Sincerely, Denise

MONTAGUE HARBOUR TO SECRET COVE

Sunday, May 17

Happy Birthday to our darling granddaughter Emma who is 3 today and we are sad to be missing her birthday party! We love you sweet girl.

Connie and I started our day with another walk on shore; today we managed 3.5 miles and hiked through the campgrounds and woods surrounding Montague Harbour. Perfect start to the day! Once again we have a leisurely boat departure at 10:30 because we are trying to hit a particular passage by noon for slack water. Porlier Pass is one of the gateways into the straits and also through which the water funnels during tide changes, sometimes with swirling currents of up to 7 to 10 knots, so one is always wise to try to time that transit at slack.

As I mentioned, we have a new boat this year. On our other boat, I was more of an active partner in pulling the anchor, releasing the tender for tow, and generally helping to facilitate. John would be out on the bow bringing up the anchor and we had a hand signal system to inform me if he wanted me to engage the engines, back up, go to one side or the other. We were more of a partnership. With the new boat, John now has what is basically a remote control for the boat, so I no longer have any active role in this process. It's a bit sad for me in some ways, but I will adjust. I still drive the boat quite a bit and navigate, and plan routes, so I am still involved. I also coil up all the lines and pull in all the fenders (most of the time, i have been forgetting a couple the last 2 days, have to get back into my routine). And I am chief cook, which is quite a bit of work actually. Unless we are onshore because the rule on our boat is if we are on a dock and there's a restaurant available....we are eating out!

We hit Porlier Pass at 11:45 to a nothing burger, no currents or hazards, a smooth transition to the Georgia Straits. Then we set in for the 3-1/2 hour crossing to get across the straits to Secret Cove for the night, a small marina on mainland Canada. We had the most beautiful crossing in the glorious sunshine and eventually ran from the flybridge because it was so toasty, tunes cranked. Such a great afternoon! After getting settled in at Secret Cove we of course had to hit the little store on the dock to see what treasures we could find, and I needed lemons for my cocktail recipe for Aviations, a cocktail that dates back to the 1920s, and it is very good if you like gin. To be honest you can't even taste the gin after the other ingredients are added (lemon juice, creme de violette, and maraschino cherry liqueur). Shannon found a stuffed toy croissant with a mustache, and had to have it. I only found my lemons, some water, and apple fritters....which I had to have. Anyway tonight we had "appetizers for dinner" as a group and Greg blessed the fleet, which we feel is imperative. Greg blessed our last two trips to Alaska, and we had great weather and no calamities, so we are so thankful whether people believe it is just superstition, a religious or pagan belief, or dumb luck....it works for us, not gonna mess with it! Crashed somewhat early because tomorrow we need to hit the water early to get to Campbell River for supplies and groceries, and we only have a few hours to accomplish our errands. As mentioned we had to shave off our second day in Campbell River due to weather delay.