Log Entry: Sunday, May 30th, 1999

Eek Inlet to North Bay: 21.5 nm

Rain.

This was the day we were going to stop in Hydaburg. As we approached Hydaburg, the wind picked up, and the current was very strong, and visibility was hampered by rain and low cloud cover. The autopilot wasn’t working, so was down below, relaying directions to Jane in the cockpit. She appeared to be heading straight for a buoy!! I came up on deck, and she wasn’t heading for a buoy at all! Jane went below, and started relaying instructions to me, and started getting agitated about where I was headed!! We quickly decided:

1. The buoys on the chart didn’t match the buoys in the water;
2. Hydaburg wasn’t worth a stop in the weather we were having;
3. If we didn’t react soon, we would be in 3 feet of water!!

We aborted our approach, and forgot about the buoys on the chart, and used only the depth markings on the chart, plus the buoys actually in the water, to sort out where we were supposed to be headed. Later that evening, we realized that the electronic chart for Hydaburg that we had been using was out of date, and that we actually had a more recent one!! We reviewed all the charts for the remainder of the trip, to ensure that we were using the most up-to-date versions …

The weather is getting to me. It seems forever since we last saw the sun!!   Today I was chilled, couldn’t get my hands warm …

No one else in the anchorage …

We decided to put out the traps: the crab trap we dropped right beside the boat, but the prawn trap we took way back out to the entrance to the bay. We decided to leave them in until the following morning.

Excerpt from Jane's log:

"Spotted some porpoises and a sea lion after Nichol's Island.  The sea lion had a great big salmon in this mouth: I envied him his dinner ..

"Ian had a seal follow him as he rowed back from retrieving the prawn trap; a kid goat was walking across Canoe Pass as we left Eek Inlet."