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PRUTH BAY, KWAKSHUA
CHANNEL,
We’re up at 6:00 AM. Larry said he heard the tug and barge quietly leave earlier this morning. The barometer is slightly dropping. There’s a ridge dropping down from Queen Charlotte Islands. It will create some strong winds in Georgia Straight and gale force winds in Juan de Fuca. According to the central Coast weather report from Mc Innes Island to Pine Island we’ll have NW winds 10-20 knots rising to NW 20-25 this afternoon and then easing to 5-15 overnight. We’re to expect cloudy skies with fog banks and patchy drizzle and seas one meter. Outlook: moderate to occasionally strong North Westerly winds.
THINKING ABOUT CROSSING THE HECATE STRAIT I’ve begun to read the weather book about the Hecate Strait. We will have to cross that body of water to get to Queen Charlotte Islands in a few weeks. I don’t like to read that stuff because it gets me nervous but I think another person around on the boat with an opinion will help with the crossing. Boy, those books scare me talking about 18 foot plus waves and then they have to say Hecate Strait is the 4th most dangerous place to be on a boat in the world!!! Now I’m wondering why we are going there? We’re supposed to be enjoying ourselves. But, I have to remember, if I took all these books literally we would’ve never gone anywhere in the last two years. I’m wondering what the three more dangerous places are. I think I’ll wait until I get home to find out the answer to that because maybe one of them is where we might be going later. Better not to know. Just for the fun of it we get the weather report for Hecate Strait to get used to reading it and what conditions to expect. Here’s today’s prediction for the next 24 hours: NW winds 15-25 knots (tug guy said don’t go if winds are over 20) and rising to 30 this afternoon (it’s a 10 hour trip no matter how you look at it.) Mainly cloudy. Seas one to 2 meters (6 feet) subsiding to one meter or less tonight. Outlook: Moderate to strong NW winds easing to light. (SE WINDS are the bad ones to watch out for.). Don’t think that’s a day I’d want to cross. Not terrible but on the verge. It’s always depressing up here when the weather is overcast which is usually in the mornings and then I hate having to listen to these weather reports on the radio and wonder about the unknown factor.
GETTING READY TO LEAVE We take Zig ashore back on the beach by the resort trail to the beach. We pick up after Zig because the resort has a sign posted for all boaters that if they don’t pick up after their dogs their privileges will be revoked. That means no more dogs on path or to the beach, period. The tug is gone and I don’t know where the crab boat slept last night as they were still working at 10:00 PM when I came up to peek on the anchorage last night. A Hatteras that came in late last night left already and so did a small fast boat, Bayliner style, with a blue hull.
We debated about whether to go back out Kwakshua Channel or take a short cut that was narrow and windy with submerged rocks. Larry wanted to go through the short cut. It was a bit nerve wracking to me as all the other boats came and went through the main channel. We couldn’t find any write up about it and it would save us about 4 miles so we decided to go. I just get nervous wondering if there is some uncharted rock or if the chart plotter isn’t exactly right on. We’ve been in many places where the chart plotter showed us on land when we were dead center in a marked channel heading into a harbor in the Bahamas. So you just don’t always feel 100%. It was a beautiful route. Anything close to shore is beautiful as you can see the amazing rock formations and the variety of beautiful trees clinging to rocks where their roots are digging into cracks to what seems to be a soil less base. The scenery continually amazes me as it looks like perfect bonsai arrangements.
We see the huge Coast Guard Cutter that we saw in River’s Inlet the other day. They are out patrolling in the grayness. These mornings can be very dreary and grey and that’s what it was like today. When the weather is like this there is no color, it’s all varying shades of grey, a monotone environment.
As we go the last stretch through another narrow rocky area we now begin to feel the swells from Queen Charlotte Sound. When you are in the Inside Passage you don’t feel the Pacific Ocean swells, but once you go on the outside you feel the power she has even though it’s a calm day. All went well through the little passage and it was silly of me to worry about it. Now I know that we can do that and if it isn’t written up in the cruising book it doesn’t mean that it’s not passable. Just need to study the charts and be careful though the Douglas cruising guide says the charts aren’t always accurate once you pass Cape Caution.
They say “Cape Caution marks the most significant passage on the British Columbia coast; rounding it is a nautical coming of age. Weekend warriors and two-week charterers don’t make it this far. Serious cruisers, who do, enter a fraternity of mutual respect where they experience the space, the solitude, and the silence of one of the world’s wildest coastlines. Cape Caution is a gateway to the last great place - British Columbia’s North Coast.”
Wow, I should’ve paid more attention when we went by Cape Caution. I didn’t realize it was such as significant spot. Well, we’re out in the Sound now and I get nervous now coming out from a narrow passage into a large sound after our experience in Vancouver. There’s so much to know and study with boating. That’s why it’s never boring and is always a challenge no matter how much some think they know. Once out into Hakai Passage and it was calm. I can relax again and go back to updating the log. THAR SHE BLOWS AGAIN IN FITZ HUGH SOUND As we head up Fitz Hugh Sound again we are surrounded by whales on the left and right and ahead. They are far off in the distance but we can see their familiar shapes, splashes and sounds of their spouts. It’s such a wonderful sight to sea and to feel the ocean filled with life so magnificent. The seas are becoming choppy and the skies are depressing. There is a thick dark grey cloud covering us like a blanket. All the mountains are oddly decapitated with a straight cut by the hovering foggy cloud cover. No one is out on the water that we can see, oh wait, except we see a fishing boat heading down the Sound, going south a good clip. It’s lonely out here and the Sound is large and intimidating. I can see how things could fetch up here very quickly. There’s plenty of width and length and big open areas to let the winds and current stir up a witches brew. The anemometer (wind speed gauge) is circling, can’t quite put it’s pointer on what the wind is doing. It seems to be hovering about 3-6 knots but can’t settle on a direction. One minute is looks like the wind is on our starboard, then the port, then on our nose. I guess the wind whips down these channels that empty into Fitz Hugh Sound directed by the shear mountain slopes, funneling the wind in strange directions and meeting each other creating confusion for the sensible mariner. There’s so much to consider here like that. I love the mixed messages of nature here and the challenge to understand them and deal with them safely. We’re at the point where Fitz Hugh Sound ends and splits like a fork in the road. Half goes north to Fisher Channel (where we are headed) and the other half to Burke Channel. They are both pretty wide mouthed and forces to be dealt with. Besides the conflicting strong winds you also have to contend with water currents flowing either down or up these channels and when they meet together they create strange boils and squirrely waters as I call them. That mixed with the skitzy wind directions makes for a difficult day predicting sea conditions. NAMU, A CIVILIZATION LOST, A MOMENTARY REFLECTION OF THE PAST, LIKE A FLEETING MIRAGE We passed Namu a short while back. It looks so intriguing like it could have been a good sight for the filming of a movie like The Shining. It now is only the remnants of a huge cannery and all that went with it to provide a living environment for the many people that worked there. The buildings are still there but falling apart like a ghost town. There are a couple care takers there we read who are trying to keep things together and encourage cruisers to drop by. I want to stop on the way back down just to see it. Boy, you just don’t see any civilization up here whatsoever. There’s not a boat, not a tug, not a shack on the shore, nada. It’s a lonely stretch of water. The wind is now an understandable 15 knots behind us. We’re fighting an ebb tide so the water is coming out these channels and the friction of the wind in the opposing direction is responsible for the quickly forming waves and white caps. The Tug guy said there’s no set rule on the direction of the current up here on the north coast. He said “You can only count on the fact that when it ebbs, it ebbs out the channel, and flows into the channel”, but he said “Once it’s out in the main open areas you just can’t quite figure it out.”
We are just approaching Codville Lagoon and I’m doing watch while Larry took a rare rest. I just saw a big fat orca come completely out of the water. Amazing and only I saw it. It was weird to see such an amazing sight and nobody awake to share it with. I tire to get a picture in case per chance the orca might do a repeat performance but sadly he decided to stay under too long or swam somewhere else. I stood out on the Portuguese bridge with the camera for awhile but finally went in to continue my watch. BC FERRY ON OUR HIND QUARTER The BC Ferry came up on our hind quarter and made a turn down the Llamas Passage, heading toward Shearwater and Bella Bella.
LONG HAUL UP TO OCEAN FALLS It’s a long haul up here to Ocean Falls. We started to see other cruisers coming down the channel most likely leaving Ocean Falls. The wind was behind us about 15 knots and we could see some of the boats fighting the winds as they were heading in the opposite direction than we. It was such a dreary depressing day until we began to enter the cut to Ocean Falls. Ocean Falls is what they call a ghost town though there are a few people still living here. It was quite the town at one time when the power plant was going strong. Now there are mostly just abandoned buildings a clip in glimpse in time of a life that once was. The channel narrowed and there were massive clear cut logged areas that had filled in with a soft light color of green giving a break to the monotonous dark green trees we’ve seen all day and then the sun decided to break through the cloud mass and light up the end of the passage where Ocean Falls was. It was like heading towards the light at the end of the tunnel and after such a dreary day it was a welcoming sight. The mountains are very steep and tall on each side. At the end of the channel before it turns to go a short ways up to the dam and cluster of buildings left from the town, there is what looks like a small village of cottages set in the low opening between the mountains. It is so picturesque and worth the cruise up here to see the scenic setting. It reminds me of Austria. NO ROADS TO THESE SPOTS IN NORTHERN BRITISH COLUMBIA We made our turn continuing on up the channel past the cluster of houses at the valley between the mountains. We could now see the dam predominantly at the very end with several good size buildings beside it. For such a totally remote area to have such a presence and so many buileings where no roads reach was an amazing sight. You can only reach this remote area by boat or plane and even by boat it’s quite a ways off the beaten path as it’s up a long channel several miles out of the way and the channel can fetch a good chop depending on the weather. As we made the turn and headed up to the docks the wind really picked up and there were waves and white caps everywhere. The winds were whipping down the waterway funneled even stronger by the steep mountains. The docks are right in the wind tunnel and the only protection they have from the surrounding waters are a few log booms. We knew the docks should have room for us since we saw several boats coming down the channel hopefully leaving space for us and some of them surprisingly were pretty good sized.
LESS THAN A HANDFULL OF PLACES FOR SAFE WATER This is an important destination for cruising boats to fill up their water tanks with good water. When you cruise in the northern waters of British Columbia potable water fill up stations are few and far between, this being one of the less than a handful between Port Hardy and Prince Rupert. That fact alone draws a lot of boaters up this long out of the way journey. As we came up to the docks, the outer dock was completely open so we came up alongside and made a turn back into the wind and docked her with a starboard tie up. Three men suddenly appeared to help as she was blowing a good one and it took too extra lines to hold her solid. VOILA!
Voila we were in tight at Ocean Falls.
We got the boat secured and decided to take a walk to see the place. We thanked the two men who helped us with the lines. They went back to working on the docks, repairing old rotted boards. The dock has good power and is solid and even though the wind was blowing up here like a willy-ma-jig you felt like you were in a good solid spot.
When we were on the boat at the dock we felt like we were sitting in a storm but when we got out of the boat and walked up the ramp to the road it was warm and calm. You’d never even think that the wind was blowing 30 plus knots down on the dock. It’s amazing how these narrow steep mountain lined channels can funnel the wind to great forces.
We walked along the road to the first batch of old wharf buildings. You couldn’t help but not notice right away a little store tucked in a small niche in the corner of one of the buildings. It was brightly painted on the outside with whimsical nautical themed murals. I just had to peek inside as it looked so interesting and welcoming. Inside I was greated with a friendly smile by Leena who I think owns the shop. She is a nice woman who told me used to live in Alaska and now lives here year round. She said she loves it and doesn’t get lonely.
The little store space was no bigger than 10 feet by 10 feet, if that, and was filled with hand painted rocks, knitted slippers and mufflers, photographs of the area and handmade cards all made by Ocean Fall’s locals. She was so friendly and we talked for a long time about what life was like here and about the new little ferry that serves them now since the Queen of the North went down. She said the Queen of the North was the lifeline for supplies and transportation for all of these remote places up here and the loss of it has really created a hardship for them.
NIMPKISH, the little BC Ferry Speaking of the ferry, we had just walked out of the shop and further down the road when we saw the little BC ferry, MV Nimpkish, coming up the windy channel. It’s the new ferry doing it’s best to take up a bit of the slack since the Queen went down. It was such a surprise to see it. It’s one of those small cute little ferries. The locals said it comes in unannounced as they haven’t figured out a regular schedule yet. It brings people and supplies, in and out but they complained that they never know when it will come so they can’t prepare for its arrival. We watched as a few people got off, mostly Indians, as she came from Bella Coola an Indian town up the end of Dean Channel. It the nearest town connected to a road but miles and a long boat ride away. Several cars got off the ferry and drove off down the road to towards the first village we saw at the end of Cousins Inlet. There must be more people living here than we thought. We headed over to read a big hand painted directory sign with a layout fo the local businesses. We couldn’t make heads or tails out of it because we think they had the orientation wrong. I think everything was backwards or upside down or maybe we’ve just on the boat too long which is probably the case. We stared at it for quite awhile and finally gave up.
We spent a lot of time walking around looking at the old abandoned buildings and wondered what life must have been like up here when things were bustling and how strange it was to see them, in what was probably at the time perfect shape, just abandoned. In 1937 during her famous solo canoe trip from Anacortes to Alaska, Betty Lowman Carey stopped here the only spot along this neck of the coast that she could send a progress telegram home to her parents. She at first noticed the smoke and steam from the pulp digester from the pulp mill. She was told by the resident doctor here that that “mill makes ocean Falls one of the most important towns on the north coast.” She wrote the “the isolated settlement appeared huge. There was even a massive hotel, reputed to be the largest in British Columbia north of Vancouver.” She also wrote that ‘I could easily have believed that I was back in the city as I walked along Ocean Falls’ main street. The women were well groomed and smartly dressed in the latest styles, and nearly all had professional hairdos. Forthcoming club events and meeting notices for all kinds of groups fille the bulletin boards. There were clubs for camera enthusiasts, mountain climbers, swimmers, indoor sports participants and many others.” “Autos honked and tooted on the plank roads until we moved aside to let them pass.” She said she had “a malted milk, equal to any that one might get in a campus Sugar Bowl” and afterwards “went to the move Petticoat Fever starring Myrna Loy and Robert Montgomery.” She was told “these log and pulp nmills were controlled by a large American company, and that many of the employees were from the States.” Today though the big hotel was omonously empty and windows boarded up. I noticed a curious old rusting school bus which now looked like a storage bin filled with stuff crammed into it. Weeds were growing up and underneath the bus and beginning to engulf it. It was such a strange sight as I stared at it until I realized it was now someone’s shelter. I had been trying to see inside at a curious object that I just couldn’t make out when suddenly I realized through the relection of the window there was a person inside staring back at me and finally waved at me. It was their home. We did see some other remnanents a glimpse into what the lifestyle used to be. A funny painted peeled sign hanging on a chain link fence outside what used to be the tennis club which was not a pot holed weed filled left over asphalt slab. We passed by a broken down house that someone was living in. It still had a sign on the door that said: “DIRECTOR Industril Relations”
THE HOLY GRILL We walked up hill to the most interesting landmark here which is the little church and you can see its steeple projecting above the roofs from quite a distance as you are coming up the channel. We’ve seen so many churches on the east coast with their white spire projecting proudly in the center of little New England villages, but sad to say have not seen many on the west coast. The little church has now become “Eva’s Holy Grill”. The woman that owns it has restored and renovated the church turning it into a little café. This is the place that makes the famous cinnamon buns that the cruisers all talk about. We had heard so much about them coming on our trip to Alaska 2002. This time we heard from both the cruisers and locals that the food is good too.
The Indians and the ferry crew were inside getting some lunch. One of the Indian girls stayed outside and was sitting out on small porch by the front entrance. Ziggy and I sat down on the bench across from with her and waited while Larry went in to get some of their famous cinnamon buns and a couple cups of coffee.
INDIANS FROM BELLA BELLA It was a little slow going getting the Indian (or First Nations) girl to feel comfortable having a conversation with me at first. She had a head set on and was listening to her CD player (not IPOD up here yet). A few more Indians came out of the restaurant and onto the porch. They sat down or stood near the girl waiting for their food to be ready. They were all teenagers and you know how it can be trying to talk with any teenagers. Pretty soon though they warmed up and and we were all talking. They had just come from Bella Coola on the ferry and were headed for Shearwater. Their real home destination was nearby Bella Bella.
“THE MAN THAT STOLE OUR LAND” The little Indian girl seemed so bored and complained that the ferry rides takes all day because the ferry stops here and one other stop. I asked what the other stop was and she said “oh some stupid place, the man that drives the ferry said it was where some man named MacKenzie left a mark”. (Sir Alexander Mackenzie was the first non native man to travel across the Canadian continent by land from the East Coast to the Pacific Ocean. He landed at a sight not far from here on July 22, 1793. Mackenzie and Captain Vancouver missed meeting each other by just a few weeks as Vancouver was exploring this very same area. Mackenzie left a mark on a boulder over looking the channel marked with a mixture vermillion and grease which said: “Alexander Mackenzie, from Canada, by Land, the Twenty Second of July, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Ninety Three”. After it wore off his name has been chiseled into the rock surface with the date. Interestingly, Lewis & Clark didn’t see the Columbia River, or Pacific waters, on their overland crossing until November 1805.) I had read about this a few years back and was always curious about its location. So, I’ve was very interested when I heard the Indian girl mention it. The other teenagers joined in and were a bit more forth coming saying the ferry boat pulled up pretty close to the rock and stayed there for awhile so some of the passengers who were interested could see it. One of the teenagers asked who Mackenzie was and the little Indian girl said “That’s the man that stole all our land.”
LIFE OF A FIRST NATION TEENAGER The Indian teenagers were waiting for their orders to go of french fries. Finally one of them brought them out and handed them to each one. The “fries” were wrapped up in little aluminum foil packages. These were definitely home made big sliced french fries more like roasted potato quarters. As they snacked on their fries, they began a more friendly conversation. They asked where we were from but when I told them Santa Barbara, Californis, I don’t think they had any idea where that was. They said the farthest away they have been is Bella Coola up the inlet or other Indian reservations where they play have their basketball play offs. We asked what they do for fun during these long dark winters. They said they go to the hall and play basketball. It was a very simple answer with no wondering just matter of fact. The mother came out of the grill and sat down with us. She was very friendly and seemed a bit more worldly, which really isn’t the right word, but more at ease talking with us and more aware of places outside of the reservation and what life was like outside the reservation. She said they have internet and Satellite TV. I asked what day was good to go to the Band Store in Bella Bella for produce (as like most places up here there are certain days that the locals know about when the ferry or barges bring in fresh produce) but she said “Any day as the store has stuff everyday.” I asked if they had any restaurants and one of the girls said “One.” She said she loves to get sick because that’s when she gets to eat there. I asked what kind of food they served and and she said fries, chicken tenders and hamburgers.
BASKETBALL The first girl that I talked was not what I would call a dwarf or short person but had severly stunted growth and sadly had to be pushed around in a wheel chair. She had a very negative attitude about anything in the conversation. She kept leaning over and for self amusement would drip spit through the gaps in the planks on the patio deck. When I asked what they do for entertainment they again came back with “basketball”. I asked the one boy if he played basketball and he said surprisingly said “No”. The mom said he has all the height to play but he’s not very good. Then another daughter came out of the grill and onto the porch. The mom said “She is the one that can play really well. The first year she was too dainty (and if you could see this girl she was the farthest thing from dainty that I’ve ever seen) but she is doing really good this year.” I don’t mean to be mean but if I had to describe this girl I’d say she had a wild eyed look in her eyes like a wolf and seemed very clumsy as she seemed to be growing disproportionately, some parts of her body growing faster than other and had a wide flat face with exaggerated features but her demure was very sweet and nice opposite from her appearance. The mom said she had the height too for basketball but to me she didn’t appear that tall just big boned but compared to the other children she was tall. I asked the mom “Where did all the height come from?” She said she didn’t know but then said her grandfather and uncle were both 6’-3”. I said “Well, there you go.” She then added “It’s all in the genes.” It was then time for them to go to get back to the ferry for departure. The boy unfolded the little wheel chair and the dwarfed girl got in it and that’s when I realized how insensitve we all had been talking about height and genes in front of this girl. I felt bad and dissapointed in myself.
FERRY CREW As they were leaving, the ferry captain and his crew of two came out of The Holy Grill. One of the crew members was a woman, my age and had her two way radio in hand, I guess to keep in touch with who ever was keeping watch on little Nimpkish at the dock. I asked one of the crew about where the location of the Mackenzie stop is but he didn’t know exactly where it was. Then a younger crew member came out of the café. He didn’t really look much older than about 20 years old. When I asked him the same question he was full of information and was happy to tell us exactly where you can stop with the boat to see the MacKenzie monument. He also said there’s still some paint showing but mostly it’s the monument marking the spot and the historic interest. He also told us of several hot springs in the nearby areas that have good safe anchorages to access the springs and how to find them. We asked about the Nimpkish and the ferry service. He said they are taking up the slack for the loss of the Queen of the North so their schedules aren’t a regular schedule yet. Presently he said they are just taking people back and forth as needed between Bella Coola and Shearwater/Bella Bella area. I asked if they had heard anything yet about what happened on the Queen of the North but they all shook their heads in silence. One of them said they heard that apparently there wasn’t enough crew on the bridge “so something was fishy”. They were really nice and wanted to know which boat was ours. They said they were going to be docked at Shearwater for a few days so we said we’d see them again there as that’s where we are headed next.
The restaurant in the old church building was surprisingly cute and unexpected. It reminded me of what it might be like in the heyday here providing food and comfort for the weary traveler in these remote areas. The woman that owned it has completely renovated the church and has done a really fine job. It’s the best looking place around here which isn’t saying much I guess but I think it certainly should give incouragement to the rest of the residents to fix their places up. There still is a small area with pews for worship but it is in a separate room from the small restaurant in the back which has an open kitchen off to the side. The prices are pretty steep, I thought, but considering the remoteness of the area and the unpredictability of the supply schedule from the ferries, the steep prices are understandable and a little tasty resatuarant is quite a welcome sight for cruisers like us in these remote areas. Only tourists could afford those prices though as most of the locals look like they are having a tough time of it. Lunch was in the $30 range and the Indians were complaining out on the porch about the $15 price for a hamburger so could only afford an order of French fries.
WOLF-LIKE DOG The owner has a wolf-like dog that stays in her truck across the road while she runs the restaurant. I guess he just couldn’t stand watching Ziggy sitting on his porch any longer and jumped out of the truck and ran across the road, up the lawn and towards us to get to Ziggy who was sitting in my lap. He looked like a wolf on the hunt and I was scared and Ziggy started screaming and the woman came out right of the restaurant immediately and told him to get back to the truck. She pointed her arm and finger to the truck firmly. He immediately became like a sheep and looked so humiliated by her actions. He quickly hunkered down, pulled his tail under his hinny and went right back to the truck hiding the best that he could underneath hovering and shivering until she got there, opened the door to the truck as he immediately jumped in. She rolled the windows up with just a slot open for air. No sneaking out this time. It was a cool day so I think he was OK in there like that. She was the boss of that big ferocious looking dog even though she was a frail little thing.
We got some of her famous cinammon buns that the cruisers talk about all over the North BC Coastal waters and they were delicious. A little red headed girl, probably about 8 years old, made coffee for us. She had to struggle with an expresso machine to make the coffee. When Larry came out and handed my coffe to me it had all sorts of black stuff floating around in it. I looked at it and then at him and he just said “Drink it, it’s fine, it’s an expresso mix.” It was actually good and very potent after having gone through withdrawals the last few weeks on the trip missing our regular afternoon lattes and cappucinos. We enjoyed the whole experience at the Holy Grill.
WILD FLOWERS EVERYWHERE It was strange walking around what used to be a thriving town in a wilderness area far from roads or airports. Amazingly everywhere you looked were wild flowers, more than I’ve ever seen in my entire life. It reminded me of my childhood and reading the story of Heidi. It’s what I imagined an Alpine setting to look like filled with flowers. Even though the buildings were decaying, some falling down and most abandoned, the place was brightened by these beautiful flowers. Many people were living in ramshackle houses trying to keep the place going and buildings standing. There’s a lot of heart here.
There are several cute homes and cottages that have good bones and could be really charming again with a little help and worth saving. The Indian mother from Bella Bella told me that she lived here 30 years ago and it was terrible the way the government came in and destroyed much of it. She said she lived on 10th street and tried to find it years later but it’s all gone just forest now.
REAL ESTATE OPPORTUNITY A few people are trying to restore the old homes and the wharfinger said many people from Washington and California have come in, taken advantage of the cheap prices and have bought many of the summer cottages down the channel for summer vacation homes. She said they use them in the summer months and then leave in the winter. Guess that explains all the cars and trucks here. The cruising books said 100 people live here in the summer and about 30 in the winter. There are a lot of cars and trucks around here so I think there may be more or they take them out on the ferry when the season is over.
THE OLD LODGE
As we headed back down the hill from town
towards the docks we got to talking which a nice woman that was sitting out on
the lodge steps enjoying the warming sunshine. I was admiring the building. It
was a nice old building and lovingly taken care of. This woman said she was
running the lodge but didn’t own it. She said she paints and takes care of
everything and even does the cooking in the café. We told her we just came from
having cinnamon buns at the Holy Grill. She asked if they were good and we said
yes. (I thought it strange that she had never had any but she’d heard about
them.) She said the people off the ferry came by earlier to have lunch but
wanted french fires. She said she told them it would take 20 minutes for her to
get the frier heated up hot enough to fry them but they didn’t have the time so
they went up to the Holy Grill instead. She said if the town only knew when the
ferry was coming they could be more prepared for these people.
She seemed glad to have someone to talk to. I said it’s too bad these old houses are going to waste. She said the plant manager of the hydro plant was restoring the big old prominent house on the hill and she was helping him paint it. She was especially intriqued with a lavender bush by his house that she said that the blossoms were an uncharasteristic light pink color. She’s convinced it’s very old plant from first homesteaders. She offered to walk me up the hill to show it to me. She asked if we had walked up the road to see the dam. We said “no”. She said it was only a 10 minute walk and it’s so beautiful. So we decided to go back up the road. She insisted on walking up the hill part way to show us the way.
WILD BERRIES FOR THE TAKING It was a nice walk up the hill. There were wild flowers and berry bushes along the side of the road. We walked past old buildings barely standing, and old rusted trucks and machinery, just left, now over grown by bushes and flowers. We came met up with another girl walking along the road with her dog. She was very nice and we stopped a moment and talked about dogs. She snatched a berry off a bush on the side of the road where we were standing and ate it. I asked her if it was good and if they were ready yet. She then told me which ones were ready and which ones weren’t and which were her favorites. She said her favorites are the salmon berries but they won’t be ready for another 7 days or so. She said will you be here then? I said no, we’ll be on our way. She said “Too bad as you would like them.”
DAM AND LAKE We continued on up the road but now we were eating berries as we went. We think we like this kind of walking, every few steps a nice juicy sweet berry to eat. The road base of old cracked asphalt finally became a bed of river rock and gravel and difficult to walk on, but we continued to climb the steep grade. You could hear the water fall of the dam and every so often there would be a break in the thick trees and you could see the water of the dam spilling out over the concrete foundation from the power plant and dam. We finally got to the top and it was well worth the climb as we saw the beautiful lake behind the dam and then the breathtaking view down the inlet that we came up in the Knotty Dog that day. It was a beautiful sight this body of water channeled through the steep sided tall mountains. It was beautiful and still every where around us were flowers, daisies, yellow and white, and unfamiliar little orange flowers, blue bachelor button types and tall magenta and white fox gloves. The air was clean and crisp and the sun was out. It was glorious. The masses of wild berry bushes were plentiful and each were bursting with an abundance of multi colored berries, some ripe and some in the process and some still blossoming with busy bees carrying pollen from one to the next, legs loaded with pure gold. The berry bushes ripening schedules staggered out to last the summer. What a wonderland. I can see why these people didn’t want to leave when the pulp mill and power plant closed. The air is fresh, the water pure, the sun is shinning and the beauty of it all is over whelming.
THEY ARE TRYING We kept going over and over in our minds what kind of enterprise could help make this town make a come back. The locals are trying hard to encourage tourism and cruisers by making the town interesting with charming murals, and hand painted signs, and providing interesting historical information on the local folk lore, history and the habits of the local wildlife like bears, cougars and wovles.
DOCK SHACK BUILT BY NEARLY NORMAL NORMAN As we went back to the docks we went inside the dock shack that “Nearly Normal Norman” said was build for our use (the boaters). Nearyly Normal Norman has a reputation for being a sweet simple old man who loves to give women cruisers bouquets of wild flowers or so I read. I didn’t get any but he was a sweet old man who helped us with our lines and then went back to repairing the docks. The dock shack was cute as a bug. It had couple tables inside. One had a hand painted checker board on it with rocks for chips.
THE LOCAL ANIMALS There were bulletin boards with interesting historical and local information. One of the bulletins said they have a pack of wolves in the area that you can hear at night and the local cougar sometimes comes down on the dock. When we walked up the ramp when we arrived we were greeted by a deer that was hanging out near the ramp but quickly ran off when it saw Ziggy. There are old photographs of what it was like here when the town was bustling and stories about the people and buildings that are still here. There’s an old computer for anyone’s use. It’s hooked up and online and the wharfinger said you can use it all night if you want. The wharfinger (a she) said to be sure and shut the door to the shack at night because the river otters like to come and get inside if it’s left open.
ONE CONSTANT WILLIWAW The wind continued to blow up this channel and across the docks like a williwaw during our whole stay. There wasn’t much chance of hearing wolves with all that wind and boat flags flapping.
OCEAN FALLS TO SHEARWATER In the morning we head down the channel leaving the docks at 9:25 AM. Today our destination is Shearwater. The wind has died down at the docks this morning but it is chilly hovering at about 54 degrees, drizzly and wet. Ziggy won’t go do the big deed this morning for some reason so he’ll just have to hold it until we reach Shearwater. We both remark at what a spectacluar setting this place is. You just keep staring at it trying to permanently put it in you memory bank.
GUN BOAT PASSAGE We’re going to go through Gun Boat Passage today. It cuts out about 15 miles off our trip. Larry had asked the ferry captain about it yesterday and the captain said it’s the way they go. He said “Just be careful about the two rocks as you head into the passage and also keep the marker, inside the channel, on your left going west through the channel.” He says “That’s where lots of people think there is more room on the wrong side and that’s how they get in trouble.” Larry has timed it so we go through the rapids area at high tide as there are some shallow rocky spots. We’re heading down the Channel from Ocean Falls. The winds are about 22+ knots. The seas are choppy but it’s a nice ride, just a little cloudy and drizzly out. We see a massive cruise ship down the channel. It’s so huge and white against the grey landscape that it seems almost surreal. We are getting ready to head into Gun Boat Passage. We’re both a little tense about it because when we were up here before another boater that we trusted said it was “very tricky”. I kept thinking about what the ferry captain said, “Make sure you go on the correct side of the marker as that’s where a lot of people get into trouble as it appears there is more room on the otherside and unfortunately many get stuck on the rocks there.” We headed in and slowed down. As Larry made the turn to go through the first “tricky area”, the current was pulling him a bit so he had to compensate for that but went through with at least 20 feet below us. You could see a hump on the depth sounder but it went just fine.
OK been there, done that.
NICE ANCHORAGES There are what looks like several nice anchorages in Gun Boat Passage. It’s very well protected and scenic. We wondered about the small little Canadian boat that came out and got dumped into Fisher Channel where the cruise ship was coming up the channel. It was very rough for him out there. Way rougher that what we thought his boat could handle. I hope he decided to turn around and go back in to Gun Boat Passage.
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KWAKSHUA CHANNEL OR A SHORT CUT?
We pass a little fish lodge on our
starboard side as we go through the passage. It’s nestled back in a cove on
floats, no land base. The sign I read with binoculars, says Hakai Lodge. It
looked really cute. As we head further out the little channel, we go through
our last bit of hair raising narrow shallow areas and that being the areas
marked on the charts where submerged rocks are. No problems though as we
steared clear of those obstacles. Between some small rocky Islands we suddenly
get a glimpse to Queen Charlotte Sound. 
QUEEN CHARLOTTE SOUND
We see a few fishing skiffs heading out from
several hidden floating fishing lodges that are probably snuggled away in
protected coves open only for the sports fishing season. We’re lucky today as
the conditions are flat and soft. We can see outside of this protected area
some big swells. I can’t imagine this rugged area being suitable for these
little bitty fishing skiffs as the seas here I would think would most of the
time be retching up pretty bad. 
BIG FAT ORCA BY CODVILLE LAGOON
At
the top of the dock ramp we noticed several primitive but colorful homemade
signs directing you to a couple cafes and a handful of businesses. We were
surprised to see that there actually was a place to eat and other businesses.
We thought it was a total ghost town here. I guess we didn’t know what to
expect and didn’t expect anything. The only did I did remember about this place
from other crisers was that they had some good cinnamon buns and clean good
drinking water. That we heard on our 2002 Alaska trip. So we headed up the
road towards the dam and old pulp mill and whatever else was left of the old
deserted town. Though much of the town looked pretty depressing and falling
down it was brightened by the amazing abundance of wild flowers and wild berries
growing everywhere. They were a welcoming sight after all that green and grey
black monotone that we’ve been seeing for so many weeks. 
THE HOLY GRILL
THE FAMOUS CINNAMON BUNS
Then as we approached the red marker, you
absolutely could see why people want to go on the otherside. You have to go
between a very large exposed rock and the marker and it looks so narrow but as
long as you know that is the way to go, it’s not a problem, even though it
doesn’t look right. There are some range markers after that and we kept them in
perfect alignment but there was plenty of deep water everywhere so “no
problem”. 
As we neared Shearwater we called in by
radio to let the dockmaster know we were coming. He said he had space for us.
We wanted to get there in time to get space at the dock as a front is headed
this way and dock space will become a valuable commodity. We figured a bunch of
other boats will have the same idea so the earlier we are there the better.
Larry was right as the docks filled quickly and many were forced to anchor out.