Ocean Falls to Duncanby Landing to Port McNeal

We had a long slow easy trip from Ocean Falls to Duncanby Landing. As in past years we had a wonderful dinner there, this time with the Gills.

They charge $1.50 per foot and $45 for power so it is much like staying at home at the cost of a fine hotel... but the food is good and they are very nice people so I would go back again.

Leaving at 07:00, an hour behind early bird Spirit, our trip across Cape Caution was lumpy at the start but then we settled  into 5 foot swells at 8 seconds from the starboard side all the way to the tip of Vancouver Island.  Sea Jay does very well in this kind of water with the stabilizers doing their job  to stop the rolling from the beam seas.

We arrived at Port McNeal at 1 pm and topped off the fuel tanks. Sprit arrived just as we were tying up at the dock.

We had been having intermittent low boost pressure issues with the starboard engine allowing us to go only 11 knots and then it would slowly build up to the same pressure as the port engine. I called Dan Claire owner of Black Cat,  a very good diesel repair company in Port Hardy and ordered a boost pressure sensor as a possible fix to the problem. Dan came down to the boat after we arrived and switched the suspect sensor to the port engine.  We took SeaJay for a spin and sure enough the port engine had the same problem. We are waiting for a new sensor to arrive from Edmonton so Dan can install it. We could go on without this repair at ten knots but sometimes I feel the need for 26 knots and this repair will allow that need to be met.

Not a big deal but we needed a down time period any way.That evening we celebrated Cheryl's birthday at the local bistro and had Miriam's wonderful chocolate cake on board Spirit after dinner.  Spirit even had vanilla ice-cream to go with it. Then we watched a fun movie called Space Cowboys on Spirit before retiring for the night.


Last night we had uninvited visitors on our boat who removed two new, full prawn bait buckets to the swim step from the cockpit for a robust smelly feast. The lid was open on one bucket and the contents were gone. The other bucket was partially open but the very smelly prawn bait pellets were still there.\ in its plastic bag.

 This cleaver work of carrying the buckets out of the cockpit and opening the tightly sealed plastic lids was beyond the pay grade of a dog. There were small foot prints in the swine step so Later I checked with the marina office and the docks are the home of some cagy little creatures with white rings around their eyes.

We talked to Linda Collier on Reflections on the radio late yesterday as they were coming out of Wells passage about 25 miles east of Port McNeal,  and we will meet them and the Stewarts at Jennis Bay on Tuesday. Steve Driscoll called on the phone and Steve and Sandy are on their way up and will meet us at Jennis Bay as well. So we will have a Roche Harbor Yacht Club mini cruise next week at Jennis Bay with Reflections, Mirage, Crescendo, Sea Jay and Spirit attending the Weekly Sea Food Gumbo Dinner at Jennis Bay.