It rained steadily all night, and when I periodically awakened, which was frequently, I could feel the boat rocking and the rigging humming due to a steady breeze, which simply refused to settle down. At 6 am I got up and tuned in the NOAA weather channel, and learned that there were small craft warnings out for our area. We wouldn’t be going anywhere today. Slept in instead, and then heated coffee and had coffee and donuts in bed. I think I finally outfoxed that stove, too. I started up the boat motor before turning the stove on, and she fired right up. After a short idle, I turned the outboard off and enjoyed the fully operational stove. Progress.

Unfortunately, our success with the stove didn’t extend to the weather. It has rained steadily for most of the day, hard at times. I did get out with the dinghy and set out the crab trap (no luck however), and then went ashore and met the folks from the power boats tied up to the float. They were warming themselves at the forest service cabin ashore, and I had a nice visit. They were stuck here too, and debating whether to attempt the run back across Behm Channel. They ended up deciding to go in mid afternoon. This worked out well for us, since it opened up space on the float. We pulled the anchor and tied up at the float. This made breaking the dinghy down and stowing it on Chinook much easier. We considered attempting an afternoon run of our own, perhaps as far as Meyers Chuck, but ended up scratching that idea after another listen to the weather report. Winds are supposed to ease up this afternoon, but will continue easing overnight. They will pick up again tomorrow afternoon, but with an early start, and no dinghy to worry about, we should be able to run at fairly high speed (plenty of fuel for this leg), and get past the big water before things get nasty again. At any rate, that’s the plan. So we’ll sit tight, warm, snug, and reasonably dry, enjoy our books and an afternoon cocktail, with a great rice/salmon dinner in the offing. Let it rain, we’re fine, and with hopes for progress tomorrow.