Exploring Cathedral Point and Arriving at Bella Coola

The next morning was still rainy. We braved it all anyway and suited up in our most impenetrable clothing. We rowed the dinghy to a nearby beach and hiked up to explore a weather station at the head of the cove. It turned out that there was no trail, but we pushed through the wet foliage anyway and found a helipad and fiberglass capsule large enough to hold two chairs and some equipment. Oddly it wasn't locked so we sat inside to test it out.

Some of the surprises we discovered on our hike.

 

A view of our boat from the weather station perch, in Cathedral Cove.

 

Some of the beautiful rock cliffs that characterized this part of Burke Channel. After our morning exploration we were back to cruising. Roughly 30 nmi later we arrived at Bella Coola. The wind had come up and the tides had done us little good. Arriving at the harbor we had a harrowing time finding a slip. The guest moorage was located well inside the marine, past many boats and docks, near shore in shallow water. Upon arriving we discovered there was no space large enough for us. The wind was pushing us hard, making the boat want to drift into other vessels or up onto shore. Alden was self-possessed and handled it all well, but any less of a captain would have had us smashed into shore (thank goodness I wasn't driving!). We got out of that predicament and had to hustle to move ropes and bumpers to the other side of the boat to make a landing at a slip at the entrance with the fishing boats. It was all very exciting and terrifying and we were both a little relieved to be tied in. We used all our ropes to secure the boat since the winds were so bad and the waves were coming in past the breakwater, keeping us rocking.

 

Safe at harbor! We rode our bikes into town, happy to be pedaling along under our own power, which seemed so effortless and quiet after all our time piloting the boat. The local store was just closing and we grabbed some items as they started turning off the lights. Back on the boat we settled down to a cozy evening.

A well-deserved reward!