A picture being worth a thousand word, I'll let this one speak to the beauty of Octopus Bay.
We are in high season, but the bay is very large so that the 10 boats currently there at anchor are more than socially distanced, with each one of us having plenty of space and privacy. For someone who spent time in the crowded anchorages of the Mediterranean this feels very special.
By coincidence our nearest anchorage neighbor is "Lolani" belonging to our friend Ian whom we met when we visited his boat 3 years ago during the Nordhavn Around Pudget Sound meeting in Anacortes. It's good to see old friends and to catch up.
We're back in anchored mode, so the rhythm of our days is centered around Princess' shore walks, running the generator, making water and basic normal life.
A great improvement is that we now have Starlink internet. It is working perfectly here, a place that has no road access nor any telephone reception, yet we have fast and plentiful internet allowing almost normal communications and staying in touch with the world.
Going ashore isn't all that easy since there are no docks, the forest is incredibly dense and extends all the way to the water's edge. Having explored the large bay by tender, it seems there are only a couple of spots where we can step ashore easily onto rocky shores. Then the danger, if the tide is falling, is that the tender ends up beached, so we must be very careful when leaving it.
3 years ago I had devised a simple back and forth using our long tender anchor rope, using a stainless steel carabiner. For the life of me I couldn't figure out how to make it work, and I had to sit down with a pen and pencil to finally get it all back. Still, it's going to take me a few tries to get the hang of setting the anchor at the right distance for the system to work the way it is intended. It's funny to think that 3 years ago, this had become part of our routine shore excursions and we now have to relearn it all.
We've been spoiled with easy dock access for too long. I suspect we won't have many dock access the further North we go.
Our favorite local walk leads to an old abandoned house where boats leave a memento of some sort of their passage. Enfin left a small painted rock we had picked up in Blaine.
As usual Princess is in paradise every time we step ashore, and so far has indicated a racoon, and guided us to a baby mink.
Both Lolani and Enfin will continue North soon. This time I know exactly what time I need to leave for the next pass. In the meantime we'll just enjoy this exceptional place and recharge our batteries, both figuratively and literally.
