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Not Much Sleep

On Friday morning we were woken up by three loud blasts on a horn which was repeated every minute. All around the area are signs warning that if a tsunami alarm is sounded we should head for the hills but we have no idea what the alarm is, is it three blasts on a horn? Lying in my sleeping bag I searched the internet on my phone, no tsunamis expected but I could not get back to sleep on account of the hooter. It was a fog horn (it was a bit misty) from the local lighthouse, why on earth do they still have fog horns when even the smallest boat has GPS and most have radar and radio navigation. I just annoys the good people of Port McNeill (the local town) and serves no useful purpose.
At the other end of the campsite they had a visit from a bear and it's cub as well as a good sighting of wolves coming down to the river to fish, all we got was more seagulls and logs floating in the water which in the mist look like whales.

Our next nights sleep was no better, we needed to be up by 6am to be collected for an adventure, as a precaution we stayed in a hotel close by the pick up point on Cormorant Island, a very small and supposedly sleepy place. At 2am, 3am and 4am groups of two or three people walked past our bedroom window talking in loud voices so another night without sleep!

We were picked up in the fog in a smallish boat and set off across to the mainland at 25 mph to cruise up an inlet for 50 miles with visibility nil. The whole 50 mile journey was done using radar and GPS, no need for fog horns (above is the same type of boat later in the day in the sunshine and the other picture is the fog as we left harbour). Our destination was a small area which is renowned for grizzly watching and very good it was too. Somehow I imagined we would watch bears eating fresh salmon or hikers judging by all the warning signs in the park but no, all three were eating grass! It was like watching furry cows.

By now the sun had burnt off the fog and it was a glorious sunny day so the 50 mile trip back was great, we even came across a humpbacked whale and got a classic fin picture.

We are staying on the tiny island for three nights so tomorrow will be a rest day exploring the island, we might get to see what is supposedly the tallest totem pole in the world! I bet you can't wait.