August 7, 2013 ~ Claydon Bay to Jennis Bay

The weather continues to be phenomenal – sometimes foggy in the mornings, but clearing and sunny all afternoon.  Today it was pushing 80 degrees again.

This morning, while it was still foggy, we all piled into the dinghy to go around the corner and do some beach browsing at low tide.  We had also hoped to see a bear or two turning rocks over at low tide searching for morsels to eat, but no such luck today.  The dinghy did fine with 4 people aboard, although we definitely couldn’t go up on plane. A bit too fast and the bow person – in this case, Laura – would get splashed so we proceeded at slow bell.

Around the corner from the cove where we anchored is a shallow sloping beach, and also a stream that comes into the bay – although with all this good weather I think the stream wasn’t carrying much, if any, water.  Remnants of an old pier are further ashore – mostly just the pilings all in a row, with some support pieces that connected to a deck that is no longer there.

I brought along our dinghy-sized Bruce anchor with its chain and 50 feet of line.  When we hit bottom in a few inches of water we all got out, pulled the dinghy up a little closer and I then put the anchor on shore.  I also stuck an upright stick next to it, as the tide was coming in and that would make it easier to find.  From the beach we could see out into the bay, but beyond that was still shrouded in fog.

Claydon Bay beach - dinghy in the distance

The beach was littered with clam shells of various types, and we’d also get an occasional spout of water from the clams under the surface.  With an eye towards the woods checking for bears, we roamed up to the old pier for some photos.  We had some bags with us, and quite a bit of shell collecting was done, although nothing really exotic turned up.  I returned to the dinghy a few times, and each time the dinghy had drifted in the 50 feet to where the anchor was.  The slope was so gentle that a rise of a few inches would carry a long way.  I think I repositioned the dinghy 4 or 5 times so we wouldn’t have to go swimming for it.

On the way back to the boat Erin spotted a small beach of light tan colored sand, and it was mostly crushed shells.  Here the beach was steeper, and we could nose right up to it.  Erin has sand from various locations all around the country, so both Laura and Erin got out and filled a couple of bags.  I’m sure it will be on display under our glass-topped coffee table this fall.n

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Once we got back to the boat and had everyone unloaded, Laura and I headed back out to check on the crab traps.  We had two set – both with fish scrap bait, but only one had the extra enticement of the shrimp bait pellets that John and Rebecca gave us.  We had some nice crabs in both traps, but I have to say there were more in the one with the pellets.  I think there were around 13 or 14 all together between the two traps, and after throwing out the females and undersized ones we still had 5 really big ones left.  They went in the crab hotel bucket off the stern, awaiting their fate.

There were also several commercial crab traps scattered all around the bay, and shortly after we had retrieved ours, a work boat came though the bay checking their traps, and retrieving their keepers.  One was directly behind our boat, and we’re happy to report that we had better luck than they did – at least on that one trap.

We planned on heading over to Drury Inlet this afternoon, catching Stuart Narrows at slack current around 3 o’clock or so.  (You can’t always say “or so” with most narrows and rapids around here, but with this one and the neap tides that are currently going on, we could.)  The fog had lifted while we were on the beach, leaving us with a sunny afternoon.  We had some time before raising the anchor, and we used that time to prepare and cook our crab catch.  They are now in the fridge awaiting a future deluxe meal.

Coming out of Grappler Sound we had quite a bit of wind, but the water wasn’t that rough.  Once we turned into Drury Inlet, we were in the lee of Compton Point and the wind dropped to almost nothing.  Stuart Narrows isn’t at the entrance to Drury – it’s a couple of miles down the channel.  The terrain here is a bit different than the other channels around the Broughtons – the hills are lower and more gently sloping.  As we cruised along we had the definite impression we were cruising down a river.  We had decided on Jennis Bay as our first stop – it looked to be well protected, and we’d also heard there was a store in there.  As we entered Jennis Bay we could see the marina ahead, with just a couple of boats, and decided to give it a try.  The marina is pretty primitive – there is no water or power on the dock, and no real store, just some souvenirs in the office.  But, what they lack in amenities they make up for in funkiness.  And, there’s free wifi, although not fast enough that I can post any photos as yet.  They have a few cabins here, and they also prepare meals for the local logging community.  They did host a happy hour at the head of the dock, and provided a mess of shrimp for us, so that was definitely a treat.  Behind the office/store and landing area is a shallower bay, and we were told that over the past few days a bear had appeared there on the beach at each low tide.  We’re hoping it does it again while we’re here.

Our cruise from Claydon Bay was only a bit over 8 miles, not enough for a good charge on the batteries.  Since there is no power here, we ran the generator for about two and a half hours to give us an added boost.  We’re using a few more amps per day with 4 people.