August 13, 2022 Saturday. Day 78: Lowe Inlet to Shearwater 146 miles- 3635 miles total
As we tried pulling our anchor up this morning it really struggled. The windlass wasn’t grabbing the rope and it kept slipping. Not sure why it struggled. We did get it up after a while. I will say we are very glad we have a windlass this trip and we have had no issues with it at all with it.
When we woke up this morning our sailboat friends were already off. After a bit of time we caught up and passed them. When we were in range of them they radioed us to let us know they called Hartley Bay and learned there was no gas until later this afternoon. We told them we were headed there, but didn’t need gas there so we’d check it out, and if there wasn’t gas we would head out. We made it to Hartley Bay and Chris and the kids went potty. We messaged the fuel dock and they told us they still didn’t have gas so we headed out. We radioed our sailboat friends and told them there was still no gas.
We saw a lot of whales today. I don’t know how many whales we’ve seen on this trip, but we have seen hundreds of them.
As we were in the middle of nowhere Canada, Ryan got a soda and when he opened the can he cut his finger. It wasn’t a bad cut, but there was definitely blood. One thing about Ryan is when he cuts his fingers he always gets a bit woozy. He’s cut his fingers twice before. Once while cutting strawberries and once while cutting a banana. Both times he was very close to passing out, but we got him settled and he never passed out. This time I was noticing the same signs as his previous injuries. I was talking with him and his answers were delayed and very short. He was getting pretty pale. I told Chris I thought he was going to pass out, and sure enough down he went. Chris was able to catch him so no other injuries. Lillian did get pretty stressed about it, and I had to remind her to take deep breaths. I also explained to her that our body sometimes passes out because it knows how to take care of us and needs us out of the way to do it. We knew why Ryan passed out, and it was typical for him. We also knew he didn’t get hurt while he passed out, so it was OK. He wasn’t out long, but when he came to he was very tired. We had him drink some soda and eat a cracker and then he wanted to lay down and take a nap. He napped for about 20 minutes, and then he was fine. Chris also has been known to pass out with some medical stuff as well. Being on a boat, in the middle of nowhere did make it exciting though.
We got gas at Klemtu and then made it to Shearwater. Shearwater is like a boating resort, lodge, thing. I don’t know how to explain it exactly. There is a little restaurant, a small grocery store, showers, laundry, and a few other small stores. I think there is a hotel/cabins, but other than that, that’s it. I loved it and it’s a perfect spot for boaters!
The harbormaster was great and gave great directions of where we should tie up. He even radioed us again to give us even better directions and tell us what boat we would be tied up behind.
Ryan’s Thoughts: I cut my finger on a soda can and passed out, fun! (Sarcasm)
Lillian’s Thoughts: Ryan cut his finger and passed out for the first time.
