I love camping in wild places but once we get within 20-30 miles of a community, I start to dream of showers, fried eggs, ice cream and thermals that don’t smell of wee!

We launched this morning to a light favorable wind and a current. Suddenly the idea of reaching the fishing port of King Cove, 30 miles away, seemed like a realistic possibility. We had salami, cheese and dried fruit and nuts on one of my favourite lunch spots so far. Egg island must be named for the dozens of gulls that were nesting on the grassy slope of it’s one compact hill. Barely a mile long, we ate on a gravel spit with a view of the craggy peninsula in all directions, the chatter of gulls and puffins filing our ears. The rocks were dappled white and sure enough one Gull managed to spatter us both with one shot.

The wind disappeared after lunch, the sun came out and we over heated. The current was still giving us a helpful nudge and reaching King cove seemed achievable by about 9pm. We took another snack break on Thin Point, the launch pad for a 10 mile crossing to King cove and all those things we’ve been dreaming of all day. We were surprised by a 15-20 knot wind firing out of the bay to the North. I know different areas have different weather systems but we’d just crossed one 6 mile bay without a breath of wind. We decided to have a go for King cove anyway but we were trying to head slightly into the wind and progress was slow enough that we wouldn’t get there until midnight. Plan B was a 5 mile paddle East to little Fox island. We could sail at this angle and flew along at over 4 knots.

We’re camped up in our smelly thermals hoping that tomorrow we can paddle the final 8-12 miles to King cove (Depending on our route). There are no bears on the island so Sarah’s just enjoyed a hot chocolate in the tent! Camping is still great, the luxuries can wait!