Al was up at 0500 hrs checking wind conditions at Fanny Island in Johnstone Strait. It was blowing 16 knots again this morning. So, I turned over and went back to sleep.
When I finally got up at 0700 hrs, all the other boats in the anchorage had left. So, we checked Fanny Island again. The wind had increased to 26 knots at Fanny. Didn’t sound like good traveling weather to us.
At 1030 hrs, Al checked Fanny again. The wind had dropped to 9 knots. “We’d better get going while the going is good,” Al said, and started going through his check list for leaving an anchorage. By 1100 hrs, we were underway. The wind was only blowing about 10 knots. As we got closer to Johnstone Strait, we could see a dark wind line ahead and hoped it wasn’t going to be ugly.
By the time we entered Johnstone Strait we were pleasantly surprised. The wind was only blowing about 12 to 15 knots, and the wind and current were blowing in the same direction, so the seas were flattened. Nice.
We travelled clear up Johnstone Strait with great conditions, until we got about 2 miles from Havannah Channel, when the wind picked up to 20 to 25 knots. Luckily we would be turning into Havannah Channel, having decided to anchor in Cutter Cove off Chatham Channel.
By 1500 hrs, we had the anchor down in Cutter Cove. There were two other boats anchored in the cove. It had been about 25 years since we’d been to Cutter. The main reason we chose Cutter as our anchorage for tonight is that it was only 35 miles from Forward Harbour, a comfortable four-hour run. Sadly, after we’d been anchored for a couple of hours, I spotted a crane lifting felled trees near the top of one of the hills. Luckily, we couldn’t hear it. Looks like a helicopter logging operation.
Summer Cruise Aboard "Jubilacion" 2017 