It rained for a short time during the night and Matia was mine until dark when a small sailboat came in first, to the buoy and then the dock. It was there when I went to bed about 2230hrs, but gone in the early hours. Since it was an open cockpit perhaps they left when the rain came. I did not hear a peep out of them.
The morning was beautiful and after I blogged some, I took the nice 1 mile hike through the old forest of fir and cedar and looped down to the east beach and over to 2 small coves. The south east wind was blowing about 15 k and white caps were everywhere. When I got back to Rolfe Cove, I still owned the place, but a boat soon came in to anchor, but left without setting the hook. The Sucia shuttle boat stayed about 20 minutes while 3 people went for a walk. There is one boat on the buoy and one on the dock. For 24 hours Miss Matia was mine. The silence was beautiful and only interrupted by the sound of occational waves lapping on the gravel shoreline and the crows, kingfishers and gulls speaking their piece.The sun shining pierced the deep green of the waters so I could see the bottom clearly. What a beautiful day and island.
After lunch and the walk, I took time to look at all my ground tackle and measure widths of rode and chain, as I seemed to always have notes on the lengths. I read more in the West Marine Catalog about their anchoring philosophies. Most of the chain and rode people, who cruise BC, that I have spoken with have 300ft of rode.
I'll spend another night here as it is such a safe haven and decide my next step in the morning. I'm loving Matia more and more and I have been here numerous times, but for some reason, I am seeing it with new eyes and I like what I see. It is certainly the place to be in a southeaster.
 |
| East Cove |
 |
| Lummi in the distance |
 |
| Jelly Fish |
 |
| lightning strike |
 |
| hand reaching into the gravel |
 |
| small south cove Orcas Isl in distance |
 |
| falling leaves |
 |
| looking south to Orcas |
 |
| My favorite picture of Shatoosh this trip. How perfect is this scene? Me and Matia |
 |
| I pull this kelp out from the dock by Shatoosh and relocate it |
 |
| kelp in water looking from top of dock |
