Today was one of our major open water crossings of the trip.  Knowing it would be an early morning and a long day, I baked cinnamon rolls for everyone.  We pulled out of Fury Cove at 7am with warm cinnamon rolls and hot coffee for breakfast.  Not a bad way to start the morning!

It had rained through the night, but luckily for us, the storm seemed to have blown itself out.  As soon as we left Fury cove and headed out into Queen Charlotte Sound, we hit the ocean swell.  The day was about as calm as it could be; however, we still had four to five foot swell rocking us.  This was a new experience for some of the crews, but everyone did great.  Denise chose to ride on Deception again today and brought Grace along with her for a day at the Deception dog spa.

As we rounded Cape Caution and entered Queen Charlotte Straight, the seas calmed and we were once again cruising on glassy water.  We took an interesting route through a group of small islands known as the Deserter group.  Cruising near the shoreline, we were able to see creatures in the intertidal zone and the kelp beds.  Sea stars and urchins clung to the rocks, and black oystercatchers prowled the shoreline.  These birds use their long orange bill to pry mussels and limpets from the rocks.

We also began to see sea otters floating along on their backs.  We spotted one that was wrapped up in kelp and floating past.  Sea otters will wrap themselves in kelp to keep from drifting away as they nap; however, this otter had chosen a free floating raft of kelp to nap in.  Up ahead of us the skies were full of rain, but the storm was moving the same way we were and stayed ahead of us.

Once in to Port McNeil the sun came out and we had a nice afternoon.  Sam and Steve from Change of Latitude headed home from here.  Their family came and picked them up, and they are road tripping back to Washington.  Patos and Victoria went out for dinner together at the local steakhouse.  Jack and Annette took the Deception crew out to dinner at the pub.  Discovery heads out tomorrow, but the rest of us are looking forward to having a lay day.