We
pulled anchor around 8:30 this morning and motored out of Kynoch, again unsure
as to where we are going, but we know we need to continue to make our way
south. There have been very few other boats in the past few days, we feel like
the only ones on this trajectory. It has been nice though. We ended up deciding
to go all the way to Shearwater to refuel the whaler for the next 10 days as we
will not have another opportunity until July 18 when we arrive in Port McNeill.
We were also able to get rid of our garbage and recycling which was nice. Shearwater
is a relatively big operation for this remote coast. It has a pub,
grocery/liquor store, marine store, an espresso bar and gift shops, and
laundromat. They have a huge boatyard for repairs if needed, fuel, and decent
docks with water and power. Next to us was a 78’ West Bay Sonship and we struck
up a conversation with the owner and his friends onboard. They’ve been at
Shearwater for 2 weeks because they sheared off a prop on something submerged,
like a cable or container, they are not sure. The route they took was one
they’ve taken many times, so it wasn’t a rock or reef they had hit, they still
aren’t sure. But they are stuck at Shearwater until their parts are flown up.
They were nice enough to give us a tour of the gorgeous boat. We had dinner at
the pub (night off for me!), cards, and bed. The usual. Pub food made me
slightly sick though, I should have cooked after all.
BUT WAIT! I almost
forgot to tell the best part of today. As we were rounding the corner by the
lighthouse on Ivory Island, in the Seaforth Channel, the bay all around us
erupted in Orcas! They were on all sides so we shut the engines down and filmed
and watched. One Mom had two babies with her, not sure if they were both hers
or she was babysitting but super fun to watch because the babies were
practicing their breaching skills and being very playful, was so cute! The
adults were BIG, enormous dorsal fins. It was so great to see what appeared to
be a very healthy pod. John got some great video footage (which is too large of
a file for me to post) and I snapped so many pictures, a few of which are
below. What a great experience! This happened to us once before in this exact
location so they clearly live here. It was a whale of a show!
A Series of Orca Pictures, I won't try to caption them all
.JPG)
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