Hello all.  Internet access has been sparse and we've had many adventures since my last posting.  I'll try to be brief and am hopeful I can upload a photo or two.

We are currently in Bella Bella/Shearwater getting fuel, water, ice and groceries and catching up on laundry.  We've noticed that days at a dock are exhausting, because we have 5 or 6 hours of chores that require multiple trips up and down the docks and we can't necessarily time things for high tide!  So lots of steep climbs with heavy loads.  Water is particularly problematic--we don't carry much and so far nearly every chance to fill the tanks requires toting 5 gallon jugs from some distant place.  Today we've borrowed a wheel barrow from the grocery store and the bar is graciously allowing us to fill from their filtered water supply as there is no potable water at the marina proper. We collected rainwater during some torrential downpours last week--I'm sure that rainwater hair wash I had would have cost a fortune at a spa!

Our most exciting day was rounding Cape Caution--an endeavor requiring serious planning and patience as one waits for the right tides, currents, wind predictions and sea conditions at a variety of weather reporting stations.  We experienced some uncomfortable swells, but all four boats did fine.  We stayed that day and the next at Pruth Bay, where we had a fabulous hike out to the ocean side of the island (don't have my charts up here in the laundry, so I can't remember the name).  Most of us are, like me, very interested in plants and animals, so we've had great fun consulting our various reference books and computer apps to identify species we've not seen before, like the beautiful red-throated loon and the black-bellied plover (I think--the book is at the boat!).  The eagles are becoming more plentiful and larger--we seen some truly huge ones.  Only one bear sighting so far--a black, too far away from our anchorage for really good viewing.

We've continued to eat well--although with less fresh fruits and vegetables.  I was pretty excited to find a decent selection in the store here.  So far we've consumed 5 crab and 58 prawn (yes, we are counting).  One of our group caught a few bottom fish, but so far we've not done much fishing.  Rainy days mean baking and I'm pretty sure I've gained some weight from the peach crisp, peanut butter, chocolate chip, and chocolate fudge cookies, banana cake and apple cake--just to name a few of the items shared among the boats.

There's no doubt this experience will sharpen my appreciation for the "comforts of home," but any discomforts are well worth the privilege of seeing this beautiful area of British Columbia.  We'll be here, on what is called the "Central Coast", for another week or two until we cross the border and enter SE Alaska.

I am going to post this text and then try a second post with some photos.