I woke up this morning not feeling too chipper. A blinding headache and lethargy. I had a cup of tea and lay down on the salon settee and slept for another two hours. Last night I cooked up a concoction of pasta, pizza topping and salami (sounds awful but tastes quite good). The salami was on special in Craig supermarket, I reckon it did me in. I had dreams last night and that is a sure sign that I have ingested Monosodium glutamate – must have been in the bloody salami.
Anyway it was raining and miserable so I decided to have a day off. Not had a sick day yet. Turned out to be a great decision. By lunch time the sun was out and all damp oilskins, boots and stuff was drying off nicely in the cockpit. I was a cleaning machine in the galley and all is sparkling again. I took a late lunch in the cockpit, wearing not much as nature intended in brilliant sunshine and flat calm.
The forecast is for westerly winds so in the afternoon I moved anchorage to a position where we should have more shelter from the west. The place I had selected turned out to be rocky with numerous uncharted shallow patches. We came quite close to the bottom. A little further down the coast I found a small indentation that looked calm and sheltered. After some sniffing around and numerous turns to find the shallow spots and rocks I dropped anchor.
Happy in the new anchorage and enjoying the warm sun I set about changing out the main halyard. I spliced in a thimble into the new halyard and after measuring the old halyard (twice) cut the new line to size. Its all rigged now and awaiting its first trial.
What a beautiful spot I am in. Sheltered from the west but looking out to the east at a tremendous view of sea, islands and snow capped mountains in the distance. Sunrise should be good. Wow, I had dinner in the cockpit at eight this evening in warm sunshine and a picture postcard setting, in total silence apart from the animal noises from the forest and sea otters crunching shells. Dinner was washed down with a couple of Alaskan Icy Bay IPA’s (how bizarre drinking India Pale Ale in Alaska). I am feeling quite healthy again and really enjoyed my ‘day off’.
In the morning I am planning a transit of Rocky Pass (unless I see a big closed sign). According to my chart the controlling depth is 4 feet. As we are drawing 6 feet we will need to go through with some tide underneath us. Should be fun. Total voyage distance 1,037.3 miles.
Logged 13th June 2016
The Adventures of Captain Ray Penson 
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