Our crews happily accepted the later departure time of 9am and enjoyed a leisurely morning on board.  By the time we began to weigh anchor the sun was shining and the water around us was glittering in the morning light.  We cruised out through the maze of islands and reefs and continued on to the more open waters of Malaspina Strait, thankful that the weather forecasters had been wrong!

As we cruised today we spotted our first whales of the trip!  We saw two humpbacks each traveling solo and slowly foraging for food.  We were able to slow down and watch as they surfaced, creating giant clouds with their exhales.  Then, we’d see the back arch and the tail fluke upwards signifying a deep dive.  It’s amazing to try and imagine how these massive creatures move under the water.  At one point the humpback dove under our fleet and surfaced on the opposite side of us.  We left them to their fishing and continued on.

We passed by Powell River, the main industrial town in the area.  The towering chimneys of the paper and pulp mill dwarfed the rest of the town.  As we continued north the houses grew fewer along the shore.  We rounded the top of the Malaspina Peninsula and entered Desolation Sound.  The sound is an open body of water with scattered islands throughout, ranging widely in size from small rounded gumdrop islands to large mountainous islands.  The Coastal mountain range of BC provides the gorgeous back drop to the Desolation Sound area.

Our anchorage this evening was Theodosia Inlet.  The entrance is a narrow winding passage which then opens up into a large anchorage with beautiful mountain views.  The area still has an active logging camp and we were able to watch as a little tug went about arranging the logs in the water for transport. We formed a six boat raft (Aquila’s friends from home are out cruising on their boat and joined us for the night) and settled in for the night.

Rick, Debbie, Rob and Stacey all hopped in the kayaks and took them out for a spin.  It was a lovely, sunny afternoon to do so and the calm water was perfect for paddling.  Nauti Otter went out for a ride in their dinghy and the rest of us enjoyed visiting on board in the sunshine.  After dinner, everyone came over to help celebrate Debbie’s Birthday.  We enjoyed some brownies and ice cream and sang a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday complete with some additional Australian verses.