Middle Watch Musings
• Jul. 28, 2007 - Still Raining
Here we are back in Shearwater. We have spent the last three weeks north of here in the remotest part of the BC coast. From Ocean Falls we sailed up to Eucott Hot Springs. We enjoyed a couple days there even though the weather turned warm and the springs were too hot to get in! The horse flies were awful.
After Eucott we sailed back to Ocean Falls and filled up with their perfect water and left again. It was a miserable day with huge winds so we turned back and sat out the storm at Ocean Falls, comfortable and warm. Our second try leaving took us up through Troup Narrows where we anchored in Discovery Passage. The water was quite warm and we had a swim over the side. Very refreshing! We put the crab trap down and when we hauled it there were no crab but several shrimp so we quickly swapped it out for the shrimp trap. The next morning we enjoyed a fresh shrimp breakfast. This is really the life. While there we were visited by Jean from Po-Tolo (K7BIW) and had a great chat with her about places to see on the coast.
From there we made a quick stop in Sheawater for groceries then sailed for St John Harbour where we heard the fish were running. That was a success. We caught a small pink on the way out and ate it. We also caught a large coho and put it back. The next day, sailing north from St John, Nancy caught a fair sized sockeye that fed us for two days. Mmmm.
Our next stop was Klemtu were we worked on our new fuel leak. It turned out to be a bad flare on a fuel line. "Grant", the Klemtu motorhead, lent me the only flaring tool in town and I cut off the bad flare, re-did the flare, assembled the line and we were leak free. Many thanks to Grant for his advice and help. While in Klemtu we met Francis, the local story teller who took us for a tour of the Klemtu Big House. What a great place. We enjoyed Francis' tales and the impressive carving in the Big House. Thanks Francis.
From Klemtu we sailed north to Butedale and met Lou Simoneau. What a fun stop. Lou likes company and has a neat setup in Butedale.
The next day (dates are vague) we motored north to Bishop's Bay Hot Springs. We got their in good time and were able to berth alongside the little dock. It seemed like a blessing at the time. The next day the trailer park crowd came down from Kitimat in two small Bayliners loaded with coolers and booze. They had a very loud night while parked right ahead of us on the dock. We were happy when they left but no sooner had they gone when their cousins pulled up and did the same thing the next night. It took a little of the fun out of Bishop's Bay but the Hot Springs were nice and we enjoyed most of our time there.
From Bishop's we sailed around Gribble Island to Hartley Bay looking for some fresh food. There was nothing for sale at Hartley but we did eat out at "Nicks". Nick, from Toronto???, has opened his house as a little burger joint and the burgers were good. It was a little unusual sitting in his kitchen eating them but we enjoyed the visit. We filled up with Hartley water, reportedly one of the best soures of water on the coast, and sailed south. After a couple months in almost continuous rain we decided it was time to find some dry weather. While sailing over the site of the sinking of the Queen of the North we caught another big salmon but put it back because there was too much for the two of us. We motored and sailed down to Butedale again but Lou wasn't there so we had a free night on his dock.
From Butedale we sailed down to Klemtu and saw many humpback whales feeding along the shoreline. We caught another small pink just outside of Klemtu but it was infested with lice. The locals at Klemtu told us that it was because of the fish farm in the area. Sad! We chucked it back.
While in Klemtu we met several interesting folks on the other boats and had drinks on Nokomis of the Orient with the owners Derek and Pat. They were wonderful hosts and very experienced sailors who had a lifetime of stories to tell. We had an interesting evening.
From Klemtu we sailed intending to go to Oscar Cove to look at some bears that were reported there. We arrived late after a boisterous sail and the cove was full of power boats, bummer. We continued on to Bella Bella and spent the night on their fuel dock for free. At the Band Store we bought a huge load of groceries and booze and then departed for Sheawater where we linked up with our friends Barrie and Sandra in Passat II for an evening on the town. That was last night. Now I am sitting in the laundromat writing this. We will leave late today or tomorrow and start making our way down to Kvai and Hakai and then to Pierre's for "Speak Like a Pirate" day on the 11th of August Yeehaw.
Still having fun.
Gary
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