Getting up Johnstone Straight was now just a game of hammering off the miles.  With no wind we knew the key was to travel only with the Ebb to get the current to push us.  We checked the tables and realised that unfortunately the tide turned at 03:40 next and so resigned ourselves to an early start.  Not wanting to leave in the dark though, we set our alarm for 04:45.  We were quickly up and away by 5:00 before the first cup of tea had even been drunk.  The rest of the morning we just pounded on the miles, trying to stay in the fastest current.  With few places to pull in, we crossed our fingers and counted off the few spots we could have stopped at.  It was with some relief that we reached Hanson Island about 20 minutes after the tide had turned. 

We pulled round the north side of the island and tucked into a favourite spot when we were last here, Spout Cove.  We stopped the engine and enjoyed the peace and quiet now we were finally back in the Broughtons.   The tide was due to turn again at 16:00 and so we settled down to plan our next leg, thinking that we would probably only get as far as Piort McNeil, to restock.  Heidi spent time poring over the charts and wesather forecasts though and realised that we really needed to get as high as we could as there was an ideal weather window opening to go round the top. As we pulled up the anchor we therefore made the rash decision to go round the top of Malcolm island and head straight for Port Hardy, new territory for us.  This was a big risk as we could have ended up pulling into a new harbour at night!.  As we set off though our confidence was high as we were sustaining 6 knots which is what we needed to get there in daylight.   As we turned the corner at the north of Malcolm island we were dismayed therefore when we find ourselves fighting current and 15 knots of wind on the nose and only making 4 knots.  We were by now committed though and carried on.  Within half an hour thankfully the current reversed and we were back at 7 knots.  In another hour we were cruising through dead calm seas into a setting sun.  A few uneventful hours later, we pulled into Port Hardy after another long day, but now perfectly poised for our foray onto the 'other side' of the island