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13:30 We waved goodby to Dan as we pulled the hook and headed out of Friday again. Had a beer and the rest of our prawns for lunch on the way to Stewart Island and Prevost Harbor. Lots of boats out on this beautiful Sunday afternoon.
15:00 Anchored in Prevost. Put out the crab pot then went to work changing Gimmy's oil. Managed to do it this time without spilling any. When I finished we checked the pot...only one small male which we threw back.
08:00 Pulled in our anchor...had to wash it down this time...and headed out. Decided to fish our way across to Bedwell. No fish, but we had a pod of Dall's Porpoise play with us for a long spell. They are sure pretty with their white bellies and black backs, and so lively. You sometimes wonder if they are going to jump aboard.
09:30 Bedwell Harbor. They've built a marina since last we were here in 1987, a long dock with lots of finger slips. We tied to the customs dock while I went up and checked in. No problems. The young man in the office asked questions and poked the data into his computer. Didn't even ask about booze, with which we are over supplied, and didn't bother to come down to the boat. Entry number: D3998 I10
10:00 On our way again. Ran around to the east side of Pender Island, through Plumper Sound and Navy Channel, past Action Pass, and into Montegue Harbor.
12:30 Anchored in Montegue. They've put in a bunch of mooring buoys here at the marine park but want $5.00 per night for using them. No need for that when we've got a good hook. It was another beautiful sunny day, and warm, in the high seventies; so we ran Stormy over to the park dock and took a walk around the park. It's pretty nice with many camping and picnic sites plus a large shelter with cooking facilities. Gabriola is accessible by car ferry so this is probably a busy park in the summer. There's a fine white sand and clamshell beach on the north side of the park where we watched kids playing in the water. Lots of tiny fish in the water and an eagle was fishing right behind our boat. Very nice anchorage.
10:30 Dodd Narrows. Not quite as much current this time as the last, but this time we were towing Stormy. Somehow, I didn't see it happen, a wave filled him full of water as we came through the whirlpools and we found ourselves dragging a very heavy ding. Had to stop, pump him out, then pull the drain plug and go slow for a while until the water ran out. Guess we'll only tow when we're sure we won't have rough water.
12:00 Anchored at Newcastle. On the way in we made a pass by the Nanaimo Harbour City Marina to see how our friend Ron was doing with his dry dock. The big new tanks were gone from the parking lot where he'd been working on them but there is no sign of change to the dock itself. It's still empty and leaning rather precariously on the old tanks. It's a month to the day from when we first arrived in Nanaimo expecting to be here only a week. Good thing we gave up and went back to Port Townsend.
In the afternoon we ran over to town, Lois got her hair cut, I bought a couple of charts, and we walked up to the mall for an ice cream cone. Later we came back and tuned the old radar. Now we're ready for any fog that might come along with two working machines.
07:30 We bid Bill goodby and headed out the channel. They were reporting 20 knots of wind at the Ballinas. We never got any but there was still enough slop left over from the earlier blow to make us deploy the Flopper-stoppers as soon as we got out of the lee of the island. The seas were coming straight up the gulf which put them on our beam but with one fish in the water we rode okay.
09:30 Across the Strait of Georgia and headed up Malaspina. Seas on our stern now and riding smoothly. We'd been heading for Pender Harbor but decided to go on.
12:00 Anchored in a neat little nook between three un-named islands in Blind Bay. It's a bit deep, 50 feet plus on a rocky bottom, but what a pretty spot. Eagles circling and screaming as we dropped the hook. We were right at low tide so we got down Stormy and I went exploring. In ten minutes I was back for the bucket and rake...there is a really great oyster and clam bed on the neck between two of the islets. In about fifteen minutes I had us another couple of meals. Didn't do so good at fishing though... got one good bite as I first dropped a hook baited with clam then nothing. Later, when it stopped raining for a while Lois came with me while we circled the islands. Some kind of aquaculture on the other side, and several houses on the mainland shore. Our little bay looks to be the best around.
09:15 We pull a nice, clean chain and anchor from the rocky bottom. Sounder showing 75 feet this morning at high tide. The range is getting big enough to make you really pay attention. Out of the bay there were three to four foot seas running in the strait so, to save rocking and rolling we headed into it until we were half way across; then it was a downhill ride for the 13 miles to Powell River, or actually Westview where the marina and most of the businesses are located.
11:30 We poked our nose into the marina, made one pass at a spot on the float which was too small for us, got turned around with the help of a guy on the dock, and rafted to a big trawler. Only after we had gotten safely tied did the Coast Guard cutter which had been tied to the float right behind us crank up and head out leaving a nice opening for us. So we moved again.
Finally settled, we walked up the dock, checked in and paid the mooring fee, $21.20 Canadian, then called to see if the friends we'd met in Mexico were home. Yep, Alice answered the phone and said they'd be right down to get us. Joe showed up a few minutes later and we spent the afternoon visiting and touring Powell River with the Blaises. It's a bigger city than I'd remembered...Joe guesses about 20,000..., about the same size as Port Alberni. It's spread out along the hill above Malaspina Strait for several miles and in spite of cutbacks in the lumbering industry is still growing according to Joe. Retirees he says. It's a pretty town with lots of parks and the finest recreation center I've ever seen. It has two ice rinks, a huge indoor swimming pool, a beautifully equipped gymnasium, a theater and several auditoriums and work rooms. We also drove out to Powell Lake where Lois and I had ridden our bikes six years ago. It's a thirty mile long lake much like Coeur d'Alene which is dammed to produce power for the paper mill.
Glad we weren't depending on our bikes today. It rained most of the day, a constant heavy mist which once in a while turned to a heavy downpour. Good day for visiting. Tomorrow's supposed to be better.
08:45 Backed off the dock and out the entrance and started fishing as soon as we cleared the ferry landing. Lots of fishermen out here this morning but no fish, at least for us. Got a few indications on the sounder but never saw a net out on any boat.
10:00 Fished past the paper mill's line of Liberty ships and gave up. Those ships are quite a sight, ten ferro-cement ships tied end-to-end in about 150 feet of water to form a breakwater for log storage. They look in pretty good shape for 1940 ships. The story is that they are still water tight and getting more so every year.
11:00 Stopped to fish again off Sarah Point where there were a dozen or more boats fishing. Made one two way pass but got no strike and saw no fish caught.
12:00 Into Squirrel Cove. The book says it's a good idea to have an anchor trip here because the bottom is littered with old logging cables and logs so I tied a line with a float on it to the top of the plow. We had no trouble when we were here before but no harm in taking precaution. It was right at low tide so we dumped Stormy in the water, grabbed a bucket and went exploring. Didn't have to look far to find another oyster and clam beach. We picked just enough for another feed and went on with our tour. At the far end of the cove we stumbled on a sight which greeted the first white men that ever came here back in 1792. Archibald Menzies, surgeon-botanist of the H.M.S. Discovery described it like this:
Seeing a large stream of water rushing down ot of the Woods we landed close by to it to take some refreshment, not in the least expecting not that it was fresh water, till we tasted it & found to our great surprise that it was saltish. This led us to trace it to its source and found that it came from a Lake in the Wood which was apparently filled by the impetuous force with which the Tide rushes into these narrow Inlets, but the same impelling force not acting upon its return it continued pouring out at a narrow gap a more gradual stream during the recess of the Tide which at this time had fallen from it about twelve feet perpendicular height.
We too, walked up the rocky stream bed the hundred yards or so to the "Lake in the Woods" which is half a mile or more long, almost as big as the cove itself; and, at high tide we went back again. This time the water was rushing the other way, refilling the pretty lagoon. We could have easily run through in Stormy but it was 8:00 PM and we didn't know how long it would be before we could have gotten back...the stream was too fast for paddling and not deep enough to run the motor.
Fried oysters again for dinner, and we still have clams and oysters for a couple of meals. And Joe and Alice gave us a package of salmon so we're well fixed for seafood. Now if we can just catch our own.
09:00 Hook up. Didn't need our anchor trip, just the hose to wash down the muddy chain and anchor. Out of the cove and up Teakerne Arm, one of the few places we'd missed on our '86 visit. It was worth the trip. It's only a couple of miles deep and at the end there is a spectacular cascade where a river of water from Casset Lake falls about 50 feet into the inlet. There's no place to anchor but the park service has put a small float and ramp there, a bit too small for the SEA RAVEN so we didn't go ashore. I think the view from the water is better anyway.
On the way out we fished for an hour...nothing until I gave up and started to haul in the lines. Then a small ling cod grabbed the hook. Better than nothing. Ran up Lewis Channel to Deer Passage, swung past Redonda Bay...not much to see and doesn't look like a very good anchorage, then across and around the Rendezvous Islands and back to Raza Island. There was a skiff fishing off Raza Point so we stopped and threw in the lines there. Still no luck until I gave up and started idling our way across the channel toward Francis Bay where Lois, who had been reading the books, had decided she wanted to stay for the night. Bam, a fish on...nice little "Spring" as they call the small Chinook in this country. It hit a green and while hoochie behind a green edged flasher with only a 6 ounce weight. Couldn't have been more than 30 feet down. We fished on across and hooked another on the same rig...bigger of course because it threw the hook before I could set it. Then along the shore just west of Francis Bay the other line went zinging. This one had a pink hoochie behind a red flasher and diver, also probably less than 50 feet deep. Got this one aboard, a bigger Spring, probably 5 to 7 lbs although I didn't weigh it. Looks like our luck has changed. We've now got enough salmon for several meals.
16:00 Anchored in Francis Bay. Pretty nice spot. Open to the southeast but surrounded by high mountains on three sides. One other boat here... a power cruiser with anchor forward and stern line to shore. Seems to be home for two Whaler fishing boats which ran back and forth all evening. Had the salmon Joe and Alice gave us for dinner. We'd have preferred to eat our fresh caught fish but we of little faith had thawed the frozen stuff and didn't want to waste it. Pretty good, although I overcooked it a bit. It been a long time and I have to get my timing recalibrated for salmon.
10:00 We're here but they aren't, at least the store and restaurant aren't. A young lady named Joyce helped us dock and then told us that the lodge facilities are now for guests only. She was very pleasant about it, inviting us into the fish house to look at her tide info and telling us where the best fishing is. So, we decided to go fishing while we waited. Across the bay against the "wall" we hadn't had the lines in the water five minutes before we hooked a nice nine pound Spring. I'd hadn't gotten it cleaned and stowed when we got another, smaller but just right for dinner. We've now got seven meals of salmon in the freezer and one in the frige.
12:00 Started though the infamous Yaculta. It was almost a disappointment. The Tacoma Narrows are more exciting. And the Dent Rapids were flat as we came through...no sign to be seen of the Devil's Hole. Guess our timing was about right.
13:00 Shoal Bay. This is another place the books say have government docks, a store, restaurant, lodge, and laundromat. No way! The docks are there along with the standard mooring fee sign, but no store and the lodge is closed. Everything is pretty run down. A young man we talked to said the lodge might be open in a couple of weeks. Talked to a couple of guys from Oregon who had trailered their boat to Campbell River and were cruising for a week. They had sort of a king sized C-Dory with galley, stateroom, etc...looked like a pretty nice way to go fishing.
We fished again for a little while on the way up Cordero Channel but got nothing. We were really just sightseeing. The sun was bright and almost hot as we idled along with a vertical wall of granite on our port and the green slopes of snowcapped mountains to starboard. Can't hardly get better than this.
16:00 Into a pocket on the east side of the Cordero Islands, a group of tiny islands at the Greene Point Rapids. Outside we could see and hear the rushing water of the rapids but in this little cove the only splashing was from the seals feeding. The water is the clearest we've seen since leaving Juan de Fuca. Dropped our hook on a sand bottom in about 35 feet of water and settled down to enjoy the evening. There's a kayaker's camp on a rock at the entrance and a single house with a float in front on the east shore. Looks like the house is somebody's dream gone wrong. It's a nice modern house with a satellite dish in the yard but it hasn't been lived in for a long time and the docks are rotting away.
Salmon again for dinner, and this time I got it right...moist and tender and not overdone. What a treat!
08:30 Blind Channel Resort. I'd planned on docking portside on one of their big empty slips but the current changed my mind for me at the last minute. We ended up pinned against the float on the starboard side. Fortunately, we were the only boat in the marina so it didn't much matter. Had to push like mad to get far enough off the dock to get our fenders in then only a few minutes later found our lines stretched away from the float as the current changed direction. It's a pretty fickle current here...when we were last here in '87 it caught us and caused us to scrape another boat as we were casting off. We were surprised that there were no other boats here. The store was open but not the lodge or restaurant and the young lady running the store said that the customers really didn't start showing up until July. We bought a few groceries. We'd like to help support this kind of place. It's got to be hard to make a living with a 2 to 3 month season.
09:00 Cast off the lines and on our way...this time the current helped us. On down Mayne Channel and into Johnstone Strait, water flat calm except for the swirls of the current. We've hit the tide just right and are making 10 knots as we head down the strait to the west.
11:00 Into Race Passage I've been busy steering clear of all the logs and other trash spread along the tide lines when a call comes on the radio, "SEA RAVEN, SEA RAVEN, the GALE calling." It was Gary Larsen, our old neighbor from the Duwamish Yacht Club whom we hadn't seen since we left in '86. He recognized SEA RAVEN even though he was a mile astern. He's retired, bought a new boat...a fifty foot cruiser...and is heading for Southeast Alaska too. They soon caught up with us and are moving a lot faster than we want to...to Port McNeil today and on north tomorrow. We chatted for a while and said we'd watch for one another in Alaska.
12:30 Still running down the strait when we hear a Mayday call from a boat called the NETTIE H. Turns out not to be a Mayday but a 68 foot steel fishing vessel is adrift a few miles ahead of us. Comax Coast Guard, and then Alert Bay Coast Guard put out a call for assistance and when they get no other answer we respond. I talked to the skipper of the
NETTIE H. She's pretty big to tow far but I offered to get him to an anchorage where he could wait for assistance, ETA about thirty minutes to his location. Sounded like a young kid, and very excited about his problem.
12:45 A pod of Killer Whales cross in front of us. GALE calls and Gary offers to help the NETTIE H...he'll be there first and we had planned on turning off into Havannah Channel. I take him up on the offer and we go on with our original plans while listening to the "rescue" on the radio. Went pretty well. GALE got the fish boat to shore, he anchored and was picked up and towed into Alert Bay several hours later by a passing landing barge.
14:00 Chatham Channel. I'd figured we'd have to anchor on the south end of Chatham but with the helping current we got here a lot earlier than I'd expected. This is an interesting passage, only 200 feet wide with rocks everywhere. They have two sets of range markers and we made the first half of the transit with Lois sitting in the stern giving me directions to move port or starboard to keep aligned with the markers. The second half, when I could see the markers forward was easier.
14:55 Minstrel Island Resort. Unlike Blind Channel, this place is open and ready for business...store, restaurant, pub, and fuel dock. One cruising sailboat and several sportfishing boats around as we approach. Docked, went in and bought a few things, and had a beer in the pub... expensive, $7.70 for two beers, but I guess that's the only way they can stay in business.
15:00 Across the channel and into Cutter Cove, one of our favorite anchorages. It's a long, narrow bay with steep forested mountains on the north and south shores. The sun rises in the slot at the east end and sets in the west. There was pretty good crabbing when we were here before but today the wind was blowing so hard down the valley that I didn't put out the pot. Shucked the last of our oysters instead and we ate them for dinner. That will probably be the last oysters we'll have for a while. Water temperature has dropped from 60o in Desolation Sound to less than 50o here and oysters don't like cold water.
09:00 We haul anchor and hear down Knight Inlet toward Mamalilaculla. It was that name that attracted us there for the first time in '86 and we wanted to see if anything had changed.
09:30 Stopped to drop in the fish lines on the back side of Minstrel and the new sounder display started jumping...our 12 volt supply was reading 10 volts. So we hauled in the lines and ran on, hoping to get the batteries charged on the way.
11:00 Mamaliliculla. It was almost low tide as we dropped anchor in the pretty cove in front of the old loading pier. Before going ashore I checked the batteries and found that the Number 1 bank was still very low. I suspect that the last of our Mexican batteries may be giving up. I switched the 12 volt tap to the Number 2 bank and will check with the hydrometer when we stop for the night.
We piled in Stormy and started looking for a way to get ashore but the tide was so low that we couldn't get anywhere near the village; so we went back, got the dinghe anchor, dropped it off a convenient rock near the old pier, climbed out, and then pulled Stormy back out with the pully tied to the anchor. Our anchor line is long enough to give us several hours before having to be back. We climbed along the rocks toward the old village with Lois protesting all the way, but the thought of the trading bead she had found when here before kept her going. The rocks were steep and sometimes covered with seaweed but we found a not-too- difficult way, decending after about a quarter mile to a sandy flat where thousands of clams were shooting little streams of water into the air. From there it was easy. Lois started looking for treasures along the broken glass beach in front of the village while I went to look at the poles. Seven years have taken their toll. The one pole which had been standing has fallen and one of the "wolf" poles has been torn apart. The big longhouse poles are still the same though, two gatepost like arches standing sixty feet apart made of beautifully adzed poles three feet in diameter. The careful workmanship of that unfinished structure is in sharp contrast to the crumbling old frame buildings of the later village.
We fooled around for a while, picking up a few pieces of broken china and a mother of pearl button, before heading back to the boat. Just as we got there three young Indian men arrived in an aluminum skiff. The leader said they were the "caretakers" of the village and charged $7.00 per person for a "tour". We declined, saying that we'd just finished our tour. The only sign of caretaking we'd seen was a couple of benches and a table made out of driftwood.
15:00 Hauled up and headed north across Knight Inlet, through Spring Passage, and then up Retreat Passage behind Bonwick Island and past the still occupied Indian village on Gilford Island where all of the houses are painted in bright colors: purple, pink, green, blue, and yellow. Ran into Grebe Cove. It's a pretty bay but there's a logging operation going on now so we went back out and around to Waddington which is as pretty as ever.
15:45 Dropped anchor in the enclosed bay. Two other boats here, the MORNING RAIN which we saw at Minstrel yesterday and another small, unnamed sailboat, but the bay is big enough not to be crowded. Spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the sunshine. Ate our one crab and the last of our oyster stew for dinner. Getting a little low on fruits and veggies...may run into Alert Bay tomorrow.
Also lubed the anchor roller and rigged line for our new shrimp trap. Haven't tried it yet. You need to set it 200 to 300 feet deep and we lost several when we were up here before. About noon we went over to the beach and dug a bucket of steamer clams. It's officially closed here from May 1 to October 1 but only because the department of fisheries doesn't sample for PSP toxin in the area. We figured that this early the risk is minimal.
14:00 Reluctantly pulled and washed a muddy chain and anchor. I wasn't eager to get back to civilization but Lois was fussing about fruits & veggies. I got my wish though. As we turned into Arrow Passage we were met with a solid bank of fog. We fished for an hour in the channel with no sign of it clearing and when we called MORNING RAIN, who had left earlier, on the radio they said they were on radar all the way to Malcomb Island.
16:00 Anchored again in Waddington. Still the one little unnamed sailboat with one white haired guy aboard here and a Canadian power cruiser named SALT WASH came in later. Spent the rest of the afternoon re-rigging our second Peetz reel with dacron line and playing some more with the weatherfax. Discovered that there's a strong station in Stockton, California that I'd never heard before.
We put out the crab trap and the little snatcher over the side. Later Lois pulled in one almost-legal crab which we cooked with our clams. Had the clams, Ling Cod, and cold slaw for dinner. Hard to beat that. Both of us are loosing weight and feeling better on a seafood diet.
09:45 Off again, and this time for real. We had about two mile visibility as we headed down Arrow Passage but once out on the strait we were never out of sight of one island or another.
11:45 Alert Bay. We cruised slowly by the shipyard looking for the NETTIE H, the fishing boat that had been adrift in the strait and found it tied to a wharf next to the ship yard. The gal on the deck said they were still waiting for a new gear which they'd ordered to the tune of $18,000 US and which was supposed to be on the ferry this morning. We'd planned on mooring at the Nimkish marina but as we passed we found that right next to the wharf NETTIE H was on was a new government float which hadn't been there the last time we were here. So...we docked there. It's just a single long float with no water or power but it's right in the center of town while the Nimkish marina is a mile walk away.
Deciding we needed the walk anyway we first went east past the totem cemetery to the end of the business district, had lunch at a clean restaurant and pub which I believe is also new, and then back through town to the Nimkish Cultural Center which is pretty much as I remembered it. I think the $5.00 admission fee is a bit higher but it is a very nicely done display of North Coast potlatch art.
There's a phone at the grocery store. Called Nan. She sent the mail to Port Hardy on Tuesday. Should be there by next week. Called Kris and got the answering machine. Rented a movie and watched it in the evening ...THEMA & LOUISE, pretty well done until the the end when the director went off track with a bunch of wild chases. Started a light rain in the late PM. Looks like the front is coming. Crab for dinner...the big guy had so much meat the two of us couldn't quite finish it all. Lunch tomorrow.
Had dinner at the Orca Inn...very good and reasonably priced...and rented another movie, "Never Cry Wolf", which was good enough to copy.
08:45 Off the dock. We'd intended on going to the Nimkish floats to fill our water tank but as we passed the fuel dock it was empty so we stopped and asked the attendant if we could water down there. "Sure, right there at the end of the float, and the water's good."
09:30 Full of water and on our way. As we left the dock we got a call from the BC ferry QUADRA QUEEN complimenting us on the appearance of SEA RAVEN and asking who designed her. That happens every now and then.
11:30 Running north of Malcom Island I started looking at the chart which shows the town of Fort Rupert in Beaver Harbor just east of Port Hardy. We'd heard that they had a good Indian museum there so we decided to go in and have a look. Beaver Harbor is a big bay protected by half a dozen small islands which looked like a pretty good anchorage on the chart.
12:00 And it is. As we dropped out hook behind the Cattle Islands near a fishing boat moored to a log boom a group of five eagles were fighting over something on the shore. It's a very pretty spot with white clamshell beaches and clean, clear water. We'd planned on running over to the village to see if the museum was open but it's about a mile away and when we were ready to go the rain started again. Probably wouldn't be open on Sunday anyway. We had showers on and off all afternoon but in between I did a little exploring of the nearby islands. Found out what the eagles were fussing about...a dead otter on the beach was providing a special meal for them. Found some wild flowers on one of the islands which I picked and took back to Lois. She liked that. I also wiped down our bows with phosphoric acid to get the yellow smile off...with Lois holding the painter of the ding so I could reach it. The compliment of the QUADRA QUEEN made me ashamed of how dirty old SEA RAVEN was. She looks better now although it won't last long. Oil from the water stains the bows in just a few miles.
Had a big chunk of our salmon for dinner...superb!
09:00 Hauled anchor and headed out of our big, quiet bay with the eagles still fighting over the otter carcass on the beach. On the way out we saw another eagle swimming toward the shore almost a quarter mile away. We'd seen that once before in Alaska, an eagle with a fish too big to fly with breast stroking along. That time we saw it reach shore with its prize. When they get their talons into something they aren't about to let go.
09:45 Port Hardy. We swung by the "Seagate Government Wharf" which is right in front of town and found a float there that I hadn't remembered...when here before we parked in the marina which is almost a mile away. This time we opted to join the fish boats on the wharf. It's real handy to the post office which is only a block and a half away. No joy there though...it's been a week but they still don't have our mail. Looks like we'll be in Port Hardy for a while.
Didn't do a whole lot today. Got on our rain gear and walked through town a couple of times. It's not a big city but it's got all the services. We had some photo prints made and bought an adapter for my computer interface cable which I hadn't been able to get in Nanaimo. Spent most of the day on board reading our books while the rain came down outside. Had dinner at The Brigg, a seafood restaurant which wasn't very good then rented a movie, "The Mouse That Roared", for the evening's entertainment. Hopefully our mail and better weather will be here tomorrow.