We enjoyed Fiordland so much we decided to head towards Toba Inlet, which on the charts looks like a narrow fjord with tall mountains on each side, just like Kynloch.
We used Walsh Cove Provincial Marine Park as our launching point. Walsh Cove is one of the rare anchorages in this region of deep fjords, and very popular with the locals. It is not all that big so most boats use stern ties.
I am not a huge fan of stern ties. Enfin is 25MT and we haven't set it up that way, though we have done it when no other options were possible. I don't like bringing our big prop close to shore if I don't have to.
We anchored in the deeper middle, trusting our windlass, and in the afternoon a number of boats came in, around the periphery. I can only imagine how busy this place must be in the summer.
We were close to an island, so took the dinghy there to let Princess roam. For once we could let her off leash. This is so rare and always such a treat for us to see her running around.
The weather forecast was for calm winds overnight, but I was woken up early by the chain gently dragging on the rocky bottom.
I woke Di up, and she took Princess ashore in the dinghy while I stayed on board to keep an eye on things and move the boat if needed.
Each small gust had the boat move back a foot or two. Nothing major, but it wasn't comfortable. I kept an eye on things while Di dealt with the dinghy and Princess. I prepared the boat, checking the engine and getting the pilothouse ready.
As soon as they got back I fired the engine up, raised the dinghy on deck and started recovering the anchor. Di finished securing the tender on deck and clearing up the cockpit and fenders.
Other boats around us were leaving too. The winds weren't all that strong in the cove but the rocky bottom doesn't make for a great anchorage.
As we got out we found winds of about 30 knots. We headed up into Toba Inlet and were treated to a a beautiful scenery.
Luckily the winds died within the hour, and we were once again cruising in prefect weather with bright sunshine, blue skies and calm waters.
Di wanted to take the watch for a while, so I grabbed a comfortable spot on the forecastle.
We had a great day exploring the inlet. Since there are so few anchorages there we headed back out, stopping in Squirrel Cove for the night.
Squirrel Cove is nothing special after all the beautiful anchorages we've been to these past months, but we anchored close to the public dock (they don't accept transients) and were able to walk ashore easily and get a few things at the local general store.
We're off to Desolation Sound Provincial Marine Park.