Knowing I would have to leave Booker Lagoon eventually and the timing of slack tide was key I decided to move to somewhere my friends liked off Gilford Island. On the Navionics charts it is shown as Island 58 Cove, a small cove tucked in behind the bigger Seabreeze Island mentioned in Waggoners. There are a set of three coves here off Retreat Passage near Health Bay. Cove 58 looks like a one boat spot so I was hoping it was open.
After squeezing through Booker Passage, which is fun at slack tide, I made the relatively short run out into Queen Charlotte Strait and around the various small islands and islets that dot the Broughton and Blackfish archipelagoes. Happy to report that I finally spotted my first humpback whales while passing by Sunday Harbor where a group of three appeared to be feeding. They were about a half mile away so no pictures I'm afraid but I stopped and watched them for several minutes before getting underway again.
I was motoring along slowly when another humpback popped up almost directly in front of the boat. Fortunately it was just to one side and dove away as I pulled the throttle back and took it out of gear. It was close. I continued on very slowly until I was sure there were no more coming. So happy to have finally seen them having heard reports for weeks from other boats.
More good luck after arriving at Seabreeze to find all three coves empty of boats. I had my pick of them so I went with Cove 58. It was a great little cove sheltered from all directions with very little swell from the odd passing boat in Retreat Passage. The bird life in the cove was great. My Merlin bird app found 6 or 7 different species. No bears though which I thought was likely given the large drying mud flat in the back of the cove.
It's Fogust now so still cool, wet, and dreary in the mornings with the sun arriving mid to late in the day. The solar panels on Kinetics are struggling to keep the system above 30% by morning. I should probably add another 300-400 watts for the cloudy day scenarios. With power, fresh food stores, and water, getting low it was again time to make another run to Port McNeill.