Mother Goose awoke early, took in our lines, and left Tahsis with the morning sun just pushing through the mist. An ambitious route, the fleet trekked 70 miles rounding Brooks Peninsula to anchor in Kalshkish. Brooks Peninsula is notoriously perilous in poor weather but today we have nothing but sunshine and favorable winds. Fleet speculation is that Brian Pemberton is some kind of weather god, which we can neither confirm nor deny.

Rounding Brooks Peninsula, the fleet slowed to admire the Steller sea lions and bird life of Solander Island.  Solander Island, named by Swedish naturalist Daniel Solander during an expedition with Captain Cook, is now protected as critical nesting habitat for a number of pelagic bird species. Boasting the worlds 3^rd largest colony of Leah’s Storm Petrals and the 6^th largest of Cassins Auklet, Solander Island was simply teaming with activity.

After anchoring, several crews chose to explore the inlet and near by Shields river via dingy. That evening Deception hosted a whole fleet potluck to honor and say farewell to our Captain, Brian Pemeberton. A truly lavish collection of dishes shared by friends was such a wonderful way to close Brian’s leg of this year’s journey.