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PART 4: DATE: May 21, Tuesday
We left Port Hardy at 5:00 AM. I was up even earlier taking Ziggy out. I had to tip toe down the docks very quietly. “Raven”, “Patience” and “Knotty Dog” leave the harbor. We head out and pass through Heard Island and the Gordon Islands. It’s foggy and grey but visibility is good. We can see both boats easily. The landscape on the islands is very picturesque.
I cooked some scrambled eggs and pork and beans with toast, jam and coffee. We left so early we didn’t have time to eat. Ziggy did not go to the bathroom back at Port Hardy when I took him out so he’s now giving me a very worried look. He’ll learn, I guess.
The fog is thick now. We lost visibility of the other boats. We are going by our radar now. We have Davey Rock in view on the monitor. We called “Raven” to see if they confirm the buoy marking Davey Rock. They confirmed.
“Patience” called on the radio again to say we have a cruise ship and a large yacht on our portside. We have already noticed them huge as life. The fog has returned and again we are depending on the radar. We can hear some other people on the radio talking about a ship to the East of them and some other fishermen answering “yes” and that “there is a pretty good size log floating out here too!” The seas are flat as we pass Walker Group (Staples Island). We can see a silhouette of trees at the skyline with a faded patch of blue. “Patience” is leading us through some very tricky areas in the fog, closely between rocks and islands. Good thing it’s a calm flat sea. We didn’t plot our way through here so I’m glad we can make the islands out. We can hear the two fishermen again on the radio trying to stay out of the way of the cruise ship.
I’m surprised at how close we are traveling to the islands. We are totally dependant on the radar. As we approach, I notice the name Deserters Group Islands. You wonder about the meaning behind the naming of the islands. Off to port on Gordon Channel is Baklava Island. I “Patience” calls to “Raven”. He checked Ch. 11, the Prince Rupert Traffic Station, and one of the big ships checked in but no other traffic is predicted, so sounds good like we have a clear pass without the worry of commercial traffic getting in our way. We realize we are catching up too close to “Raven" in the fog so we’re moving off to their portside and are beginning to trail “Patience. We called “Raven” to let them know we were getting too close and felt more comfortable moving off to the right. We’re clearing Bolivar Passage. It’s very foggy. The seas are flat. We’re coming into Ripple Passage. We’ll see if there will be ripples. We see four large geese flapping their wings in all directions across the grey water, creating ripples and rings of patterns. The sound of their wings is prominent in this quietness. Its very beautiful. Larry estimates we’ll be at our destination around 11:00. A mysterious strange wake came through. It must be from the large cruise ship that we can’t see in the fog. 7:00 AM: Larry now thinks it was “Raven’s” wake. We’re averaging about 8.3 knots. The Nordhavn “Patience” is setting the pace and it’s a bit slow for our Grand Banks.
7:18 AM: We feel slight swells coming far apart. They are small but we can imagine in rougher seas what it might be like since it is a very calm day. We can now see Allar Rock ahead on our starboard side. We’re coming up to Storm Island on the left. 7:50 AM: The fog has now completely cleared. We can see the mainland finally off our starboard side. Many different layers or plains of mountains are visible in different shades of blue to black. The low foggy clouds are nestled between the layered mountains. We see two large ships ahead. One is directly in front and another about 10:30. We can also see Cape Caution now. It’s ahead in the distance. The water still is flat with a slight swell that is very far apart. No wind. 8:10 AM: The seas have about a 1 meter swell. The water looks oily and smooth and the sun has cast a yellowy blue cast to the water intermixed with colors of lavender and purple. A tug is coming, pulling 2 loads. Everybody is making a turn around him, giving him a wide berth. I think Ziggie’s got to go to the bathroom. I’ve taken him up to the fly bridge twice to encourage the use of the poop box. He just doesn’t get the idea of the poop box. I feel sorry for him. He’s such a clean dog and doesn’t like to go in the house or yard. He looks like he’s really suffering. We passed the huge tug pulling the large load of logs piled at least 2 or 3 stories high! 8:25 AM: We’re now passing Cape Caution. It’s marked with a small marker on the point. You’d think it would have something more significant with all the foreboding history that goes with it. It looks completely insignificant on a day like this. The sun is sparkling over the water like moonlight, glistening on an evening lake. 8:46 AM: We can see Egg Island ahead. “Patience” wants to go on the inside and see the light as we pass since it’s so calm. So we all passed Egg Island on our port and didn’t see a light house, it was on the other side.
9:56 AM: The skies are clear and the sun is out. Cumulous clouds are gathering over the mainland. The barometer is showing 1014.9. It’s been going up and up. We think we are in for some good weather. 10:42 AM: “Patience” came on the radio again and said once we pass the point of Calvert Island the swells will be pretty much over. We can feel the difference already. As we took the turn around Dugout Rocks to our port, heading toward Goose Bay, it became very flat (at least for this weather pattern). We could see Duncaby Landing in the distance. What a welcoming site after this crossing that was so benign but gives such worry not knowing what the conditions will be like. We’ve read about so many difficult passages that our apprehension was intense. We were grateful for such an easy day.
We all arrived at Duncaby Landing about 11:30 AM. “Patience” and “Raven” docked first and seemed to be having trouble on the docks. We waited for them to settle in and make room for us so we could come in. They radioed to us that the dock was missing tie-ups. They were able to find a few things to barely secure their boats to but there was not enough for us. They said they would go to the other side to see if we might be able to dock there.
They walked up the gang plank and down to the other side past the fuel dock to see what the conditions were on the other end. They radioed back that they thought we could tie up there with their help. So we cautiously maneuvered in and thanks to everyone’s help, we tied up. We tied up to broken planks and anything that we thought would be secure. The docks were in hideous condition and not a soul was around from Duncaby Landing to guide or help us. The captain on “Raven” fell through the planks and almost hurt himself seriously. The wood was so rotten it gave no support. Thank goodness there was a log below the planks that prevented him from falling all the way through into the freezing waters. We’re also grateful he didn’t get hurt because we were in the middle of no where land for medical attention.
Duncaby, despite its ratty docks, was very picturesque as we entered the channel. Their crisp white buildings with bright red roofs were a welcome site from a distance. They made a nice back drop against the forested hillside nestled amongst several small islands. The landing is totally protected from whatever may be out there in the main channel. The docks were in such a shamble that it was unbelievable actually. We’re wondering if this is what we have to look forward to up the road. Some of the docks were only connected by a few floating logs tied with ropes. We literally had to find a plank to lay over between the docks to enable us to cross to the fuel dock to get up the ramp to the main buildings. Huge rusty nails were protruding ou tof every pathway. Lumber debris, old chains, plastic bins and old broken crab and shrimp traps where littered everywhere. We walked up the gangway ramp to the boardwalk that leads to the buildings. Not a soul was to be seen except a black dog that greeted us. Doors to the tool sheds and other buildings with “valuable” items were wide open for anyone to enter and take what they wanted. The place was deserted but in such a way that it looked like it was evacuated in a hurry. It was in a way, kind of scary. We hollered to see if someone was there but no one answered except for the black dog. This place was nothing like we expected since the boating guides said it was open year round. The book said it was a fun place to be and the restaurant and store were hopping. It was supposed to have new docks from Fury (another place a few miles north) and power, etc. We checked the whole place out and let Ziggy do his thing. Ziggy must be feeling much relieved after that long trip. He and the black dog seemed to tolerate each other very well. The boating guide also said Duncaby Landing boasted accommodations of 8 rooms. The rooms were in a shack plopped up on some rocks. You had to cross a rickety plank to get to them. There was one bath at the end of the hall for all to use. The accommodations were pitiful, almost hobo like. Guess the sports fishermen come here to fish and are so drunk they don’t care. Comforts must not be a priority. It must be the “real wilderness experience”. Plumbing and pipes were hanging out the bottom of the shack just dumping whatever on the shore. The restaurant and store were closed. It looked like the owner’s house was in the back behind a gate. We didn’t go back there. We went back to our boats and had lunch. Bill and Joy were on “Patience” and Susan and Reiner on “Raven”. They dropped by our boat to see the inside and chatted for a bit. We were invited back to “Patience” at 5:00 for cocktails. I crashed on the chaise lounge on the upper deck in the warm sunshine and Larry crashed below. Ziggy was in charge of the dock. At least at this place he could run lose and what would it matter? There was no one to bother and nothing to destroy. There was a big loud Raven that was teasing him. So, he was busy chasing him off “his dock” and barking at the splashes the water made against the dock. He was in his glory free to do his own thing. Later in the afternoon I went inside and slept more on the bed. We were exhausted as we got up at 4:45 AM. We went over to “Patience” at 5:00 to see what these people were all about. I took some smoked salmon and triscuits. Susan brought cashews and Joy on “Patience” had made fresh bread with butter and three different cheeses which everyone just devoured. We were there for hours! We talked about their experiences and places to go and what to expect. Guess we’re going to go with them tomorrow to see Fury Cove and then end up to Codville Lagoon for our next stop. We all made a plan to leave at 8:00 AM. (From what I could make out Joy is a photographer and graduated from Brookes Institute. She said she is writing a book on their travels to Alaska. Bill seems to know it all but is very nice (he was in the airline business). Reiner was a programmer for IBM. Susan and Reiner built a house in Friday harbor and custom built their boat. It was in Passagemaker magazine in one of their latest issues. It was brand new.) We got tours of both boats. We’re three good looking boats docked here at this crummy place. Both of these women learned to dock their boats from Brian Calvert in Friday Harbor. I was very impressed with them. DATE: Wednesday, May 22, 2002 We got up at 8:15 AM. The seas in Rivers Inlet have a light chop. Duncaby Landing is a good place to get inspired to write a murder mystery I think. It’s so eerie with all the open doors and no one around. Just when you think you are alone, you see someone sneeking around out of a door and going behind a building (shack really) or getting into a little ratty boat and leaving without a word. It’s just men and strange looking men. They look like loners and are dirty and unshaven. We learned everyone was suffering from a huge hangover yesterday, (I guess that’s why they were so quiet and looked so bad.) so much so, that they weren’t able to come out to greet us all day. Ken, the owner, managed to come down to our boat about 7:30 PM and collect $30 dockage fee! He said his cook is coming next week and the new docks will be there in the next two weeks. (I wouldn’t hold my breath until that happened.) Another boater dropped by yesterday in a small aluminum boat looking for someone to buy a fishing and crabbing license from. He was an ex employee for Delta Airlines and a former bush pilot. He came over to compliment us on our boat. He has sixteen grand kids and is going to Prince of Wales Island to fish. His grandkids will fly in and out all through the summer. We saw Ken walking around this morning about 7:30 AM. He must finally be over his hangover. 8:20 AM: The seas in the channel are getting choppier. Bill and Joy must do a lot of traveling. She brought over a photo journal that she did of their travels through the canals of Ireland, England and France. She had some beautiful pictures. Larry thinks we should buy some large orange ball fenders. Bill said in Wrangell and other places it’s a mandatory rafting situation. “Sometimes those fishing boats raft right up to you and don’t care if they bump into you.” When I woke up this morning I could hear “Raven” was up to as they just turned on his generator. It’s a custom designed boat. It’s designed with three steering stations, one on each side on the outside and the standard inside the pilot house. He also designed in an industrial type fire hose on the back of the boat. The inside is large will open hallways, high ceilings, and large doorways. Otherwise it’s the same layout as their friend’s Nordhavn, “Patience”. The 46’ Nordhavn has the same layout but feels much smaller to me. “Patience” have collected a lot of Indian art and objects from their travels in Alaska which displayed throughout their boat. 9:00 AM: We are entering Fury Cove anchorage to take a “look-see”. Bill said there is supposed to be a white mark on a rock to tell you where the entrance is. We see something to our starboard but not sure if that’s what they’re talking about. It’s a pretty little cove with a couple white midden shores and a view out to the channel so if you were anchored there you could get a glimpse of the conditions before making the crossing back to Vancouver Island, heading home. I marked the locations in case we come back sometime in the fog:
Entering Channel S to N
51.28.10/127.45.92 Just off Stunted
Island Leaving to go S to N 51.28.67/127.45.51 Heading out of
Fury Cove and North Bill said if it’s windy you can always take shelter along Calvert Island. 10:42 AM: We passed Addenbroke Lighthouse awhile ago. It was another picturesque grouping of white buildings and red roofs sitting on a green knoll nestled among a forested hillside. The light was not flashing. “Patience” called on the radio to let us
know that two cruise ships are behind us near Egg Island. One is
We munched on some granola and milk for breakfast and had a scone later for a snack. Last night Larry ate so many appetizers that he couldn’t eat dinner so I zip locked the steaks we were going to grill and we’ll eat them today. We still have great satellite TV but the phone service is out. “Patience” has a satellite phone and could get very slow email. He has four phone numbers. One for Friday Harbor people and I forgot what people the others were for. I think I’d get mixed up trying to keep them straight and who gets what number. He has two radars; one for long range and one close. 11:00 AM: We can see the “Queen” ferry about two miles behind us on our port quarter. When we docked yesterday we all had to have a toast to “Poseidon”. Bill and Judy made it a tradition to thank Poseidon for a safe trip by having a small toast. They say they do that every time they take the boat out and come back safely (even to the fuel dock). (I wonder if they are planning on doing that when we arrive at our anchorage at Codville Lagoon.) I don’t think Larry’s going to go for having to get his dinghy down for that. The “Queen of the North” is going to pass a mile on our port. 11:20 AM: We hear two large ships, the “Queen” and another, confirming which side they will pass each other on. In the distance we see another huge ship on the other side of the channel masked by the fog heading down towards the Queen as she rapidly goes by. We’re waiting for her monolithic wake as” Patience” has warned us all about. We see ahead another mass of sea gulls flying erratically and diving in the midst of many dolphins that are swiftly swimming and diving across the water. 11:25 AM: We’re passing Hakai Passage and feeling the choppiness from the Queen Charlotte Sound. The Queen looks like a baby passing the huge black bottom cruise ship that appears. It’s the “Ryndam” Holland American Cruise Line. It seems that the big vessels keep to the West side of the Channel. 12:20 AM: We
went into Warrior Cove to check out the anchorage. It looked OK. We had
radioed “Raven” and “Patience” what we were doing but got no response back.
Namu Harbor is a beautiful little harbor with old buildings.
Many are well warn and falling apart. It was formerly a cannery. It has some
cute little homes on the hill above the cannery. I’d like to have stopped and
visited there. One nice sailboat was docked but the place looked like it was
falling into the water in certain areas. Apparently the caretakers are
encouraging boaters to come visit. It’s supposed to have showers, water and
15 amp power. It’s very picturesque from a distance. 1:17 PM: We crossed Burke Channel and passed Kisamet Bay on the inside of Kipling Island. It looks like a nice anchorage. We
caught up with “Patience” and “Raven” again as they were entering Codville
Lagoon. We entered cautiously through the tiny entrance that could easily
been missed or unnoticed as one went down the channel. We stayed far to the
starboard side of the entrance to miss a submerged rock on the portside. We
came into a suddenly calm and protected lagoon with an island in the center.
We slowly went around the right side of the island to the back lagoon near the
trail to the lake. “Patience” and “Raven” were in the process of anchoring
near the trail location. We snuggled into a cubby of our own not too far away
with a nice grassy crescent shaped beach with glaciated rocks. Behind the
rocks was a beautiful forested landscape with huge balls of lime green moss
the size of bowling balls hanging from the limbs of the trees. We anchored in
about 40 feet with no problem. I learned how to disengage the dinghy and prepare to take Ziggy ashore. We have the process down to a science now. We get the rubber boots, motor to a shallow area, pull-up the motor and paddle until we touch the ground and I get out in the shallow water enough not to go over to top of my boots and pull the boat in. I lift Ziggy out and Larry mans the dinghy. Ziggy is fast and efficient as usual and before you know it, we’re back in the dinghy and on our way back to the boat again. I managed in the brief time ashore to get several insect bites. They’re not itchy but kind of sore. Those insects always love me. Bill came by in his dinghy and invited us to their 5:00 PM cocktail hour on “Raven” but we declined. We felt we needed to let them have their space and not become too much of a tag-a-long. After all, it would have been rude for him not to have invited us. They are very nice and he gave us a few more names of places that he thought were a “not to miss” and “what to miss”:
“No to Hartley” (Not friendly and
the Indians get on your boat) We said “so long” and had a little snack with some hot tea. We watched the news on TV, another bombing in Israel and they found the skeleton of Shandra Levy. We’re certainly not missing anything interesting as it’s pretty much the same as when we left. We had our grilled steaks for dinner. We took Ziggy out after dinner for a final little spin in the dinghy but it was raining and not too much fun. It has been raining all afternoon and the windows are foggy. The temperature is 48 degrees and the pressure is 1021.7.
We were up at 7:42 AM. I thought I heard thunder in the distance, or our anchor moving, or one of the other two boats raising their anchor to leave. It must be our anchor moving because the tide is coming into the lagoon and no one seems to be up yet. The currents are strange and strong in this part of the country. It’s cloudy, not raining, but very wet out. Looks like this is par for the course and we’ll have to learn to get used to this. We have had 70% rain for the trip so far. We got our gear on and took Ziggy to shore and checked out the trail to the lake. We swung by “Patience” and “Raven” to say hello. They were getting ready to leave for Ocean Falls. We hadn’t decided yet whether we were leaving for Ocean Falls or Shearwater. Their plans are to catch up on their laundry in Shearwater. They left together as they came. We tried listening to the weather report but the reception was bad. We could only get pieces and those were rustic. We had put out crab traps yesterday along with “Patience” and no one caught anything. They use pellets for bait and we used chicken. Larry pulled up a sunfish in the trap but let it go. It looks like a starfish but is soft and jelly like with many arms. It was a bright orange. Larry wanted to stay in Codville another day so we decided to go hike the trail to the lake.
It was raining a misty wet mist and was very cloudy. A layer of fog rolled in. You can’t let that kind of thing stop you up here because that’s supposed to be normal weather. So we got on our warm clothes because it’s especially cold and damp today and put on our foul weather gear over to keep us dry. We put on our rubber boots and carried our hiking bots in a bag. I got my fanny bag and stuffed it with trail mix, an apple, some chocolate and a fire starter (just in case?). We pulled up to the shore in the inner
bay and there is a very small brown 8x8 sign on a stick with white letters
saying something like the trail to the lake is maintained by users. We tied the dingy up and let out a lot of line for the tide to take her out. We checked the tide tables first and figured we were going at high tide as it was just turning so we would have enough time to get back without worrying about the dinghy getting stuck high and dry. The dingy is heavy and I don’t think I have enough energy to help Larry drag it very far so we wanted to make sure we didn’t get stuck on shore since no one was around to help us. Once ashore, we changed from our rubber boots into our hiking boots and left the rubber boots stuffed in our bag on shore near the dinghy. The trail was a pretty good trail (better than the one I remember at Chatterbox Falls that we climbed last year). The trail takes you to Sagar Lake. It’s a bit muddy in places. People have brought planks in and laid logs down to help make a path. At one point there was a rope handrail to help you up a 20 foot vertical granite rock. It took us about 35 minutes each way, though the cruising book says 20 minutes. You are rewarded at the end of the trail with a 3 mile wide lake with a beautiful orange sand beach back dropped by a high mountain. You can hear the roar of a waterfall across the lake. There are two granite avalanche chutes on the mountain that are actually visible from our anchorage. The place is forested with cedar and silver shoots. We sat on a log and contemplated the place eating our snacks and taking some pictures. Ziggy went crazy running up and down the beach in the sand. He was happy as could be. He loves to wander and investigate in the woods. He enjoyed the hike running and sniffing along the trail. We were a little apprehensive about him running so free since we passed several bear crossings over the trail. You could see their huge prints in the mud path. Zig stays pretty close and comes when you call him so we decided to let him enjoy himself. It was a great feeling to be at the lake and not another soul around. Not a human foot print or trace of another human being to be seen. The lake was flat as glass and reflected the surroundings. It was a beautiful place. We came back to the boat and Larry rigged up my new fishing rod. I took the newly rigged rod and headed out in the dinghy to catch dinner with the promise that Larry would clean it. It was great on the dinghy since it had been modified with a steering wheel and comfortable seat. Ziggy went with me and we explored the different lagoons and tried fishing in different spots. Before long I had tangled the line and had to come back for Larry to fix it. We had to take it back for Larry to fix. Zig and I went out for another try and noticed near the entrance to our lagoon a seal laying on some rocks that were now exposed with the low tide at the North entry. That was his spot, like his thrown. He was like a mascot to the lagoon. From that perch he watched everything. At times, he had a couple mates. There was nothing that got by his attention. Zig and I didn’t catch a thing but I discovered how relaxing and quiet fishing is. I think it’s a keeper. Doesn’t really matter if you catch anything does it? Larry had washed some windows and put Rainex and Fogex on them. We’re hoping this will keep the windows from fogging up in the damp raining weather and will give us better visibility. I was very cold from being out on the dinghy and Larry turned the generator on to warm the boat up. Late that afternoon, two Grand Banks came in. One was “Dauntless” (Raven’s last boat) and the other was “Grand Impulse”, Tom Enright’s friend. They anchored together and rafted up by putting out a stern anchor. Looked like they knew exactly what they were doing or had a lot of practice. We decided to go to Shearwater tomorrow. We took Zig out and let him get off the boat on his own to do his thing and he came right back to the boat and jumped on when he finished. Good dog. Larry dropped me off and went over to say “hello” to the two boats. When Larry came back, he said Tom Enright’s friend was “occupied” so wasn’t able to say hello.
We’re listening to the weather report again and trying to familiarize ourselves with the whole new set of names and all the while not being able to hear or make out the report because of bad reception in our cove: Green Island, Triple Island, Vanilla Island, Langen Island?, No. Boss, Mc Innes Island, Bonilla Island, Dryad Point, Asbrooke Island, Egg Island, Cape Scott, Pine Island, Scarlett Point, Automated: Grey Island, Lucy Island, Prince Rupert, Holland Rock, Bener?, Rose Spit, Herbert Island, Sartine Island, Green Island, Triple Island, Vanilla Island Ocean Buoy: North Nomad, Middle Nomad, South Hecate Straight, West Morresby, South Moresby (West Coast Charlottes) Douglass Channel was reported to have 5-15 knot winds, light to moderate, variable. 20-30 knots this evening with 2’ seas rising to strong to gale force winds. Again you can see all the areas you must be familiar with, their locations and implications to your destined route.
DATE: Friday, May 24, 2002 We listened to the weather report and it said there was a strong front coming in from the outside of Queen Charlotte Islands with gale force winds. It was due this evening. We left at 9:15 AM. It’s starting to rain. Larry went below to flake the anchor in to 50 feet while I pulled it in and washed it with sea water. He came up after 50 feet had been laid safely. As we were entering the narrows to leave the lagoon to head out into Fisher Channel there were two Canadian boats pulling up crab traps. It was in the same area that I had seen a fishing boat drop some traps late yesterday when I was fishing with Ziggy. They didn’t seem to have much success as we heard them talking on the radio. We crossed Fitzhugh Sound and headed up Llama Pass. There were lots of logs and debris in the water. We were careful to keep watch and carefully avoid hitting any of the logs. As we neared Bella Bella it was surprising to see all the trash in the water. There were bottles, plastic jugs, plastic bags and just junk. It was the first time since we’ve been boating in the Pacific Northwest that we had seen such trash in the water. As we approached Bella Bella we tightly
crossed paths with the BC ferry leaving Bella Bella and the two Canadian boats
were following closely behind. We could see Bella Bella on our port. It was
heavily settled and Old Bella Bella was on our starboard. Old Bella Bella had
only a couple buildings left and one was almost completely falling into the
water. We came into Shearwater through Clayton Passage with Shearwater Island on our left. We headed in and took a spot on the inside of the dock hoping that it would be quiet and protected. There is a small breakwater of logs tied together outside the dock. It doesn’t work well because anytime a boat comes in or goes by the wake from the boat is amazing. The wake sways the whole dock and all the boats tied to the dock are bouncing and bobbing in every direction. It looks like a bad earthquake. This goes on all day and most of the night. Larry did another perfect docking. Hooray! Once we got settled I took Ziggy up to go to the bathroom and check out the place. Ziggy had a difficult trip to Shearwater. He insisted on riding on the outside of the boat part way even thought it was freezing cold and raining. He sat on the back deck and shivered and watched us inside. I think he had to go to the bathroom and was just in misery not knowing what to do.
Shearwater isn’t picturesque by any means. It’s a rough camp. It has a large square building which is the restaurant and another square building behind which houses the little store, hair salon, Laundromat and some boating equipment businesses. There are some pretty plain motel type rooms off the grassy picnic area which look very uninviting. The place is not beautiful or quaint. The people aren’t especially friendly and they seem kind of hard core. I stopped in the hair salon and made an appointment to get my hair colored. I was showing about an inch of roots and we were afraid to dye my hair on the boat for fear of staining the shower. The girl working in the “salon” said to come back in about a half hour. We saw Tony, the refrigerator man from Refuge Cove, still working his way up the passage. He seems to have found himself some work here too. I waved to his wife; she was busy preparing lunch in their boat. The dock is on long dock with a “T” at the end so everyone walks by each others boats going to and from the shore. You can’t help but peak in each other’s boats as you walk back and forth.
I rush back to the hair dresser. Her name is Arlene. She mixed my color to the directions my hair dresser at home gave me. I was very apprehensive at first but she did an excellent job and seemed very confident. She was probably 6 months pregnant but not married. Her “partner” was a fisherman that she met up here. He was fishing for salmon on the West side of Queen Charlotte Island right now. She won’t see him until sometime in July. He’s already been gone for about 3 weeks. She said they talk frequently on the single side band. Larry dropped by to give me money for the hair dresser. The color cost $25 Canadian and I gave her a $5 tip. We talked a bit while she was doing my hair. She said she used to go out fishing with her friend but doesn’t anymore. She had some experiences that she doesn’t care to repeat. For instance, a boat they were working on sunk. It was an aluminum boat that had a crack. She said it took one minute to sink. There wasn’t time to get a life raft out. Her boyfriend went into the cabin to do a mayday and he went under with the boat but was able to get out. She gave him a fender to hold on to and she swam to shore which was a 45 minute swim to get help. She said she was a stronger swimmer. She said problems can and usually happen very quickly. Bad weather patterns come up unannounced at times and fog can come in very fast. She also had a cute story about her boyfriend, a big burly rough guy. He has a little runt of a cat that he used to take with him but he lost it at Prince Rupert. The cat liked to get off the boat at shore and check things out, mostly other boats. He had a schedule to keep and had to leave without the cat and so he drew a little hand drawing of the cat and left it posted at the marina. Arlene said she got a call a few days later and a nice little old lady had found the cat and the note and sent the cat back in her cat carrier on the ferry to Shearwater. Everyone on the ferry took care of the cat and made sure it got home safely. I asked if it was dangerous around here for Ziggy. I was worried about bears and cougars. She said she hadn’t heard about any problems with cougars. She said there are some but they don’t seem to bother anybody but she said there are a lot of wolves and they would go after him because he’s little and white. While I was getting my hair done, Ziggy jumped off our boat and ran up the dock ignoring Larry’s yells and ran straight to the hair dresser’s. She saw him at the door and let him in. She said he could stay there and he jumped on my lap and stayed there the rest of the time. Larry came up and was madder than a hatter at him. We bought a few things at the store, some oranges, lemons, romaine lettuce, Asian pears, milk (hair dresser said you have to buy that the minute it gets in because it goes quick) and a can of chili. Some of the canned goods looked like they had been on those shelves for quite awhile. The labels looked faded and the cans dusty. All the meats, what little there was, was frozen. The foods were mixed in with marine supply parts. It was a funny mix of stuff. There wasn’t much to choose from but the produce seemed pretty fresh. Things have held up pretty well in my Ever Fresh bags. We’re still eating celery that I purchased in Lund. The dock is full and that front is coming in. I can hear people talking about it. Guess everyone in the area headed to Shearwater to hunker down. Better to be on a dock somewhere with supplies and a restaurant nearby than out at some anchorage worried that your anchor will hold. Some boats are coming in and rafting up as the place is getting crowded and there is no more space. We walk up to the store and ask if they have some of those round orange fender balls. We’re anxious to get some in case a fishing boat tries to raft up to us. They said they were out but had ordered some and won’t be in for a week. We’ll try to get some when we get to Prince Rupert which is a couple hundred miles north. We’ll have to get our water fill up at Bella Bella. Arlene told me not to get the water here. She said it has cedar in it and could also give you diarrhea. She sometimes gets a rash on her hands from it. She said the water at Ocean Falls is great. We could also get the water at nearby Bella Bella, the Indian village. She said that their diesel was cheaper there also. I had asked her if there was anything to see in Bella Bella and she said no but they have a big grocery store and a liquor store. They are called band stores since they are Indian owned. She said we should take the water taxi bus at 12:30. It gives you one hour to shop and then you can catch the next one back and it will get you back to Shearwater at 1:30 or we could take the 1:30 over which gives you a ½ hour to shop. That’s where everyone in the area does most of their shopping. She said you don’t want to stay over there any longer than that. We had lunch at the pub restaurant. We both had a fresh halibut steak sandwich and fresh Caesar salad. I guess I should say the halibut was “fresh frozen”. That’s what you get in the restaurants is fresh frozen not fresh. The waitress was friendly. She told us about the resident eagle that perches on a dead tree by the grass picnic area at the top of the marina. They feed it fresh meat. She was going to feed it when she gets off work and if we want to see, she’ll knock on our boat to let us know when she was going to feed it. She did and it was amazing. She whistled, and threw some meat out and he sweeps down and hooks it with his powerful feet and goes back to his perch and eats it. She throws him a second batch and he gets that the same way but takes this batch back to his nest. When he came back from his nest he only had to flap his wings a couple times. His wings are so powerful that his literally floats back with a few flaps. “Raven” and “Patience” came in. Bill stopped by the hairdresser and got a great haircut from Arlene. They invited us for dinner at the pub but I had already started cooking dinner on the boat. An old couple came in to the dock on their boat and attempted docking. Bill said “Oh NO!” He said the old guy in the boat was banging boats at Port Mc Neil (forward and backward). He got in to the dock OK after he created several large swells. Susan from “Raven” yelled at him to turn his engine off and that we’d all walk his boat forward (so he wouldn’t bang any of the boats here). “Lavender Rose” was here. He hit a log crossing Queen Charlotte Straight in bad weather and 6 foot seas. We saw them at Port Mc Neill when they left to go to Sullivan in bad weather. He broke his prop and was waiting for a new one to be shipped to Shearwater. “Velocity”, the cattle farmer, is here. Looks like the same old group. Another old couple in a trawler came in. They must be in their late 70’s. We heard the people on the docks saying they’ve been going to Alaska for years. It’s been said that they are the people that the writers of the cruising books consult with. The boat across the dock from us has a hired captain and he’s taking the owners to Ketchikan. The boat has broken down twice on the way up he said. The storm is supposed to be coming. Everyone’s going to wait it out in Shearwater. The barometer says 1013.7 and it seems to be getting warmer, 53 degrees. We’re pretty comfortable here with our 50 amp power, TV, no phone, and trash drop off. 9:00 PM no wind but raining. DATE: Saturday Mary 25, 2002 Breakfast today was toast, almost to the end of the bread. We’re reading books to decide where we’re going next. We talked to Bill and Reiner and they’re going through Reid Passage and up to Bottleneck. We’re thinking we’ll go the same way. The hairdresser said a lot of boats get stuck on rocks around here so I want to make sure we plan our route well ahead and know what we’re getting in to. Larry put waypoints in the computer and I put them on the paper charts. Up until this time we have not been doing that. I heard wolves howling last night. We decided to take a walk up the hill behind the Shearwater complex. It wasn’t a pretty site, just a bunch of run down trailers. I guess the people that work here live in them. Some wild looking huge dogs were running lose in the woods. The place really is a dump. We checked out the laundry and it’s not great either. There are two washing machines (one is out of order) and tere are 4 dryers. There’s a brand new professional washing machine but it has a sign on it that it’s for “Private Use Only!”. We invited “Raven” and “Patience” to our boat for drinks at 5:00. I cooked the remainder of the bacon for lunch and saved the leftovers to freeze so that I could microwave it when I needed it without frying it. We ate the rest of the bread, it was pretty stale. The only bread in the store is frozen wonder type bread. We watched the morning feeding of the eagles. The storm never came through. We took the 1:30 PM ferry to Bella Bella. Everyone said don’t take the other one because you get stuck in Alert Bay too long and you don’t want to do that.
The girl bartender from the pub was on the ferry and some French Canadian guy. She was a really rough course woman with bad teeth. He was pretty slimy himself. We asked about the water at Shearwater. He said the water at the fuel dock is absolutely fine because it’s filtered. Bella Bella is a strange place. The Indians look like they might be drunk and are not too friendly. Many of them are sitting or standing around the docks drunk and mouthing things at you. The sober ones are just not friendly. The Band Store was a dump and I didn’t bother to go into the Band Liquor Store. Larry went in and bought 2 bottles of wine. I tried to find some cocktail hour snacks but there was nothing good. We bought some crackers and plain cheese, tortilla chips and salsa. The town is really plain and kind of intimidating with a few drunken Indians hanging out at the docks saying things to you. We came back on the ferry and the French Canadian and an Indian came back. They both had been drinking and talking dirty and laughing at dirty jokes. This is not a nice place. When we got back to our boat there were two Indian kids hanging on to the rail of our boat. They were milling around and we thought they were going to get on the boat but they didn’t. We weren’t too friendly and Ziggy didn’t like them. We told them to be careful as Ziggy might bite them (which was true) and they finally left. I’m ready to leave this place. Every so often the diving boat comes in and fills the dive tanks. So his generator is running constantly and you can’t hear yourself think. I vacuumed again; those dog hairs are every where. 5:00 Patience and Raven came by for drinks. Joy had tried out a cinnamon bun recipe she picked up at Ocean Falls. She brought them by for us to try out and they were pretty good. Everyone brings over their own glasses, drinks and snacks. We sat around for about two hours talking. The sun finally came out. We all decided we were leaving tomorrow if the weather is OK. The reports say the storm is still coming but should be here late Sunday or Monday. Joy went to Stanford, had four majors: Physical Education, Nursing, Physical Therapy, and Photography? She grew up on Long Island. We listened to their stories about working in Ireland where he and Joy “courted”. Reiner was born in Peking China and was raised in Turkey. His parents got out of Germany before the war. His dad was an expert in Ancient Sinology. When they came to America, his dad got a job at Berkeley teaching. Reiner and Susan both worked for US Steel and IBM. They lived and worked in Venezuela. We heard stories about Bill and Joy in Wrangell and how the boats raft up four and five a breast. They said they took a small fast boat tour of Stikine River when they were in Wrangell and said it was fabulous. We all decided we were leaving tomorrow at 8:30 AM. We decided we’ll get water at the Shearwater fuel dock since it’s supposed to be filtered and also since the dock is closed at Bella Bella on Sunday (tomorrow) and they lock the water up. The word is the government has spent 6 million to provide them a water purification plant and as much or more for a sewage plant. (And then they lock it up?)
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We’re
coming into Gordon Channel, heading a course of 342 degrees to Bolivar
Passage. Scarlet Point Lighthouse is off to our left in a haze. It looks
beautiful on its green mound in the haze and is flashing strongly. We also
see our first marker on the left at Crane Island. “Patience” came over Ch. 68
to caution that this is a shipping lane and may become foggy so we need to
watch the radar for traffic. The seas are eerily flat.
As
we’re passing Davey Rock, “Patience” comes on and says the fog is lifting
ahead. “Raven” answered back saying they see a patch of blue sky and now can
see “Patience”.
took some pictures of Kent Island with
its grey granite meeting the waterline and trees and shrubs ranging in color
from lime green to deep blue forest green. The fog is hanging but lifting in
pockets to give a peek at the nearby landscape. It’s like a Chinese painting.
DATE: May 23, 2002
