Day 7: Port Harvey to Echo Bay

This turned out to be my day in the dinghy.

Our route today led us through Chatham Channel and then to Tribune Channel. We’d circle around Gilford Island, eventually arriving at Pierre’s Echo Bay. This is an extraordinarily beautiful route, highlighted by Lacy Falls.

With calm water and gorgeous scenery the group was happy. I had some maps to deliver to Lagoon Cove Marina, so I left Kevin to run the boat and zoomed off the couple of miles to Lagoon Cove in the dinghy. Pat and Bob were glad to have the maps and I quickly caught up with Kevin again.

We had an uneventful cruise up Tribune Channel to Lacy Falls. We were getting pictures in front of the falls with The Sharon Lee and Cascadia when one of the boats called on the VHF to tell us they were out of fuel and drifting.

Scenery in Tribune Channel

 

Cascadia and The Sharon Lee in front of Lacy Falls

They were about 5 miles ahead of us. Kevin determined they were not in any immediate danger and got their GPS coordinates. I grabbed a jerry jug of diesel, loaded it in the dinghy, and took off.

I reached the boat in about 15 minutes and climbed aboard. The owner had no idea how to bleed the fuel system, so we tried starting it without bleeding it first. I had the owner put 4 gallons of diesel in the tank (this left 1 gallon of diesel for prefilling filters, if needed) and close the seacock. Closing the seacock prevents water from filling the water lift muffler when cranking for extended periods. If the muffler fills, it will often flood the engine with seawater. Bad news.

I cranked the engine for about 20 seconds and it fired up. Disaster averted. I motored back to Safe Harbour, and they motored on to Echo Bay.

Echo Bay was fantastic as usual. Pierre provided fresh crab and prawns for the potluck and each boat brought a dish to share. Nikki Van Schyndal, a neighboring survivalist, gave us an excellent presentation on living off the land.

Potluck at Perre's

Tomorrow we’re off to Port McNeill and then around Cape Caution on Monday. Clouds and occasional rain seem to be the new weather pattern, and the wind has died way down.

41.66 nm today

288.65 nm total