Hot Showers, Big Seas and a Little Company - 5/25

After slurping down cream of wheat with yogurt and berries for breakfast, we headed back to Winter Harbour to fill our water tanks.  I discovered yesterday that the high pressure cylinder on the water maker has sprung a leak, so rather than desalinating, it just fills the bilge with water.  Then, because it flushes with fresh water when it’s done, the water make has become a water user.  Dang.  A fix will have to wait until I get back home and can buy parts.  In the mean time, we have two weeks before we arrive in Tofino, so it was semi-essential that we stop for water in Winter Harbor.  The tanks hold 110 gallons, plenty for the two weeks to Tofino.  And… since we’ll already be there, we pooled our resources and came up with enough loonies to take showers.  Yay!  (Three cheers to Kevin for finding eight of the nine loonies needed for three showers.)

The weather cleared nicely in the afternoon; the sun was out anyway.  It was after 2pm by the time we we’d made our way to Winter Harbour and were done with the place.  A motor-boater at the fuel dock said it was “pretty rough out there.” They’d gone out in the ocean to do some fishing and were turned back by big seas and high winds.  We only had twenty miles or so to get to the night’s anchorage, so we decided to give it a shot none the less.

I began to wander if it was a mistake almost immediately, when we were hit by some big waves on the stern quarter, picking us up and dropping us ten feet or so pretty quickly.  Our direction with respect to the swell made the going a little difficult, but the swell was more consistent than when we were last out there, even if it was bigger, and the chop wasn’t quite as bad, even though the wind was blowing pretty well in the mid to upper twenties.  So we kept going, got into something like a rhythm and didn’t have any trouble.  Kevin ended up taking the helm for most of it. I think he was having a good time with it.  I made a concerted effort to hydrate while we were at the dock with an unlimited water supply, so I had to go down into the head to pee several times.  It was kind of like trying to pee in a clothes dryer.

Vi is now whipping up something for dinner from North Africa while Kevin and I kick back and enjoy a tranquil cove in fading sunlight.  There’s a fishing boat anchored with us tonight.  It’s nice to finally have a little company.