shore with thick bands of white running through them. As we exited Mosquito Pass, there was a huge rock up ahead, white washed with bird guano. Kittiwakes and cormorants covered the top and at the base was a huge colony of bellowing Steller sea lions, the water around the rock churned with their diving and swimming activity and many of them came close to our boat. The island shore nearby had more sea lions and we guessed total that there were around several hundred sea lions total.
We turned North into Middle Pass and then made our way into Inian Cove. I spotted some pigeon guillemots, easy to identify by the red feet and white patch on their upper wings.
As we entered Inian Cove we spotted a homestead on the North shore where a yellow fishing boat was tied up and a huge sign on the beach that said “Tourism Rapes Alaska”. No doubt these are the people that Elsie Hulzinger mentioned in her book about sailing SE Alaska, who yelled at her from the shore in this cove. We initially anchored up into the bay as far away from them as we could but the increasing wind coming into the bay combined with the intense anger show by the sign, persuaded Peter to anchor in Mosquito Cove in Middle Pass instead where the wind was blocked by the island to the NW. This cove is much more protected than Inian Cove. Mosquito Cove is lovely and we can hear the sea lions from here. Peter and Kelsey are going to row up the cove into The Hobbit Hole and asked if I wanted to come along but I’m going to stay here and rest, It’s 7:30 and I’m already in bed--I’m hoping I’ll feel much better by tomorrow when we make our way into Dundas Bay.
Pic of rock by me, the rest by Kelsey
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| Privateer all cozy with her wood heat |
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