Campbell River

The tricky thing about traveling to or from Campbell River is the current in Discovery Channel. The current always seems to be against us. In a big way. Today was no different. We could have arrived before 10 am and the current would have been more reasonable, but check-in isn't until 2:00, which would have meant a lot of hanging out waiting. Or we could have arrived after 6, too late to get stuff done before dinner. Arriving at just after 2:00 meant fighting 6 knots of current for an hour or more, burning a lot of fuel.

None of those options were very good, but since it was just an hour we chose to battle the current. What a battle.

We had full throttle for most of the hour and managed less than a knot of speed over ground, maybe eight knots speed through the water. Slow boat, fast water!

Eventually we made it into the marina, stopped at the fuel dock to top up, then found our slip. We set to work scrubbing the decks, filling the water tanks, emptying the garbage: the usual order of business.

Where do you suppose the crew opted to go first to slake their appetites? A bakery/coffee shop and an ice cream shop. After which no one has much of an appetite for an early dinner. So a later dinner It is.

Tomorrow we'll re-provision and do laundry.

Will introduced himself this afternoon. His buddy is in town and has a problematic windlass. We might not be seeing much of Will tomorrow, but he'll join us before we depart on Monday.

We go through the Seymour Narrows on Monday. There is no missing slack in those waters. Max current gets up to 12 knots with turbulence. Many people have died in those rapids, so we'll treat them with the respect they deserve. The moon is new on Monday, so the spring tides are at their fullest: Lowest low tides, highest high tides, and fastest currents.

With care we'll hit the narrows at slack and the crew will wonder what all the fuss was about. It'll feel like motoring across a lake.