Up pre dawn, we weighed anchor at 06:30 and set course in 15 kts and lumpy seas. The day was overcast and unattractive and as the day progressed the winds increased to 25 kts + and the seas, small though they were, steepened as opposing tidal flows reached over 1 kt +. Even so, we made good progress with speeds that were to actually touch 9 kts across the ground, at one point late in the day but not without some challenging conditions.
As we rounded Cape Upstart, I expected to find easier conditions in the lee but this was not to be. Tide driven I suspect, the waves picked up and as the winds accelerated around the Cape we had just under 30 kts and following waves that rolled Pilgrim well off heading and plunging her bow underwater from time to time. Yee Ha! Not to paint too bad picture, the boat handled quite well and Paul did a good job on the helm. But, we did enjoy the relative calm when we finally reached the anchorage just inside Upstart Bay. I say relative as the winds still managed 25 kts bullets once at anchor but so far she has held well and I hope for a good night sleep.
The other high light of the day was a number of whale sighting which, in the conditions we had, are hard to see amongst the white caps and waves but a particularly good one was of mother and calf at very close quarters but once again, we missed the shot. I did however, manage a couple of shots from a later and more distant sighting.
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