Day 22 - The really heavy crab pot

We had just anchored in the “toe” of Lady Boot bay off the Northwest side of Eden Island.  I had thrown the 2 traps over the side away from the boat when we set the anchor and I noticed after dinner that I couldn’t see one of the traps.  


Sure enough the tide in the bay was swinging us into the traps and the trap was caught in the rudder….I’m not going in again….luckily it came off easily and I got Roman to start pulling the trap in.  He was complaining about how heavy the trap was and was it usually this heavy and I said “it’s a light trap, pull harder”.  Roman said there must be a hundred crabs in there. But I went to try and Jesus it was like pulling up…an anchor chain….our anchor chain now tangled in the trap….the second one was even worse with Patti needing to give us a hand and a razor sharp jagged piece of metal and stainless steel flotsam that had added to the tangled mess.  At one point roman had his feet braced on the anchor winch to stop me from going overboard trying to lift the anchor chain. Yet another bandaid. Another trace for the day. 


After we had recovered, I started the engines and re laid the anchor.  5 to one we end up with half a car body tomorrow when we try to hoist it.


Another lesson learned, drop crab traps well away from the swinging radius of the chain.  Luckily we caught it early or I would have been swimming with the dull kitchen knife in my mouth again. 


With no groceries at Sullivan Bay save a dozen eggs and some orange juice, our day became a re-provisioning day necessitating a 3.5 hour run across an unbelievably calm Queen Charlotte straight to Port McNeil where we took on another 250L of diesel to top up our tanks for the run back to Home port.  We are getting good at this now with a fuel, water, ice, take out lunch, Grocery, fishing tackle run in under 90 minutes.


We bought a bottle of wine for the couple in Nanaimo whose transmission disintegrated in their Grand Banks 32, a small solace for what will probably be a 2 week and $10-15 boat buck repair ($1,000 is a boat buck as most repairs can’t be done for under $1,000).  We had met them at the dock at Sullivan Bay just before their tow to Port McNeil last night.  Our “trace” we left today.


We left Port McNeil for another wonderful run in sunshine, calm seas and light winds over to the Archipelago of small islands that line the rim of Blackfish Sound, a series of wind-swept rocky outcrops clearly shaped by the winds and waves that crash into their shores, thankfully not today. 


Patti found a description of the cove that is indeed shaped like a lady’s boot, to my eye possibly a Fluevog and we are anchored here safe from the Northwestly predicted to blow tonight with a fishing boat for company. 


Augmented by some groceries, the rock cod Roman caught yesterday, the three large prawns we caught this morning and the 2 rock crabs were transformed into a Louisiana style Seafood Boil, possibly the best meal one could have for an inside passage trip.


Full tanks Port McNeil, 3.5 hours running, 147L used, 988L remaining main tanks, 23 hours range 


And to all those on the fickle seas - safe travels. 


Crib score: Patti 6, Captain 3, Roman 1


People have been asking for recipes so this is the first Recipe attached for our chef-on-board’s Chili Oil peanut noodle dish that we have enjoyed at least twice.  I myself preferred the version with the bucatini noodles but that’s just personal preference. 













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