It stopped raining this morning. Everything is still wet and the low cloud persists, but not as low as yesterday and in the afternoon it cleared to high cloud and finally the sun popped out for half an hour.
I could not believe that in had to stop for a deer crossing again today. The deer was swimming across the Surveyor Channel and cut straight in front of me. When I walked up to the bow to take a photo he saw me and put on a bit of a spurt, deer can swim pretty fast. A local told me they do this all the time, either to get fresh pasture or escape predators such as wolves.
The next surprise was a Sea lion popping up right next to the boat as the deer was still swimming away. The Sea Lion looked at me, rolled over and disappeared. A little further on I motored up slowly to a sea otter who was sleeping on the surface, just as I was alongside he woke up, did the double take and crash dived. All this was in Portlock Harbour, its alive with wildlife.
By low water I arrived at the entrance to Mirror Harbour, the closest anchorage to White Sulphur Hot Pools. I met an American yacht anchored off, he didn’t want to go inside as there are many rocks and he had been advised not to enter. I decided to have a look and entered slowly between the breakers, the passage is narrow and full of rocks, usually marked by kelp.
I managed to get past the first part and found that the entrance to Mirror Harbour was blocked at low water, so had to back out. I then took a side turn into the West Arm where a guy I met in Warm Springs managed to anchor. As I crept in I found a rock with the keel.
Thankfully, I was doing less than a knot, but it’s a nasty feeling touching bottom, especially a rocky bottom. After this experience I anchored to launch the dinghy and take some soundings at the entrance to Mirror Harbour. I found that at high water slack it would be possible to enter through a narrow section.
However, once inside there would be no exit until another high water slack and I didn’t want to risk the entrance or be confined to a small pool. So, I picked up anchor and headed out as there was not enough swinging room where I had anchored to stay overnight.
During my trip in the dinghy the outboard started slowing down. I checked the cooling outlet and the water coming out was hotter than usual, a short time later I stopped the motor as it was overheating, sizzling is the word. I don’t know why as the cooling water was running OK. I will read the manual but it doesn’t look good at the moment.
Anyway, after all this excitement I motored around to Porcupine Cove and anchored next to a waterfall. I was hoping there would be a trail from Porcupine Cove to White Sulphur Hot Springs which is about 2 km south. I can’t find any trail and as the outboard is out of action it looks like I won’t make the hot pools. I am very disappointed.
To console myself I cracked open my last can of Lighthouse Brewing Extra Special Bitter. It has travelled well.
I feel very isolated this evening, there are no other boats around, the swell from the Pacific is entering the anchorage and gently lifting the boat. It’s a reminder that there is a vast ocean just outside the anchorage. Total voyage distance 1,302.8 miles.
Logged 27th June 2016
The Adventures of Captain Ray Penson 
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