past cape caution

We're once again at a wilderness outpost with a limited bandwidth internet connection which means no photos. Which is a crying shame because you all need to see this place. It's awesome (in the sense of the word before it was co-opted by teenagers: "inspiring awe; showing or characterized by awe").

After waiting out weather in the Walker Group smack in the middle of Queen Charlotte Straight, we finally got a break in weather (and sea state) enough to get around Cape Caution. For those who aren't familiar with this cape, it's a lovely bit of geography with a few downsides. Storms routinely roll down from the Gulf of Alaska with brutal amounts of wind. The wind builds up swell that can start near Japan and just keep growing. The sea floor rises abruptly right off Cape Caution to focus that swell into near vertical waves. And just for fun, on an ebb tide several local inlets shove bazillions of gallons of water in a contrary direction. The result can feel like sticking your head inside one of those paint can mixing machines.

We rounded Cape Caution in about 6 to 8 knots of wind, enough wind to barely cause a ripple. Even still, we had 4 to 6 foot swell with a 1 to 2 foot chop on top of it. We pulled out the main and motor sailed. Thankfully, the 6 to 8 knots of wind kept us steady and we had a pleasant enough passage (read: no barfing). We set the anchor in Fury Cove, just north of Cape Caution, and cracked open our second batch of home brew in celebration. The North of Cape Caution Ale was crisp, hoppy and delicious.

We're currently anchored in Pruth Bay on Calvert Island, another 20 miles past Fury Cove. At the head of the cove, an old fishing lodge has been purchased by a private group and turned into a non-profit research center called Hakai Beach Institute. Their mandate is to provide a base of operation for science and education groups to study the central B.C. coast. They also maintain an fantastic trail system out to a beach on the west edge of the island that is straight out of a travel brochure. (Hakai Beach Institute is also providing everyone at anchor free internet). We've chatted with a few of the staff and researchers and they've all been really nice and very helpful. It's been gratifying to see what some people in the world decide to do with their shitpile of money.

All is well aboard Hello World. We'll update with photos when we can.

(We've been informed our "Where are we?" link is not working correctly. Until I can get to an internet connection with enough bandwidth to fix the problem, here's a link to see the positions of our last three blog posts on Google Maps:

Hello World's last three position reports)

51° 39.244'N 128° 07.505'W