North tomorrow?

Looks like we have a reasonable weather window to give it a go across Queen Charlotte Sound. The dinghy's blown up and we just have to take the tarp down. This is good.

We're a bit sad to leave Pt. Hardy, and our newfound friends Shari Lee and Patrick, but it's time for a new horizon. Patrick was a wealth of knowledge having kayaked most of the Inside Passage, and Shari Lee tantalized us with her adventures in Fiji and those tiny Pacific islands of our dreams. They also introduced us to curried horse mussels for dinner.

Blain threw his air cast in the dumpster and is hobbling around with the help of a ski pole. Mo's got the cupboards so full the boat lists to port. Tanks are full, the flags up. We're ready. If the engine fires up, nothing should keep us.

First stop will likely be Skull Cove. So piratical. Argh! Then it's around Cape Caution. A well named point separating Queen Charlotte Sound from Fitz Hugh Sound and exposed to the full Pacific. Our first real ocean exposure. Blain tried the seasickness medicine ahead of time, and he's relaxed, strolling around the docks, looking at neat stuff. And other stuff, too. Not just neat stuff. All the stuff.

Our next port-of-call is hoped to be Shearwater (Bella Bella). Happy spring to everyone.

We look north - a little groggy from fumes, though

This photo is of a painting/relief that our lovely niece Emily made for us. It looks great on the bulkhead above the sink where our old puffin painting was.

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We spent the last few days painting her bottom. "Who's bottom?” you might ask. Well HER bottom, of course. We stripped her, roughed her up, popped her blisters, applied makeup, and rolled her 'til she was wet.

We were dismayed to see so many blisters, but we got after them like ferrets in a prairie dog town, and by the end we had a pretty smooth hull.

Tom, our winter boat-minder stopped by to see the progress and lend moral support. His son Brennan stopped by to stomp in the mud puddles.

The dust from the bottom paint and all the epoxies probably set the planet back a few eons, but she's black and she's beautiful - and she's done.

Note the blue face on the astronaut.

Throughout the three days work, we splurged on a hotel stay since Blain probably would end up with extra broken bones if he'd tried the ladder. Chance was reunited with carpet, too. And he was happy.

Once safely back in the water, Blain took off for Bellingham to drop off the car and see the Dr., and Mo cleaned and waxed the deck until her arms almost fell off. We're shipping the car to Juneau in late July, so we can have ground transportation. It'll be bikes until then.

Blain is waddling around sans crutches and can walk the dog some. The ankle is stiff, and the muscles are, well, missing, so it will be a long road to full blast again. But he can get around on deck and up and down.

He took the down time to write up an article to a sailing magazine on inflatable kayaks. If published, it would be his first. Fingers are crossed.

It's exciting to look northward again. We might head to Alaska this week.

Sights around Pt Hardy

Monique has been busy organizing our lives for the next leg of the trip (no pun intended). You can see she's got the provisions wired. It never seems to all want to fit, but it does.

Oystercatcher has a a lot of storage, though the waterline is a little higher.

We have a daily visit to our little corner of the dock by a friendly mink. Here he is after checking out the end of the dock and hopping aboard at least one boat for further inspection.

We drove to Fort Rupert to picnic on the sandy beach and wandered into the native village. The Kwakiutl natives are known for their totem poles and artwork. And it's not forgotten art; we enjoyed the imaginative cemetery carvings. Note the guitar.

The graves were covered with shells.

The ceremonial center for the village.

Broken leg and all, we got to Port Hardy and are eagerly reprovisioning and readying Oystercatcher for the summer. We took the ferry across to Vancouver Is. and drove up through 300km of rain and hail storms.

Our plan is to heal a bit more, then run the car back to Bellingham to ship to Alaska. Blain will get his leg x-rayed again and hopefully will get the green light to start walking on it. The crutch thing (even though it adds to the Long Blain Silver mystique) is a bit clunky on a boat.

Chance misses Krista's carpet and hospitality, but is enjoying all the wild critters around the dock that moved in over the winter, including mink, sea lions, geese, and otters. He plans to keep them honest, though the two cougars harbor staff had to remove are keeping us honest.

The famous BC drug boat is still in drydock, and has become something of a tourist attraction.

A fine sunny day to test the ramps and docks for crutchability. All our best and a good spring to everyone.