|
|
Moving on to the boat day. We took a big load of stuff from the refrigerator, Lois' clothes, and some more of mine down before breakfast, ate a big breakfast of turkey hash at the Front Street Ale House, then went grocery shopping at King's. It was about ten o'clock by the time I dropped Lois and the groceries at the boat. She stayed to put things away while I went back up the hill for the last time. We'd run into John and Alice Cook yesterday at the fair and John had volunteered to give me a ride down the hill; so I called him, shut down power(25006) and water (79438), and closed up the house. I was back at the boat by noon. We spent the next couple of hours stowing stuff. It was a beautiful day and when we were done we sat on the deck with a drink and watched the boats running every whichyway in the harbor. It's been a while. Later we walked up to town, had a pizza at the Electric Company, and rented a movie for the evening. We're back in the cruising mode.
When I did my engine room check this morning I found no water in Gimmy's coolant reservoir. It took quite a bit to fill it. I was worried about another of my gaskets leaking but it turned out that it was the cheap drain cock that I'd installed in PT. Tightening it up seemed to stop the leak but the wing came loose so now I'm right back where I started. I may just give up and put a plug there instead of a drain cock. Picked up our hook and moved over to the breakwater this morning. Filled the water tank and hosed down the deck a little bit then walked up to town. Took back our movie, bought a new set screw for the windless drive at the hardware, stopped by the Post Office and told them to hold our mail, then breakfast at the Driftwood. We're ready to go!
09:25 Off the dock and running. Pretty morning, bright and sunny. I ran at 1,500 rpm for the first half hour. That's what all the experts tell me I should be doing - working Gimmy harder so he'll run warmer and burn off the soot - but I don't like it. Gimmy screams and the whole boat shakes. I think we'll just wipe his bottom every now and then.
10:00 We stop for a minute or two in Griffin Bay to check the water leak. All seems to be holding. Lots of water in the reservoir and no drip. So we crank up again and head out though Cattle Pass. There's a little breeze from the west and a one or two foot chop on the water as we point our nose toward the Strait.
12:15 Rolling along but the breeze is stiffer now and we're picking up a cross chop so I decide to put out the flopper-stoppers. What a job! The lines that hold the poles have set for all winter with the dirt blown by the wind accumulating on them. I can't push the poles out. In desperation, I decide to put the foils down first. That works okay except that when I loosen the chain on the port foil it comes around and cracks me in the ear and knocks off my California Marine Academy hat, my dress one. It doesn't float long enough to recover. I learn the lesson on the other side and keep close track of the chain. With the foils down and Lois going back to full power the poles finally come out. Then you know what happened - the breeze eased and the sea flattened. We could have gotten along without them.
14:30 Passing Port Angeles we decide to go on for a couple of hours. We're comfortable and the chart shows a small bay called Crescent Bay a couple of hours away. We'll take a chance. There are several navy ships maneuvering out here and I try to avoid them. Problem is they change speed and direction suddenly and without warning. Guess it's best just to ignore them.
16:30 Crescent Bay. Not a place you'd want to be in bad weather but today it looks like a pretty good overnighter. About a mile wide and a half mile deep, it's open to the north with a long curving sand beach. Looks like the quietest spot would be a hill on the west end where there's a small hook, but there's a lot of kelp showing and we opt for the wide sandy bottom area near the center. We have a bit of a roll but not bad. The current seems to hold us into the low swell coming up the strait. We take our evening drinks out onto the deck and sit in the sunshine watching the birds feeding and fighting around Crescent Rock. Dinner of Lois potato salad and ham sandwiches then she whips me at Gin. Nice to be on the water again.
Nice quiet night in Crescent Bay. Along about midnight the whole strait went flat and from then on we hardly moved. And the morning dawned bright and clear with no fog at all. That was a surprise. Before we cranked up we pulled in the flopper-stoppers and put the fish up, but we put the poles back out, just in case.
06:00 On our way. Two big container ships inbound and one ship outbound as we take a heading for Cape Beale which GPSy says is 70 NM away. I'm running Gimmy a little harder than usual today, 1,350 rpm, and we're rolling along at close to 9 knots.
09:30 Wouldn't you know? We've been running free and clear with great visibility and no traffic until now. Now we're approaching three fishing boats with more out front showing on the radar and the fog is closing in. We go into our close watch mode. Those gill nets stretch out quite a way from the boat and in the fog it's hard to predict which direction.
11:00 That's better! Fog lifting now, and guess what. The fishing fleet has too. The last of them, a string of big Canadian seiners, is lined up on a line from Carmanah Point to the Strait of Juan de Fuca entrance buoy. The way they are bunched along that line makes us think that it must be a fishing boundry. As we pass there is a fisheries inspection inflatable buzzing around them.
13:10 Passing Pachena Point we see a large group of Sea Lions lying on the rocks, a big bull at each end of the herd. Several people are perched on the rocks above watching them.
14:00 Cape Beale. We've made good time, 8.75 knots for the trip. Lots of sport fishing boats around the point and in Trevor Channel as we round the cape but we don't see any nets out.
14:30 Wow, it's a zoo in Bamfield. The LADY ROSE, crammed with people is at the wharf, and little boats are running every which way. No room to park and check in to customs. I call the Bamfield Caost Guard station and ask what he'd suggest. The friendly guy on the radio gave me an 800 number to call(800-222-4919); so we turned around, went back out to where we had a little more room, and called the number through the Coast Guard radio telephone service. No sweat, the customs guy had us in his computer, asked a couple of questions, and cleared us in. Our enty number is: ZA15191J01.
15:30 We needed a spot to park for the night and Bamfield was just too busy, so we opted to go back to Dodger Passage, the place we spent the last night when we were here last fall. We remembered it as a nice anchorage even though we'd never really seen it...we went in and out in a thick fog. Yep, it's as nice as we thought. A well protected channel behind small islands and reefs with a flat bottom about 30 feet deep. There are a few other boats here but it's not crowded. We settle down, have a drink, and I light up the barbecue. I try roasting a game hen in foil which I think would have worked okay except that the charcoal was damp and took a long time to get going. Then it got too hot, and I left the bird on too long, so we had charred chicken for dinner. Lois saved the meal with a good salad.
Fishin' today, but no fish. I'm glad Lois makes good salads.
09:00 Hook up and on our way back to Bamfield. Cloudy this morning. Looks to me like the normal coastal marine layer. Not quite so much activity in town this morning. The loading dock in front of the Bamfield Store is open so we park there and walk up to the store. No fishing licenses sold here but we got some potatoes and a couple of quarts of milk. A half mile down the inlet and on the other side we got our licenses at the Kingfisher, a sporting good and gas sales dock. Cost us $81.32 Canadian. The lady said that's the same as last year but we had more time to amortize the cost then.
10:45 Back through Satellite Passage, we start fishing up the north side of Sandford Island. Lots of little open boats here but we aren't seeing, or getting, much activity. We trolled the entire length of Sandford and Flemming without a nibble. We saw one shaker caught and thrown back by another boat.
12:00 We give up and run toward Swale Rock in the Broken Group eating lunch on the way.
12:30 Fishing again, but not for long. I'd forgotten how shallow the hump off Swale is and got both lines hung up. Lost one setup and came close to loosing my downrigger ball and cable. It took a lot of maneuvering to get it free. When we got going again we made one pass along Reeks and Turner islands and back, again with no success. Never saw a net out on any of the other boats.
14:00 Gave it up and ran for our favorite anchorage in the Pinkertons. A pretty good wind had picked up in the afternoon but we tucked in behind the northermost small island where it was flat. I spent an hour or so working over our fishing gear. I've got four setups ready plus several extra hoochies. Salad again for dinner. At almost dark a sailboat came in and parked near us. There are several boats in the middle anchorage but this one doesn't seem as popular.
Well, our luck sure changed today. First off, low tide was at 5:30 this morning and when I ran Stormy over to our very special clam and oyster bed it was just as productive as ever. I didn't take a whole lot, clams for a couple of meals and twenty or so oysters. You don't want to pig out on shellfish the first meal if you are in PSP country; and we'll be back. It was a beautiful sunny morning and we poked around the boat airing things out and cleaning up. Lois held lines on Stormy while I wiped the soot off the stern. Now that the hull is waxed the soot came off easily with laundry detergent.
10:30 Chores done and it's time to go fishing again.
11:00 Dropped our lines in Sechart Channel a mile or so from Swale Rock and fished our way almost to the rock before hitting a batch of floating weed that made us pull in. Moved on up to the rock and started fishing along Reeks and Turner Islands again. Several boats out here and today we see one nice fish pulled in by a kid in a small sportfisher. No action on our lines though.
13:30 We've made a couple of passes over where we saw the fish caught with no success, so I start heading up toward Gilbralter Island where we see other boats fishing.
| About half way there, "Zinnnnnnnnnng", Lois' line is running out like it was never going to stop. She picks up the pole but isn't able to even slow the run down, so gives it to me. I didn't have much better success for a while. The handles on the old Peetz single action reel are going around so fast that I hesitated to get my fingers in the way. Finally the fish slows just enough for me to tighten the thumbscrew a little more and gradually I start getting control. At least a half of the 600 yards of line is out there. Lois clears the deck as I begin the long process of reeling in. It took several minutes to get the fish back to the boat but by the time I did there wasn't much fight left in it. It flopped over on its side as I led it into the net Lois held in the water. I had to reach over and help her lift the net over the rail. It measured 39 inches and weighed 25 lbs on our spring scale, not huge but it's the biggest fish we've ever caught. Ours are usually under ten pounds. |  Lois' Big Fish |
We went back to trolling while I started to clean the big guy and about the time I had blood and guts all over the aft deck Lois had another fish on. This one she could handle. She pulled in a nice little two dinner sized Coho. That was enough. We pulled in our lines and went looking for a place to park.
14:30 Dropped our hook in the south arm of the north anchorage on Jaques Island. I was looking for the place where Nan, Donna, and I went back in '85 and got crab. After we got all settled down I decided that we were probably in the most southerly bay rather than here. This is a really nice spot though. There's a whale,a whale with a smile on its face, lying on the rocks looking out toward the sea. It took us more than an hour to finish cleaning, filleting, and stowing the fish. We packaged the big guy in generous two portion bags and loaded the freezer. We had steamed clams and half of the Coho for dinner. By golly, we're back on the water again.
Took our toilet apart again this morning. There had been a tiny leak where the bowl joins the pump assembly, so we took the bowl off and put a new gasket and flapper. I used Hold Gasket on these too. That seems to have completely stopped the leaks on the other rubber gaskets. I also tried to drill a depression in our windless motor drive shaft to keep the coupling from slipping. No way! That shaft is made of harder steel than my drill bitts. I'll just have to keep tightening the set screw until some rust forms to keep the coupling in place. While we were doing these little chores we had Gennie running. We ran her until the freezer shut down. I think we got all our fish hard frozen now.
10:15 Up anchor. It was a muddy bottom and it took us a while to get sorted out on the chain washdown drill but we got there. We dodged the rocks outside the entrance to the anchorage, poked our way through Thiepval Channel to Laudoun, then pointed the nose toward Ucluelet. It was another lovely morning as we crossed.
12:30 Parked on the dock in the government basin next to the Canadian Princess Lodge. Called the Cooks and gave them instructions on finding us. Did the same with Bob. Dumped our garbage from the boat then walked up to town to mail off copies of my "log" to the family and get a few groceries. Also stopped at the bank and got $200 in Canadian funds. Don't know where we'll spend it but I always like to have a little.
15:00 Back on the boat and on our way. Ran out to the islands again and dropped our hook behind Clarke Island near a beach where kayakers are camped. It's a nice, open anchorage with good visibility all around. I got out the barbecue and, because neither of us had had any symptoms of PSP after the clams last evening, we had barbecued oysters for dinner tonight. Ummmm, good!
Well, our luck wasn't quite as good today as it was Thursday but it sure wasn't bad. It was cloudy this morning and a bit cool but no rain or wind. We poked around on the boat doing odd jobs. I changed the fresh water filter and serviced the Evenrude. Lois fixed breakfast and cleaned house. Then it was time to go fishing again.
08:55 Off and running.
09:10 Fishing Coaster Channel. Sun breaking through every now and then warming the cabin. Might as well fish here as anywhere. During the next three hours we fished out to Village Reef and then up Imperial Eagle Channel along Wiebe, Dempster, Gibralter, and Reeks Islands to Swale Rock. Today Lois didn't get a strike. I caught one pretty good sized Bocaccio and another small rockfish. Lots of boats out again today, many of them complaining about how slow the fishing is.
12:15 We knock it off and run for home. Parked this time in the most southerly of Jaques Island coves. Yep, this is the one where we found crab in '85. I clean the rockfish and we set out the crab pot as well as setting the crab ring off our bow. Didn't have much luck there either. Nothing but small rock crabs.
It was a nice afternoon. I took Stormy for a run around the island. Stopped over at the Gibralter camp where the Lady Rose used to drop off kayakers. The float is no longer there and there is a sign on the beach that says that there is now a $5.00 per person charge for overnight camping. It also says that in 1996 reservations will be required for camping. They must be trying to get control of the booming kayak population. We saw a few today, in addition to those in the Clarke Island camp, but they sure don't seem to be overrunning the place.
Finished off our clams and the little Coho for dinner. We're eating good.
It just didn't seem right to be without clams and oysters so this morning at low tide we took Stormy out on a hunting trip. I'd seen some oysters at the exit of my run between Jaques and Jarvis islands the other day and so I headed back that way. The problem turned out to be that there are so many little inlets among the islands, and they all look so much alike, I couldn't find the place where I'd exited. We ended up running all the way around Jarvis. Good thing we had enough gas. We were almost back to the Gibralter passage when we spotted what looked like an oyster bar over on Erin Island. Sure enough, lots of oysters and big, easy to dig clams, an even better bar than the one in the Pinkertons.
08:45 Back at the boat and hook up, we'll have another go at fishing before heading for Ucluelet again. We trolled out Harbour Entrance, down to Swale Rock and back along Gibralter. Had no action and saw none on any of the other boats. Heard on the radio that there was a Basking Shark near Swale but we didn't see it.
11:00 Time to pull in. As Lois reels hers in she finds an almost legal Ling Cod drowned on her line. Hard to say how long it had been dragging there. Rather than leave it to the birds I filleted it.
12:30 Ucluelet. We found a spot on the dock where we could have power and water and settled down for an afternoon of laundry and house cleaning. Went to dinner at the Harbour View restaurant just above the marina. Halibut and chips not that great...more batter than fish.
Hooked up the hoses and washed down the boat and filled our water tank this morning, then wiped down the rail with a wet cloth. Later, when it had dried, we put a coat of oil on it. Looking pretty good. Put the cart together and walked up to town for groceries. Picked up some BC ferry schedules at the government office and mailed one off to Bob & Kris. The Cooks showed up about 1:00 o'clock as I was in the process of helping a guy tear his engine apart.
14:00 Moving out. It was clear and sometimes sunny in the boat basin but as we came out we could see the fog just outside the entrance to the harbour. I'd been planning on running out to Wouwer Island to see the Sea Lions but that changed my plan...no fun just listening to the beasts when you can't see them. Instead, I ran in the fog to the north end of the Broken Group hoping that the fog would thin out there. I guessed right. As we entered the channel between Hand and Mence Islands it lifted and we had pretty good visibility for the rest of the day.
15:30 Anchored in the narrow channel at the northwest end of Mence where we spent a night with Bob and Kris ten years ago and have stayed several times since. It's a neat spot with very pretty scenery, a good oyster and clam bed, and an old Indian fish trap. Sat on the deck in partial sunshine and had a couple of drinks. Talked to some kayakers camping on Hand who paddled by. I made oyster stew for dinner, then John, Alice, and I went to the beach and picked another bucket of the tasty little creatures. Nice day. Hope we don't have too much fog tomorrow.
Fishing this morning, from 9:00 'til noon, down Sechart Channel and around Swale Rock. Nothing but a mackerel and one little rockfish. We may have to try another location. Gave up at 12:00 o'clock and ran to Effingham. Parked near the head of the bay where the trail leads over to the old Indian village site. Had lunch, then hiked the trail over the hill. Had a little trouble finding the trail head...it's at the end of the long, narrow inlet. It was dry today though, and pretty easy walking. We met several people along the way and there was a group of divers taking a break on the beach on the other side. They'd anchored their boat almost straight out from where the trail starts. John and Alice didn't feel up to going the other half mile to the big cave so we sat on the beach and enjoyed the sun. Fog moved in and out all afternoon but then, about 6:00 o'clock, dissipated, leaving a clear blue sky above and a pretty sunset.
Better luck today. Our clear blue sky persisted and we caught ourselves another salmon. Left the anchorage before breakfast and ran across Imperial Eagle Channel to the Deer Group. There, between Folger and Bordelais islands at the south end of the group, I hooked and brought in a very nice 14 pound Coho. That was it though. We continued fishing until noon, both there and out around Cape Beale, hoping that John would hook one but had no more luck. So, we ran into Bamfield and showed the Cooks the other big city of Barkley Sound. We parked at the government dock in mid-bay and walked the boardwalk along the south west shore to the Bamfield Store where Alice bought us ice cream cones. Just like up town. From Bamfield we ran back across Imperial Eagle to Nettle Island and anchored in the little hole far up in the northwest corner. I was hoping we might find crab there and sure enough we did...not the big Dungeness, but some very acceptable Red Rock crabs. Barbecued oysters and salmon for dinner. We're eating good.
I ran Stormy over to Erin Island and scattered our empty oyster shells on the bed there before the rest of the crew was up this morning. It was another of those perfectly cloud and fog free mornings which we've learned to love in Barkley Sound. Lois made egg sandwiches for breakfast then we headed out for another go at catching John a fish. This time we ran out of the sound and northwest along the Ucluelet Peninsula. Three or four miles up the coast we found a big concentration of boats, including several of the Canadian Princess boats, fishing off Wye Point. Just north of there Lost Shoe Creek empties into Florance Bay which must be the home for the salmon. We joined the crowd and fished for a couple of hours. Had three hookups but managed to boat nothing. First I pulled in a shakerand released it; then one hit John's line but got off before he could get the pole out of the holder; then I led a nice Coho up to the boat but John got excited and made a stab at it with the net. Goodby fish. Oh well, it was a lovely day to be on the water. The sea was almost flat. There was no wind. The sun was warm. We sat on the deck and ate the crab which we'd cooked on the way out.
12:30 Time to head in. Dropped the Cooks at the dock, filled the water tank, walked up to the store for a few groceries and headed out again.
16:15 Dropped our hook between Wouwer and Howell Islands after chasing a group of Sea Lions out of the anchorage. It's a very pretty place where you can see the open sea across the rocks which break up the surf and protect the anchorage. Nice and calm in here but we can still hear the roars of the Sea Lion community on the big rock on the other side of Wouwer. We ate crab salad as we watched the last August sun go down over the surf pounded rocks.
What a way to start September! Absolutly clear skies, mirror smooth water, sun coming up over the mountains to the east throwing a golden light on the little islands and rocks surrounding the boat, only the distant chatter of the Sea Lions disturbing the silence. After breakfast we piled into Stormy and went exploring. I wanted to find the place that Phil Seaborn had recommended and where we went aground back in 1985. We found it all right, and I think I must have been out of my mind to have ever parked there. It's a tiny cove with no swinging room between two islets on the north side of Wouwer. I remember tieing bow and stern between the islets as Phil suggested but when the tide changed the boat swung sideway onto a sand bank. By the time we discovered it she was too hard aground to back off and we spent a good part of the night on our side. Today I wouldn't even try to park there. There are too many just as nice and safer anchorages in these islands.
09:00 Haul anchor and go fishing. No luck on that score today though. We fished out the channel around Cree Island and then up the side of Effingham. Lots of fish showing on the sounder but the only ones interested in our lures were tiny shakers. No matter, what better way to spend a sunny September morning.
11:00 Gave up and dropped our pick in the channel between Effingham and Austin islands. I was overdue on changing Gimmy's oil and our fishing was really just a warmup for him anyway. That job went well, no spills or messes. I hadn't realized until it came up on the computer that it had been almost a year since I'd done it...we haven't done much running since last September. Spent the rest of the afternoon sitting in the sun, reading, and poking around the rocks and islands in the ding. Weatherman says more of this kind to come. Neat!
Another bright and beautiful dawn in this part of paradise. We fooled around on the boat until about nine then headed out fishing. We dragged the lines up the side of Effingham and back. Nothing there, so we crossed the channel to Folger and started again. Trolled until almost noon with nothing but one little shaker. Gave up and ran into Bamfield for lunch. Didn't have much better success there. We went to the Bamfield Inn first and ordered a beer and chicken fingers. After we waited for almost an hour and had finished our beers we found that the waitress had forgotten to put in our order, so we cancelled it. Down at the other end of the harbour at the Harbourside Cafe it was almost as bad; but eventually we got a hamburger to share.
The fog had been stalking the sound from off shore since about the time we started fishing and by the time we had finished our lunch it had completely taken over Imperial Eagle. Trevor Channel was clear but as we entered Satellite Passage it closed around us. Figuring that it might be clear in the Broken Group we headed across. Yep, bright blue and sunshine there. We anchored just behind Swale Rock in a place we never been but where we'd seen other boats parked. Nice open cove where we could watch all the fisher people around the rock. Took a bit of dragging to set the anchor on a rock and gravel bottom but it finally held. In this kind of weather the chain itself would probably be enough. Sat on the deck enjoying the warm sunshine until the fog finally closed in around us. Our bright sunrises are probably over for a while.
No fog this morning, but no sunshine either. Instead, a low marine layer stayed with us all day. Flat calm though. An unplanned event set the day for us. I was down in the head this morning doing my usual morning business. When I started flushing the toilet there was a BANG and the pump handle went into a free wheeling mode. I recognized what had happened...the piston lever had broken. The last time that happened was in 1988 in the Sea of Cortez just before Sis and Paul came to visit us. Well, we finished breakfast, decided that a bucket would do for a few hours, and went fishing. I might as well gone to work on the toilet right away for all the success we had. We trolled from nine 'til eleven thirty without a strike. The only high spot was seeing a big male Orca also fishing off Wiebe Island. After that we gave up and ran into an anchorage that I'd been wanting to try, a spot tucked between three tiny unnamed islets just south of Turret Island. There wasn't much swinging room in there but it looked big enough to me (Lois didn't like it), so we hung our hook and went to work on the toilet. In order to change the pump lever you have to take the toilet completely out, turn it upside down, and remove the bottom plate. That's kind of a messy job when it's full of crap, but we got it out on the deck, taken apart, and were in the process of cleaning it out when we felt a bump. Oops, we'd touched bottom! Dropped everything, started Gimmy, hauled anchor, and ran across to big, muddy bottomed, Effingham Bay to finish our job. Spent the rest of the afternoon on it. I had a new piston lever. We got things cleaned up and it installed then started putting things back together. I installed a new bottom plate gasket (my last spare), this time using marine grease rather than silicone...I've had good success with that in the engine room and it makes things come apart easier. We had the assembly all put together and were about to put on the bowl when I noticed that the waste valve spring assembly was missing. Another, "Oops!", it must have gone overboard. I had a spare spring but not the two legged pin that holds it in place. So...we had to improvise. I found a stainless cotter key the right diameter, cut the head off, and bent the two ends 90o so they would fit in the holes in the pump housing. It seems to work. Got it together and the bowl on...this time I put the rubber side of the bowl gasket up with teflon thread sealing compound on the bowl ring. We'll see how that works. Anyway, by four o'clock we were back in business with a working toilet which has no apparent leaks. That was enough for the day.
Rain last night, and cloudy this morning. Weatherman says we're likely to have showers. Guess our summer is over. Fishing again this morning, this time with some success. We started at Bold Bluff and fished along the south side of Effingham. I caught a rockfish and a dinner sized salmon, then Lois caught a pretty nice Coho, much bigger than mine of course. Hauled in about 11:30 and headed for Ucluelet. We need to catch up on the wash and do a bit of provisioning. Got there about 12:30. Lois spent the whole afternoon and evening on the laundry. They only have 15 amp power here so we can't run the washer and drier at the same time. The predicted showers came and did a good job of washing down the decks.
Did they ever! About four o'clock this morning we were awakened by a downpour such as we've not heard since we were in Costa Rica; and the same thing happened several times during the morning. Our decks are really clean and we got a good test for leaks. Overall we're pretty dry, although I'm afraid the bedding on the forward hatch is giving out...there was a little bit of moisture around it. We went out to breakfast this morning. Put on our rain gear and walked up to a little family restaurant and bowling ally a couple of blocks north of the boat harbour. Called Nan while we were there. She and John have re-arranged their schedule and will be coming next week. Between rain showers I pulled the coupling off the windless and used my Dremel tool to grind an impression into the shaft. Maybe that will keep it from coming loose while I'm hauling anchor.
12:00 Off the dock. Stopped at the Chevron dock on the way out for a bucket of oil and to fill our water tank. Then on our way. As we ran out to the Pinkertons the showers ended, the sun came out, and it became the prettiest afternoon we've had in days. And we've got the whole place to ourselves. We didn't hear one call or see one other boat. Instead of parking in our usual spot in the Pinkerton Islands we decided to try a different anchorage, the one that we've usually avoided because there have been so many boats there. It's in a very well protected slot running east and west between two of the larger islands. I can see why it's so popular. You've got both morning and evening sun, nice views, and a nice, flat, good holding mud bottom. We put out the crab ring and sat enjoying the sun while the boat dried out. As low tide approached I ran Stormy over to our favorite clam and oyster bed and picked a bucket of oysters and dug enough clams for dinner. The nice thing about this bed is that it's high; it dries on a 6 foot tide. We've been able to harvest clams and oysters on almost any day.
Well, it was a good try but my "fix" of the windless coupling didn't help a bit. I still had to tighten in twice while hauling anchor.
Went to the big city today. Left the anchorage about 8:00, stopped off Pill Point to fish at 9:00, and Lois had a nice little Coho in the box by 9:15. Fished a while longer there and just south of Nahmint Bay but had no more action. Got to Port Alberni about two o'clock. Chris and Helen Tower are still managing the small boat basin there. We had a nice visit with them then walked up town. Not much has changed in the past three years. Zeller's has taken over the old Woodward's store. Everything else looks pretty much the same. We went to dinner at the Little Bavariaand both stuffed ourselves. Their food is as good as we remembered. I got carried away and ordered Wiener Schnitzel topped with an egg, bacon, and anchovies. That was almost too much for me to handle. Lois ordered cabbage rolls and could only finish one of the two served. It was a beautiful, warm afternoon and after dinner we walked out along the Port Alberni Quay to work off some of the meal. We don't often eat that much anymore.
It was clear and all the stars were out when I got up this morning, but as the sun rose the fog rolled in, filling the entire Alberni basin. We walked to Smitty's, a pancake house about a quarter mile from the harbour, for breakfast just as all the MacMillan-Bloedel workers were heading for the gate. Then I walked up the hill to town to mail a letter to Dad. By the time I got back the fog was starting to clear. It was going to be a beautiful day. I took a few minutes to re-do my windless fix. This time I ground a larger depression in the shaft. I think the one I did the other day was too small for the Allen screw to fit into. We'll see.
11:00 Respects paid to Chris and Helen and we're off. It was sure pretty running down the inlet today. Some of the alders are starting to change color. The sky was cloudless and the sun warm. There were quite a few sport fishing boats near Port Alberni but they thinned out as we got farther away.
13:30 Passed the RESOLUTION, a big dragger, going the other way. From snatches I heard on the radio and from Chris, he may have been involved in a grounding accident last night. He looked okay going by though.
14:00 Fishing off Chup Point. No action there so on to Pill Point. None there either although half a dozen other boats are also trolling in the area. We trolled from there through the passage between Tzartus Island and the small islands to the west as far as Holford Bay before giving up.
15:30 Gave up and ran into Marble Cove for the evening. It's still as pretty as ever. There's one new float house near the west bank and the white one to the east is still there. The oyster operation seems much smaller...I suspect these "gentlemen farmers" don't work very hard at it. Lois fixed baked oysters for dinner, a real treat.
Hey, my fix on the windless worked this morning. We pulled 150 feet of chain without having to adjust the coupling.
08:30 Off for another unsuccessful day of fishing. Our luck sure has been spotty on that score. We trolled all the way down Flemming Island, then ran over to the sea mount off Demming and tried jigging, then trolled again along Gibralter, around Swale rock, and through Sechart Channel before giving up. All we caught was one little Mackerel. Well, at least we had crab bait. That led to the final fishing disappointment when I decided to try an anchorage we've always skipped before between Dodd, Turtle, and Willis islands. The chart shows a large, flat, mud bottom which ought to be good for crab. It is all right, and we pulled up a lot of them, but none more than three inches across. The place has been fished out during a summer of visiting boats. This Turtle Island anchorage is a favorite of the cruising community, the reason we have avoided it before. Even today there were four other boats here, plus dozens of kayakers. There are camps on both Willis and Dodd and they were sure busy today. No matter, there's lots of room for everybody. We dropped our hook in the northwest corner, put out the crab ring baited with the mackerel, then Lois took a nap while I went exploring. I went over to Turret Island where we'd see a commercial troller high and dry on the reef the other day. He was gone but I could see where he'd been. He tried to navigate a very narrow, shallow opening in the reef and misjudged the tide. Probably spent 24 hours there. The entrances to this anchorage could be tricky too. There are four or five ways of coming in, all of them narrow and shallow. We came in on a 10 foot high tide from Peacock Channel to the north because it looked like a center channel passage all the way. At the most shallow point Charley was saying,"Fourteen." That means that we'd be aground on a zero tide...not much margin. The big plus of this anchorage is the protection. You could sit out a hurricane here. That may be the reason for its popularity.
Fog again this morning. The big high over the area is keeping winds light and bringing our morning fog. It didn't much matter to us. The tide was so low that we weren't going anywhere anyway. After breakfast I ran Stormy all the way around Turtle Island in the fog. That was kind of spooky. It's hard to keep your sense of direction when you can't see. I just kept the land on the starboard and figured that if I kept going long enough I'd get back to where I started. It worked.
10:00 Fog lifting and there's now enough water in the entrance to be comfortable in leaving. We inched our way out past the reefs and into Peacock Channel. Ran to Chrow Island, just outside Ucluelet Inlet, and started trolling. Same story as yesterday...fished for over an hour with only one mackerel to show for it. Bah!
12:30 Parked on the float in Ucluelet. Fog all gone now, sun out, a beautiful afternoon. We cleaned up the boat, walked to town, bought a few groceries and a box of wine at the liquor store. Had dinner in the Canadian Princess dining room. We've never eaten there before and didn't know what to expect; but the food was excellent, service good, and prices very reasonable. We had their Pasta de Jure (sp)...clams, scallops, and mussels served in the shell with a shell like pasta in very tasty tomato sauce. The only drawback was that the Stewart room is below decks where you can't look out over the harbor.
This morning while Lois made up beds and got the house ready for visitors I changed Gennie's fuel filters. They weren't quite due yet but one of them had developed a little leak so I figured I might as well get the job done. It went well. The last time I did that was in the spring of '93. We aren't running our engines as much as we used to. Then I got out the hoses, filled the water tank and rinsed down the decks. By 11:00 o'clock we were ready for company and the kids wouldn't be here before four, so we took a walk around the village. Had a bowl of chowder at the Island West Resort pub. Not quite as nice an afternoon as yesterday...the fog took longer to clear today and there was a cool breeze. Fog was also thick over on the other side of the island. John and Nan didn't show up until five o'clock because the ferry had been delayed. They said visibility was so bad that the ferry captain had a guy out standing watch on the bow. By the time they got here, though, the fog was gone and we had sunshine and a bright blue sky.
17:30 Kids and gear on board and we're on our way. As we came out of the inlet it still looked foggy up toward the north islands, so I opted to head for Wouwer and the Sea Lions. Anchored in the hole between Wouwer and Howell where we could still hear the Sea Lions without the noise being obnoxious. Got out the barbecue and had barbecued oysters for dinner. Good way to start the tour.
Well, this was one of those days when you have a hard time winning for loosing. It started out okay, foggy but we expected that. After breakfast we all piled in Stormy and went for a visit with the Sea Lions. A hundred or so of them had hauled out just around the corner from us on a tiny islet between Batley and Wouwer. And were they talkative! There were several big bulls, one with a voice so deep you could feel it in your belly when he roared. They paid little attention to us as we motored to within feet of them. It's kind of spooky to be that close knowing that any one of them could easily flip our little inflatable on its back. We also made a turn around Dicebox Island looking for the sea cave mentioned in the guide book. Not much of a cave, more of an undercut where the rock has fallen away.
11:00 Tour over and we're goin' fishin'. We trolled out the channel, around the rocks and along the side of Austin Island. Wasn't too long before John hooked and brought in a nice ten pound Coho. Nan got a couple of strikes too, but none stayed long enough to play. Only one other boat along there today where last week there were a dozen.
13:00 Hauled in and ran up to Swale Rock for another try. Fog mostly gone now and the sun was out bright and warm as we ran downwind. Got no salmon there but Nan and John had a bit of excitement when they hooked mackerel at the same time. And mackerel make good crab bait.
14:00 Fog moving in again fast, filling both Imperial Eagle and Loudon Channels. We decide to head for anchorage.
14:30 Dropped anchor deep in the north cove on Nettle. I went in farther this time than last, to the junction with a small waterway. Had to move later when we discovered that we were too close to a big, flat topped underwater rock. We got squared away there, put down one of the mackerel in the crab ring, and I started cleaning John's salmon. It was good sized, just marginal for cleaning on the rail as I usually do for Cohos; but I was reluctant to have the bloody mess on the deck so, with a good grip through the gills with my left hand, I laid it on my cleaning board on the rail and went to work. It was a female and had lots of roe which Lois said she'd like to have. As I reached down to rinse my bloody right hand before pulling out the roe the fish slipped off the board and over the side. What I thought was a good grip wasn't good enough...the ten pound, slippery fish fish just kept going. I couldn't believe it! Nan immediately got on her swim suit, demanded a mask, and went searching for the fish but it was to no avail. We were in about twenty-five feet of murky water and the visibility was less than four. The fish was gone; I was chagrined.
One good thing came of it. Since Nan was in the water, I asked her to take a look at our prop hub zinc. She did and came up saying that it was a little loose. At that point I decided I'd better take a look too. So, I got on my shorty wet suit and went swimming. The sun was warm here in the anchorage and, surprizingly, the water was too. Using just a mask and snorkle, I tightened the zinc with my chain wrench, and the two lock nuts with a crescent, then decided I'd do better if I had air. We got out the air tank and my long air hose and I went back in again. This time I really racked down on the zinc and nuts. Hopefully, they'll stay put. I also took a try at locating John's fish. Nope, it's just too murky down there. It's gone for good.
Well, Nan and I showered, we had our before dinner drinks, and Lois made a good recovery with a sausage, sauerkraut, and potato salad dinner. As we finished and were sitting looking out the window, a little grey mottled head looked back at us...a small harbor seal. It sank and then reappeared near where I'd dropped the salmon. We were speculating about asking it to find our fish for us when it came up with the salmon in its mouth! There was no mistaking it; the bright pink meat could have been nothing else. John let out a roar of delight; he was happy. That little seal kept surfacing for the next half hour with bits of salmon showing in its mouth. What a meal it had!
Our next bit of misfortune came when we decided to gather clams and oysters at the bed on Erin Island. All four of us went over and Lois and I picked oysters while Nan and John dug clams. We had our buckets full and were about to leave when the Park Warden came by and informed us that shellfish harvesting is closed. So we had to put all our goodies back. Oh well, win a few, loose a few. Our net for the day, two rock crabs, one with both large claws gone.
Had a more successful day today. Right after breakfast we hauled up and, towing Stormy, ran over to our favorite anchorage in the Pinkertons which is out of the park. Then John, Nan and I took Stormy in to the clam and oyster bed we've patronized for many years. In a few minutes we again had all the clams and oysters we needed; and this time no one came around to take them away from us. Interestingly, Don Douglass' West Coast Cruising Guide which we picked up last year says that the buildings at this place are the remains of the once thriving whaling village of Sechart. Now only one ramshackle cabin shows signs of being used on occasion. Back at the boat it was time to go fishing again.
| 11:00 Anchor up again and we're off. The low clouds that had been around during the morning were completely gone and it was one of those spectacularly beautiful mornings as we ran out to Swale. We trolled around it and up the side of Reeks and Turner without any action, so I decided to try the bump off Dempster Island again. This time we did it right. I located the 5 fathom shallow with the GPS and we dropped the lunch hook right on top of it. Then we let out a couple of hundred feet of line which put us in about forty feet of water. I dug out our bottom fishing gear and gave each of the kids a lead head plug. John had barely gotten to the bottom when he had a five pound Cabazon on the line. We fished there for an hour and a half before I called a halt. There were thirteen fish in two five gallon buckets, one full to the brim. We had Cabazon, Greenling, and several kinds of sculpin and rockfish. If you are interested in bottom fish, we've found the place. | 
|
14:30 Headed home, wherever that may be. On the way out we'd stuck our nose into a passage between Nettle and Prideaux Islands that Nan and John remembered from their honeymoon kayak trip. It looked then like it would make a nice anchorage; but, when we got there and I started checking it out carefully, it turned out to be too deep for its width. So, we started looking for another place to clean our fish and spend the night. We found it in a tiny cove at the far western tip of Nettle. I had gone by, thinking it too small, until Nan said it looked pretty good to her. We poked our nose inside and it was perfect. The rock shown on the chart is far off to one side and there's just enough swinging room for the 35 foot depth. We cleaned our fish, then sat on the deck in the sun eating the crab from yesterday while we had our evening drinks. Had a dinner of steamed clams while watching the sun go down through the entrance to our little cove.
Just before sunset a strange thing was happening across the channel along the shore of Jarvis Island. Something, we never knew for sure what, was moving in circles and throwing up large plumes of spray. It lasted for several minutes. Possibly an Orca or a Sea Lion, although we never saw a large fin and we've never seen a Sea Lion this far up in the sound. A mystery we'll probably never solve.(Later, after watching harbor porpoises feeding in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, I concluded that that was what we were seeing.)
No more crab this morning in spite of all the bait we had. It was smelling pretty bad so I dumped it overboard.
08:00 On our way early, heading for Cape Beale and another try at salmon. Bright and clear this morning, and there was a bright moon last night. It's going to be a warm day.
08:50 Fishin'. We trolled along the southwest side of Edward King, out around Bordelais, and back into Trevor Channel without a strike. There were lots of fish and bait on the sounder but we couldn't interest them in our lures.
11:00 Gave it up and ran into Bamfield. Bought gas for the outboard, moored the boat at the fishermans dock, walked the boardwalk to the town center, then took the high road back stopping at the Kat House Gallery on the way. School's back in session and there were a bunch of kids at the one on the hill overlooking the inlet. We made one more stop at the store for groceries and beer before heading out.
13:30 On our way again. Ran through Satellite and back across Imperial Eagle to Effingham Island and anchored off the beach in front of the village site. Lois stayed on board and made ceviche from some of yesterday's fish while John, Nan, and I went ashore. It was high tide so we took the ding to the big cave. Rode the surf right into the entrance. We poked around there then went back, landed on the village beach, and explored there for a while. I'm always impressed with the groomed appearance of the big middens. The combination of thick moss and short grass keeps them looking like a well kept golf fairway. There are quite a number of deer tracks around the tiny fresh water stream that runs through the village site. Although we've never seen a deer in the islands, they must be here.
16:00 Anchored in the passage between Austin and Effingham. Nan wanted to visit the Sea Lions again, so she and John took off in Stormy for Wouwer while Lois and I enjoyed the afternoon sun. Later John put down the crab ring with one little rockfish that he'd caught casting and, son of a gun, we soon had nine rock crab in the bucket. I don't think of a place like this for crab, but I've never intentionally fished for rock crab. I tend to think Dunginess and they wouldn't be found here. The rock crab taste just as good, there's just not as much meat on one.
| Patience and persistance pays. Headed out in search of the wily salmon again this morning about a quarter to nine. Started trolling as soon as we cleared the entrance to our anchorage. Trolled south and west along Austin and the rocks as far as Cree Island, then turned around, trolled back and up the side of Effingham. Not a strike. There were lots of echos, both bait and fish, on the sounder but nothing was interested in our lures. I got desperate and rigged up a herring for one line but that didn't work either. It was almost eleven and I figured I'd call a halt then and go do something more interesting when lightning struck...Nan's reel started screaming in the pole holder. She grabbed it but couldn't slow the line racing out. John had gone down to the head so I went to neutral and went back and started pulling in his lines...he had a spinning lure out as well as the Peetz and downrigger. Nan played the fish nicely. The drag on her reel kept loosening so had to keep adjusting it to keep the pressure on but she did a good job. It was several minutes before she got it up to the boat and then we had a tough time getting it into the net. It took three tries before I finally got the whole fish in and the net closed. Fortunately, by that time the fish was worn out and wasn't putting up much of a fight. We lifted aboard and 25 pound, 37 inch long Chinook. Was Nan ever pleased! |  Nan's Big Fish |
We put the fish in the box, trolled a few more minutes for luck, then started looking for a place to have lunch and clean our catch. John wanted to visit the camp on Willis Island where he and Nan had stayed on their honeymoon, so we ran over there and anchored between Dodd and Willis. It was another bright, warm, sunny day. We sat on the deck and ate crab and ceviche which Lois had made from some of our rockfish of the other day. Then Nan and I went to work. Taking no chance of loosing this fish overboard, we hung it on a hook over a bucket and fish bag to gut it and then tied a safety line to it as she cut the fillets. It was a nice, red meat male with lots of fat on his belly. It took an hour and a half to get it packaged. Ended up with eleven four-serving packages of fillets in the freezer plus four generous servings for our dinner.
That job done, Nan and John took Stormy over to the camp on the beach for a little reminiscing then we hauled anchor and headed out looking for a place to spend the night. John was also interested in re-visiting the lagoon between Javis and Jaques, so I parked right at the south entrance which I'd been unable to find at low tide the other day. It's deep and steep there, not a good anchorage on a day with any chance of weather, but fine for this calm, still evening. While Nan and John went off exploring the lagoon Lois and I fixed up a seafood fiesta. When they got back we all sat on the deck and ate steamed clams, barbecued oysters, and barbecued salmon until we were stuffed. It's a tough life out here in the wilderness.
We awoke to another bright, sparkling morning after a clear star and moonlit night. There wasn't a cloud in the sky or a ripple on the water as we left the anchorage. John had been talking about fishing for halibut, so I thought that this might be the day to do it. We haven't done much research on halibut fishing around here, so I thought we could go up to Wya Point where the Canadian Princess boats go and follow one of them. I know that they often have an incidental catch of small halibut. We ran out Peacock Channel and down Loudoun cooking last night's catch of crabs as we went. Nan also washed some clothes and hung them on the lifelines to dry. As we approached the entrance a southeast wind started to blow and a fog bank obscured the outer islands. Ucluelet looked clear and I figured that the morning fog would soon be gone, so decided to take a detour into the village to dump garbage and show the kids the town. That we did, landing at the 52 step float with our laundry flying in the wind.
Climbed the stairs, walked to town admiring the well kept gardens as we went, checked out the city center, and bought a few groceries. John stood in line for fifteen minutes or more to cash a traveler's check and then they charged him $2.00 for cashing the $20.00 check. Cash cards are the only way to go these days. By the time we got back to the boat the fog, instead of clearing, was filling the inlet and the wind had built a two foot chop on the water. This wasn't the day to be heading outside.
So...back into the sound we headed with wind and wave throwing so much spray over the bow that Nan had to take her laundry in. We were five miles back up Loudoun before we got ahead of the fog and came out into the bright sunshine again. By now it was almost lunch time so I decided to stop at the Bryant Islands, three little islands in the center of the channel which we'd never visited. Anchoring on the lee side in about thirty feet of water, we ate our lunch and then went ashore. Several seals were basking on the rocks off the most northerly islet. One furry guy, very reluctant to leave his perch, was holding his head and tail above the water even though his rock was awash. We poked around the largest island for an hour. Lois collected a pile of rocks, we played games with sea anenomes, and Nan picked some mussels, including a couple of the big blue ones. She said she'd never tasted them and wanted to try.
14:30 Fog starting to surround our little islands now, time to start looking for a sunnier place. We hauled up and headed for the Broken Group which still looked clear. Dropped our hook in the passage at Mence where we anchored ten years ago on our first voyage in SEA RAVEN. It was there that Bob picked up the plank which we've used as a fender board ever since. John and Nan went exploring while Lois and I relaxed on the boat. A group of kayakers came by and we chatted with them for a while. They are camped on Hand Island just across the way.
For dinner Nan and John schucked the last of our oysters and Lois baked them in the oven. I love them that way. Nan had also shucked her mussels and Lois, over John and my protests, tucked them into the pan with the oysters. After being breaded and baked they all looked the same and John, unknowingly, took one and ate it. Only after he'd finished it and said how good it was did Nan tell him what he'd eaten. He was mortified and the rest of us just about split laughing as he jumped up from the table and ran off in Stormy to recover his composure.
Well, he lived. Said he had nightmares but was up this morning and managed to eat breakfast, including several of Nan's biscuits. We were out of oysters and clams and there wasn't much in the way of a low tide today (5.2 from an 8.7 high) so we planned our day around it. The Sechart bed would be dry at noon.
08:30 Hauled up and ran over to Howard Point on the north bank of Sechart Channel across from Swale. Fished from there out along the shore and then across the channel to the Rock. It was overcast this morning but very quiet and there was almost no swell coming down Imperial. I'd almost finished a long curve around the Swale shallow area and Nan had gone down to the head when her reel started singing. John picked up the pole and started playing the fish. John had hooked a mackerel a few minutes earlier and I thought this might be the same thing until it made another long run. Nan got back in time to finish bringing the fish in, a very nice 13 pound Coho. We fished on there for another hour with no more action. Several other boats in the area this morning but we saw no other fish caught.
11:00 Time to go clamming. Ran into the Pinkertons and anchored this time in the channel between the three outer islands and the rest of the group. We spent a night there on one of our earlier cruises. Took Stormy over to the old Sechart village site where the clam and oyster bed didn't fail us. Brought back a five gallon bucket of oysters and enough clams for a couple of meals. I'd dug out the shovel for Nan, who wanted to find some Horse Clams but she had no luck there. I think the large clams are all in deep water.
Back at the boat, we ate another lunch of crab sitting on the deck and throwing the shell over the side. That's the only way to do it. Then we started planning for an overnight anchorage. John said he's like a place with a view where we hadn't stayed before. Nan said it should be cozy. Okay. After studying the chart, I headed for Dempster where it looked like there might be a cove meeting those specifications. Yes - but it had seventy feet of water and not much more than that in swinging room, a little to cozy for comfort. We found just the right spot on the south side of Turret Island just a little way from where we bumped our keel the other day. We anchored in thirty feet of water with lots of room between us and any of the surrounding rocks. There are small islands all around but none which block our view of those in the distance. While Lois showered and cleaned up Nan, John and I took Stormy out along the Trinket Island chain, a series of small islets and reefs which extend from the west end of Turret, to where the fishing boat was aground the other day. We poked around the tide pools and sand beach there for most an hour. There's a camp on Turret hidden behind the point just to the west of our anchorage and the small whale watching boat from Ucluelet came in bringing supplies or people. We saw several people around a fire on the beach as we passed in the ding.
Fresh salmon for dinner of course, with a crab salad by Nan. She and John gave Lois the day off and wouldn't let her in the kitchen.
This was a day much like yesterday: cloudy but warm, with the sun almost but not quite burning though. John and Nan decided they'd like to go fishing again on the last day of their vacation but first theyn went exploring again in Stormy. Turret Island has dozens of little nooks and crannies, rocks and beaches to poke around in. It's kind of neat.
09:30 Anchor up and running. It was flat calm out on the ocean. I've never heard ocean buoy reports with wave reports as low, all less than one meter; so we decided to give Wya Point another try. Stopped once on the way when the sounder showed lots of fish. Nan hooked a rockfish there.
11:00 Trolling off Wya. Not the crowd of boats this morning that there were when we came with the Cooks. Fished for an hour and saw one nice Coho boated on a small Lund skiff. Then just south of the point Nan caught one, not very big but enough for dinner.
12:00 Pulled in and ran down to Amphtrite Point. Fished there until one o'clock then gave it up and ran on in to Ucluelet. I took the back route into the boat basin, the one that goes behind the little island in the inlet, and there, on the shore right by the Port Albion government dock, was a BIG, very black, black bear. He was turning over rocks on the beach and lapping up anything that scrambled out from under them. I swung the boat around and got as close as I could to shore. He didn't pay any attention to us, even a couple of hundred feet away. He must be used to civilization. He was right across the inlet from the center of the village. It reminded me of the time ten years ago that we saw a cougar poking along the beach inside the boat basin.
Most of the cruisers are gone now but the basin is filled with fishing boats and the Canadian Princess still seems to be doing a good business. There were five of their boats out today and all seemed to have good loads of people.
Lois and I spent the afternoon getting organized while Nan and John drove up to Tofino on a sightseeing trip. That's a nice drive, a lot of it along the shoreline. Made a nice topper for their week. Steamed clams and poached salmon for dinner. We'll miss that when we go back to civilization.
Up at 4:30, woke the kids at 5:00 and saw them off, cooler full of frozen fish, at 6:00. They were planning on catching the 10:15 ferry from Nanaimo to Tsawwassen. We had breakfast, filled the water tank...I had to borrow a couple of hoses from the GANGES I to reach our boat all the way at the end of the float...then walked up to Murrey's Grocery for a few final provisions.
09:20 On our way. I'd planned on just going as far as Dodger Passage and leaving in the still of tomorrow morning; but we had no fog, the sun was bright in the sky, and the weather reports from outside indicated the same kind of seas as yesterday. We decided that we might as well take advantage of the good weather. So I pointed the nose toward Starlight Reef and Cape Beale in the distance. It couldn't have been flatter out on the ocean.
12:00 Off Pachina Point there is a hump in the bottom called Sequel Bank shown on the chart. Things were so flat and calm that we decided to stop and drop a line while we ate our lunch. I found the hump using the GPS and we lowered two of our halibut rigs baited with herring to the bottom. We drifted there in 110 feet of water for half an hour without even a nibble. So much for halibut.
14:30 Two Canadian Navy ships playing games off Carmanah Point. One circled the other several times then, as we passed about a mile away, we could see a line from the bow of one to the stern of the other. Neither was moving and I doubt that it was a tow situation. We can't even guess what they were up to.
16:00 Into Port San Juan. Dropped our hook in what is called Thrasher Cove at the head of the trail to Bamfield. There were a bunch of hikers on the beach as we anchored, and before long the water taxi from Port Renfew arrived bringing another group and picking up those. Our book says this is a regular thing during the summer months. I cranked up the barbecue and we had barbecued chicken while watching the people on the beach set up their camp. Nice change from the seafood only diet we've been on for the past month. It wasn't from any lack...we've buckets of oysters and clams on the aft deck and a freezer full of fish. We'll come back to that later.
06:40 Hook up and running as dawn breaks over the valley of the San Juan. It was a quiet night and it's a quiet morning as we turn into the strait. Little patches of fog hang over the hills and water in the distance but seem to dissipate as we approach. There's a skiff pulling crab traps in San Juan and a lone troller sitting dead in the water at the mouth of the bay. Taking a nap?
11:00 Off Sooke there are dozens of small boats fishing and we see lots of fish on the sounder. Fishing must be pretty good to bring that many out on a Tuesday in September. Couldn't ask for better weather though. Over on the US side there seems to be more fog, and we hear some small boats talking about it on the radio.
12:00 On schedule at Race Rocks. Still no fog here, just a haze that hides things in the distance. And still no wind. The water is glassy except for the riffles caused by the tide.
14:00 Cattle Point. I hear SAINT JUDE on the radio and call. Virgil is out on the west side in his skiff.
15:00 Friday Harbor. We dock on the end of the breakwater and Lois walks up to the post office to pick up the mail while I check us in at customs. Clearance number 662168C. Checked in with Sally and Ed at the port office. They'll sign us up tomorrow. Electric meter read 5403 as we plugged in. Spent the rest of the PM catching up on the mail. Had steamed clams and fried oysters for dinner.