August 16, 2022 Tuesday: Day 81: Blind Channel to Annette Inlet 156 mile- 4044 total miles
When we woke up we were trying to figure out the plan for the rest of our trip. We wanted to go home via Lund and we wanted to stop into Princess Louisa Inlet. Sadly there was going to be a bunch of wind coming the next few days. If we did that route, then we would be stuck in Princess Louisa Inlet for a few days and we wouldn’t get home until late Sunday at the earliest. Chris has work Monday so we didn’t really want to push that. We could leave Blind Channel now and basically just book it home to beat out the wind. We finally decided to just get back home. I am still hopeful that we will make a trip to Princess Louisa Inlet soon!
We went through Seymour Narrows at slack tide, which was easy. We stopped by Campbell River for some fuel and then headed through The Strait of Georgia. There was a strong wind warnings for the area later in the day so we did feel a bit rushed to get to Nanaimo as soon as we could.
We saw a lot of whales through the Strait of Georgia. When we were coming into Nanaimo we saw a whale breaching in the distance. It was right where we needed to go, but we were a ways off. We watched it and didn’t see the whale for a long time so we kept on going. About 20 feet by us the whale came up. We quickly put the boat in neutral. The whale came up one more time, then on the third time right by us the whale came up with her baby. We feel bad we got so close, but we were watching closely and thought we were in the clear. It was awesome seeing it so close though.
We got a spot at Nanaimo to tie up to their dock while we got food. It was a very warm day, especially coming from Alaska. We were all hot and had to go potty and we were looking forward to sitting and eating at a restaurant. We got to the pizza place and it was a pick up window only. We still ordered a cheese pizza for Ryan. We tried going to a Thai place that was right there, but it was closed. We finally decided to order another to go pizza. We went to a cafe for bathrooms and drinks, got our pizza, and ate outside near our boat. It ended up being really yummy and nice. Chris was a good sport when I was getting cranky.
We were trying to decide if we should cross into America tonight or spend one more night in Canada. We decided since we were already in Canada we should just stay the night there. We still had to cross Dodds Narrows and the currents were running at about 6 ½ knots against us. We decided to go for it, and we crossed without issue, but the boat did have to work for it. We stayed at Annette Inlet. It was very crowded, but very nice. Our last night on the boat. Wow!
Ryan’s Thoughts: Whales close. I watched a seaplane land, and pizza!
Lillian’s Thoughts: Today we saw whales really close. A baby whale with a mama whale, like 20 feet away! AWESOME! Then we ate pizza. I almost went potty in my pants. I thought I was going to go in my pants! It was very very very VERY scary for me! LOL and guess what? I have only used black pens this whole journal!
