We left mid morning to catch a slack high water to enter Ahclakerho Channel and spend some time in an area Jim had read about in the book "Cruising the Secret Coast" by James and Jennifer Hamilton.
To get there we had to travel a distance of Smith Inlet past Greaves Island and then down Ahckakerho channel through a very narrow part of the channel to Broad Reach. There was a spot in the Ahclakerho Islands we planned to drop the anchor and stern tie.
We saw an otter floating around on it's back enjoying some shellfish as we were coming up the channel.
We went into the little anchorage in the V of the larger island and we were once again unsuccessful at stern tying. This time we even had the skiff down and ready. But the anchor was not holding. So we decided we didn't really need to stern tie and dropped the anchor and it seemed to hold really well - too well as it turns out - and there was enough swing room for the boat. All rocks seemed to be far enough away.
Narrows at Ahclakerho Channel
It was a pretty little spot - we didn't think it was "Prideaux Haven of the Central Coast" and as it turned out it had a couple of downfalls. There was no where to take Jenny to shore. After we dropped the anchor and Jim went in the skiff to look around he found that the wind had really picked outside of where we were. Too windy to go too far in the skiff. The shoreline was all big barnacle covered rocks and salaal and large trees right down to the high water line. Jim had a terrible time finding just one little rock with a little tuft of vegetation she could hop on to and pee. Jenny didn't think much of the whole thing. Refused to pee at all on her first trip to shore. So we certainly couldn't stay there as long as we thought we'd like to stay.
Jim went out in the skiff to do a little fishing in the afternoon. It was really windy - blowing 20 knots and he didn't catch anything except a very small rockfish that he saved for bait. We were feeling a little down about the day - not really the place we thought it would be. And the boat rolled around on the anchor chain all night long. Not a comforting sound at night. Jenny finally had a pee and a poop on a little tuffet of moss on a rock. I guess she figured it was this or nothing! She is now a "Rock Hopper".
So it was decided we would leave the next day on the 1 PM high slack. We decide to pull the anchor a little early and go for a steam up Broad Reach. We had thought of spending the night at a little spot further up the arm - the end of Broad reach there was a little narrow passageway and another little spot described in the Hamilton's book. But we figured the shoreline there would be just as inaccessible.
Problem number two with this spot - Our anchor got snagged! It was very stuck and it took a bit to get ourselves free. The bottom is supposed to be mud but it seemed a bit rocky and irregular. We had to put on the anchor chain dog and Jim turned the boat in a few directions and we had to use the boat power to pull free. The anchor came free - with a big dip of the bow of the boat - it was quite the pull. It was most likely that the chain had slipped down gotten stuck between a couple of big rocks.
With a big sigh of relief we left there - before anything else could go wrong! We did take a little steam of Broad Reach and then turned around and went back through the little narrow area of rapids at a fairly slack water - a little more current than the day before though.
Once we got into Smith Inlet we found the wind had really picked up and it was blowing 20-25 knots. We had a really hard time getting the weather channel in Ahclakerho ( another downfall ) once we were able to hear the weather station we found out that the winds were expected to pick up over the next few days.
So we decide we would go back to Millbrook Cove - stay there for a day or two. And then head up to Pruth Bay from there.
We arrived at Millbrook Cove around 3 pm. It was gusting 15 - 18 knots in there. There were to pleasure boats and a big fishing boat already anchored. We quickly dropped the anchor in the wind and settled in for the night. At least there was somewhere to take Jenny to shore.
Lilly has been great while we travel around. She sleeps in her little spot by the window. She waits in the crate while we are doing things on the boat where we don't want her getting hurt or lost - falling overboard etc.
She will occasionally go on a little wander around the boat looking for a way to get out and on to the upper boat deck. She really likes to go up there to lie in the sun. We had let her go up there but it's been too windy and it's not really safe for her. She will go right to the edge and we will see her little face peering down at us while we sit in the cockpit. I think the wind could blow her right off. So - no more upper boat deck time for her! But she gets quite mad at us when we won't let her go up there. She loves to be "UP". She is constantly going into the book shelves - climbing as high up in them as she can. Hanging by her paws as she pulls herself to the next higher shelf. Most of time she is pretty good and enjoying the boat. She is certainly more cautious in the cockpit around the swim step and the skiff since she fell off the skiff. We put up the "cat re boarding device" AKA -- CRBD. So hopefully it is never needed - but if it's need it works!
We found a little rug in Port McNeil - in Fields - that looks like grass. It was $7.99. We thought that we might be able to convince Jenny to use it when we were not able to get her to shore. Jim even carried it when out for a walk with Jenny - to try to get a little of her scent on it. So far Jenny has no interest in having a pee on it. But Lilly thinks it a nice little piece of lawn for her to lie about. At least it's found a use!
