Heading Home

August 24

We cruised out of Hardy Island Marine Park on the morning of the 20th, after meeting some fellow Montanans who were anchored next to us.  They had an even smaller boat than ours and have been cruising to Canada in it for 8 years!  Mike has even made this trip in a 17’ canoe with a small outboard, camping ashore!  And some people thought WE were nuts.

We had more rough water, so we only went 9 or 10 miles to Pender Harbor, where we were glad to settle in early.  The next day, the seas were very calm, so we crossed Malaspina Strait and the Strait of Georgia to Nanaimo.  We called out buddies at Stones Boatyard to let them know that we made the trip north without further boating mishaps.  We spent the night at Newcastle Island Marine Park and I caught some nice sunset photos:

We cruised through the southern Gulf Islands and saw some coves and bays that we will check out next year.  We crossed back into US waters yesterday, checked in with customs, and fueled up in the San Juan Islands.  We made it through Deception Pass (wrong timing yet again) and spent the night anchored off of Hope Island in N Puget Sound.

We are now headed for Port Townsend to take the boat out of the water.  Bill and I are both a bit sad to have the trip end, but we have so much to look forward to this fall.  We will be hosting the Roving Rods’ crab gathering in Winchester Bay from September 20-30 (come on over!), and we will be visiting South Dakota, so that I can renew my drivers’ license.  It will be a good chance to see my aunt and cousins who live in and near Rapid City.  Then, it’s back to see all of our RVing friends at North Ranch.

I hope that you enjoyed reading about our trip and that I will soon have more to post about our continuing adventures.

We Made it to Blackfish Sound

August 20

We left Lagoon Cove on Saturday, the 14th.  Here’s my crabbing catch:

We didn’t go far – we tried a crabbing spot that was recommended – no luck.  We didn’t like the sound of the winds predicted in Johnstone Strait, so we stayed in a small cove in Baronet Channel.  We referred to it as Horsefly Haven!  Yikes!

The next day we were listening to the whale-watching boats on the VHF.  They were talking about humpback whales in Blackfish Sound, so we cruised on up there and got to watch three of them, blowing and diving.  The photos are not very good – digital cameras are too darned slow – but here are a few:

It is certainly difficult to show just how huge these animals are!

Then we heard that the Orcas were down near Port Neville, and we were ready to begin heading south, so we decided to see if we could find them.  Johnstone Strait was remarkable calm, so we put in a long day, but no Orcas.  We anchored at Charles Bay after seeing lots of big boats like these:

We have visited Octopus Islands Marine Park – very popular and looks like a great place to kayak – and Rebecca Spit Marine Park, where Pogo and I went to the beach.  I has a swim and he got to chase squirrels! 

On Wednesday, we left Rebecca Spit and visited Gorge Harbor – beautiful spot and I told Bill that if we do this again next year, I want to splurge and stay at the marina/resort there.  Maybe for our 10th anniversary?

We continued south and Bill asked if I wanted to visit Mitlenatch Island.  It is a seabird refuge and I figured I would see a great variety of birds, so I said, “yes!”  It is also in the middle of the Strait of Georgia.  As we were heading there, the wind came up and we pulled into the small cove on the eastern side of the island.  The waves were rockin’ and rollin’, but that didn’t bother the couple who were already anchored there:

They were snoozing in the back of the boat – didn’t even hear us come in – until we stared putting the anchor chain out!  Those were a “salty” pair!!  We spent a bumpy night and didn’t sleep well at all!

We were outta there early the next morning and fought rough seas all the way to Hardy Island Marine Park, where we spent a nice, quiet night.

For all of our friends who love to volunteer at parks and refuges, have we got a deal for you!  These are the volunteer quarters at Mitlenatch Island Refuge: 

A shack on the rocks, how about it?  Any volunteers???

We are headed home (sigh) and should be at Port Townsend on Wednesday or Thursday.  What a great trip it has been so far!!

Friday, the 13th of August

Today, we awoke to a calm, foggy morning after a very quiet night at Port Harvey Marina.  We felt as though we were sleeping on land; the boat moved so little during the night.  After the wind, the creaking against the dock, and the salmon fishers going out at all hours that we experienced the two previous nights, last night was heaven!

We followed another boat (nice folks, Cathy and John Campbell from Victoria) up Johnstone Strait to Port Harvey yesterday.  After the “gale-force” winds predicted, we were grateful to see 2-foot swells with a wind chop.  The only dicey part was when we turned into Havannah Channel and the waves were striking our beam.  Bill powered through!

We heard that there had been a pod of Pacific white-sided dolphins in the marina this morning, but we missed them.  We did, however, get to see them on our way out of the bay.  They really come out of the water and put on a show!  No orcas yet.

We took a nice, leisurely cruise to Lagoon Cove Marina today.  We had heard great things about the happy hours here, so we had to check it out.  The owners, Bill and Jean Barber, provide the prawns and everyone else brings their drinks and finger foods.  The prawns were great!  And Bill told stories of the history of Lagoon Cove and the area, as well as some tall tales.

So, our Friday the 13th was a warm, sunny day and a lot of fun.  Nice sky this evening, too:

To Go or Not to Go – Farther North

August 11

We stayed at Shoal Bay until Sunday morning.  The pink salmon were jumping all over the bay, so I had to try my luck.  I had no luck on Saturday and blamed it on the wrong tackle.  Then on Sunday morning, a family we had met were leaving and they gave me the “hot” lure and I finally caught a small salmon and got it to the net!

Shoal Bay – you gotta love a place with a sense of humor and great views as shown below:

You may not be able to read the last line, but it says, “Twinned with sister city Paris (France)”  

This is the pub.

This is the view.

Sunday morning, we went to Blind Channel Resort for fuel, to do laundry, take showers, and do some grocery shopping.  Whew!  Prices are getting higher the farther north we go!  We spent the night at a place called Beaver Inlet.  There was a beautiful yacht anchored there already and we met those folks the next morning.  The yacht owner lives in Sun Valley, having made his fortune in the coffee business in Seattle – with Starbucks!  Anyway, nice people and we traded them a salmon filet for a couple of Dungeness Crabs – yummy!

On Monday, we decided that the forecast for Johnstone Strait was too windy for us to handle.  We were headed out to Discovery Passage and south to the Octopus Islands.  We stopped at Hemming Bay – a beautiful little cove that we, again, had all to ourselves.  The harbor porpoises were working the area, as were the harbor seals.  The loons were so loud in the morning, they woke us up!  We got to the junction of Discovery Passage, Chancellor Passage, and Johnstone Strait and decided that Johnstone Strait didn’t look that bad, so we hung a right instead of a left!  In other words, we kept heading NW. 

We pulled in at the dock at Port Neville where there was one other pleasure boat and several gillnetters’ boats.  Seems they were opening the sockeye salmon season the next morning for 24 hours.  I chatted up the Canadian Fisheries and Oceans guardian who was in his VERY nice boat at the dock.  Of course, I told him that I used to be a game warden in Idaho and that gave me an “in”.  He was going up the inlet to check on the salmon run and asked if Bill and I would like to go along.  NO question!  He really opened up the throttle on his rigid-hull inflatable! 

Saw some eagles and geese, but no bears.  He showed us some pictographs on the rocks at the site of an ancient native midden:

He was a very nice guy and we learned quite a bit about the salmon fishery from him.

The store at Port Neville was run by the same family from 1894 until 1960.  They finally shut the post office down this past January.  Evidently, this was a thriving logging and fishing community at one time. 

Now there is a caretaker there who shows people around and shares the history of the place.  We ended up staying at the dock for a couple of days, waiting for the winds to calm down in Johnstone Strait.

Desolation Sound

August 6

We cruised around Sarah Point and into Desolation Sound on the evening of the 4th – woo, hoo!!  We anchored in a tiny little cove – we had it all to ourselves, so it was nice and quiet.  The next morning, we poked around in Tovara Inlet and I caught a couple of rockfish.  Then we went to Pendrell Sound and, because the wind was nonexistent, we were able to anchor along the shore of the Sound.  The water was warm and clear, so we had a great time swimming.

 

Unfortunately, we were not able to take any photos, nor were we able to see the mountains, because of the thick smoke from forest fires in BC.  Bummer!!!

Yesterday, we put in a long day.  We left Pendrell Sound and started up Toba Inlet.  The smoke was so thick that it was almost as bad as a fogbank, so we turned northwest to try and get out of the smoke.  We followed a bigger boat through a couple of rapids, but then he didn’t go toward the third set of rapids.  We were the only boat headed that way, but the tide and current tables said that it should be OK.  On we went and Bill did a good job of avoiding almost all of the whirlpools.  One kind of tossed the boat a bit, but was OK.  There were several porpoises playing in the rapids, so that was fun to see.

We spent last night at Shoal Bay, which is not unlike Polebridge, MT – for those of you who have been there.  Public docks and a pub and lots of friendly folks.  And no smoke in the air this morning after some strong breezes last night!  We are staying for another night and then we are going in search of Orcas.  Stay tuned!

Jervis Inlet

August 2

Here are a couple of photos of the Bonaroo being lifted out of the water for repairs:

 

But enough of that.

We stopped for fuel at a marina in Egmont, BC and saw this great steel-hulled boat, named Teddi Bear, moored at the dock:

Notice the helicopter on the back deck!  We talked to the owner and he told us that he had the boat built in New Zealand – took 3 years and he had to buy the company when it went broke in the process of building his boat.  Who has that kind of money!?!?

We cruised up Jervis inlet, 30+ miles of steep-sided fjord.  It was just beautiful!!  Waterfalls along the way and views of snow-capped mountains around every bend. 

Then we came to Malibu Rapids – a very narrow channel that you need to traverse at slack tide.  A Christian youth camp sits on the bank of the channel and is very nice! 

Once through the rapids, we were in Princess Louisa Inlet and, man, was it worth the trip!

Water so warm, it was swimmable!  Although the water from Chatterbox Falls was VERY cold, it mixed with the warmer water in the bay, making for great swimming.  And  what a bathing beauty!

Here’s our little boat anchored next to Chatterbox Falls:

It is difficult to describe the beauty of Princess Louisa Inlet – some have described it as entering a cathedral.  I don’t know about that, but with at least 20 waterfalls falling from the surrounding mountains  and the crystal clear water, it is truly a destination spot!!

We left Princess Louisa Inlet on Saturday, July 31st and cruised out of Jervis Inlet.  We spent that night at Harmony Islands Marine Park in Hotham Sound.  That evening, we had our first rainfall of the trip – about 20 drops.  The next morning was overcast, which added a dramatic look to the mountains and waterfalls around us.

Yesterday, we anchored in a small cove at the mouth of Jervis Inlet and Pogo and I took a short hike around the island.  Bill shot a couple of photos of the Bonaroo in this nice tranquil cove: Just dangling my feet – not warm enough to swim. 

We will stay here another night, stop for provisions in Lund, and head into Desolation Sound tomorrow, weather permitting!!