22.09.2018

Whale firework

Back at the inside passage of British Columbia we entered into a bay at Royal Princess Island where there were supposed to be white bears. Well, unfortunately we did not see them- but at least we could have. The passage into that bay was very tricky. We had to wait for 100% slack time, meaning the change between the tides where tue water does not flow in either direction for very few minutes. I had to go up to the rapids with the Dinghy and check the situation and wait for the water to calm down- which was not until 1hr40min later. Finally it was calm enough that I went through with the Dinghy and gave thumbs up for Marcus to drive Alita through the narrow channel, which still had quite a current going but not dangerous anymore. Once through a beautiful bay opened up to us with ling inlets. It took us another hour to get to the actual anchoring spot. The beauty was that finally we did not only see forest but also rocky mountains. Beautiful and smooth rock, I guess granite. Ve
ry similar to Patagonia/ Tierra del fuego.
We left there yesterday with the same procedure, hanging out in front of the narrow waiting to be able to get through in the other direction. This time I did not have to go in the Dinghy first.
We continued our path to the next hot springs once we entered the Inside Passage. And then we received a whale fireworks. How so? We saw a bunch of whales and all of a sudden, while our friends had already given up waiting for them and I was still sitting there knowing they'd come back, one started breaching, into my picture. And then the next one breached and the next one. They kept taking turns in breaching, for a couple of minutes. That was truly crazy. Very beautiful to see against the sunlight- difficult for photography. But just amazing. Our friends of course got their cameras out again and we shot side by side, hoping to get a good one. I haven't looked at the pictures yet, but I am sure I got something.
Continuing our way towards the springs we came across another bunch of whales, further away, and one also decided to breach a couple of times. Just so beautiful to watch. This morning as we just left in the sunrise the whales were still hanging out here in the bay, showing us their blow and tales in the morning light. A moment to treasure and never forget.
We're gonna continue the Inside Passage towards Vancouver Island now. Lots of miles every day.

Another highlight of course were the hot springs again. We soaked ourselves last night in the sunset, before we went over to the boat we were tied up to, Nomad. We were last tied up in a package in Elfin Cove. Early this morning all except Marcus got up in the crystal clear night, beautiful clear and cold starry night, we soaked again in candlelight. That was truly amazing. Upon our return to Alita, at 6.45, we took off and are now on the way again.