Middle Watch Musings
• Aug. 11, 2007 - Some sun at last!
We have finally found some sun, only occasionally, but it does shine once in a while. We left Shearwater with a boat full of groceries and water. Our first stop was in Fancy Cove, a small quiet anchorage in Lama Pass. It was a nice change from the hustle of Shearwater. From there we had a short sail (yes a sail) across to Codville Lagoon. We even sailed in through the gut. There was no tide and a following wind so it was easy.
We dropped the hook in the east end near the trail to the lake. The anchor had not even hit the bottom when Rollie (VE0TI) from Tropic Isle came over for a visit. We spent the next couple hours talking about the coast, cruising and radios. Rollie is a very interesting fellow. Later that evening Nancy and I went over to Tropic lsle for a drink and met Anne Fenje, another RVYC cruiser who was out with her husband and son on there beautiful Niagara 42, Ghost River. We had a nice time chatting.
The next morning I was woken from a deep sleep by a blowing sound and ran up on deck to see two humpback whales in amongst our boats swimming around. That was the closest I had ever been to them. I shouted down to Nancy and we watched them swim off up the lagoon. Both Rollie and Anne were out in their pygamas taking pictures. Of course we forgot our camera! We then hiked up to Sagar Lake. It was beautiful but before we could jump in for a skinny dip Rollie came ambling up. Oh well' modesty is an inconvenience.
We left Codville and sailed farther south enjoying a pleasant sunny day and decided to anchor in Lewall Inlet for the night. The entrance was very narrow and shallow and there were dead fish everywhere. When we got in to the dogleg there were two American power boats anchored with go-fast fish boats tied alongside. We stayed anyway and anchored right in the dogleg. It was a quiet comfortable anchorage except for the dead fish and the power boats generators.
The next day was very foggy. We left Lewall in zero visibility using our GPS and crossed Hakai Pass with about 500 yard vis. Once across the visibility opened up and we motored into Pruth Bay and anchored.
Pruth Bay was much more pleasant this time. The sun was out and we were ready for the long awaited 7 Beaches Hiking Trail. Nancy and I set off and hiked to the sixth beach where we found another couple who insisted that it was the seventh beach. The trail had been challenging so we stopped and stayed there a while. The 7 Beaches hike is a "don't miss" hike. We got back to the boat muddy but happy. Pruth is still one of my favourite places ever.
We left Pruth to set ourselves up for the sail around Cape Caution. Thinking I was running short on fuel we motored up to Dawson's Landing and spent the night on their docks. It was very nice. They have a wonderful "Country Store" that sells everything from bullets to beer. We filled the fuel tanks at $1.18 a litre (I discovered we still had 25 gallons left) and motored south intending to sit in Smith Sound and wait for perfect Cape Caution weather. Once out of Rivers Inlet the wind was a norwester at 18 knots so we made sail and ran along ahead of it at 7 knots right around the corner into Skull Cove. It was a great sail! Skull Cove proved to be a perfect little hideaway from the wind. We spent a quiet night there and the next morning made sail again and sailed to Port Hardy on one long starboard tack.
In Port Hardy we met Jack (VE7DFJ) and Judy in Majendie and Derek and Pat in Nokomis. The six of us went out to a Port Hardy hotspot for dinner. It was amusing and tasty but very peculiar. The staff all seemd like they were just learning how to work in restaurants. The orders were all confused and the drinks were wrong. They did make everything right eventually but it was strange. Funny.
That night, while we were moored alongside the public dock in Port Hardy, a fish boat came in and off-loaded its catch upwind of us. We both woke up smelling the strong smell of dead fish and the next morning the entire boat stank. We sailed immediately and spent all day scrubbing the boat inside and out. We got a slip in Port McNeill and scrubbed it again there. It was horrible. We did get the boat cleaner than ever and there is no more smell.
From McNeill we sailed over to Alert Bay to visit the town and cultural centre. It was excellent. A lot of the places we had visited on the coast made more sense with after the visit to Umista in Alert Bay. What a terrible history we have with the native people. We didn't stay the night in Alert Bay but moved to an anchorage in the Plumper Group hoping to get a picture of Plumper in the Plumper Islands the next day. Unfortunately, when we sailed the next day it was zero visibility and we didn't even see the islands. Bummer.
We crossed Blackfish Sound and the vis cleared up as we entered the Broughtons. We dropped our hook in Duck Cove in Port Elizabeth after a great sail up Knight Inlet.
The next morning we sailed off the hook and up around Gilford Island to Bond Sound looking for bears. We anchored in Bond Sound at the edge of the drop off until dusk but we didn't see any bears. I took our kyak up the river until it got scarey but still no bears. We moved over to Wahkana Bay for the night. It was a very sheltered anchorage with one other boat.
From there we motored over to Kwatsi to meet Jack and Judy again for potluck on the dock. Another great time at Kwatsi.
That brings us to now. I am sitting in Pierre's Lodge in Pierre's Bay waiting for the pig to be roasted. Tonight is "Speak Like a Pirate" night at the Pierre's Bay Pig Roast. I've been praticing all day, "Damn your eyes!" Arggghhhhh!
More later.
Gary
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