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BLIND CHANNEL SOUTH
Regardless of the lack of sleep I had because of the inconsiderate conduct of the idiots across dock, we were up early and I had to get Zig ready. I was very tempted however to make a lot of racket to let those people see what the word inconsiderate means, but thought better of it as I didn’t want to disturb the rest of the boaters.
TODAY WILL BE THE DAY Larry has always wanted to go through Seymour Narrows and today will be the day. We have the same exact weather report as yesterday, 15-20 knots NW in the morning and gales this afternoon. It’s funny as we hear Prime Time again on the radio. I can’t wait to catch up with this boat to see who he is. He’s on the radio all the time. He’s the guy that interrupted our conversation with Mach Zero (40 foot Nordhavn) yesterday to see if we knew the weather conditions at Chatham Point. “WHALE SPOTTING VESSELS” First thing, we hear him hailing “whale spotting vessels”. Literally, he’s saying, “Whale spotting vessels, whale spotting vessels, this is Prime Time, over.” Alert (I guess Alert must be a whale spotting vessel?) comes back. Prime Time tells him they have a pod of whales about 10 feet off shore and they have been traveling along side of them for about 15-20 minutes. They say they spent the night in Port Neville. Hmmm, sounds like our paths just may cross today. Now I’m wondering if they are not the same trawler, the trawler I saw a picture of on the bulletin board at Lagoon Cove. It was a picture of a middle aged woman proudly standing on the gangway of her boat, having obviously caught a halibut so big it hung over the whole side of the boat, almost a wide and as tall as their trawler. It was so heavy they had to hoist it up with their boom. I think that boat in the picture was called Prime Time. He sounded so excited about seeing the whales. The Alert boat said there was a 2 foot chop down by Chatham so I guess, in retrospect, that’s what Prime Time was really calling about. He answered back and said that sounded good and said where they were, just off Ripple Point. HEADING INTO JOHNSTONE STRAIT AGAIN We’re presently at the junction of Mayne Passage (where Blind Channel empties out into Johnstone Strait) and Johnstone Strait. The winds are blowing 28 knots from the north which are on our nose as we head out the channel. The water is choppy but no white caps and crazy violent looking seas likes yesterday. Larry is says out loud, “We’ll get down the Seymour Narrows before it gets too bad.” We only see one fishing seiner out here today, well at least from what we can see at the junction. It looks pretty lonely and kind of dark out. The barometer is staying steady at 1018 and has been for the last 12 hours. We have a thick cottony cloud cover. Comox Radio comes on with a Securite; “A 36 foot Bayliner is in trouble in the Pender Harbor area (he gives coordinates). They have hit a log and are taking on water. Their pumps are keeping up with the water intake but are requesting help with a tow into Pender Harbor.” Suddenly, we take on a
weird cross wind spray. The winds gust to 25 knots. I’m getting a
little nervous thinking maybe it a little windier than predicted out
here. I see Larry keeps looking at the wind gage. We are traveling with
the current and with the wind. We will be flying down the channel at this
rate. In fact, Larry pulls back on the throttle because at this rate he
says we will arrive at the Narrows too early. Larry has pulled back the
RPMS to 1400 and we still are going 10.40 knots.
We hear two boats behind us. One has reached the same junction and reports back conditions to a boat following him. He says it looks pretty good but the winds are up but are going the same direction as the current so it should be OK to continue. Back at Blind Channel Marina, we both sensed a lot of worry on the docks about the weather conditions and overheard talk amongst the boaters about the rough trip they had the day before and all expressed a little concern and worry about leaving today. The old couple in the charter boat next to us said they aren’t going any further as they had such a rough ride up from Cortes and that’s all they want of that. They said this is the farthest they have ever come. We told them don’t get discouraged, try going in the protected routes as it’s much calmer. WINDS AND CURRENTS WITH US Larry chuckles now and says we’ve slowed down and we’re still going 11 knots! It’s nice and calm out here though. We’ve got 25 knots on our stern and still going 12 knots!! As we get out into the Strait past Walker Islands the seas get very strange. There are large whirlpools where the seas become flat and swirl amidst the chop. It pulls and swerves our boat slowly but wildly and we’re some what out of control for a few moments. This stretch of water certainly is exciting. ENCOUNTER WITH WHALES As we see Chatham Point Light up ahead I see puffs across the water. Its WHALES and lots of them!! We gradually are gaining on them. It’s a pod of orcas! We are traveling a bit faster than they are and are slowly but gradually getting nearer. They are heading across to Turn Island. Just around the point by Turn Island I see a group of kayakers. Boy is this going to be their lucky day. They don’t know it yet but the orcas are right around the corner from them, less than 50 yards, from what I can estimate. There are about 8 orcas and one of them looks like our friend ole Moby Dick that we saw up north after crossing Hecate Straight! Suddenly a really stupid fast boat that is racing up the channel doesn’t see them!! He’s heading right for the orcas as their dorsal fins are way up and we can see quite the whole thing quite clearly. What an idiot!!!! He goes right through them and I’m not so sure he hasn’t hit one. He slows down, stops immediately and turns around. He must have hit one and felt it. The orcas stop their progression down the channel too and seem and act confused for several long moments. I hope he didn’t hit them and hurt them. What a stupid Ass (excuse my language). Then to top it off, he turns around and comes back trying to get way too close to them. It’s people like this that really drive me nuts!!!! What a jerk!!! THEY SEEM OK The orcas seem to regroup
and go on as they were before. I think they are OK. I hope so. We have
caught up to them now after they stopped and got some nice pictures of
them but keep our distance using our telephoto lense to get a close shot.
I’m not sure if the big one is the same orca, the one I called ole Moby
Dick but, I’ll check and compare photos at some point to confirm.
DISCOVERY CHANNEL We head back out into the channel after our little diversion by Nodales Channel. We pass Chatham Point Light and it’s beautiful. We head down now into the famous Discovery Channel and it so calm that I hear Larry yawning as he slouches down into his helm’s chair. There’s nothing to watch today in the way of exciting seas. It’s not at all as exciting as yesterday.
Well, as the day goes on, it’s been a pretty uneventful trip so far except for the Orcas. The waters are calm. Do I sound like I am I complaining because the seas aren’t rough? Who is this person? We pass Brown Bay and on shore there is nothing but huge RVs camped on a big parking lot in the V of the mountains, then a marina protected by what looks like big fuel tankers off trains. They have room for boats up to 60 feet and more, I read. I don’t see any cruisers in there just fishing boats.
The boat is rocking back and forth like we’re feeling a funny wake from a speed boat that never went by. They are just little quick rocking motions. Just as you come out the narrows you see a large logging camp and piles of logs. It’s a major dropping off point for all this logging that we have seen on this trip. At first sight I laughed as Larry thought it was some big resort they were starting to build with a gigantic waterfront but sadly no, (or maybe not so sadly) obviously this is where they distribute and process the logs on barges to head off to far off destinations.
SUDDENLY ENTER CIVILIZATION AGAIN
And just that suddenly we have instantly entered civilization again. Mansion homes hang over the nearby shear cliffs and the big stinky smoky pulp mill is just ahead. What a greeting. Another tug pulling a barge is heading up the channel towards us. It looks like all the big boys are in line now to come through at near slack tide. They were just waiting for the right moment and luckily we just beat them to it. There are, I’ll admit, some strong swirls as we come out and begin to enter the wide waters by Campbell River. The waters are very swirly here after coming out and they push the boat back and forth. Its funny this strange and obvious demarcation line between wilderness and civilization is right there. You come out the slot and into the face of polluting pulp mills and scraped hillsides and crowded water with barges, freighters and cruise ships. They also say this area delineates climate differences between the north and south. You notice right away how much dryer it is here and south and how much wetter and cooler it is north of here. It’s also just around this area is where the tides change directions, where those south empty into Juan de Fuca and the others empty north to Queen Charlotte Sound. It’s a demarcation line that separates many things. ALL BOOKED! We hear another cruiser on the radio calling Campbell River Marina for moorage for the night. They answer back that they are totally booked for anything above 30 feet. Yikes!!!! We then quickly call Discovery Cove Marina. It’s booked too!!! Oh brother, what did we expect? Of course we’re back to civilization again. We call April Lodge Marina and she has to check and puts us on hold. She finally comes back on and says we can stay only one night but that we can’t come in at the moment. She suggests that we should come in to the cove and anchor just outside the marina because it’ll take her 30 minutes to get ready for us. Well, heck, we’re not going to the trouble of anchoring for a measly 30 minutes, we’ll just hang out in the channel and call Campbell River back and see if they can take us for the next 5 days after today. So, we hover around outside and soon Campbell River calls back and say they can take us for 5 days starting tomorrow. WAITIN TO GET IN TO APRIL POINT OK, now we wait and hover until we get the OK to come in to April Lodge. We wait, and wait, and wait. Finally, Larry calls the dock master back at April Lodge and asks what the status is. He asked, “Are we waiting to hear from you or did we misunderstand and are you waiting to hear from us”. She clarifies back by saying “No, you are waiting to hear from me.” OK, we sit back and wait some more.
There’s no one there at H Dock to help us so we just tie her up ourselves and hook up the power. Once we are completely settled and back inside, she finally arrives and says that this is not where she wanted us but she wanted us on the other side of Rapture. “I guess I was too slow” she said. So she guessed it would be OK if we stayed were here because it was only for one night as Adagio has the space reserved for tomorrow. Jeez. So we’re in for the night, have great power, FINALLY, and the place is very nice and amazingly quiet and secluded. I’m so glad we came here. We walk up to the lodge and have lunch out on the sunny patio with Ziggy over looking the harbor entrance and across to Campbell River and watch the tide run an amazing clip. BACK IN MEGA YACHT-LAND Well, done summer cruising in the wilderness and now back to mega yacht-land.
BACK TO “CIVILIZATION” AGAIN? APRIL POINT MARINA What a nice spot this is. It’s a perfect little cove, totally protected and surrounded by hills and trees, nice docks and lots of beautiful boats of all sizes. It’s a long darn walk up a hill and down to the lodge and restaurant though and boy are we out of shape from all this boating. I don’t think we’ve had a decent walk in a long time as it was really tiring walking up the hill to the lodge.
We have arrived just in
time for lunch and thought it would be nice to have it on their outdoor
patio overlooking Discovery Channel. Ziggy was not going to be a problem
as we were so thrilled to find out that they allow dogs out on the patio!
So we got a nice table in the warm sun with a fantastic view of the
Channel and watched all the ships and cruising boats that go by and the
little speed boats too that race back and forth across from Campbell
River.
It was a beautiful day. Lots of other boaters walked the long haul up the hill for lunch too and you could over hear them reminiscing about their summer’s travels. It was so nice to sit out on the deck and watch the boats go by and not be in constant movement for a change. The great TACONITE When we got back to the marina we were amazed at the size of some of the boats in this little cove. The most beautiful by far was the great Taconite though not nearly as big as many here. Its wonderful old lines and style are a most pleasing sight for your eyes. It’s is so well maintained too, better than many new boats and I’m sure much more trouble to keep it that way, but she must be work of love for the owner, captain and crew. I love to see an old boat like that in such grand shape and so well taken care of. Taconite photos We saw Saginaw Bay there too. We sat with her in the Sandspit Harbor up in Queen Charlottes Islands a few weeks ago. It’s a beautiful boat, more designed after the style of a fishing trawler but used for personal cruising. It’s a brilliant stark white, crisp and clean. We also saw a beautiful blue hulled sailboat called Sequoia out of San Francisco. I don’t know what kind it is but I loved the design. It was so classic and sleek. It has a wonderful protected raised cockpit situated more in the center of the boat than what we’ve seen and a nice deck on the back with a wide walk around on all sides. It’s a romantic looking boat, like something you’d see in a movie. There was another interesting boat called Bug a Boo that looked like a tough cruising boat. Maybe you’ve seen these boats in your travels up here as they are memorable? We also saw Mach Zero, the 40 foot Nordhavn, that we keep bumping into, come in late in the afternoon. SORRY FOLKS, BUT I CAN’T HELP IT…..HERE I GO AGAIN Well, the marina was filled with several large boats, that’s for sure, all beautiful and nicely maintained. Well…let me take that back, all except for one. Sorry folks as I always seem to have to go off on a rant but…I just can’t help it. So very sorry but here it goes once again and it’s a dilly. Large Boats
ETIQUETTLEY HANDICAPPED BOATERS
VENTING That evening the captain on Forget Me Not walked back to talk with us. I think he needed to vent his frustrations. They said they were absolutely sick of it, the smell, the noise and the people who they said were having non stop arguments the entire day, yelling at each other. They said they finally complained to them about running their generator and stink boat said they were going to turn it off at some point at night but that if they turn it off now they won’t have any air conditioning. Bill, the captain from Forget Me Not, said they are leaving tomorrow because of this boat as they can’t stand it here anymore. They said they managed get a night’s dockage at the temporary dock at Campbell River tomorrow (as you remember they are totally booked so they were lucky to get that) and they were going to take that. They were on their way back to Alaska but were waiting for the weather to get better on Johnstone Strait. We surely empathized with these poor people. SORRY BUT NOT SO SORRY The next morning “egg” was still running and polluting the area. I don’t think they turned that generator off at all last night. The big loud mouthed woman was doing her usual thing yapping away nonstop and flailing her arms in the air with all sorts of dramatic gestures. You could hear her all over the cove even at this early hour of the morning. There were five people aboard and you rarely saw one without a cell phone stuck to their ear, and all yelling over each others voices, arguing to who ever was at the other end about something. This was quite a bunch. I was determined to say something to them. Why should we all sit in our boats smelling and listening to their pollution and be polite about it? We’re paying to be here too. These kind of people need to understand that this isn’t acceptable. None of us should have to suffer with this for their convenience or extravagance, and really when all is said and done the marina should do something about it. Funny thing is there is a lot of power at the dock so what is there problem? So as we are walking down the dock to take Zig for a walk, two of the men from the boat are on the dock messing around with something and had their stuff all over the dock. You could hardly walk by. They had lines and ropes scattered all over the dock too like one big mess of spaghetti.
DOESN’T GIVE A HOOT They just repeated their “Oh yes, sorry” but they never looked back at you and just continued whatever they were doing, as I’m sure they have said the same words hundreds of times before to slews of other people just like us and really when it got down to it, they just didn’t give a “hoot”. When we came back from our walk the people from Alaska stopped us on the dock again. Now she really needed to rant and said she thought they were terribly inconsiderate and went on and on about it and for a change I felt like Larry, having to listen to some poor crazed woman. See, I’m not the only one. Cheryl said she had complained to them too. She said that yesterday she got a similar answer. They told her they had to keep their air conditioners running. You wonder if that’s the case why they keep those big chrome trimmed glass sliding doors wide open all the time. You’d think they would want to conserve a little and keep the air conditioned air inside. She also said they never shut the generator off like they promised last night. She said it was on all night long as she was up until four AM unable to sleep or breathe. I felt so sorry because I’ve been in that situation before by a boat in the Bahamas that did the same thing. They seemed so nice, and I imagine they don’t have much experience with obnoxious people like this where they live in Alaska. I’m sure people up there think more about conservation of fuels. They were happy though because they were going to be able to escape soon to the temporary dock space at Campbell River. DEAF EAR OF THE DOCK MASTER AT APRIL POINT They were also upset with the dock master because as far as they could see there were lots of empty spaces where they could have moved them to or at least let them move their boat back a few feet away from them as there was plenty of room to do so behind them. Surprisingly the dock master made them pull right up behind their exhaust pipe. It makes you wonder doesn’t it? I think I would’ve just moved the boat back anyway and the heck with them. They said they complained to the dock master when they left about the people and how terrible their stay was because of them but the answer they received was that they know that these people are difficult and they’re sorry. They said these people are not very nice to them either but the owner brings the boat there every summer and spends a lot of money in the resort so there is nothing they can do about it.
Well, all I can say, is every once in a while you come across a bad egg and this was one of them. There are so many big boats out there now in the last couple years, a lot in the 60-100 foot range and many aren’t designed to efficiently manage their power loads and many have so many luxury items, you know all the bells and whistles and toys that it would be impossible to be at the dock and not run the generator as not many docks are designed to handle that kind of load. This boat, the egg, is just all fluff and too much stuff, and cheaply designed. It seems the well designed mega yachts have systems that may require running their generators but they are designed to not make noise and not pollute the air for neighboring boaters. Unfortunately or fortunately depending on how you look at it, most of the marinas haven’t been able to keep up by updating their power loads for these big boats that are becoming so plentiful. They haven’t been able to keep up with the growth of these new fancy luxury mobiles. But really that was not the case here as the docks had great power. QUESTION OF MANAGING THE POWER This boat just must be a bad design and all the money went for the fluff and first impression and not the mechanics. I don’t really know whether they just didn’t try to manage the power that was available to them, but it was evident they just didn’t care about the people around them. If the power at the dock is low, Larry just manages the power on the boat and shuts stuff down keeping only what is necessary so food won’t thaw out, etc., and we just skip the luxuries until we’re in an environment that can provide power for it. After all, who in the world wants to listen to even your own generator running any more than you have to? I don’t, I want to hear the eagles, the spout of a whale or dolphin and breathe fresh air, that’s why we boat and why are up here for Pete’s Sake. I don’t want to hear somebody’s generator running non stop, nor smell it. We too also complained to the dock master but it was evident they could care less. So, just so you know, they said they come every summer and just plop the boat there for the whole summer season, so think about that before you decide to go to April Point as you don’t want to get stuck behind their exhaust pipe smelling rotten eggs. That’s it, the end of the rant. More photos OFF TO CAMPBELL RIVER It was just a short trip across Discovery Sound and down a ways to Campbell River Marina. Campbell River Marinas are all situated on the Westside of Discovery Channel and well protected by a big stone breakwater. Depending on the tide, the current can run a little wild outside and a bit inside and near the fuel dock right at the opening. I remember that from the last time we were here when had to get fuel. Today though, it was an easy docking with no currents. We were assigned a nice spot at the dock, and breathed in lots of fresh air and there are no dam boats around with generators running. Let’s just hope the wind keeps blowing in the direction it is and doesn’t blow the smell from the nearby pulp mill this way as last time we were here the smell was so bad it gave us headaches. Ah oh, we just had a little whiff of the pulp mill and I could see Larry’s eye’s get wide eyed, like “Oh no, not that” and then we hear a big BAM….BAM, BAM, BAM. Just our luck as they started putting in pilings a few docks down right next to where poor Forget Me Not is going. Then we hear the sound of the big motors of the drill working. Those poor people from Alaska, they can’t get a break. “CIVILIZATION?” All I can say is, it is so shocking to come back to civilization and deal with all these noises and smells. Were we ever used to it before we left early this summer we wonder? They should have another word for civilization because it’s not so “civilized” any more. OUR BASE FOR A COUPLE DAYS Here’s our plan. We had five days reserved at the docks. At the beginning of the summer we had thought about coming south from the Queen Charlottes and down the West side of Vancouver Island. As the time was nearing to do it, the weather wasn’t right and we were getting tired and it seemed like another challenge that we weren’t up for, so we decided to just keep going south and why not rent a car in Campbell River and go see some of the west side by car. So that’s what we have planned. We’re first going to see some of the local sights here and then plan to drive over to Gold River and take Uchuck, a mail freighter, to Friendly Cove on the West Coast in Nootka Sound. So that’s the plan for the next five days, then we’ll continue on south to Nanaimo, our next stop.
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We
had a lovely dinner last night at Blind Channel and came back to the boat,
hopped into bed, read a little and went to asleep, only to be awakened by
a boat across the dock from us who decided to start cooking dinner on the
BBQ about 10:30 at night. I was first awakened by the smell of smoke that
engulfed the stateroom, and jumped out of bed thinking the engine room was
on fire only to find their BBQ smoking across the way and the wind was
blowing the heavy smoke into our stateroom. I went back down to bed and
closed the windows on that side and tried to get back to sleep. But then
we were awakened by music bellowing from their boat. These people were
obviously just starting their evening. They weren’t young rowdies either
but old hippies from the looks of them and it went on and on until 1:30 in
the early morning hours. Larry, fortunately or unfortunately, depending
on how you look at it for him, is hard of hearing in one ear and just
turned the good ear down and put his pillow on the other and went back to
sleep. I myself on the other hand was fit to be tied. I was wondering if
these people were bothering the rest of the people at the dock. It was
peculiar and very inconsiderate behavior. Finally around midnight, I
think, I lost my mind a little and yelled out the window that “People were
trying to sleep here!” but obviously it didn’t matter to them one bit as
the music wasn’t turned off until 1:30. 
Once
Zig and I were back Larry was ready to go. The old man from the charter
boat that Larry talked to yesterday, came out to help with the lines.
This morning Larry was a little concerned about getting out of the dock he
said because of the currents, were running a good clip right now. They
looked fine to me but what do I know. The old man is standing there,
waiting to take the bow line off for us and I’m thinking to myself, this
poor guy doesn’t have the strength to handle these lines and throw it up
on the bow. I was starting to worry about it so I do kind of sign
language to Larry trying to tell him my concern without the guy hearing,
but Larry is oblivious to my gestures and since he didn’t want to bother
with the headsets today so there was no way to tell him discreetly without
the poor guy hearing me and getting his feelings hurt. All Larry is
concerned about is telling me to keep the bow thrusters ready while the
lines come off in case the current pulls us off the dock towards the
sailboat next door. The current was not that bad after all but as I
predicted in my mind, the old man wasn’t able to throw the bow line up on
the boat and it went straight down in the drink. Luckily Larry by now,
was off the dock and back on the boat and I said to him to quickly take
over so I could run up on the bow and pull the line before it got stuck in
something. All turned out fine.
They
are so magnificent as they glide along in the water so slow and graceful.
There are no Dall’s porpoises to chaise this time to make for an excited
chase. They just seem to be taking their time. I hope they are finding
lots to eat as they are certainly out numbered and have lots of
competition against all the seiners in the area and the big fish packing
boats hovering around to take on the fish as fast as the seiners can catch
them so the seiners don’t lose anytime having to head back to port to
unload their catch. What a struggle nature has up here to survive. 
About
a half hour later we hear a boat hail a white trawler in Nodales
Channel. He says “There are some orcas right by you and you might
want to slow down and be careful of them”. She answers back that “Oh yes,
we see them. We are watching them.” He answers back, “Then you might
then want to drop your engine off as you are right on top of them”. No
answer back. We think to ourselves, the poor Orcas, how can they survive
in this kind of environment? This kind of behavior needs to stop. 
Whelp,
here we are, getting ready to go through the
Just
as we 
In
the mean time, Taconite, a beautiful old ship comes in past
us and enters the channel. We finally hear back from her and she says to
come in and dock on H Dock in front of Rapture. As we begin to
enter, another boat is coming out. Taconite is already in
the marina’s little inner harbor by now and it’s looking crowded. We call
back and tell her we’ll wait outside until the boat leaving exits and
Taconite gets docked.
As the other boat has left and Taconite should be docked sufficiently by
now, we head in, and then another boat comes out by H dock. We pull over
to give it room and finally head in. Many of the docks are completely
open so don’t know what the delay has been. There are lots of big yachts
in here. 
DOG
FRIENDLY
We
loved being there and lingered far after lunch was consumed as it was fun
to watch the current rapidly change right in front of your eyes, as one
moment the water was flat and calm and soon it morphed into these white
crested waves. And we laughed as this one little seal, he must be a
local, kind of took advantage of the current and seemed to enjoy hanging
out in it, getting free rides and doing all kinds of funny twists and
turns and then it seemed would look up to see if we all were looking and
watching all his tricks. He caught Ziggy’s attention right away, but Zig
was in a restaurant now and behaving himself, frozen in position all
through most of lunch, though never taking his eyes off this strange sea
creature that arose from the deep. 
Let
me start again…there were several large boats, all beautiful and nicely
maintained in the marina all except for one and he was at the head of our
dock. It was the ugliest looking boat I’ve ever seen. It was one big
rubber ducky with big pointed picture windows on the sides. Actually, the
shape looked exactly like a big floating hardboiled egg from our pilot
house. Actually a huge hard boiled egg, as it was a monster big boat.
The worst thing about it was that it ran its generator non stop. That
means all day and all night during our entire stay. And, if that wasn’t
bad enough, the exhaust was smoky, noisy, spitting and coughing black
smoke like it was badly in need of an overhaul. What made it even more
annoying were the loud mouthed obnoxious types that paraded around on
their back deck. You could here them all over the marina. Oddly enough
even though they were parading just above where all the smoke and noise
came out strangely they seemed totally obliviously to it I guess because
it all blew in our faces not in theirs. They were what you could call
etiquettely handicapped boaters. 
NEW
TREND TOWARDS BIG LUXURY BOATS AND MOST DOCKS AREN’T DESIGNED FOR THEM
