WE BEGIN OUR VOYAGE SOUTH TOWARDS FRIDAY HARBOR, WA ON SEPTEMBER 10TH

After our family left we completed our maintenace and provisioning. We had our 25 hp outboard motor mounted back on the dinghy and completed our final preparations for the our voyage south to Friday Harbor and Sidney. A day before we were to leave the weather changed and it blew 25 to 40 knots all day and all night for 3 days. Finally on September 10th our weather window opened up to a spectacular cloudless, sunny, warm day. We departed Port McNeill at 11 AM to ride the tide to our destination of Port Neville. Along Johnstone Strait near Robson Bight we saw a pod of Orcas near the shoreline. I hurried to the bow with camera in hand and photographed a beautiful female breaking away from her pod and swimming towards us and then under our boat. I was so excited I knocked my sunglasses off my head and they fell into the water. We watched her until she rejoined her pod and they swam out of sight. We continued toward our destination breathing in the wonderful weather and scenery. We arrived at Port Neville at about 5 PM.