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11:35 Off and running. Blue skies, bright sun, and all systems A-okay for the two hour run to Prevost Harbor on Stewart Island. Packing gland still getting warm but that may be a normal occurrence. I'm not sure I ever felt it before the day when I overtightened it.
13:30 Dropped our hook at Prevost. Surprisingly empty for a post
Memorial Day afternoon. Only one other boat in the harbor when we came. Three more came in later but there must be fifty buoys plus the dock in the marine park. We had a lazy afternoon, grilled steaks on the barbecue, and went to bed before the sun did. Nice to relax and not have to do anything for a change.
07:30 The SPIRIT OF VANCOUVER ISLAND passes us heading for Active Pass. It's either a new ferry or one with a new paint job. Pretty classy looking ship.
10:00 Dozens of seals are milling around in the waters just north of the Secretaries near Porlier Pass. Also two big log ships anchored on the west side, one named the TWILIGHT SUCCESS. No logging to be seen anywhere around. (????)
10:30 Checking the engine room I found that water had stopped coming though my shaft packing gland and it was very hot again. We'd been running at 1350 rpm so I slowed down to 800 and ran some water on the outside of the gland. That seemed to stabilize the temperature but it was still too hot.
11:30 Dodd Narrows. 800 rpm still gives us six knots so we were still on the flood as we came through the narrows following two small sailboats.
12:25 We eased our way around the brand new floating breakwater at Nanaimo and up to the Petro Canada dock where a guy was painting the building with a spray outfit. Lois went out on deck to ask where we could park to clear customs and he came back with, "Hi Lois, you can tie up right here." It was Don, one of the neat guys we met last year, and he remembered both of our names. We tied up, called customs where the guy I talked to gave me our clearance number (N1914) without even coming to the boat, and then started calling boat repair yards about our packing problem. After about three calls I contacted John at Hub City Boat Yard who allowed as how he could get somebody to come down and take a look at our problem. We moved over and tied to the new breakwater while waiting for the mechanic to show up and about 2:30 PM he did, a friendly and competent acting guy named Dave. Took him about an hour to work us over. He used my hook to pull the packing out ... he got more than I had put in and it was pretty badly burned. Then he put in five rings of new packing, greasing each ring as he slid it into the gland. Then he had me run Gimmy while he carefully adjusted the nuts until there was a drip about every ten seconds. Greasing made the packing go in a lot easier, and hopefully will get the new packing off to a better start. We'll know tomorrow.
After Dave was through we cranked up and ran across to Newcastle Island to anchor for the night. They charge 60 cents a foot to stay on the dock and we need to make up for the Hub City repair charge. Had a nice quiet evening with jumbo prawns for dinner. They were selling them on the dock as I walked over to buy our fishing licences and I couldn't resist.
08:15 Docked at the Nanaimo Yacht Club. Usually we avoid those places but NYC is only a couple of blocks from the Hub City Boat Yard and I figured we needed some more of their help. They are also a bit cheaper than the downtown marina, 50 cents/foot as compared to 60, and the first day free for yacht club members. I walked up to the phone and called John. He allowed as how misalignment must be causing our problem and mentioned the possibility that the engine had moved. I've never really taken much interest in the engine mounts, figuring they were hefty devices which didn't move, but went back to the boat to take a good look. Sure enough, the rear starboard mount's adjusting bolt was completely loose. Judging from the rust marks that corner of the engine had dropped at least a half an inch, enough to explain the difficulty in getting the packing in the lower half of the gland. I walked down to the boatyard, consulted with John and Dave and brought back some more packing material. After cranking the engine back into place, I pulled out the packing that Dave had put in yesterday ... it wasn't badly damaged ... and put in all new again. Then we cranked Gimmy up and ran for about half an hour on the dock. The gland is still getting warm, but this time not so much so that the wax was driven out of the packing. By this time it was after 2:00 so I decided to wait until tomorrow for a sea trial. Nobody will be around to help us over the weekend anyway.
After cleaning up, we walked to town along the waterfront promenade. Nanaimo has done a very nice job on their waterfront. From the shipyard to the ferry dock, well over a mile, they've built a wide asphalt walk which winds through parks and gardens along the harbor's edge. Quite a few people were out this afternoon enjoying the sunshine, including several mothers pushing their babies in high tech carriages. We bought an ice cream cone at one of the new marina shops and strolled our way though town. Bought 13 charts of the Charlottes and Vancouver Island at Nanaimo Maps. I think that will cover us any place we're likely to get this summer.
As we were having our evening cocktail a boat name WAY SHE GOES eased up to us with a guy, a gal, and a young boy on board. It was the family whom we'd met in the Queen Charlottes in 1987. They are living down here now, Wayne working for the Navy at Area WG.
10:00 Now I'm starting to feel optimistic. We've got two hours on the shaft, running at 1300 rpm, and it hasn't gotten any warmer. I think we may have the problem whipped. Lots of sport fishermen at the south end of Texada Island as we pass and we hear chat on the radio about a few being caught. We'll pass for today, but I'm getting hungry for the taste of fresh caught salmon.
12:00 Passing Blind Bay, our favorite clam and oyster bed, but low tide won't come again until 11:00 tomorrow morning. If we hadn't lost a day to our shaft packing we'd have probably stopped, but things were going so well and it was so early we decided to keep going.
14:30 Powell River on our starboard beam. Sun's out now and the wind is picking up a bit now and we're riding a two foot swell from directly astern. No problem for us but some of the fishermen are complaining. Sounds like there's more wind over on the Comax side.
16:00 We slide through the narrow entrance to Squirrel Cove. There's a dozen or more boats in the bay but here that's not a problem. Lots of room. We picked a spot behind one of the little islands near the waterfall and dropped our hook. There's a group of campers on the shore with canoes. Most of the yachties are huddled together on the east side so we're all by ourselves. It's sure a pretty place, one of the nicest we've been in.
08:40 We stop once in Calm Channel when I see what I think is an oyster bed along the shore. Dropped Stormy in and ran over to fine nothing but empty clam shells and thousands of starfish on the beach.
9:50 At the mouth of Hole-in-the=Wall we put out a couple of Deep Six setups and trolled up to just across from Stuart Island Lodge. Three small boats were fishing there but we had no action and saw none. After an hour or so the current was getting so strong it was hard to fish so we decided to go across the bay to the Churchhouse Island. About half way across fish started showing up on the sounder so we dropped in the lines again and started trolling. Bam, fish on! Hauled in a nice little Spring, just right for dinner. It was only after getting him in the box that I took a good look at this year's fishing regs ... we were fishing in a closed area! We got out of it in a hurry and hid the evidence in the fridge. Another couple of hours just outside the closed area produced nothing.
14:00 Turn to ebb isn't until 3:50 according to the tables but one of the commercial fishermen who has been standing by starts heading for Yuculta. If he can do it we can, so we pull in behind him. No problem. There are some pretty strong swirls but nothing that the SEA RAVEN can't handle. We pass the fisherman on the way through and hit Dent Rapids not long before slack. Devil's Hole is a piece of cake.
15:30 We're through the last of the rapids and running for home, wherever that might be.
17:00 We sneak into one of our favorite anchorages in the Cordova Islands just east of the Green Point Rapids, drop our hook, and watch a stream of traffic going by taking advantage of the ebb tide. We aren't in that much of a hurry - we'll catch the morning ebb. There's one other boat here with us, a small runabout anchored near the rocks. Doesn't look hardly big enough to sleep on but he stays the night. We have our drink and broil our fish for dinner. Wow! Nothing like fresh caught salmon for flavor.
12:30 Parked on the government float in downtown Alert Bay. One sailboat here and one fishing boat loaded with Indian kids. The Indian family was evidently here stocking up from one of the islands. They loaded all kinds of stuff on the little boat, including an adjustable hospital bed. That was a real job for two men and four boys. Those things must weigh 400 pounds.
We dropped some mail at the post office, shopped at the mercantile and grocery store, bought Canadian tide and current tables at the shipyard (I learned last year that they are more accurate than the U.S. data.) and rented a movie from Alert Bay Foods. It's the only place we've ever been where they just hand you the movie without even asking your name. Had dinner out at the Orcas Inn and watched our movie,"Home Alone 2", in the evening ... silly but fun. Reminded me of the old Coyote vs Roadrunner cartoons.
15:30 We're there. The Canadian Coast Guard ship, JOHN JACOBSON, was
anchored(?) in the entrance as we came in and a small logging operation was on shore but otherwise we were alone. Anchored in 70 feet of water ... it shoals rapidly here ... and settled down for a pleasant evening in the sun. We came 70 miles today, about 180 left to go to Prince Rupert. We can start playing around now and still easily make it by the 22nd when Chuck and Bernie arrive.
Sometime during the night a nice looking ketch flying the German flag, the PEPINA from Hamberg, came in and anchored near us.
09:10 Approaching Namu we're starting to see lots of fish sign on the sounder just as we did last year. Last year the fish turned out to be Pollock, a fish we didn't much care for. But this time could they be salmon? Give it a try.
09:20 That didn't take long. Fish on! Hauled it in; it's Pollock again. I throw it in the bucket as crab bait.
09:30 Running again. Weather not looking so good now, clouds coming in from the south. Environment Canada says a low approaching the south coast with a few showers predicted.
10:00 North of Namu ... we decided not to stop ... there are lots of dolphins feeding. I think they are the Pacific White Sided. These are busy and don't play with us but they seem to be surfacing, and sometimes leaping, in all directions.
11:05 We arrive at the entrance to Lama Passage at the same time as the MAASDAM, one of the Holland Lines cruise ships. We slow down to let her pass. She sure throws a big wake when turning.
12:45 At Dryad Point just past Bella Bella we meet another Holland Lines ship, the ROTTERDAM, going the other way.
| 14:00 Ivory Island. We've decided to go a different way this time and take a route Charley recommends as an alternative to the big open waters of Milbanke Sound. It's Reid Passage leading to what he says is a nice little anchorage called Oliver Cove. Kind of spooky getting into it through a rock filled channel but it's well marked and we have no trouble. As we get past the first bunch of rocks and enter what's called Powell Anchorage a big Orca greets us. He must have a fin six feet high. He doesn't seem to pay much attention to us, surfacing several times nearby while we dig out the video camera and I take his picture. | 
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15:00 Anchored in Oliver. Neat spot. Charley says there are clams here but it's high tide and we don't go ashore. Later a Sundowner Tug named the EZRA MEEKER comes in and anchors nearby. She's from San Francisco. I get down the crab ring and cut the head off our "Pollock" for bait and as I'm doing so the meat looks awfully nice, much more of it than I remembered. So I hack off a couple of fillets and, since the only thing in the crab ring was a tiny rock crab, we had them for dinner. Delicious! Later, looking in our fish books, I realize that our memories have failed us again. That wasn't Pollock. The evidence is gone but I think we had a small Ling Cod. We should have kept on fishing! Oh well, there'll be other times.
07:30 Through the narrows. We seem to have hit it just right because there's no sign of the 5 knot current shown in the tables for Percival. I'm glad I bought a copy of the Canadian Tide & Current Tables in Alert Bay. The data in my computer is based on U.S. data and it doesn't cover or doesn't agree with many B.C. locations. However I have to keep reminding myself that the Canadian tables all work on standard time.
09:00 EZRA turns left through Oscar Passage as we keep on heading north in Mathieson Channel. Oscar leads back to Finlayson Channel, a route we've been over three times before. Mathieson will be new to us. There are several good anchorages south of the junction but north of there the walls of the canyon seem to go straight up and straight down. We pass a number of pretty waterfalls. One particularly nice one on the east side of the channel which draws a lace net on the granite face as it falls from the cloud covered top.
11:00 Entering the one bay between Oscar and the Mathieson Narrows. James bay is a lovely place, nearly a mile deep and a quarter mile wide with walls rising on either side and at its head a green valley. There's no sign of human activity here. If it has been logged it was a long time ago. It looks like a good place to do some exploring so we decide to drop the hook. The Sailing Directions say anchor in 17 fathoms but first we try 10. Nope, when we back down we're right up against the dropoff. So, we haul up and do it again at 80 feet. This time we're still close but feel safe in anything but a hurricane. The delta which drops off so steeply is all grass and sand. Towering above our anchorage is a huge black granite dome with a fringe of trees rimming its top. It looks for all the world like one of the whimsical monsters which Nan and John's neighboring artist draws.
11:30 Firmly anchored and surrounded by curious seals. Lois settles down with her book while I drop Stormy in the water and go exploring. Lots of sign of clams on the flat but we're a little late for digging on this tide. There are several streams coming in at the head, winding through green meadows. I manage to get a half mile or more up the largest before running out of water for the motor. On the banks there are deer tracks and in the meadow blooming Lupine. Surprisingly, the grass in the meadow is real and not the course saltwater loving stuff which is almost impossible to walk through. A big eagle stares down at me from his perch on the top of a tree. Most of the clam shells on the rocks are Native Littlenecks, broken by birds by dropping. I was almost through with my exploring when a rain shower caught me and soaked me down. On and off showers all afternoon. We spent the rest of it on the boat, napping, reading, and taking it easy. In the morning we'll see if we can find some clams.
08:30 Breakfast over and we leave our pretty spot. Cloudy this morning but no rain and the mountain tops are all visible. Much nicer day for sightseeing than yesterday.
09:30 Running up Mathieson Channel we spot an especially big waterfall inside Kyloch Inlet so decide to go take a look. It's a big one alright; must drain a whole valley up above. There are a couple of prawn boats working in the inlet and we pace one of them hoping to get a chance to buy some prawns. No luck there either. They're pulling a long line of traps which keep four guys very busy. After about fifteen minutes we give up and head back to Mathieson.
10:30 Through Mathieson Narrows and into Sheep Passage we turn southwest again and head back for the main route. Many more waterfalls along Sheep.
12:30 Heikish Narrows. Not very exciting after some we've been through. Now we're back in the "Inland Passage", route of the cruise ships. And as if to greet us the QUEEN of the NORTH comes booming down the channel throwing a breaking wake four feet high. We rock and roll for half an hour after she goes by.
15:00 Butedale, where I'd planned on spending the night. We tied to a float when we were here in 1987, and climbed a ladder onto a wharf where the lights were all on but nobody around. The float was gone last year when we came by but there were several boats which appeared to be anchored off the wharf so I thought that's what we'd do this time. No soap! I don't know how they did it last year but we couldn't find any spot shallow enough for comfortable anchoring, and I felt very nervous about dropping our hook in 100 feet of water where there had obviously been a lot of trash. So ... on to hunt for another spot, and they're few and far between in these deep inlets. Steady rain falling now and visibility has dropped to a mile or so. Glad it stays light for a long time these days.
17:00 Angler's Cove, a place with what the Sailing Directions calls "indifferent anchorage". It's indifferent alright. Lois was about to have a tizzy worrying that I was going to stop there before I decided I didn't like it either. She found a spot six miles away called Home Bay that looked better on the chart so we headed there.
18:30 This looks better. It's still a pretty steep bottom but we find a spot where we can drop the hook in 60 feet of water and still have plenty of swinging room. And swing we did. The point which makes the bay is called Swirl Point. We're at the Junction of Whale Channel and McKay Reach and water seems to be going all directions all of the time. No matter, there's no wind or wave, just a steady rain as we swing back and forth in the current. We have our drink and dinner and hit the sack early listening to the patter of rain on the deck.
07:50 On our way out of the bay we are joined by two Dall's Porpoise who stick with us for over ten minutes, all the way around the point and into McKay Reach, jumping and playing back and forth across our bows. They are the first to really play with us this season. Sure are fun to watch.
09:30 Back in Ursula Channel we make a swing through Goat Harbour. Yep, we could have come here last night in spite of the pessimism of the Sailing Directions. There's a big ship mooring buoy that we could have hung on, and a swing past the "drying flat" shows that we could have anchored in less than 100 feet of water. Oh well, just cost us three hours of running.
10:45 Into Bishop Bay, another just a few miles north in Ursula. Here the Directions say the Kitimat Yacht Club has a float at some hot springs. We found it at the head of the bay, a small float, ramp, a mooring buoy for a small boat, and one mooring log which we could have tied to. Looks like it would be a crowded place on the weekends though; there must have been a dozen or more small sportfishing boats running around in the channel. One commercial fisherman and two small boats were on the float as we swung by.
11:15 Fishing our way out of the bay we have no apparent action but when I give up and haul in the lines there's a fish on one. This time it's a real Pollock. No doubt of it, I checked the book. Looking at it carefully I can understand my mistake of the other day. The shape and coloration are very similar to a ling cod. Only the big eyes, meatless tail, and shape of the mouth make the difference. I toss this one in the bucket for crab bait.
13:30 Into what the Directions call a "secure" anchorage behind Kitsana Island in Destruction Channel. It's big and it seems to have a perfectly flat bottom at eighty feet but, after so many steeply sloping flats we've seen lately, I'm touchy about running in without a detailed chart; so we poke our way at an idle for over a mile until the bottom starts to come up. Couldn't ask for better. It shoals slowly to 30 feet and we drop our hook on what feels like a gravel bottom. We're all by ourselves this early in the day but have heard some of the fisherpeople talking about staying here.
| We fool around, take a nap, and then Lois pushes me to put out the crab ring. I'm not very optimistic after hearing the chain grumble on rock or gravel bottom, but I drop the ring with the pollock. A half hour later when I'm pulling it up it seems awfully heavy. Wow! There must have been close to twenty crabs in it, two monsters plus many of a size around the 6 1/2 inch limit. We kept the two and dropped the ring back in. In an hour and a half we must have pulled up 70 or 80 crabs, cooked five of the biggest, and have five more in the bucket which we'll cook tomorrow. Needless to say we stuffed ourselves on crab for dinner. | 
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Along about seven o'clock the small boats started coming in. All of them parked behind us in deeper water and I was beginning to wonder why, so I called one called WAHNINI II on the radio. The skipper assured us that we were in just the right place and it's where he would have been if we hadn't been there. Nice guy, named Bob Carlson. He owns the Old Keg tavern in Kitimat and invited us to come in for a drink. Said they were having a derby this weekend but he'd had no luck so far. We heard several reports of halibut being caught on the radio. Guess we'll have to get out our halibut gear.
09:30 Headed out. It's sure pretty running up these channels. Waterfalls are everywhere. Lots of fishermen running around this morning, and lots of chatter on the radio. We gather that the weigh-in deadline for the RCMP Derby is two o'clock and people are trying to find out who's weighed in how big so far. We hear reports of an 88 pound halibut and a couple of 35 pound salmon.
12:30 Poking our way into the RK Bay Marina at Kitimat. Actually it's at Kitimat Village, about ten miles from town and across the bay from the port itself where the ships call. It's tucked in an isolated little cove on the east side of the inlet. No worries getting moored. A nice young man named Tony came out and helped us tie up to a long concrete float with power and water outlets. We hooked up, had a lunch of fresh crab, then walked down to the office where they were checking in the fish. Wow! There were some big ones there. One guy in a little aluminum skiff had two over thirty pounds. We checked in (60 cents a foot Canadian), not cheap but not excessive either, and then walked south through the Indian village. They are building two dugout canoes at one place down on the waterfront but no one was around as we went by. One is just being roughed out. The other is nearer finished but covered with a big tarp so we couldn't see much.
About a mile form the marina at Sammy Robinson's carving shop at the far end of the village it was a different story. We saw lots of beautiful things. He's a very talented artist and carver and his shop is full of them. We ooed and aahed for an hour and ended up buying one from him, a circular piece in yellow cedar of Raven stealing the sun.
That was about it for the day. By the time we got back to the boat with our prize it was dinner time and the fishing excitement was over. Had a nice quiet evening on the dock. Weatherman's been predicting a storm and the barometer has been falling steadily but all we've seen so far is light rain. Tomorrow we'll hang in here and go see the big city.
08:45 On our way. Ran across the bay and started fishing where the locals were all lined up in search of the wily salmon. He proved pretty wily this morning. We only heard one report of salmon caught. Yesterday there were many. Where, oh where have the fish gone?
11:00 Gave up, pulled in the lines, and ran south. Maybe we can find a fish farther down the inlet.
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12:30 Fishing again, this time near Jesse Falls, a magnificent torrent of water pouring into the inlet. We've made a couple of changes in our gear. Both Sammy and Tony say to use a 60 inch leader behind the flasher. That's double what we've been using. And we're fishing very shallow, 30 to 50 feet with a downrigger on one side and diver on the other. But today their advice doesn't seem to be working. No luck here either. |
14:45 We see a few blips on the sounder and see a small boat bring in a small fish so we stop and put in the lines again. This time we have success: two small Chinooks, I think they call them Jacks here, one on each line. The fish were too small to trip the diver or downrigger release. I saw the pole with the diver change motion but didn't know that there was a fish on the downrigger line until I hauled it in. Both were keepers though, and just the right size for a meal for the two of us.
16:00 Home again, this time in the mouth of Kiskosh Inlet where a big white headed eagle watched us as we anchored. I found a good spot at 30 feet, dropped the hook with 150 feet of chain, and was surprised when we almost immediately hit the end. Took a minute to realize that we had over a knot of incoming tide flowing past us. We were well hooked though and, other than for a little growling as the tide turned, had a comfortable night. Had one of our fish for dinner and put the other in the freezer. Tomorrow we'll see if we can find a halibut to add to our growing collection.
9:00 Made a pass through Henley Bay and the Coghlan Anchorage. Henley Bay is quite a good sized little community. Must be thirty or forty houses and a breakwater protected marina. The book says they have rail access but no services. We didn't stop to check that out. Contrary to what one of our books says, the Coghlan Anchorage looks very good and even has several mooring buoys. On the way out the south entrance we dropped in the salmon lines but had no action.
9:30 Heading out for Campania the weather starts to go to hell on us. A thick, foggy mist envelopes us, cutting visibility to almost nothing in the seaward direction. No wind or wave, just blah. Off to the north it looks like the sun is shining so we head that direction. So much for halibut fishing.
10:30 A pair of Dall's porpoise welcome us to the Grenville Channel. Guess we were destined to go this way. As we point our nose up the 43 mile long channel we join a couple of other boats: the MARJORIE MAY from Kirkland and the CATHERYN GRACE from Victoria, both small cruisers running about our speed.
13:30 We turn out of the channel and head into Klunuggit Inlet as MARJORIE MAY keeps going. It's about four miles from the entrance to Klunuggit and the inner anchorage and we're in and settled by the time CATHERYN GRACE comes in to join us. Then the rain started. It rained, and rained hard for most of the night. It was so wet I didn't even feel like setting out the crab pot, so we settled down and watched a movie. Maybe we can go fishing tomorrow.
07:10 We follow CATHERYN GRACE out of the anchorage and up the channel. Outside there are two Canadian Fisheries patrol boats hailing down every U.S. fishing vessel headed north. After listening to the radio conversations for a while we gather that a new regulation has just gone into effect requiring a "Transit Permit" for commercial fishing vessels to pass through BC waters. None of the fishermen we heard knew about the regulation or had their permits and they all are being directed to stop in Prince Rupert and pay a $1500 fine. One guy said that they had stopped 17 boats yesterday and this morning. Wow! It sure has the fishermen mad but there's not much they can do about it.
09:30 The southbound QUEEN of the NORTH passes us on her Thursday run and behind her is the LOIS H pulling a huge barge loaded with containers and lumber. Busy channel this morning.
11:30 On our previous trips we've stayed at the Lewis Island anchorage and gone into Prince Rupert in the morning; but it was early and I was looking for a place we might catch a fish so we passed that place up and headed up the side of Porcher Island. At the north end, near Humpback Bay there were a couple of small boats fishing so we stopped and put in the lines. Success! Just south of Grace Islet we pulled in a nice little Coho and a few minutes later a couple of rockfish. Dinner tonight.
13:00 Poked our way into a little pocket called Hunt's Inlet on the north end of Porcher. I don't have a detailed chart but the Pilot says it has a government float so I figured we could find our way in. Turned out to be a really neat place. Plenty of water on the way in, room on the float for us, and some nice people in a little weekend and summer getaway place for those in Prince Rupert. Across the float from us is the OCEAN SYMPHONY, a nice looking cruiser with a lovely family aboard. Larry and Linda Keene and their two kids Tyler and Reili. They have a house a quarter of a mile walk down the beach. We chatted with them quite a while and then, after spending an hour in the engine room changing Gimmy's oil and filter, walked down to the house with them. We also met Norm, another resident with a house on the beach and a commercial fishing boat, and Tom his deckhand. Dave and Jean and Herb, all friendly people welcomed us to Hunt's Inlet.
Had our rockfish for dinner and froze the Coho for when Chuck and Bernie arrive. Neat place, neat day.
Had an interesting show in the evening after we'd cleaned up. A guy whose skiff had sunk while tied to the end of the dock showed up in a 20 foot boat with a big outboard motor on it being towed by another small skiff. He'd run out of fuel coming across the strait from Prince Rupert. His tow dropped him at the float and he was immediately pounding on our door wanting to borrow a funnel. He then ran up the hill looking for a place to make a phone call while his companion, an old guy who said he couldn't swim, and I tried to keep the boat from getting squashed under the ramp to the float. Pretty soon the Cap was back and, after pouring gas from the can floating in the sunken skiff, he started the big motor and proposed to tow the sunken skiff to the surface with raw power. Problem was that all he had for a line was some almost disintegrated 3/8 inch polypropylene. I took pity on him and donated one of our old lines. Damned if the trick didn't work. He took off and, after a run of a hundred yards or so, the skiff came to the surface. He ran it around the bay a couple of times, then took the drain plug out of the transom of the skiff and headed off for Rupert at high speed. Wonder if he made it before running out of fuel again?
Went to dinner at the Keenes. Very nice old fashioned family with a couple of very well behaved kids.
The community has no source of water except rain on the roofs of the house and sheds so most homes have one or more large cisterns. All power in the community is provided by individual generators. In many ways it reminds me of Russ Casson's place at Magnolia Beach on Vashon Island, although this is much more isolated and less likely to get overrun by progress. The only public transportation is by float plane. I gather the fare to Prince Rupert is $70 Canadian. Communication is by radio or cellular phone.
12:00 Docked at the Prince Rupert Rowing and Yacht Club with the help of George, the fill-in dockmaster. Rick, the normal dockmaster, is off somewhere building a cabin and Donna, his wife, took the weekend off. We had to move a couple of times, and help George move a couple of other boats ... there are lots of visiting yachts at this time of year, but we got settled in with power, water, and all of the amenities. Prince Rupert has a busy, busy harbour with fishing boats, tugs, barges, and yachts running every whichway. We hauled our trash, dumped our waste oil, cleaned up the boat a bit, and watched the activity in the harbour. Used the phone at the club to call Dad and wish him a happy Fathers Day and to check in with Nan and Dick. Nan says Chuck and Bernie came by on schedule to pick up the mail. They had planned on spending the night in Bellingham and coming on into BC today.
While I was working on Gennie Lois cleaned house, did a wash, and made up the beds for company then we took the afternoon off and went to town. Prince Rupert is a pretty nice little city. It's business district is about three blocks wide and spread out for eight or ten blocks overlooking the waterfront. Lots of nice clean shops plus two malls. We walked and shopped, and shopped and walked. Wore our legs out but bought nothing but a strainer and some CD's at an audio store.
Back on the boat we were having our evening drink when I counted 16 eagles either perched on a boom log or flying overhead in front of the fish processing plant next door. They scream and fight like gulls over the fish guts. Here's the only place we've ever seen them like that. Went to the Breakers Pub for dinner. Had good baby back ribs and salad for a very reasonable price.
OCEAN SYMPHONY came home this evening. It was Tyler's birthday and the family was having a big party. Larry and Linda caught a 16 pound salmon on the way over and they barbecued that for the party. Larry came over before it started and visited for a while, then they all came back after the party bringing us pieces of birthday cake and some of the salmon. Sure are a nice crew.
11:00 Stopped near the red buoy off Smith Island to do a little fishing. Chuck hooked a couple of small halibut but couldn't keep them on.
12:30 Weather report sounds good so I decided we ought to get some running done to put us in a good position for the big jump across Hecate tomorrow.
16:00 Parked in the narrow channel between Spicer and South Spicer Islands. Nice protected anchorage with a rock and sand bottom at about 35 feet. Minimum water in entrance is 19 feet. No fish or crab action.
05:25 A 180o turn. Then a 90o to the left when I decided to go Schooner Passage instead of back the way we came. Soon out of the swell, we ran through Schooner up to the little Indian village of Kitkatla. There's forty or fifty homes there plus a store and wharf; but the docks seemed to be full of fish boats and besides, we had seen fish sign on the sounder as we came in so we started fishing instead of going in.
07:30 Chuck catches a small "Black Sea Bass". Not much but it's crab bait and a start on dinner. We have breakfast while fishing and drifting through the Pelham Islands. Very pretty here. Not much wind. Lots of little islands.
08:35 But no more fish, so we shift over to Bully Island hoping to find a Ling Cod. It's a tiny island at the north end of Beaver Passage with very steep dropoffs around it. I pick up another small rockfish there.
10:15 Now we have dinner and bait so we run over to Captain Cove to see if we can find a crab. Yep, picked up three keepers while we were fishing and having lunch. When we stayed in Captain Cove last fall there was an active logging operation there. It was gone this time but about ten minutes after we saw two guys in a pickup on the logging road there was a big BANG! They must have been doing some blasting on the road.
12:30 The wind, which had been light but steady, stopped so we decided to go back to our home on Spicer. On the way we encountered two whales in the channel. They were very small, with proportionately large fins, had a puffy blow, and held their tails vertically when they sounded. I couldn't identify them from the book we have.
15:00 Back at home. Still no fish here but we did get a nice mess of crabs with our new bait. Stayed up 'till 9:30 watching "Crocodile Dundee II".