Al and Sandy aboard Marova

The trip to Winter Harbour was uneventful even though we stopped for an hour to try our hand at fishing.  Boats around us were catching fish but alas our limited fishing skills were not enough fool the fish there.  Winter Harbour was once a center of the busy trolling fleet and after that a sports fishing center, today its is VERY quiet with maybe 20 sport fishing boats and the odd cruiser of which we were one of three present.  We wanted to walk the boardwalk and decided to moore on the dock to support the local facilities, besides that SE was going to blow through.  Here we met Al and Sandy aboard Marova and Fraser 41.  Al had in previous years done a circle through the South Pacific returning via Japan and now were doing a little shake down cruise before heading south to Mexico and the Caribbean.  We truly enjoyed their company and listening to cruising stories over the occasional drink!  The wind a Solander on the end of Brooks Peninsula  (windiest headland on Vancouver Island) was supposed to switch back to NW in the morning so we would leave for Columbia Cove to spend a few days.

Josh holding his Red Snapper, Yummmm!

The next morning heading out of Quatsino with Marova we were surprised to find glassy seas. In fact it was flat calm all the way to Solander.  We took the opportunity to get up close for a look at that rugged headland and give Josh a chance to fish.  Not only was the Solander a beautiful site but in 15 min we caught a Coho Salmon, Red Snapper and a large rock cod.  Whales we feeding off the bow of our boat while all this was going on!  Almost on cue the NW started and we sailed off around the corner to enjoy a salmon feast with the Marova crew.