It was short cruise, 7 miles to Ell Cove. It was 3 miles out of Takatz Bay, 3 miles northbound in Chatham and one more mile into Ell Cove. We got there mid-day and we were again by ourselves in the bay. From Sea Ventures perspective, it looks a little small, particularly when you know a storm is coming and you want a fair amount of anchor rode out. But, when we got into the tender we realized how big the bay really is. There is plenty of room for 3-4 boats.
t was cloudy, with occasional showers, so we jumped in the tender to check the area out. Ell Cove was a gem—we had so many great experiences, besides a gale force storm. There was a curious sea lion who kept us company on our trip to Waterfall Cove to the south, and again during the storm. There was a great sandy beach on Chatham we visited where a good-sized creek emptied into the sound. We had a herd of seals entertaining us during our stay. We saw brown bear on the beach and a surprise brown bear swimming by the boat during the storm. There were plenty of eagles, too.
We arrived on a Friday, and by Saturday afternoon the winds were kicking up and Saturday night was long. We ended up keeping an anchor watch because of the wind, and the petiteness of the bay. If we dragged, it would not be long before we could drag into shallows. It was also super dark, so we felt it safest when one of us was oriented to the bay and the entrance area in case immediate action was needed. We had steady winds in the upper teens and low twenties for about 24 hours—Saturday PM to Sunday PM. High gusts in the bay were around 33 knots. We were surprised. We thought, because of all the high hills around us, that we would be in a little cocoon that would avoid the winds, but it just didn’t work that way. Regardless, we weathered the storm fine, the anchor held fast and we enjoyed another fabulous anchorage despite the gale. (Of interest, Ell Cove is the same cove that we cruised to in 2006, when we caught two huge halibut near Peril Strait. We cruised to Ell cove and cleaned and processed those halibut until about 3am!)