Super convenient town. Moored on an empty dock and boats filled in throughout the day. Everything is within a 30 second walk of one another on shore, so we did a small reprovisioning trip at their little grocery store, filled up our propane tanks at their hardware store, did two loads of laundry, topped up our tanks, and cleaned the boat in a only few hours.

Nice, quiet cove along BC’s coast. Another sailboat we’ve yet to see along the inside passage anchored nearby. We were hopeful to see the northern lights projected in our area, but it was foggy.

Motored to Bottleneck during the ebb tide and anchored just after sunset. The head of the cove was packed with boats, but we weren’t going to find another place in the dark, so we anchored near the mouth of the cove and left early in the morning for a new place. Although we only saw the anchorage during the sliver of light that remains after the sun sets, the walls were blanketed with green foliage and the cove had a faint sulphur smell.

We left Butedale with the ebb tide for K’ootz/Khutze Conservancy and anchored near the estuary at the head of the inlet. Dropped our Rocna in approximately 50’ beneath a cascading waterfall that looked like a painting. Looking inland, the valley opened to a wildflower-painted estuary framed by snowcapped peaks. This part of the Great Bear Rainforest, on Princess Royal Island, is home to the spirit bear, sea wolves, harbor seals, bald eagles, and more. It’s a popular anchorage, and we’ve seen more boats here than anywhere along the Inside Passage so far. We spent the afternoon relaxing and cleaning our fuel injectors.

Sailed (for the first time in forever!!!) around Gribbell Island to Bishop Bay Hot Springs and…just wow. The landscape is breathtaking. It seems like Misty Fjords was the gateway into some of the most epic mountainscapes we’ve ever seen. We entered Bishop Bay alongside a pod of humpback whales, their surfacing breaths echoing against granite walls, and later watched them from the warmth of the hot springs. The afternoon was ethereal. At the springs, we added a small artifact of our own (🐚🤫) to the collection left by fellow cruisers, a quiet gesture of belonging to the unseen fellowship that threads through places like this. Dropped anchor in approx. 80’ and stern tied to shore for the first time. Ciao Bella sat around 45’ at high tide, and 25’ at a +5’ low tide. Not 10’ from our stern, the shore quickly shoaled to 5’ or less. Definitely a little precarious, but this place is worth it.

Quick stop to fill up gas ⛽️ for the dink at Hartley Bay, a First Nations community. Really nice day today.

We left a windy Kumealon and motored down a windier Grenville Channel, with the breeze building to 25 knots by the time we turned into Klewnuggit Inlet. We dropped the hook in the long eastern arm where it was completely still. You’d never guess how wild it was just outside. The next morning we woke to dense fog and infinite gnats. Once the fog lifted, most of them did too (though Porter was happy to eat the ones that stuck around🤮). The mud here has a sulfur smell, and we read that there’s outgassing in the area, so the area must be volcanic.