Friday, July 15, 2016 Port McNeill to Burly Bay 4 hours 39 miles

We love this place.  To get to MacKenzie Sound one has to pass through Kenneth Passage.  It is a rather narrow, dog-leg passage.  MacKenzie Sound is a fiord.  The walls are granite with trees sprouting out of them at the most curious angles and locations.  Long strands of Spanish moss hang from tree limbs and we are told there are many bears here (we didn’t see any though).  We always anchor in a cove behind Blair Islet.  We can see the soaring granite walls but feel cozy and sheltered.  We are anchored near the end of Hopetown Passage.  This passage is only passible at high water with local knowledge.  As the tide falls it creates rapids flowing overt the rocks at the entrance.  It sounds lovely. 

Tuesday, July 12, 2016 Mound Island to Port McNeill 2 ½ hours 22.9 miles

Fred borrowed a ladder from Steve at the North Island Marina.  He is determined to resolve this issue.  The dome is high up on the radar arch and I held onto the ladder while he went up to remove screws and the dome.  Nothing looks broken.  He is able to move the antenna easily the fuse isn’t open.  He checked the 12 volt supply to every part of the device.  Still nothing.  He emailed the manufacturer of the dome.  He stated everything that he had already tried and asked for suggestions.  The email back from them suggested doing what he had already tried.  Did they even read the email? 

Saturday, July 10, 2016 Mound Island

We have become accustomed to watching the 5 PM BBC news on television.  Yes, we have a TV dome on the boat.  This evening when we turned the antenna for TV on nothing happened.  OH good, Fred needs another project.  I was somewhat thankful because we only hear news of terrible things happening in the world. 

Friday, July 8, 2016 Viner Sound to Mound Island 2 ¾ hours 25.9 miles

We planned on anchoring tonight at Crease Island.  Well, it was a beautiful but difficult passing through all the small Islands (big rocks with trees on them).  When we arrived at our intended destination the wind was 20 kts and the anchorage too small for our comfort so we had to find a new anchorage.  There are a lot of anchorages here in the SW area of the Broughtons.  However, most are rather exposed so we found a large anchorage on the south side of Mound Island.  The area is large and we felt comfortable in 20-25 kt. winds and 1 foot chop in the anchorage.  We followed a sailboat in and anchored well away from him.  After our anchor was set we saw seven more boats heading in.  I guess we were all running from the weather.  The problem was that in this huge anchorage they all placed themselves closely around us.  We were watching our position very closely. By afternoon we were sure our anchor was slipping and we were VERY close to our neighbors.  We quickly pulled up the anchor and moved out to the middle of the anchorage.  Although the wind stayed up, we didn’t slip a bit.

Sunday, July 3, 2016 Viner Sound

We were casually reading in the cockpit when the scene seemed to change.  I went out to talk to Fred and mentioned that the big rock near shore was creeping closer (do rocks move?). Oh !@#$  We found the mooring line had come loose.  We started the engines and reattached before any harm was done. 

Saturday, July 2, 2016 Port Harvey to Viner Sound 4 ¼ hours 44.6 miles

This is one of our favorite places on the coast.  Viner Sound is a beautiful fiord.  Anchoring is a challenge because of the silt at the head of the inlet.  There are 4 mooring buoys available.  They are free and wonderfully located.  Two on the north side and two on the south side.  We attached to the outside buoy on the south side of the inlet.   What a spectacular view!

Friday, July 1, 2016 Port Harvey CANADA DAY

There are activities planned and diner for free tonight.  The big game today is whores shoes.  Commonly known as horse shoes everywhere else.  The difference is that instead of using a horse shoe, one uses high heels (whores shoes).  One team had black heels and the other red shoes (Red Shoe Restaurant….?).  It is sunny and this game is actually quite fun to watch.  George and Gail then made us all hot dogs and chili.  After dark there was a bonfire and an excellent fireworks display.  The down side was that the lawn area between the dock and their home has and incredible mosquito population.  After walking Merlin I literally had to brush dozens of the nasty little bugs off his coat and my clothing.  Therefore, Fred went up to watch the fireworks and Merlin & I stayed on the boat.  I could see them through the trees and was very impressed.