During our rest day at Blind Channel we worked out our route south through the various channels to Desolation Sound. We knew that we didn't want to just go back through Seymour Narrows and so after much discussion we decided to go back through Okisollo Channel and Surge Narrows. Looking at some of the videos on youtube could have put us off a little but we were feeling a bit more confident after almost six weeks travelling

On Friday morning we sadly left Blind Channel wondering when, or if we would be back and motored down to Johnstone Strait where we picked up a pleasant following wind. We sailed down the strait with wind and tide with us passing the places of our big adventure on the way north wondering what all the fuss was about and then dropped into Okisollo Sound. Having had such a great sail we were going to be early at the upper rapids and so we dropped into Chanot Bay for lunch. A very pleasant bay but with the drizzle not too inspiring! AS we got closer to slack tide, we pulled back out and went to the north of Okis Island to avoid the worst of the upper rapids. We knew that we were not going to be able to make the lower rapids and so pulled into Own Bay; a very narrows entrance but once in the bay was well protected although there didn't appear any shoreline that was not private property with many houses around the bay. The weather was definitely dreary with low cloud and rain but we got the shelter up and snuggled in for a pleasant evening.

The next morning the weather was still foggy and wet. We sat around most of the day but got bored so decided to head out to take the lower rapids at the next slack. As we headed into the rapids We were surrounded by the ominous rumbling of thunder which added to the sense of foreboding. Even though we hit the rapids at slack water we were still pushed around alot by the water, especially as it flowed out of hole-in-the-wall, but we made it through with some deft helming from Heidi. We then wiggled through the tight entrance into the massive Waiatt Bay, which we shared with over 25 boats. The bay was big enough but we realised we had probably got past the isolation of Northern Vancouver Island now; a change that we were ready for. We anchored to the north of the bay near Octopus islands, a very pretty spot

The next day we were aiming to run Surge Narrows (another rather forbidding pinch). We left about 2 hours before slack expecting to be able to cruise slowly down. As ever though, when we gave ourselves plenty of time, tide and wind pushed us fast down towards the rapids and we ended up sailing around in circles to slow down. Heading through the channel we were the lead of about 15 boats going through. The channel was very narrow but we succesfully negotiated the slot with little current.

South of the narrows we ended up in a bit of a regatta with 5 other boats all sailing down Hoskyn Channel in very pleasant weather. After another hour or so we flew into Drew Harbour at over 7 knots then anchored up by Taku resort. Once we had settled in we went into the resort and walked across to Heriot bay, a vibrant little community with a great pub for lunch in the sun. Heading back to the resort we grabbed a shower and then heaaded back to Heriot Bay for a very pleasant diner at the restaurant.