The journey south went smoothly with one pleasant surprise along the way. We chose the “outside-inside” route from Prince Rupert along Petrel and Principe Channels. Whale activity in Squally and Whale (I wonder how that name came about) Channels was brisk. During one early morning start to reach a fishing area for the first bite of the day, three or four whales came vertically out of the water 200-300 yards away in a tight column with mouths open gathering their breakfast of herring and other bait fish. Of course no photo was taken as it happened and ended so quickly. Lots of whale tails, however.
While in this area, I received an e-mail from friends Don & Natala saying that they would be flying in their 
float plane (see Echo Bay Aerodrome) in the area exploring lakes on the islands and could I suggest a possible rendezvous. After exchanging several satellite messages and phone calls we managed to work out a time and place. Amazingly, it all worked perfectly as though we had planned and rehearsed it in advance. It is a bit odd to look out the rear doors to the salon and see an airplane propeller 6 feet from your stern. The weather was calm and Don & Natala spent the night flying off the next day while we continued south at a more measured pace.
We fished our usual places along the route and caught six nice silver (aka, coho) salmon for the freezer. Our stay north of Cape Caution was abbreviated by a long range weather forecast for a period of windier conditions which would keep us from rounding Cape Caution. While not having a rigid schedule we weren’t willing to risk a prolonged delay to our journey south. Others had similar concerns as there were more than a dozen pleasure craft transiting Cape Caution along with us.
From here we’ll head into the Broughton’s for a few days before transiting the constrictions south of Johnstone Strait.
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