“WE’RE OVER IT”

We are at Cape Caution and they are calmer.  Larry says, “Well, we’re over it,” meaning the crossing of Queen Charlotte Sound was done.  He says “Been there, done that again”.

I’ve got a head ache now and try to take a quick nap but can’t sleep.  I get back up and look out the window.  I hate to sleep when there’s so much to see.  I can’t believe all the islands and land we’ve seen on the crossing today as we’ve only crossed in fog before and saw nothing but grey water and skies.  The swells were bigger than we expected and Larry was a little surprised.  They are about 6-8 feet right behind us right now, nothing bad or uncomfortable, an easy ride.    

It is so amazingly clear out today, even though overcast, as we could actually see the Gordon Islands and on to Port Hardy and south to Malcomb Island.  We could see clearly all the across the straight as we headed towards Blunden Harbor.

There are birds everywhere, large groups of them rafting in big groups on the water.  Many are totally black and others have white tummies with black heads, and there are lots of sea gulls, all different types and what looks like artic terns.  I’m so happy to see so many birds here, as it means for a happy environment full of food and wild life. 

BLUNDEN HARBOR

Our destination today is Blunden Harbor.  I’ve always wanted to go there because it is the sight of an old Indian village.  We arrive at the entrance and weave our way in slowly being careful of the shallow waters at the entrance.  Once inside we are totally surprised how windy the anchorage is.  I guess the winds finally did pick up this afternoon and these were them.   I’m glad we left early to beat them.   The area we wanted anchor in that was more protected was filled with crab pots deposited by cruisers anchored in the harbor.  It didn’t make sense to me.  Why put your crab pots there, the only protected place from the wind?  They must know something we don’t.  So, we anchored out in the wind with the rest of the bunch and it was blowing.   We had some lunch and then got the dinghy down heading over to the old Indian site.

MIDDEN BEACH LITTERED WITH BROKEN GLASS, PIECES OF CHINA AND MODERN DAY TRASH

The ride over in the dinghy was wet as the wavelets were beginning to pick up.  We pulled the dinghy up onto the shell laden shore and looked around.  I was so surprised to see all the broken glass, bits of china, and old iron pieces now unidentifiable, mere rusting mounds and motor parts strewn all about on the midden.  What remains of the old buildings are only huge weathered beams, poles and planks, fallen to the ground, rotting and termite eaten, soon to be completely overgrown and taken over by the moss and foliage.  Only bits and pieces, like a puzzle, are left, leaving your imagination to figure out what used to be there.  It’s all that remains of the old village or settlement, and some posts, formerly beams or totems, strangely poking out of the forest like canons pointed over the harbor

REMAINS OF THE BUILDINGS

We crawled up into the brush to see more of the ruins and could feel that we were walking over fallen structures beneath our feet, thick boards and geometrically shaped recesses in the soil that is now over grown with wild berry bushes and moss.  We found what must have been the long house.  The only thing left was a great recess within the earth and some very large wood beams that have fallen, looking much like a rustic child’s fort.  In the center of the structure we could see where they used to have their fire, a tall ancient layer of ash and shells.  In fact, there were shells everywhere, mixed in with the dirt, going down many feet down, silent recorders of hundreds of years of time. 

We saw a flat plank that was huge in proportion to today’s building methods and available materials of wood stock, so it obviously was old taken from a large tree.  There were a few large hollowed out poles that may have been mortuary poles but again I’m just guessing.  We wandered down the beach farther and saw an old brown red shack with a sign posted forbidding any trespassing or taking of artifacts

Walking back down the beach, we found pieces of old pottery and broken shards of antique glass mixed in with the shells.  Some of the stuff was modern day junk and trash too, a lot of it.  It was not the beautiful pristine breaches of Fury Cove.  Somehow this place looks a little rough around the edges, maybe it was because of the beer bottles and cans, and modern trash mixed in with the rest of the debris that gave me that feeling and the unfriendly no trespassing sign didn’t help either. 

We felt a bit like an intruder now and decided to head back to the boat.  The winds were getting very strong and it was high tide so much of the tide was overtaking the shore that we wanted to explore.  If the winds drop off a bit, we might come back at low tide and walk along the shore the other direction.  

WINDY

The winds have been gradually and consistently picking up all afternoon in the anchorage.  At times they clocked 38 knots but we are hooked solid.  A couple boats in the harbor had to move locations because they were dragging.  The little sailboat that hailed the ferry earlier in the day has finally come in to the anchorage.  He must have had a really tough time out there with these winds.  He’s wandering all over the anchorage looking for a protected place.  Chinook came in a little while after us and dropped anchor way inside the bay. 

Another little sailboat came in and went right over to the only little patch of protected water next to the little island in the anchorage and quickly did a stern tie to a tree on it.  He was completely blocked from the wind and the only one in the whole harbor that was.   I guess he is familiar with the anchorage because he looked like he knew right where to go, where to drop that anchor and how to quickly do the stern tie, like an old salt.  He sure looks nice and nifty over there sitting out on his back deck enjoying his wind free afternoon.   I look over at the other sail boater and he is trying a similar type of spot on the other side of the anchorage in the lee of another little island but I notice they are dragging a bit.  It sure is taking them a long time to get settled.  I hope they get hooked soon because I imagine they must be pretty darn tired after today’s journey. 

SPLINTERED BLUEPRINT OF THE PAST

Later that afternoon as the tide was going out we went back to take Zig ashore and look around a little more as the shoreline expanded with the receding tide.  The wind was still blowing a good clip and stubbornly refused to let up the whole afternoon so Larry stayed near the dinghy while Zig and I took a long walk down the other side of shore and discovered another area where remains of house beams and large moss covered recesses in the earth were hidden behind the foliage.   There was so much to explore on the shore though, bits and pieces of all sorts of things from the past.  It’s a beachcombing wonderland though you must respect their wishes and not take anything.  The whole area is like a splintered blueprint of the past.  We found several places where people before us couldn’t resist picking up bits of glass and pottery and delicately placed their finds on various driftwood logs making neat little displays.  You felt compelled to add to their piles with what ever little treasure you found too, leaving it for the next person to discover and add to also.  Everyone seemed to respect the first nations request to leave and not take what they found there. 

TROUBLE ON SHORE AS THE TIDE GOES OUT

Another boat, a large aluminum skiff, came to shore also.  The young man driving it ran the boat up onto the drying shore and they hopped out to look around.  I glanced back at Larry who was now holding the dinghy with what looked like a bit of difficulty, as the wind was blowing waves on shore and forcing the dinghy sideways.  When Zig and I got back to the dinghy, he said he had to come back to hold the dinghy in place because the tide was still going out rapidly and was taking the dinghy with it.  I offered to hold the dinghy a bit so he could look around.   After a few minutes we noticed that the other people were having a problem.  The tide was going out so quickly that their boat suddenly was grounded and they were all in the water trying to push this big heavy aluminum boat back into the water and having no luck.  The mother, her teenage son and young daughter couldn’t budge it.  They were in trouble. 

Larry told me to stay with the dinghy and hold it in the water while he went to help them.  Well, the strength of wind and sea was more than I imagined and I began to have trouble myself.  I was up to my knees in water and struggling to keep the props pointed out to the deeper water as the wind and waves were forcing the dinghy to shore.  My old rubber boots decided at this moment to develop little pin hole leaks and filled to the top with freezing cold water.  I watched Larry and the other people struggle to push their boat back into the water while I waited and struggled with our dinghy.  Finally, they luckily managed to get the boat back in the water, not without a loud scraping sound as their aluminum bottom scraped across the rough shell cover shore.  Larry quickly came back, hopped in the dinghy and off we went back to the boat thinking what a strange situation that was.  We all could have been stranded on shore.  It all seemed to happen so quickly.  We could have been stuck there waiting hours for the next tide to come in what an embarrassing state that would have been.  Well, that was the end of those old boots.  I’ve had those things since we took beginning sailing lessons in Boston Harbor back in the late mid 90s.  I’ll miss them.

CAPTAIN NEMO

We spent the rest of the evening on the boat, wind blown, but secure and just towards dusk, guess who in the heck pulled in to the anchorage?  Old Wind Horse, that hulk of brushed aluminum edged its way in, stealth like, into the harbor, and the master at the helm, looking much like Captain Nemo after just surfacing from the menacing deep.  He also reminded me of a shark, weaving slowly in and around the anchored boats, deeper and deeper into the anchorage, confident and sly, almost as if looking for his next prey.  He slowly and quietly dropped his anchor and didn’t budge the rest of the night. 

HEADED TO THE BROUGHTON ISLANDS

 Our next cruising area will be what they call the Broughton Islands.  They are an archipelago of little islands on the north BC Coast near the top of Vancouver Island but on the mainland side. It’s a remote area and there are not many anchorages as the waters are too deep and the shoreline too steep for anything but floating villages, so most cruisers go from one floating “resort” to the next.  These floating “resorts” are just like the old floating fishing and logging camps that used to be plentiful along the coast in the last century.  Now they are stopping points for cruisers and sports fishers, a place to plug in and dine in a restaurant, pick up minimal supplies and find comradery among like minded cruisers.  The scenery is similar all through the area, steep mountains with shear  sides straight to the water line, clear cut logging, and fish farm after fish farm, but the mountains and scenery is  beautiful and the vistas of vast open spaces up the inlets is incredible.  It’s a great area. 

BLUNDEN HARBOR TO SULLIVAN BAY

The Queen Charlotte Straight is amazing today.  This is the second day we have been on it and weren’t completely blinded by fog.  Of course this is only the second time we’ve been heading south to the Broughton Islands so don’t know what is typical here.  The first time was coming back from Alaska and we were following MV Raven as they led the way in thick pea soup, weaving in and out of rocky places and past clusters of boats, all just blips on the radar as we couldn’t see a thing.  If they got beyond a ¼ mile range we were in a panic as we weren’t familiar with the waters, and not used to relying on radar then, and there were so many fishing boats and rocks on the radar screen that it was hard to tell which one was Raven, and well really what was what.  It was really scary.  We followed them like a little duckling.  My how things have changed as we have so much more confidence in the radar, in fact I like traveling blindly by radar than bouncing around in rough seas. 

To be able to see today though has been rewarded by views across the straight.  We are amazing how huge Vancouver Island is.  We can clearly see Malcomb Island, the charming Finnish town that we stopped at on the way up, and the huge coastline of Vancouver back dropped by massive the mountains.  It’s really an impressive sight. 

Well, we took Zig in to shore this morning before we left Blunden Harbor so no messing around with the poop mats today.  I got up in the middle of the night last night and lucky I did because there was the most beautiful full moon filling the sky.  The wind had died down completely by then and it was so peaceful in the anchorage.  The moonlight glittered over the water like painting.  It was comforting to see all the anchor lights of our bedfellows too as most of the summer we’ve been in so many anchorages completely by ourselves.   We had an extra low tide this morning because of the full moon I guess and when we took Zig to shore, we saw mounds and mounds of huge empty clam shells left by the Indians from days long gone by.  You just crunched your way to shore on them.  I’m amazed at the plenty they had back then, clams of all sizes, oysters, and mussels and now a days you can’t find a one safe to eat as surely will get poisoned and die.  Though I guess even in the last century they had their problems as there are stories told of some of the old sea farers near Sitka Alaska, eighteen men, dying from a feast of tainted mussels.  As we walked around there were a few clams squirting a spout of water up and out of the mud at us and one bright red crab crawled out from under a huge broad leafed piece of kelp that he was sheltered under and tried to clamp the toe of my black rubber boot.  He’s sure a feisty little bugger.   While Zig wandered up into the brush and disappeared for a few minutes, I walked around one more time seeing what else might have revealed itself by the extreme tide on the shoreline.  Larry still insisted on hanging out at the dinghy as we’ve learned that the tide is surprisingly quick around here and still not trustworthy even this morning. 

When Zig appeared again, I carried him back through the muddy muck of the newly exposed shore, not wanting him to track all that mud into the dinghy.  The dinghy was already almost on dry land as the tide again was moving out so quickly.  We had to give it a hefty push back into the deeper water and I jumped on rinsing off the mud before putting my feet back in the dinghy. 

BACK ON THE STRAIGHT AGAIN

There’s a log ahead, just the silhouette of two goofy seagulls sitting on it, one at each end facing forward.  They look like little kayakers. These seagulls always crack us up the way they ride around on the logs bobbing up and down, lined up so cute.  You see them everywhere.  We look over at the others that aren’t as lucky as they have to contend with floating around in the cold morning’s water. 

It’s a beautiful morning.  There are down filled lumpy clouds stretching across the Straight, no sun though.  You can see forever in all directions.  It’s really amazing to be able to see so many mountain ranges, and islands and this great expanse of water dividing them all which looks like a sea of mercury right now, silver and brilliant.  The skies aren’t dark but spotted with lights where the morning sun occasionally finds and opening to briefly emitting a tube of light through the thin veiled areas.  Not as dramatic as yesterday but still beautiful.

SQUIRRELLY WATER

We have been fighting the current head on for most of the morning and suddenly the boat picks up about 4 knots in our favor, pushing us up to 10.20 knots.  We ride the little boost of speed for a few minutes and then just as suddenly we drop back down to 8.2 knots again.  There’s a rough patch of water just north of Wells Passage.  The water is very squirrelly there around the rocks and gave us a push, quite a good one.  Hmm, interesting and hard to figure, but so many places are like that in the Pacific Northwest, strange currents, tides and rapids and strange winds that funnel through the inlets and williwaws that race down the mountainsides.  I love all the varied conditions, a constant challenge to figure out nature up here, like on big monopoly game. 

Suddenly we see two hump back whales.  It looks like they are heading for the current where the funny water is maybe figuring that squirrelly water might stir up some food for them.  Nearby, there is a dark rocky patch that is covered with screeching white birds.  We stop the boat and wait for the whales to come back up again but no such luck.  They are staying down a long time, perhaps they have moved on to another area, swimming deep below the surface.

Again, like yesterday we see wide patches of rafting birds in this area.  I’m so glad to see so many birds.  I wonder if they are migrating or birds that live here year round.     

WELLS PASSAGE

We head into Wells Passage.  It greets you with dramatic sights in all directions.  The magnitude of the views, the enormity of the mountains, and abundance of wildlife, birds, jumping fish and whales was breathtaking and full of wonder, so much life.   The Passage we are heading into is deep and long, lined by tall layers of mountains on each side that dip down steeply to the passage and then layer upon layer, in perspective behind each other, lined up like a fanned deck of cards, only defined by varying shades of blue black shades.  We can see two boats in the distance, just blips in the water and the clouds over head are hugging the mountain tops concealing how massive and tall they really are.  It’s beautiful rugged landscape around here.  I love the rocky shoreline, worn by the sea and colored by varying layers of grey to white, soft green moss.  The trees are ragged and varied unlike the boring uniform look of the landscape after it has been logged with all that unnatural monotonous growth that comes after. 

There are several little sports fishing skiffs in here, poking around or trawling in and out of the little coves and our from behind rocks.  We here one on the radio called Bumble Bee and we laugh and wonder at the name.  Then we hear Doc Holiday answer back and then laugh some more.  If that wasn’t enough, we then hear one called Little Egg Roll.  Who thinks of these names?

There are several trawlers heading out of the inlet too.  I guess all this boat traffic is similar to what we saw on the radar screen coming through here the first time in the fog.  It was all these sports fishing boats.  Now we see them clearly today.  My jaw drops in awe as we look ahead at an enormous mountain of shear slick rock that goes straight up.  It’s a magnificent sight.  The forest gets less interesting the farther up the channel we go.  It becomes more uniform and boring and more and more clear cut every where.  It’s so rare to see any old growth or even natural growth anymore, very sad.

The further you go up this beautiful channel the more dismayed you are because of all the logging and fish farms, one after another.  It’s disappointing. 

It’s like a haven of cruisers in here, all going different directions, down different channels, passing at intersections of channels.  We see all kinds, big and little. 

Larry says if I want to try to dock the boat today at Sullivan Bay I can give it a try.  That’s our destination today.  We’ve been there once before and remember the docks being pretty straight forward and fairly empty as the boaters usually spend a night and then leave the next morning for the next resort on their itinerary, and that usually leaves the docks pretty empty at this time of day.  That would be good for me. 

DOCKING AT SULLIVAN BAY

As enter Sutlej Channel and come around the small hill and protective niche where Sullivan Bay is, we hail them by radio to get our slip assignment.  I begin to pull in close to the docks and we find out the dock master wants us to come all the way in on the inside leg of the horseshoe and means I’d have to take Knotty Dog inside and turn her around between some other boats and back her into a tight spot.  Larry thinks he better do it as the current is running.   Oh well, so much for my first docking.  I think I could’ve docked it but not 100% sure.  I always take her out now, well almost always, but never get to dock her in.  Taking her in is always the unknown for me.   Once it’s in it’s so much easier to take her out because you saw how it was done and have time to study where you are and the obstacles.  I hope someday I will be able to try taking her in.   

Larry puts her in easily up to the dock and where we thought he wanted us.  The dock guy is kind of pushy about the lines and keeps grabbing them from me.  He also wanted us much farther back than I would have thought we should be but they need to pack them in here I guess.  He didn’t want me doing the lines and kept redoing what I had done.  It was kind of comical as we’ve been to so many places and I always do the lines but if he wants to tie the lines why should I care as long as he does it right and safe?  I should enjoy the break.  He even told me how to tie the line the ‘better way’ but I think my way is easier and faster, and holds just as well, and comes off the dock faster, so I think I could teach him a few tricks but just keep that to myself and chuckle.  I thanked him for the lesson good or bad.  I think it’s always good to hear another view point and usually you do learn something new or better.  Afterwards though we had to retie two of the lines because he had bow too tight and another wasn’t the way we normally do the spring line.  Oh well.

SULLIVAN BAY

Well, here we are plugged in with lots of power and Larry is happy as a clam and relaxed again.  We really are having a problem with our power at anchorage.  Larry’s emailing Justin at Nordhavn back and forth, and they both are trying to figure out the problem.  Larry wants to know what it might be now so he knows how to address it when we get down to the boat yard in Sydney.  That’s a long time off but Larry is managing the power just fine.    

Sullivan is still cute as a bug and has a sense of humor with all their decoration.  It’s a little floating village, nothing on solid land.  There are lots cottages, a small store, a fuel dock, and for the last two seasons a much needed restaurant, and oh yes, I don’t want to forget, their thoughtful poop deck for dogs and their owners. 

The place is mostly famous with the cruisers I think because of all the whimsical paintings and murals done around the little village.  They were done by the owner’s elderly father who passed away just a couple years ago.  It’s sad because he really brought life to the place with his wonderful paintings and now the paintings are becoming faded and it seems like there are less of them.  The place seems a little worn and sad from the way I remembered it on our way back from Alaska a few years back.  The docks are still really sloping and very wobbly but it’s a fun place to come as things like that give it charm. 

Many cruisers BBQ on the back of their boats or on the docks and their kids have fun fishing off the docks.  It’s a fun place but no where to go on land which is typical of most places up here.  That’s one thing I don’t like too much about being in the Broughton Islands is not having many places to take Zig for a walk but many people enjoy the lifestyle.

HISTORY OF THESE FLOATING VILLAGES

I’m surprised at all the little cottages here on the floats.  Most of them I think are summer cottages but then there are several that are permanent residences as this place stays open all year.  Imagine that.  In case you aren’t familiar with these floating villages there is lots of history surrounding them.  Many were started as logging camps, like floating villages much like this place, with a store, school, etc. and when the logging was done in that area, they merely towed the whole village by tug boat to the next area and so on.  Many of these places back then were only served by the old steamers that would come through delivering supplies, sometimes only as frequently as once a month.  There was nothing here then but these logging camps, little homesteads, Indian villages and canneries. 

As you walk around the village today the buildings are all brightly decorated with what I’d call a lot of “chotsky” decoration and lots of cheerful flowers growing in their pots and barrels and well, anything available that might be useful to hold some dirt.  They are ingenious and make something out of things we would normally throw out. 

In these current times, the main thing that keeps these places going is sports’ fishing as that seems to be the big draw for everyone.  As I mentioned earlier in Shearwater, what we have noticed this year cruising that was different from the time when we came through here a few years ago, is that a lot of boats aren’t content with just their main ship.  Many have a second boat, not just a dinghy but a big second boat.  They use them for fishing and they are constantly towing these big things behind them where ever they go or have them side saddled to their main ship.   It’s incredible because so many are doing this, it’s like a new fad.  To me it seems like a lot of stuff to carry around but I guess if you aren’t doing long distance cruising and just coming to this area it’s a good way to get out to the areas where the fish are. 

 

In Shearwater we sat next to a 58 foot boat, who had a big fishing boat lashed to the side, then a big hard bottom dinghy on the top of the boat and an inflatable, in case the other didn’t work I guess, then 3 crab traps, 2 shrimp traps, and all sorts of fishing gear and the boat was huge already.  I’m wondering how much fish can two people catch and store and finally eat?  When they left, it was like a huge moving van leaving with all this stuff lashed to the boat and tied to the side.  I think boating is a lot of work as it is without having to deal with all that.  I don’t know how they do it and I also wonder too when they are in rough seas what it must be like having to tow one of those big things or going through narrow areas where the rapids run.  How do they do it?

 

RESTAURANT

 

Well, we were anxious to go to try out the restaurant.  I still have lots of food in the boat and we could eat for days without going to a restaurant but it’s so nice to go out to eat, see and talk to other people. 

Everything is simple here.  There’s nothin’ fancy because we are far from roads and stores and you can only get here by boat or float plan, so supplies are a little more expensive than you would pay elsewhere, even though what you’re buying is simple and plain.  That includes the food, simple and plain and though a shrimp cocktail is made with fresh shrimp caught that day only 300 yards from the dock the price is high.  They were delicious though.  We always like to have shrimp up here because they are so incredibly fresh and you can taste the freshness.  Larry had fresh halibut fish and ships and the halibut was so good and fresh compared to those dry old blocks of frozen white stuff they served at Shearwater.

We made reservations for dinner also that night.  It seemed funny making a reservation at this place as it’s nothing more than a small rustic looking coffee shop but they wanted to know so they could plan.  The staff is so friendly and nice. 

 

SULLIVAN BAY FOR SALE

Larry said Sullivan Bay is for sale, that he’d heard it through the grapevine but I wonder what is there exactly that is for sale.  There is no land per say.  I guess they are just selling the buildings and rights to the location?  Some of the buildings are pretty old and the floats underneath them look like they are on their last legs, very water logged and rotted and the docks are wobbly and tilting.  There are a couple rows (or streets as they call them) of new float houses.  We wonder what would happen if they sold this place?  How would it affect those people?  I guess they could float them to another location or wait and see what the new owner has in mind.  They must share the expenses of keeping the generators running and getting water, and delivery of supplies and fuel so they can maintain the place.  Imagine living in a place like this, if you don’t like where you are you can just tow your house somewhere else.  It is interesting to wonder about it and what would happen when they sell it. 

The landscape is too vertical and rocky to build on around here and the water so deep that you can’t anchor, as its 100 feet deep below us at the docks for Pete’s Sake.  It’s a unique place that’s for sure and people love to just come up here to fish and go from resort to resort, just like this place and to just tie up their boats, have dinner and sit back and relax.

WEATHER WATCH

We’re watching the weather on Johnstone Strait and hoping it will calm down.  Larry wants to go that way south and bypass Yuculta Rapids and that area.  We’ve never been through Seymour Narrows and would like to this trip.   We’re thinking we’ll stop at Campbell River or Comox and rent a car and drive to the West side of Vancouver Island to do a little exploring, maybe to Tofino and stay in the Wickannish Inn for a few days.  We just want to take a break from boating for a week.  We’re both looking forward to it.  The Wickannish takes dogs too so that solves our problem with Ziggy.

 

POOP DECK

Did I mention they have a poop deck here in Sullivan Bay?  It’s definitely a poop deck in the literal sense of the word.  It’s at the far end of the docks by the fuel station and it’s a separate little float built with the sole purpose of being the pooping grounds for visiting pooches.  It has grass growing on it and a shovel hanging on a post for your use to clean up after your pooch.  Ziggy knew immediately what the deck was all about when we took him there.  Maybe he remembered it from four years ago?  I’m not sure as this dog surprises me so much.  It’s really scary what he remembers.  I think more likely though he knew what it was from his keen sense of smell.  He doesn’t really like going on it but I can tell he knows it’s necessary.  He tips toes around on it like he thinks it’s too smelly and dirty, and doesn’t have the normal privacy that he prefers but somehow he understands that this is all this place has to offer in the way of pooping grounds.  Actually I think it’s pretty hospitable of them to create such a thing for us dog lovers.  He doesn’t waste time on it though as he gets down to business right away and then gets off as fast as possible while Larry does the clean up.  Zig says it’s not up to his standards for pooping spots but will do. 

 

We’re up at a leisurely hour the next morning.  It the first night for a couple weeks that Larry doesn’t have to worry about the batteries and can sleep in.  We take Zig for a mini walk as that’s all you can do around here and of course a brief and necessary stop at the poop deck again.  We also decided to have breakfast in the restaurant.  It’s such a luxury for us to eat out after all these weeks of cooking on the boat so we’re really taking advantage of it. 

 

LIFE IN SULLIVAN BAY

One of the owner’s daughters is the waitress at the little café.  I asked her when the season is up around here.  She said it slows down about the end of September, maybe the first of October.  I asked what she does in the winter, does she stay here or go somewhere else.  She said sometimes she stays here with her dad but her mom goes to Cortes Island (not too far south) or sometimes she goes to Campbell River.  I then said, “You must be open throughout the winter then”.  She said “Yes”.  I asked “What goes on here then, logging?”  She said “Yes, they supply the loggers and the Indians manage the fish farms”.  I asked where the Indians live and she said there are some just around the corner and many are from Kingcome Inlet.  She said they stop and get liquor.  She said they are always drunk when they come and sometimes even the kids, as young as 5 years old are drunk so she said they don’t allow some of them to come anymore.   She said the Indians living nearby aren’t like that though, they are nice.

 

TIME TO GO

Well, time to go again.  Larry undoes the lines and is grumbling saying they are too difficult to get undone the way the dock guy did them.  I chuckle to myself, so much for that lesson on how to tie the lines from the dock guy.

HEADING TO ECHO BAY

We have a short trip today, only an hour to Echo Bay.

I’ve put a chicken in the oven as I feel like I’m coming down with a cold and I know it will also warm up the boat.  It’s a cold 60 degrees out.  I’ve even put a muffler on to keep warm.

 

SERENDIPITY

We leave Serendipity at the dock.  It came in late yesterday.  I’ve never seen a boat like that up in these waters.  It looks like a Fort Lauderdale boat.  It’s a big 70 foot cigarette boat with two middle aged couples on it.  We have seen them once before a few years ago, but can’t remember where.  They are a nice bunch but they are unusual as they all dress in black when they dock and undock, like a professional crew and all wear gloves.  They are not anything like the typical cruisers we normally see.   We couldn’t help but see inside their salon last night as it was all lit up and the two women spent their evening sewing.  Each had their own sewing machine.  There is no room to sit or hardly walk in the back open cockpit as the space is filled with a big hot tub.  Larry chatted with them a bit and said they are really nice people.  They told him they have taken the boat to Alaska and cruise all around these waters every summer.  

 

RADIO SERVES AS ONE BIG RESERVATION LINE

As make our way over to Echo Bay, we hear non stop radio communication on channel 66.  One boat right after the other is calling each little resort for dinner reservations and dockage.  Some are booked for pig roasts and others need to select an entrée by 3:00 PM to make sure they get their food order in.  It’s so comical to listen in.  After all the lonely cruising this summer, we were kind of in shock wondering what the world has come to that you have to book everything so precisely from day to day up here in the middle of no where.  Some people practically cried and begged when they found out one place was totally booked for the pig roast. 

WOW THERE ARE TOO MANY FISH FARMS

We pass one fish farm after another.  It’s frightening.  I hope they know what they are doing up here with these things.  They really don’t have all the information and research results in on how they will affect native fish and the environment in the future.  These fish farms can be very risky business for all of us and everything living thing.  Sometimes I think they don’t care about their natural resources up here the way the scrap off the hillsides and put these fish farms in without knowing exactly how it will effect our environment. 

 

ECHO BAY

Before you know it we are at Echo Bay.  We hail them on the radio and they say just take any space you find.   So we took the first dock space that looked easy to get into and out of the way of wakes.  Looks like an interesting place to explore and we actually can take the dinghy across the cove and take a walk on land through the forest as they have a marine park over there.  That will be great for Ziggy and well all of us as we could use some exercise. We’re looking forward to exploring this place.  There’s no restaurant here, so I’ll be cooking tonight.

 

To Echo Bay