After a horrible night at anchor in the  high wind close to the park entrance, we make it into Bartlett Cove, at the Head-Quarters for our orientation session. We now know to stay away from a lot of places and wildlife.

It is still very windy and rainy and we are overtired due to the cacophony last night of all the chain noises, ropes banging, and waves crashing on the hull and heavy raindrops pounding on the hatches. The winds really got up in the non- existent shelter at Pleasant Island. However, the park would not let us spend the night at Bartlett Cove, so we had to suffer through an all-nighter, pretty much on constant anchor watch.

Nothing that can’t be fixed without a hearty breakfast of bacon and eggs though and we were on our way sailing to South Marble island, a nice way to slip quietly near wildlife. The Island is a preserve within the park and no one can land. It is also mandatory to stay 100 yards from mammals and 50 yards from birds.

We abode by all that and still got pretty amazing glimpses of the sea-lions and the puffins. We also saw many sea otters lying on their backs in the water, harder to photograph as they are half submerged and hidden by the waves.

A great treat for our first day in the park not counting a black bear on the beach in the cove and a nice paddle around  Puffin Island.

The views were  quite grey and white, and of rain clouds showering  their content on our heads or close by.