22nd June. Blue Mouse Cove to Fingers Bay. 30 Miles

We left Blue Mouse cove to go and explore Tidal Inlet. As we entered the inlet we spotted a grizzly bear running away across the tidal flats. We watched him for a few minutes before he disappeared into the bushes.

As we crossed Glacier bay I saw a fast boat make a turn towards us. I let out a sigh as we realized it was probably some sort of officialdom wanting to display their prowess and exert their power. Sure enough the binoculars confirmed that it was a US coast guard launch. They sped towards us, turned on their flashing lights and we slowed down to be boarded. We have heard horror stories of the damage that the coast guard can do to boats so we took extra precautions and deployed extra fenders. They boarded and checked our documentation, survival equipment, flare expiry dates, holding tanks and fire extinguishers. We were then advised that that we would not be getting a warning. – Nice of them since we were in full compliance. That is the third time on this trip that we have been stopped by officials. It must be the flag.

 

Ben fending off bergies

The water really is this colour

It's a big one...

 We stopped off at the spot where Sandy previously caught her Halibut to try our luck again, but luck was not with us this time and we lost a couple of lures to what we believe were  huge halibut. We continued on our way to Fingers bay crossing a bar with conflicting information on two sets of charts I have: one showing the bar extending south and one showing it extending south. We crossed it at high tide, dead slow and with Jude on the bow watching for shoal areas. I believe that the correct chart should have the bar extending south with a narrow channel of about 45ft depth.   

We dropped the hook in the southern arm of the northern bay in about 40ft of water and were immediately rewarded with a grizzly bear sighting on the shore. We launched the kayaks and Amber and Ben went for a viewing. They watched the bear until it disappeared into the forest and about 10 minutes later a black bear appeared on the shore for them to watch. 

Amber and Ben bear watching