The tent was shaking when the 5am alarm went off. A look outside confirmed the wind had pulled an all nighter and was at least 20 knots. No point in getting up early for that so we went back to sleep until 8am. The sea was all full of white caps so I turned my alarm off. 11 delicious hours of sleep later I emerged into a sunny, windy day. The gusts must have been at least 35 knots and it’s not dropped below a bracing hold-onto-your-hat blow all day. It’s been great to catchup on sleep after not getting enough recently, phone familyand friends and eat delicious things like pancakes and falafels. We braved a walk in “bear country” to find water. The landscape here is mostly low grass and mosses, none of the thick alder bushes that we’ve started to see in lots of places. The long range visibility made us happier venturing a few miles to look for a river. In the end our steam was dry and we walked all the way back to not much more than a puddle in the dried up bed. But the view s were
well worth it. We could see a fishing boat sheltering in the next small bay and beyond that the string of flat topped islands that stretch like steeping stones across the 12 mile Wide Bay. Hopefully we’ll hop between them tomorrow.