With only water to top off, we got away quickly and straight line motored to Matia. Ae arrived at low tide and anchored between the dock and the 1st buoy -everyone was already in for the night. There was a sailboat on the shore side of the dock only drawing 5', but he was not about to slide back to accommodate us.
A tight anchorage with a gravel bottom and toilet bowl current, were in the quiet spot, but w/a low tide @ 0315, I got up around 0145 to adjust and check. I could feel the dragging of chain across the gravel, and with the increased breeze and building current I was concerned of our set. Knowing I wouldn't be sleeping much anyway, I opted to stay up. I fired up iSailor track swing/movement; while we seemed deep -bone taunt rode at times- it confirmed we were holding firm. Because of wildly differing swing patterns w/the boat on the nearest buoy, I remained on watch till our pattern alignments settled in at around 0500.
Aug. 26 Blakely Isl. Marina
Helped by tide, we made good time down to the turn @ Orcas. They put us into slip A16; almost straight in(!). We enjoyed an ice-cream in the afternoon, and donuts to start us off in the morning. While our first choice was Rosario, it was full, but this alternative was just fine.
Aug. 27 Deer Harbor
Today was a straight forward transit. I knew we had taken Pole Pass in the Macgregor years ago, but couldn't remember any details. It was straight forward and we were practically turning into DH upon exiting the pass. We fuelled up then went in to D18, our assigned slip. Our assignment -over on the 45' slip side, reminded us of being on BoB amongst all the 'bigger' boats. Had a chance to scope out a J/122 (a couple of good ideas for the C&C 110 I crew on) and talk to the owner a bit. Witnessed and assisted in a couple of bad docking recoveries, and went for Pizza at the same romanian girl was working. She was heading to Victoria & Vancouver the next day, so gave her a loonie and a twoonie -along with an explanation of what they were :^)
Aug. 28 Shallow Bay, Sucia
Originally we took the buoy closest to the green can -which tends to be significantly more 'rolly' than others. So of course, after getting settled and quickly ashore for a picnic lunch on the beach, the next buoy over became available. So we left our stuff on the beach, zipped back out and shifted buoys, and returned back to the beach for a couple more hours of lounging.
Aug. 29 Home to PRM
Todays weather, although light winded, was preferred by Lisa if we were to consider sailing (waking the next day, it was definitely the better choice). The opening leg was made interesting by a 90° offset in perceived heading by our MFD. It positioned us correctly, but could not use routing/auto pilot because of it. It was no big deal, but with the fog reduced visibility (1-2m), I was glad the radar portion was functioning properly! Lisa helmed (well!) much of the time. When we got an extend 4-6 kt. off our stern quarter, she even said yes to popping the chute. Once I got her comfortable with helming the chute (no difference really, except her confidence in being able to do so), I talked her through the inherent differences then jibed. All was good. Half way through the trip, we had a family of 3 Orcas come straight past us -the lead dive as they approached our starboard quarter and came up just past our towed dinghy. Lisa got some great video!
As we approached PRM we dropped the spin a little early to allow a little extra time to clean up the deck. As the wind clocked, we sailed the pit close hauled, round up near the breakwater to drop sails, and that was that.