July 29, 2013 ~ Echo Bay

This morning there was fog.  It wasn’t so thick that we couldn’t see the bow of the boat, or the next dock over, but beyond the breakwater and store there was nothing.  And, when I walked out towards the breakwater, the back of the harbor disappeared.  Despite the fog, the trawler and the huge yacht that were at the next dock over both left, with their radar arrays spinning.  With them gone, the only other boat left here was the Vigorous II, a converted tugboat.  We spoke for some time to the owners – their boat was a working tug up until 1973, when they bought it as a hull after a fire.  They had built the house on it to their liking, repowered it and have spent the next 40 years working on it and using it.  Some of their children weren’t even born when they started, and they had some grandchildren aboard today.  They planned on leaving a little later in the morning, headed to Blunden Harbor to do some exploring there.  Their departure left us as the sole client here, a fact that both Pierre and Tove, the Echo Bay proprietors, said was “just weird”. 

We have wandered up to the store a few times, and each time we bring something back – whether it’s a card or a few groceries.  The accounting system here is similar to that of Lagoon Cove – we have a tab with our boat name, and everything is recorded there.  When it’s time to go, we’ll just have the one financial shock instead of bemoaning the individual prices here, like $5 for a dozen eggs or $7.50 for a bag of potato chips.  The prices are actually understandable and reasonable considering the location and product delivery methods.  Some stuff they can get by running over to Port McNeil in their boat – other products come from Campbell River or other points via seaplane.   It’s a pretty tough business, especially considering the overhead and the fact that they probably only have three months to make their operating expenses for the year.

 Later this morning we decided to hike the trail from here to Billy Proctor’s Museum.  There are actually two ways to get there – hiking, or launching the dinghy and running around to the next harbor where he has a dock.  We took the dinghy route when we were here 6 years ago.  The trail starts right across the dock from our boat, with a ramp over to the land and up the hill.  It leads around behind the marina, and I think there was a turn-off to go over to the old schoolhouse at the head of the bay here.  After crossing a foot bridge over an opening where high tide waters can pass from the adjacent bay the trail climbed up some pretty steep hills.  It was through forested land, and the ground was soft and spongy from many layers of fir needles as well as little critter tunnels we could see everywhere.  Every so often there would be a ribbon tied to a tree that was apparently telling us where the trail was – sometimes it wasn’t all that obvious.  We were both wearing sandals, which was definitely the wrong footwear for this terrain as our feet were sliding around inside them as we traversed the slopes.  As we went further into the forest the mosquitoes seemed to get more and more hungry, as probably fresh meat hadn’t come their way all that often.  We were less than halfway there and spending just as much time slapping mosquitoes as finding the trail when we decided it would be more fun to turn around and hike back to the boat.  We had a good hike and some exercise, and we’ll remember our last visit to Billy Proctor’s for now.

Later today another boat arrived.  It’s the Good Fortune, a beautiful trawler with a green hull.  It’s huge – I paced it off as 72’ as I walked by.  It had no brand identification visible, but I’m pretty sure it’s a Nordhavn.  Maybe it’ll also bring good fortune to Pierre and Tove for more customers.

When we came through here in 2003 on the way to Alaska I read a story about how someone had caught a 35 lb. halibut at the fuel dock here in Echo Bay.  At the time I tried some dock fishing, and came away with a couple of flounders.  Well, today I decided to try it again and – I came away with a couple of flounders.  I took them over to the fish cleaning station and filleted them and there’s almost enough for a meal for two.  But more importantly, I now have some fresh crab bait as well.  In fact, I’d say the ratio of crab bait to fillets is about 3 or 4 to 1.  I definitely have a bigger bag of skin, bones and fish heads than meat.  Taking today’s catch and our recent crabbing experiences into account, we have quite a ways to go to make my $100 non-resident fishing license worthwhile.  But I foresee some good seafood eating in the near future.

The Vigorous II, foggy morning

A couple hours later after the fog burned off

This sheer rock wall is opposite the marina

It looks like this when the sun comes out

The "trail"

the Good Fortune

July 28, 2013 ~ Waddington Bay to Echo Bay

This morning we were back to mirror smooth water in the harbor, and it looked promising this time that it would be a fair weather day.  Even when there was a slight breeze it came from the opposite direction from the last three days – that was a good sign.

I didn't go retrieve our crab trap last night as it was still blowing pretty hard through the night.  I did put our dinghy up, though, to keep it from bouncing.  The Potentate doesn't bounce with the wind waves here in the harbor, but the dinghy is another matter.  I lowered it this morning and rowed over to the crab trap buoy, which was not far from us.  There were two good sized crabs in it, and one was barnacle encrusted.  But, they were both females.  They went back in the briny to create more crabs for next time.

Reading through the various cruising guides, we found a reference to Bootleg Cove.  It was actually an unnamed cove on the chart, but directly across Retreat Passage from Waddington Bay.  It was referred to in the Douglass cruising guide as “the most secure anchorage in British Columbia”.  That seemed like a pretty bold statement, and since it was only about a mile and a half away from us we decided to check it out on our way to Echo Bay.  We left our anchorage around 10:30 or so and headed over there.  From the channel it looks like just a small indentation in the coastline, but obscured from view there is a 90 degree turn to starboard leading to a narrow opening that extends two or three hundred yards in.  There is room for one, maybe two boats to swing at anchor, or you could add a couple more if all were stern tied.  The cove was empty, but we were just barely underway, and also intended to get caught up on email and battery charging at Echo Bay.

Echo Bay wasn't all that much further – we cruised for a total of 6.7 nautical miles, including our detour to look at Bootleg Cove.  They host a pig roast here every Saturday, and the marina is usually booked up on Fridays and Saturdays for this social event.  I figured there’d be enough boats leaving Sunday morning that we’d have no problem getting in.  We had no problem indeed.  The place was almost empty, as the majority of the boats coming to the pig roast were stuck in Port McNeil by the high winds – and probably others stayed where they were rather than travel as well.  We arrived at noon, so I figured they’d fill up later in the afternoon, but only two or three more boats came in.  As we were adjusting our lines and connecting to shore power, I noticed the Royal Sounder leaving the harbor.  We first encountered Linda and Dave in Bottleneck Inlet on our trip to Alaska and crossed paths with them several times, including at Prince Rupert and when they rafted to us at Warm Springs Bay in Alaska – where we enjoyed Dave’s specially prepared shrimp.  We exchanged shouted greetings and waves – maybe we’ll cross paths again in the coming days.   I think there’s about 6 boats here this evening.

The marina is under new ownership since the last time we were here 6 years ago.  It’s now called Pierre’s at Echo Bay – Pierre’s was initially not far to the north from here, and bought the Echo Bay business about 4 years ago and moved their operation here.  Some of the buildings were towed on their floats to their new location, and new construction was done as well.  They've made a lot of very nice improvements here.

We may stay an extra day – we definitely want to take the trail from here to Billy Proctor’s Museum – he’s a local character, author and legend who has put together his museum from the myriad of artifacts he’s collected over several decades.

July 27, 2013 ~ Waddington Bay

The wind blew through most of the night, finally settling down in the early morning just before we got up.  There was a low hanging cloud obscuring the treetops on the higher hills around us but it didn’t look at all threatening, weatherwise.  The air was pretty brisk, and we again warmed the salon with the furnace for the first hour or so.

Today it didn’t take nearly as long for the skies to clear, and we had sunshine and blue sky by 9 o’clock this morning – the solar heat through the glass provided plenty of warmth inside, even though it was only about 52 degrees outside.  We decided to go on an extended dinghy ride while the wind was mild and the sun was shining.  We went out of the harbor to the small islets, rocks and kelp beds to admire the scenery and watch the seabirds squabble over their feeding grounds. This they did, with the auklets again staying away from the noisy seagulls, getting their catch while swimming underwater.  They are masters of this environment, being able to swim underwater, on the water, and emerge literally flying away – although I have to say their takeoff run is pretty awkward and comical.

We saw some dolphins while heading out the fairway into the harbor, and we even made several passes to see if they wanted to play chase the wake, but they weren’t interested.  Later, while out watching the birds, we heard a heavy exhale immediately behind us as one briefly surfaced about 5 or 6 feet from us.

We found a narrow and shallow passageway just off the main entrance, with a sandy bottom littered with clamshells and also sporting quite a bit of eel grass.  At the narrowest point I raised the outboard and could row us through the gap, with the oars touching the rocks on either side.  We continued along the backside of this islet under the watchful eyes of an eagle perched in one of the trees, eventually circumnavigating it to get back to the harbor entrance.  Here we encountered Barry and Robin, the Aussies from the Tuzi, anchored in front of us.  They told us that shortly after we left Lagoon Cove a black bear and her cub appeared behind the main residence, near the burning barrel and rows of salmon berries.  They ran off even faster than the people they encountered.  They also told us that while cruising through Spring Passage on the way here yesterday they saw some whales.  We missed out on both fronts!

We had decided to stay here another day, so started the generator before we left on our dinghy ride.  Tribble has associated that with getting ready to cruise, and she took her position on the top step leading up to the bridge, where she can watch out the window.  She was still there when we returned two hours later, and abandoned her post two hours after that, only after we shut down the generator.

It sure looked like the windy weather had blown itself out this morning, but by the time we returned to the boat it was picking up a bit again.  Now it’s blowing through the harbor pretty steadily between 20 and 25 mph, with gusts to 30.  When it’s time to go I think we’d better do our traveling in the morning.

I left a crab trap out behind the boat when we left in the dinghy, and optimistically checked it just before dinner time.  This time there were three crabs and no sun stars, but two of them were female, and the male was a bit undersized.  Oh well, maybe we’ll get lucky later this evening – I put it back down and will check before dark. 

One of the many eagles that supervise Waddington Bay from the tree tops

One of the dolphins that wouldn't come play with us

kelp bed outside Waddington Bay

an auklet  - they swim underwater better than they fly, but they can fly by flapping real hard

This eagle was just preparing to take off when we snapped the shutter

Tribble's spot for cruising, or generator running

tide pool outside Waddington Bay

July 26, 2013 ~ Waddington Bay

Early this morning the wind finally stopped blowing and we were in mirror smooth water here in the bay.  It was also pretty cold, and Erin got to hear our new furnace operate for the first time.  It was nice and quiet and took the morning chill off in short order.  The respite from the wind didn’t last very long, though, as it started in again while we were having a breakfast of blueberry muffins, sausage and scrambled eggs. 

As we were cruising through Retreat Passage yesterday, just before getting here, the wind managed to loosen the line to our Alaska flag on the mast.  It was still hanging on by one string, with the other flapping in the wind.  Erin unzipped the window above our windshield and managed to reach out and snare the wayward string and secure it.  I was going to fix it yesterday when the wind died down, but it never did.  I thought I’d better get up on the salon roof this morning and re-tie it before it really started blowing again.

We lazed away the rest of the morning reading, and then decided to take a dinghy ride around the bay.  The wind was blowing somewhat moderately by then, but the gusts were only up to 15 mph.  I started the generator – we figured we might as well take advantage of our absence to load some extra amps into the house batteries without listening to it.

Waddington Bay has lots of little islets and rocks around the entrance, and after circling through the main bay we headed out that way looking for interesting things to see.  Out just beyond the entrance channel we could see a flock of hundreds of birds swarming.  They had been there yesterday too when we passed by.  They were feeding on herring or some sort of small fish.  We decided to head out there for a closer look.  When we got close I shut off the engine and let the breeze blow us slowly towards them.  There were a couple varieties of seagulls – one type with black tips or stripes on the wings, and also the common gull we all recognize.  Many were gray, that they were young – seagulls don’t get to that familiar white until they’re two or three years old.  The other contingent we’re pretty sure was a variety of auklet.  They had stout bodies that ride low in the water, a couple of white stripes on their wings, and a white mark on their beaks.  The seagulls would hover over the water in the wind, then dive down to snare a fish.  When that happened they would all squawk and converge on the hapless gull that just got the fish.  The auklets didn’t compete with the seagulls – instead they just swam underwater and popped up with their catch.  And, they kept quiet about it too.  We had only brought our little pocket camera, but wished we the video with us.  We planned on returning for some video later in the day, but the wind changed our minds.

Most of the boats in our anchorage left, either in the morning, or while we were out in the dinghy.  Many of them were sailboats, and this is definitely a sailing type of day.  The harbor wasn’t empty for very long, though, as some others came in.  One of them, a large cruiser, anchored in front of us.  When we got back to the boat we saw that it was the Tuzi, the 65’ Ocean Alexander that was rafted to us at Lagoon Cove.  They’re the ones who plan on cruising home to Australia next year.

As the afternoon wore on the winds increased up to a steady 20 mph here in our anchorage with gusts to over 27 mph.  At one point I saw the Tuzi powered up fairly close to us and it appeared that he was leaving.  But, I think he had dragged his anchor, as he went forward further ahead of us into the back bay and reset it.  We’re holding steady but I did go out on deck and run out another 50 feet of chain.  A little later we noticed a sailboat that had been at anchor also repositioning, but I think he was tucking in behind the small islet in here to get out of some of the wind.  Although our once smooth mirror-like water is now sporting some whitecaps, we are riding smoothly and having a quiet evening.  It was a good day to not go anywhere.

repairing the mast flag lines

July 25, 2013 ~ Lagoon Cove to Waddington Bay

I woke up pretty early this morning, so after taking a shower I trudged up the dock with our little netbook computer to check email and post last night’s log entry to the blog.  I also posted an entry on the boatdiesel.com forum asking for input on our port transmission ATF issue.  I think we’ll be okay for now just keeping an eye on it, but it doesn’t hurt to have more opinions from across the country and around the globe.

We had one other malfunction yesterday afternoon that was pretty serious – almost as bad as losing an engine out in Georgia Strait.  The aft head quit working.  We have another head forward which reduces this from catastrophic to inconvenient, but when ya gotta go, ya gotta go.  I had noticed a brief 12 volt high amp draw when I heard the battery charger fan come on (we were still connected to shore power, so the charger compensates whenever there’s a significant draw.)  It seemed to resolve itself, and all the breakers were in their normal position so there wasn’t much else to investigate until we discovered the head was dead.  I envisioned a priority order of a multi-hundred dollar macerator pump with seaplane freight added to that.  I checked the breaker, and although it was in the on position, it didn’t click on and off when moved, but just stuck wherever it was left.  But there was no power no matter where it was.  We put off further investigation until after the potluck and prawn feed, then got involved with the aforementioned ATF transmission issue for the rest of the evening.  This morning I fiddled some more with that breaker switch, testing the voltage with my multimeter.  Now it showed voltage going through the switch, so I tested the head and voila!  It was working again.  But there was definitely something wrong with that switch, so I made a jumper cable and connected it to an unused breaker in the panel, and over to the lead to the head, turning off the bad switch.  Hopefully we won’t have any more issues with that piece of equipment.

This morning we had blueberry pancakes with boysenberry syrup and bacon for breakfast.  After that we took all our burnable garbage up to the burn barrel and set it ablaze.  There are no shoreside dumpsters here in the Broughtons so garbage management is the rule.  Erin has it all down pat, dumping biodegradable food waste once we’re underway, and separating all the burnable stuff.  At Lagoon Cove they take all beverage containers for the Boy Scouts to turn in for deposit refunds, so that just leaves food cans and other bottles to hang on to.  The cans, when sunk, dissolve within a matter of days or weeks at the most.

We were also going to top up our water before departure, but today was a “no water” day while their water supply replenishes.  Fortunately we filled our tank last night, so just had it diminished by one more load of laundry and showers.  The water here is supplied via gravity feed from a reservoir that collects runoff and rainwater – it’s very good water, not laden with tannin at all.  It’s pretty slow running though – I think it took nearly a couple hours yesterday to take on 100 gallons.

Because we were surrounded by either docks or rafted boats, we had to pull out of our position before we could remount the dinghy on the swim step.  The boat tied to us was probably around 65 feet and had a bow line going over to the dock, which we had to remove.  We could then pull straight ahead out of the raft.  We tied up at the other side of the fuel dock and I walked over to the back where the dinghy was tied and rowed it around to reconnect.  We were underway by 11:30 or so.

We headed out between Turnour and Minstrel Islands into Knight Inlet, where we cruised straight west for 10 miles or so before making a turn into Spring Passage, which goes between Gilford and Midsummer Islands.  The current was against us here, and the bottom was quite contoured which caused lots of current changes and upwellings, although nothing that was dangerous.  I think that’s how it got the name Spring Passage, as it visually appeared there were springs throughout the passageway as we cruised along through various islets and kelp covered rocks.  It was awesomely scenic, and we just couldn’t stop taking pictures.  As we headed northwest in this passage we would pass in and out of the lee of various small islands, and there was quite a breeze blowing in from Queen Charlotte Strait when we were exposed.  There wasn’t much turbulence, but sure was a chill wind.  The good part is it was blowing away the overcast, as we could see blue skies on the horizon and the blue seemed to be getting closer as we cruised along.

We arrived at Waddington Bay on Bonwick Island around 2:30.  It’s a well protected anchorage with a long entryway but we are still getting that breeze from Queen Charlotte coming in over the trees.  It’s pretty steady at about 15 mph with gusts up to 20.  This wouldn’t be a good day to be out cruising in open water.  We now have blue sky and sunshine, thanks to all that wind – but it’s only 62 degrees outside, and our little weather station says the chill factor is 52.  Nice and cozy here in the salon, though.  There are treed hills surrounding us, and we’ve seen at least 3 eagles perched high on the snaggiest trees, overlooking the harbor.  Roaming the deck is off limits for Tribble this evening.

It’s now 9:45 in the evening, and the wind has finally started to abate – down to 10 mph with gusts to 15 now.  We’re having a pleasant evening in our quiet surroundings.

July 24, 2013 ~ Lagoon Cove

This morning was overcast with a hint of drizzle, and it looked as if it would last the entire day.  We assumed that by entering the Broughtons we had left the fair weather behind – this area does have that reputation.  But, by early afternoon the sky had cleared, the sun was out and the temperature reached the low 70’s – perfect!

I finally got around to trying my luck at crabbing today.  Bob, one of the caretakers here, suggested an area in the bay that would be best, and also said to do “short pulls” – leaving the crab pot on the bottom for only a couple hours or so.  Any longer, he said, and a sun star would probably find its way into the pot, and then no crabs would enter.  A sun star is one of those starfish that have 24 legs instead of the usual 5.  I checked the pot after a couple hours, and sure enough it had a sun star in it, draped over the bait cage.  Nobody else was there.  I dumped out the sun star and reset the pot about 200 yards away from that location.  I checked later in the evening, and this time no sun star – but no crabs either.  I just brought the pot back with me this time.  One of the other boaters asked how I did – he had no luck either, getting a few crab but none of them legal.  We plan on anchoring in some bays after leaving here, so we’ll try our luck elsewhere.

Yesterday the boat that was rafted to us and stern tied to the dock was a 65 footer that belonged to a Frenchman.  The boat was based at Mercer Island, and was named LaPerouse.  We learned that LaPerouse was a French explorer who was sailing the oceans back around the same time as Cook.  They left around noon, and standing by out in the bay was our next neighbor, a 60+ foot Ocean Alexander.  The owners had just recently acquired the boat in Seattle, and this was their first cruise to this area.  Next year they plan to take it to their home – which is just north of Brisbane, Australia.  I asked if a trip like that required very large fuel tanks with a cruising speed of 6 knots, and he said “exactly”.  They plan on doing the trip in three legs, flying home for a period of time after each leg.  He said each leg would take 12 days or so. First they’ll go to Hawaii, then to the South Pacific, and then on to Australia.  We’re going to have to find out what our neighbors here at Lagoon Cove did for a living. 

Today I put on a “work shirt”, as I planned on crawling around in the engine room to check all the fluids.  A work shirt is one that has been demoted by Erin after I either stained it while messing with something, or has simply started to fray here and there.  I have several.  I didn’t get around to the engine room until this evening, though.  Both engines checked out fine – oil was in the right spot on the dipsticks.  The port transmission was a bit low on ATF and I added a half pint or so.  This is the second time that’s happened.  I then checked the reduction gear oil level, and it was up above the full mark, and the color of the oil was suspiciously reddish.  I think I found where the ATF went.  I decided I should drain off a bunch of that oil, then add some fresh.  The reduction gear uses 90 weight gear lube, so thinning it out with ATF is probably not a good thing.

I have a small plastic hand transfer pump that I thought would work for this.  It’s a small cylindrical pump with a couple of hoses – input and output.  I knew where the hoses were, and I thought I also knew where the pump was, but couldn’t find it.  After searching in several locations after it wasn’t where I thought it was, it turned out it was sorta where I thought it was after all, in the engine room, but at the other end.  Anyway, after getting all that ready, the hose was too big in diameter for the dipstick hole.  It would only go in a quarter inch or so, where it then hit a constriction where the o rings on the dipstick make a seal.  No problem, I had some black hose that was of a lesser diameter, and it also fit tightly into the hose for the pump.  Same problem, it wouldn’t go down the hole either.  Erin and Tribble saved the day – the plastic wand for one of Tribble’s play toys was a hollow tube just the right diameter, and the end caps could easily be removed.  It also fit tightly into the small black hose that fit tightly into the orange hose that fit tightly into the little hand pump.  I figured I was now in business.  Wrong.  The hand pump didn’t work.  It had no suction, even after I put a few drops of oil in it to lube the diaphragm. 

I ended up disconnecting the drain hose from the starboard engine where it goes into the Oil X-changer, a pump that can both drain and fill both engines.  And, the orange hose from the useless hand pump fit tightly inside the larger hose to the pump.  I put the selector valve to starboard engine, put the drain hose for the pump into an empty container and flipped the switch to drain.  After a bit of a struggle it drew the 90 weight gear lube up the straw sized plastic wand/tube through my series of hoses and into the jug.  Success!!  I drew nearly a quart out of the reduction gear box, and now the dipstick showed a level a bit below the add mark.  I topped it back up with fresh gear lube.  I’ve kept my concoction of hoses and may have to do this exercise one or two more times before we get home.  I think there’s probably a seal at the back of the transmission that has failed.  Don’t know what’s involved with fixing it, but we’ll find out once we’re back home.

I also used the big dipstick, to measure our diesel fuel volume.  We still have a tad over 300 gallons remaining, and with the engine hours we’ve put on since we fueled up in Oak Harbor, it comes out that we’re burning about 4 gallons per hour on this trip – maybe 4.1, and that’s for both engines combined.  That’s quite an improvement over the Perkins, which I think used about 6 gallons per hour while cruising between 8 and 9 knots.  We’ve been going a tad slower this trip, mostly 8 knots, but I think the Perkins were worn out enough that some unburned fuel was going out the exhaust.  I topped up the tanks here, and unless we do some extensive cruising in the next few weeks I think we’ll probably be back in the states before we have to refuel again.  That would be good, because the fuel here is $1.439 per liter, which is actually cheaper than we’ve seen it elsewhere, including Refuge Cove and Nanaimo.  I suppose I could use some twisted logic to rationalize that the higher the fuel prices the quicker our improved fuel burn rate will pay for those engines.

Back to leisure activities – we again attended the potluck, ate more shrimp and met more nice people.  I think we’ll pull out some time tomorrow – our plan is to cruise up to Waddington Bay, a very nice harbor where we’ve anchored in the past.  Maybe there’ll be some crabs there.

Our spot at Lagoon Cove

inside the shop area

the view from our moorage

July 23, 2013 ~ Forward Harbor to Lagoon Cove

Douglas Bay in Forward Harbor is a nice anchorage, and we’ll probably stay here again as a good resting spot before or after Johnstone Strait.  We left just after 8:30 this morning, with the thought of going to Port Harvey for either the night, or to wait for more favorable current in Chatham Channel.  The giant raft of logs that was parked in the entrance last night was gone this morning when we left and headed out into Sunderland Channel.  We encountered more turbulence from Whirlpool Rapids coming out of Forward Harbor than we did going through last night when it was running 5 knots.  I guess that’s because it was running about 6 knots towards us this morning.  Glad we weren’t trying to go up that hill.

Sunderland was a bit choppy, but not all that bad.  We’d read that whatever the condition in Sunderland, expect more and a bit worse in Johnstone Strait, but that didn’t turn out to be the case.  It was a bit rough at first, where Sunderland merges in with Johnstone, but once we were past that and past Port Neville, it calmed right down for a nice smooth ride.  We had an ebb current pushing us along too, so that saved us a few gallons of diesel.

There was quite a bit of debris in Johnstone Strait – mostly logs and trees, but we saw evidence of a dock that had recently broken up.  A long piece of the caprail here, some flotation there, another dock section down the channel a bit.  Also saw a huge deadhead while still in Sunderland – it was the butt of a log protruding above the water just about a foot or so, and I would say it was close to 3 feet in diameter.  It would have been the winner in any sort of boat collision.

We saw several dolphins swimming along during our journey today, and one group approached our bow.  I thought maybe they’d play in the bow wake for awhile, but they continued on their own way.

As we reached the Broken Islands, where we could leave Johnstone Strait for Havana Channel, we were ahead of the time I thought we’d be here, and decided to head straight for Lagoon Cove instead of going to Port Harvey.  At the time Chatham Channel showed a speed of just a couple knots against us, but by the time we arrived there it was up to 4 knots, and to 4.8 knots when we reached the other end, where we could take a left into “The Blowhole” – a shallow passage that leads to Lagoon Cove.  We were in the channel for quite some time against the current, and it actually looked like we were going uphill – must be the lay of the land.  We radioed ahead from The Blowhole for moorage – we had been listening to the frequency they monitor for 20 minutes or so, and it sounded like they were pretty busy.  We were assigned the first stern tie on the gas dock.  From there, other boats raft to us with their stern tied to the dock that runs perpendicular from the gas dock.  Those boats exit over their stern, while we have full dock access.  It’s the same position we were in last time we were here.  It’s very convenient, as we can fill our fuel tanks from here without moving the boat at all.

Speaking of fuel, we’ve now traveled 346 miles – 300 miles since filling up in Oak Harbor.  We didn’t actually fill up – I left 5 or 6 gallons of space in each tank.  I can tell pretty closely by using the dipstick how much fuel is in each tank – it’s about 8 gallons per inch of depth.  I haven’t dipped the tanks yet here, but I’m curious to see how our fuel burn is on this trip compared to when we had the Perkins engines.  I know one thing – we haven’t run out of fuel yet.  But, we’ll top up here before moving on.

Behind us is the office, a couple of showers, and the caretaker’s residence, all on floats.  In the eaves of the building are some sparrow nests and this has attracted Tribble’s attention.  At home she can sit in the back yard and watch a bird for hours.  Here she has to balance her curiosity about the birds with her fear of strangers walking by.  I think the birds will be safe, but they did get a pretty good stare.

We arrived in plenty of time for the fabled Happy Hour/Potluck that happens here every afternoon at 5 o’clock.  Everyone brings a dish of something, and the marina folks provide a mess of prawns, caught fresh earlier in the day outside the harbor.  This has been going on for many years, and we’re glad the tradition has continued after the death earlier this year of Bill Barber, the owner of Lagoon Cove.  We learned he had purchased lagoon Cove in 1992, so he had over a 20 year run of having fun running the place.  He would tell these outrageous stories that entertained us all, and he is missed by all those who have experienced his hospitality. 

We learned today that the Internet connection here is still via an Ethernet cable at a small table in the shop at the head of the dock.  This is the only marina left in the Broughtons that hasn’t gone to a wifi setup.  The connection is slow and you have to wait your turn, so I probably won’t be able to add any photos of the wondrous sights we’ve been seeing just yet.

July 22, 2013 ~ Octopus Islands to Forward Harbor

I put the dinghy up last night – I didn’t think we’d be doing any exploration this morning.  There were only a few boats left in our little bay, and we noticed that two or three of the stern-tied boats were releasing their stern lines in preparation for their departure.  There are three ways out of here, and all of them involve transiting one or more sets of rapids at or near slack water, so arrivals and departures tend to happen in groups.  We had a couple of new arrivals yesterday, but the rest of our group was apparently gearing up to leave today, including us.

We’ve been through the Hole in the Wall rapids and Surge Narrows to the south quite a few times, but we’ve never before headed out through Okisollo Channel, so that was our plan.  As we left the northern entrance of the Octopus Islands, we noticed three or four boats that had left before us milling about smartly waiting for slack at Hole in the Wall.  We proceed on to the upper rapids of Okisollo, which I mentioned before are lower than the lower rapids.  We were early, but had only a couple knot current against us, and that gave us time to get to the lower rapids, which we actually skirted by going around the Okis Islands past Barnes Bay.  As we cruised beyond that, the views were awesome, with snow capped mountains in the distance and treed hills up close that steeply plunged into the water.  It’s obvious that we truly are cruising through a half sunken mountain range.

We saw evidence of logging in quite a few places, but the good news is that we also saw evidence of reforestation, where previously logged areas had been replanted 10, 20 or 30 years ago and were now a fervent green again, although usually a lighter shade than some of the older growth adjacent to it.  Where logging was active there would be a skid where the logs could be dumped into the bay to be formed into rafts.

Also evident along the shorelines, in indentations that weren’t quite bays but still out of the main flow, there were fish farms.  This is quite the industry here in Canada, and it’s just as controversial as ever, with economics on one side, and worries about infiltration of the Atlantic species into our environment as well as parasites that can invade penned up fish on the other side.  Several times we noticed dolphins surfacing and swimming along the channels, including sometimes near those fish farms.  I would imagine they’re interested in an easy meal so they have to keep those pens in good shape.

Our route eventually brought us to Discovery Passage and Johnstone Strait, which we followed only for about 3 miles until we could turn into Nodales Channel.  It’s not a shortcut – just the opposite, but it takes us up the backside of East Thurlow Island towards Shoal Bay.  This also offered us more outstanding views, as well as more dolphin sightings.  We eventually came to the intersection where we joined the more direct route towards Shoal Bay and the rapids beyond.  We turned left, passed through Channe Passage and headed for Shoal Bay, which was just around the corner.  We stopped here on our trip to Alaska, and the proprietor/owner of the lodge had just opened a small restaurant.  He was a very engaging fellow and we had a great meal there.  The next time we came by here, the docks were full – and sure enough, they were full this time as well.  We half expected that, so already had an alternate plan, which was to continue on to Bickley Bay, not far beyond.  Shoal Bay isn’t an easy anchorage, because, as the name suggests, it shoals – goes from pretty deep to very shallow just beyond the docks.  Bickley Bay has no commercial business other than a now abandoned log dump, and has quite a bit of room at the head.  There were just two other boats there when we arrived, and we set our anchor in about 45 feet of water.

Just down the channel is Greene Point Rapids, and beyond that about another 10 miles is Whirlpool Rapids, which we wanted to pass through near slack water.  I had read previously that it’s best to go through Greene Point at high water slack, as then you’d have the ebb current in your favor as you went towards Whirlpool Rapids and on out to Sunderland Channel and Johnstone Strait.  That seemed like a good plan to me.  When we entered Bickley Bay the tide was flooding, with a 2 or 3 knot current against us in the channel, and a lot more than that against us at Greene Point Rapids.  It didn’t take long to calculate the best departure times for tomorrow to take advantage of that ebb current after the slack at the rapids.  They were 4:00am in the morning, or 5:40pm in the afternoon.  Neither one of those sounded so appealing, so our Bickley Bay stop became a lunch break.  We had arrived around 1:30 after striking out at Shoal Bay, and around 4 o’clock we fired up to head towards Green Point Rapids, with the plan to catch it a bit early to give us more time to make it to Whirlpool Rapids.  I guess it wasn’t that bad of a plan, because the Nordic Tug that was anchored next to us started hoisting anchor just after we did.  Raising the anchor took a little longer than usual, as the bottom was very muddy.  There were sections of our chain that were so coated in mud that you couldn’t even see the chain.  Erin had to hose it off every couple of feet as it was coming up.

We went through Greene Point Rapids against a current of about 2.4 knots and continued on towards Whirlpool.  We waited for that ebb current to develop to scoot us along towards Whirlpool Rapids, but it never seemed to develop.  We were going to arrive at Whirlpool as it was ebbing anyway, and I had its speed displaying on our chart.  Without that push from the ebb current we were falling further behind schedule, so I pushed it up to 1700 rpm as I watched the speed of the rapids increase while we were still some distance away.

I’m not sure how late we were, but according to our computer the rapids were flowing at 5 knots by the time we arrived.  Now, that was in the same direction we were traveling, so we knew we definitely wouldn’t be stuck in there for a long time.  As we approached we did notice that our GPS speed increased from 8 to well over 12 knots, but as we passed through the narrowest part there were very few whirlpools evident, and it was quite a smooth ride.

One option from this point was to continue down Sunderland Channel out into Johnstone Strait and go as far as Port Neville.  This would take another hour, and if there were no space at the short government dock we’d have to go back into the harbor another couple miles to find anchorage.  Our other option was to head for Forward Harbor, whose entrance is so close to Whirlpool Rapids that I began making our turn towards the harbor while we were still cruising along at nearly 12 knots.  As we got out of the main stream that diminished, but then we saw that the entrance appeared to be blocked by a huge raft of logs.  It wasn’t, though – the raft only blocked about three quarters of the entrance.  They were obviously camped out there waiting for the next slack at the rapids, perhaps until tomorrow.  We saw the tug operator walking over a few logs with his fishing pole, and when we passed by between the logs and the shoreline he gave us a big thumbs up and hollered “nice boat!” 

The best anchorage within Forward Harbor is Douglas Bay, which is just around from the entrance.  There is a beach there, and a thin area of shallower water that follows the shoreline.  There were at least a half dozen boats already here but we found some anchorage along the far shore that didn’t require deploying 200 feet of chain. 

We are pleased with our “two step” cruise today, and it puts us nearly 20 miles closer to Lagoon Cove and the Broughton Islands than if we had stayed at either Shoal or Bickley Bays.  Tomorrow presents a similar problem to today’s issue with currents and timing.  We plan on leaving here early tomorrow morning before the winds pick up in Johnstone Strait.  We’ll also have some ebb current to help us along in the morning. 

Our route will then take us up Havana Channel into the Broughtons, but to get to Lagoon Cove we need to go through Chatham Channel, and in the early afternoon it will be flowing at nearly 9 knots against us.  It’s the curse of the full moon.  So, we plan on going into Port Harvey, a nearby anchorage just before Chatham.  Lagoon Cove is so named because there is a lagoon beyond the bay, and that lagoon, at high tide, connects to the head of Port Harvey bay.  But, only a canoe or maybe the dinghy could get through there.  We’ll either wait at Port Harvey until late in the day, or spend the night there and head into Lagoon Cove the following day. 

It’s great not being on a tight schedule.

July 21, 2013 ~ Octopus Islands

The skies cleared more quickly this morning than yesterday, and we thought it might turn into a scorcher, but the fresh breezes throughout the day kept it in the low 70’s – just perfect. 

I figured we’d need to run the generator today, sometime in the afternoon – but we were getting low voltage beeps whenever anything with a motor was used this morning.  So, I fired it up around 8:30 and ran it for a couple hours, until we were ready to go do some more low tide exploring. Guess I’ll just have to be more proactive about running it when we plan on staying somewhere two or three days. 

We returned to the same passageway as yesterday, but this time we went to the entrance near our anchorage.  Since it was just 100 yards or so away and our motor was already tilted up I just rowed us over.  Here there was a very short piece of beach and then it just dropped off.  I rowed against the shoreline while Erin stepped out and pulled our anchor line up to a high point.  This time we brought a couple of gallon baggies, and right away Erin found some huge clam shells on this side so I returned to the dinghy and retrieved the plastic basket that we keep the anchor line in.  There was an area there well populated with clams, and every so often a squirt of water would emanate from the sand, rising up 4 or 5 feet like a small geyser.  Erin got doused twice – but they missed me.

After another hour or so of exploring, gathering shells and just enjoying our low tide walk, we returned to the dinghy with our bounty and rowed back to the boat.  Up here we leave the boat open when we’re out and about.  Although we now trust Tribble a bit more to not jump off the boat and try to walk on water, we’ve put her in our stateroom for our dinghy rides.  It’s the coolest area on the boat, and she now knows the drill, lying down on the bed when we’re ready to leave.  This way we won’t worry about her becoming a midday snack for an eagle while sunning herself out on the deck.

The generator got another tour of duty in the afternoon, this time for about 3 hours.  It’s somewhat loud here in the salon, but elsewhere on the boat it’s not at all bothersome.  We even took a dinghy ride later in the afternoon while it was running to judge how it sounded to other boaters.  We could hardly hear it at some angles and not at all at others – I think it’s quieter than most from a modest distance.

Tomorrow we’re going to head to Shoal Bay.  It’s a good stopping point between sets of rapids that need to be transited at or near slack current.  In the past we’ve gone from the Desolation Sound area up through Yuculta and Dent rapids, but here in the Octopus Islands we’d need to pass through Hole in the Wall first to get to those rapids, and they’re all at slack near the same time.  So, we’ll head north from here up Okisollo Channel through the upper and lower rapids.  For some reason, the lower rapids are north (and west) of the upper rapids – so I guess they weren’t named for their orientation on the chart.  So, we’ll go through upper rapids first, and then continue on to lower rapids.  The lower rapids have a shoal – Gypsy Shoal - right in the middle that is to be avoided, and the recommended passage is to go north around the Okis Islands, which we’ll do.  The cruising guides all recommend extreme caution at the upper rapids during spring tides.  Now, spring tides aren’t tides that happen in the springtime.  They are tides that happen during a full moon or new moon, when the moon exerts more pull. Neap, or less severe tides, occur between the spring tides.  Well, tomorrow there is a full moon, so I guess we’d better get our timing right, as upper rapids is scheduled to be flowing at 12.2 knots at its maximum.  At this speed there will be heavy overfalls at mid channel, where the water wells up following the contours of the bottom.  Unless you’re a rough water kayaker, this is something you don’t want to experience up close.

July 20, 2013 ~ Octopus Islands

The skies were overcast this morning, but it didn’t take very long for them to clear as the winds were gusting from the west to over 15 mph here in our little protected anchorage.  We imagined it would be a choppy day out in Johnstone Strait, but we have no plans to venture out there just yet.

By the time we finished breakfast it was already low tide, but according to the tables it would rise less than a foot over the next hour and a half.  We wanted to head over to the shallow passageway that we had navigated via dinghy last night so Erin could gather some sand dollars, and that’s what we did.  We decided to run around to the other side of the island to beach the dinghy and walk in from there.  I brought along our dinghy anchor to make sure our transportation didn’t leave us with the incoming tide. Our dinghy anchor, by the way, is a genuine Bruce anchor and definitely the smallest one available.  It weighs maybe a pound at the most.  I got it about 30 years ago at the Marine Center store on Westlake, where it was part of a display where you could drag it through a small box of sand to demonstrate how the flukes of the Bruce anchor turn and dig in from any angle.  This may have been when they were preparing to move over to Eastlake – I asked the clerk, mostly in jest, “how much for this one?”  He said, “oh, how about ten bucks” and I snapped it up.  I think I paid another $10 for a tiny stainless shackle for it.

As we approached the shore and it shallowed down to a foot or two, I tilted up the motor and rowed us the rest of the way in.  We both had on our wading shoes, and Erin stepped out with the anchor in hand.  Once we were both out I could bring the dinghy in even closer, and wrapped the anchor chain around a big rock that was about 4 feet higher than the beach.  That would give us plenty of time to explore.  

There was quite a bit of kelp on the beach in places, and although we didn’t sink into any mire, it was easy to have the heel of your shoe sucked off if you weren’t careful.  The passageway was like one giant tide pool with a myriad of little sea creatures, including hermit crabs, star fish, sea anemones, urchins, crabs, clams, barnacles, and of course sand dollars.  If the sand dollar were recognized in the global marketplace, we could finance a large portion of this trip.

We headed for the area where we had seen some sand dollars about 8 or 9 feet down during yesterday’s dinghy ride.  When they’re alive, sand dollars are black, and many of them wedge into the sand at an angle, although others are flat on the bottom.  Although they’re usually found in clusters, they are able to move about some.  It’s only after they die that they turn the familiar white, and those are the ones we were after. 

After an hour or so of gathering and just having a good time exploring, we headed back to the dinghy, which was now afloat but securely tethered to that large rock.  I reeled it in and we headed back towards the boat, circling the island and coming back in via the northern entry.  The sand dollars and shells collected are drying on the foredeck.  Erin found one “sand dime”, which is actually a bit smaller in diameter than a dime.  There must have been an infant death in that sand dollar family.

I think we’ll stay here for yet another day before heading north.  We perused through some cruising guides and charts today, and once we leave here we’ll probably go through the lower and upper rapids of Osikollo Channel, then Nodales Channel up to Shoal Bay. 

July 19, 2013 ~ Refuge Cove to Octopus Islands

It’s time to move on.  We had a hose bib next to the boat, and with no signs anywhere prohibiting boat washing, I gave the boat a quick bath, and also filled the water tank.  The watermaker isn’t functional yet, so we still have that chore.

About a half hour or so before we left, we spotted Steve and Janet in the Flexible Flyer, sailing out of the harbor.  We have a few more photos to send them via email.  We finally got away from the dock around 11:20 or so.  Our ultimate destination was to the Octopus Islands, although we thought we’d first go to the Surge Narrows landing to see if the store had reopened, or what condition it was in.  The main entryway into the Octopus Islands is through a narrows called Hole in the Wall, where the current can run up to 9 knots or more.  It’s always a good idea to time your arrival there at slack tide.  We planned instead on taking Whiterock Passage, which can be navigated at any tide.  It is very shallow and lined with rocks on either side of a dredged channel, which has a minimum depth of 5 feet at zero tide.  There are two sets of range markers, so a turn is required in the middle to stay in the “straight and narrow”.  We went through on a rising tide, with a slight current against us – maybe a knot or two. 

Once through the passage we turned to port and headed towards Surge Narrows.  There is Surge Narrows, the passageway between Quadra and Maurelle Islands, and there is Surge Narrows, the small settlement not far away from there.  They have a government dock, a few homes, an old school house, and they used to have a store.  We knew the store had closed a few years ago, but we thought we’d check to see if it had reopened, or at least what shape the facility was in.  It was in pretty sad shape.  The dock was in disrepair, falling apart in places, and the building at the top of the pier, which was in pretty bad shape even when the store was open, now looked as though it could fall into the bay at any moment.  We took a few photos, and not wanting to risk even tying to that dock, turned around and resumed our course for the Octopus Islands.  Rather than go through Surge Narrows, we headed back to our route that came through Whiterock Passage and picked it up as it passed north of the Settlers Group of islands.  The currents aren’t as strong here, and although the cruising guide recommends against using it without local knowledge as it also has some rocks, we have been through there quite a few times without incident, and we added one to that count.

From there it was just 25 minutes or so to get to the Octopus Islands, a provincial marine park.  There are several bays and anchorages within the archipelago, and we headed for our favorite one.  We were pleased to find only 3 or 4 boats there, with all but one stern tied to shore.  We took our usual spot out in the middle, just beyond the large rock that dries at low tide.  From here we can see through openings into the other bays, and also across the entryway to a shallow passage that is navigable by dinghy at high tide, and by foot at low tide.  We explored it a bit this evening at high tide by dinghy, and will definitely return at low tide tomorrow.

July 18, 2013 ~ Refuge Cove

We stayed put today, deciding on a mixture of relaxation and boat chores.  The sunny weather has returned after the one rainy day, and there was a somewhat cooling breeze coming in from the west providing some comfort as well.

My chore was to work on the watermaker installation, while Erin cleaned salt off the chrome on the starboard side – she had done the port side while we were anchored in Prideaux Haven.  We first relaxed as much as possible, which took almost ‘til noon.   I finally got started with the watermaker, but the first step was to round up the various parts I needed: clamps, hose unions, wire, a T fitting and some other odds and ends.  These were all on the boat, but Erin and I had tucked them away in various places, some of which were now forgotten.  We finally recalled putting some stuff under the hull side seat in the dinette, and that’s where many of the long lost pieces were.  By the time all these things were coalesced into one place – well, we needed to relax some more.  And so it went for today.

There seemed to be a bit less activity at the docks today than yesterday.  We surmised folks all came in yesterday while it was raining and now that the sun is once again shining they’ve all gone to their various harbors.  We’ll do something like that tomorrow,.

July 17, 2013 ~ Prideaux Haven to Refuge Cove

Well, the rain held off overnight, but came in a series of showers starting early this morning.  We had left the dinghy down overnight with plans for a morning ride, and also had the front windows out above the helm, so things got a bit wet here and there.  The morning showers weren’t that long in duration, but they did rinse off some streak marks from my window washing chores of a couple days ago.

Yesterday we ran the generator for about two and a half hours to boost the batteries as we’ve been anchoring out since leaving Nanaimo.  That apparently wasn’t quite enough, as later this morning we got some low voltage beeps when the ice maker attempted to come back on for its cycle.  When we’re off shore power we leave the bar up so it’s not making new ice, just keeping what we have frozen.  That takes less power, but it’s still the biggest draw on our house batteries.  It’s been in the 80’s pretty much every day, so we’ve been enjoying our ice!

Our original plan for today was to head over to Refuge Cove in the afternoon, refill one of our propane bottles that ran out, do some shopping and plug in for the night.  Between the rainy morning and low house battery situation, we decided that rather than run the generator, why not just head on over to Refuge Cove now – which is what we did.  It’s about 8 miles away, so took a little over an hour at our leisurely cruise speed of 7 knots.  Refuge Cove is the commercial hub of the Desolation Sound area, with store, fuel dock, gift shop and used book store, and the cruising guides point out that they’re busiest between 10 and 3 as far as dock space goes.  There is a lot of turnover during those hours as people do their shopping, use the laundry facilities and so forth, so boats are always arriving and leaving.  We thought we might have to wait for some dock space, but found an available spot right away.  And, just as described, after 3 or 4 o’clock, activity settled down as the shoppers left and the overnighters remained.  There is even room for another 3 or 4 boats now in the evening.

Leaving Prideaux Haven

On the way over we were admiring a trimaran sailboat under sail.  We made a slight course change to cut behind him as he came about.  As we approached Refuge Cove the wind was dying down and he lowered his sails and fell in behind us.  He came in a short time after we had secured our spot on the dock, and we helped him tie to a spot across from us.  The boat was named “Flexible Flyer” and the outriggers were articulated – they could fold up to narrow the boat to a 12 foot beam – although I think that would introduce some stability issues.  I would guess that’s a moorage use only option – it wasn’t necessary for this landing.  They were here for a short stop, with their main mission being acquiring some more kitty litter.  They thought they had left with a 60 day supply, but apparently their two cats thought otherwise.  We struck up a conversation, and had them on board for a tour of our boat.  Hopefully we run across them again in our travels.

The Flexible Flyer sailing towards Refuge Cove

It used to be that the only power available here at Refuge Cove was from a few 15 amp outlets inside the maintenance shack below the store, and if you were close enough, or had enough cord, and an outlet was available then you could get shore power.  Now they have power stanchions at all the moorage spots, although it’s still 15 amp power.  That’s fine with us – we can just take turns between running the battery charger or the washing machine or the vacuum cleaner.  It’s not like we need all that stuff going on at once.  The community here is off the grid, but they have a diesel generator running around the clock during cruising season, fueled by the shore power charges they collect.  It’s a pretty good deal all around.

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The Refuge Cove store

We were fortunate with our timing, as there was no rain during our cruise over here and our decks and lines were dry as we approached the dock.  Had we waited until our original planned time, we would have arrived during one of the subsequent downpours. 

We like Refuge Cove.  It’s so picturesque, with the store on pilings, and the boardwalks that lead to the other shops as well as the private homes that surround the harbor.  The community is some sort of co-op of property owners, and they lease to the business owners – so it’s not like you could just decide to move here.  I think the number of residents, or homes, numbers in the low teens at most.  There is a seaplane float out at the end of one of the docks, and Kenmore Air flies here on a regular schedule, as do some of the Canadian seaplane outfits.  Just down the dock from us is a pirate ship – well, it’s a two masted ketch that is painted all black and flies the Jolly Roger.  The boat has signs offering diving services, and from the length of the growth around the bottom it has been here for some time.

We will stay here for a day or two before heading off north towards the Broughton Islands.  We will probably forego running our ice machine from this point on unless we’re plugged in, as we’ll need more battery reserves as we head north.  Oh, the suffering we endure…