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This place is really changing. Even in just the last couple weeks since we were here last there has been a noticeable change. It seems like there’s nothing at the docks but big boats. If you are planning to come here you’d better make a reservation for space a few days ahead of time by satellite phone if you have one or get used to the idea that you may have to anchor out and dinghy in to the dock as we surprisingly saw many doing. SHEARWATER TAXI Oh yeah, and another change, don’t think that you’ll be riding the Shearwater Water Taxi over to the First Nations town of Bella Bella for groceries either, as the “resort,” that Shearwater now likes to be referred to, has shut the service down. “Too expensive for the resort”, we’re told. It kind of forces you to shop in the resort’s new little grocery store which is more like a mini market at best. They didn’t have much of anything the last time I looked. Lettuce is supposed come in on Sundays, which is today, so it may be a different story this afternoon when the shipment comes. NEW DOCK MASTER Also, don’t look for the young man who was the dock master beginning of the season. He only lasted a week or two. Now there is a nice young black girl who is the new dock master who seems very capable and seems to know how to handle all these high testosterone powered male captains with ease and confidence. She said the last guy was fired. She told Larry to check in and pay for dockage with her mother who runs the lodge and who surprisingly Larry said was white and looked nothing like her daughter. Hey, that’s none of our business of course but just interesting. NEW WAITRESSES Don’t look for the rough and tough waitresses with the typical slow service in the restaurant either. They have been replaced by cute babes, with friendly smiles and quick service.
Don’t even bother to ask about them ‘cause no one even knows what you are talking about, that’s a tradition long past. Last month when we were here I thought I saw a couple eagles flying over checking the place out but now this trip I haven’t seen a one, not even the clever Ravens, only now the dead tree has been taken over by those loud mouthed common black birds. Don’t look for better and improved docks along with all the other resort changes and “improvements”, because they are the same old docks. Don’t look for potable water for the cruisers because it’s still that piss yellow stuff, undrinkable, same as before but now the only difference is we have signs posted everywhere to telling us that the water is bad. Duh. Don’t look for too many of the smaller cruising boats at the docks anymore as it seems the big mega yachts have taken over and most of them are empty as their owners have flown home for a reprieve from the continuous rigors of cruising the Inside Passage without reach of normal civilization for months on end unlike the rest of us. These guys fly home, leave their boats and the way I see it tie up valuable dock space that other cruisers need to use. Don’t look for fresh air either as some of these big yachts run their generators all night and some all day because they have so darn much stuff on these boats that the regular power here can not provide enough juice to keep all their junk going. Don’t plan on breathing fresh air because it ain’t here because of it. Boy, I sound grouchy but sadly it's true.
This place is rapidly changing into what they call a fishing “resort”. They’ve built a whole new lodge to accommodate the sports fishermen who are flying in daily on float planes. The upper portion of the restaurant is their private bar, conference and playroom for the fishing lodge guests. The room is always a room filled with men, drinking and eating, laughing and smoking. It’s separate from the rest of us, the cruisers. There are far too many signs posting the rules and regulations around here lately and the grass is far too green and manicured and there are far too many flower pots with flowers that aren’t local but shipped in. It's beginning to look and act too much like the places we’ve come here to escape from. MOURNING FOR THE FUNKIER DAYS I even found myself wishing the wakes were back from the old Shearwater water taxi. It’s nutty and weird I know but I can’t believe I now miss that stinky funky old water taxi bringing the locals and cruisers back and forth from Bella Bella. I used to be irritated with it and how it would race in and race out, making the whole dock wobble up and down like a tsunami hit. Now, I miss the stupid thing. It just sits there now looking useless at the dock. It’s a sad reminder of funkier days gone by, an old rugged lifestyle, a peak into the past and it's all too quickly getting a cosmetic make over. The little funky taxi is a reminder of the old days before the “resort” took over.
I wonder how that decision, by “the resort management,” to stop running the taxi, affected the little people, the locals and the workers, who depended on it? Now, those on this side have to buy more from the company store. I wonder if the decision to stop the taxi had anything to do with the new expansion, their new store, more like a mini mart trying to act like a grocery store, with oversized shopping carts for their too narrow isles and their semi upscale wine and liquor collection. It certainly will force the boaters here to use it as it's not easily getting over to Bella Bella now. I wonder what those at Bella Bella think when after 20 years they have been just cut off. The dock master girl said that the management says, “It’s always been free for the locals but the resort started charging fares but the people using the taxi don’t want to pay anything to help with the expenses around here, so that’s that”. The management says that they are hoping the government will solve the financial costs of running the taxi by paying towards reinstating the service as they don’t think it’s their responsibility. Hmmm, I wonder, it looks to me like the “resort” is doing better than it has in years and isn’t suffering to make ends meet. RESERVATIONS?? COME ON. Oh well, that’s progress I guess, but that’s the kind of stuff that most of us who enjoy cruising up here are try to escape from. That's what we like about this area, the simple life but I guess it too is changing. Still, I hate the idea that we all are beginning to feel the pressure of having to call in by satellite phone for dock reservations and then when you do to only be answered by an annoying automated phone service, forcing you to listen to endless menus, and to press buttons for multiple extensions to the dock master, the store, the lodge, etc. and then when you reach your extension they aren’t even there to answer and you are forced to leave a message if they have the option to leave a message and pray they get back to you. Is this what it's becoming up here in the wilderness? Guess the real wilderness is becoming a rare commodity anymore, at least around here. Even coming in Seaforth Channel yesterday after being on the hook in the remote Queen Charlottes for a week was like hitting work traffic on the 405 in LA the minute we passed Ivory Island Light.
Larry has just checked the weather forecast and it doesn’t look good for the next few days for heading south and across Queen Charlotte Sound. It looks like we’ll be around for a bit waiting the storm out. We check with the dock master to stay two more days, no problem but some have to leave as others with reservations are coming in. SEINERS COMING AND GOING On our way south it seems we’ve been following the seiner’s openings. First it was in Prince Rupert then up by Queen Charlottes and now here. They have been coming in a steady stream to refuel, restock for supplies and take a little rest break here. It’s been non stop traffic since we arrived yesterday. They all dock at the fishing dock across from us. It's the crummy dock without power. It's like the poor man's dock. I feel funny all of us cruisers over here with power and generators running (not ours) to keep all the luxury items running, and these guys, many looking a bit rough around the edges have to go to the dock over there. Well, let’s face it, it’s dam hard work and becoming more and more difficult to make a living each year, no wonder they look a bit ragged. Now that the storm is coming all kinds of boats are showing up from out of nowhere. The dock master is now putting reserve signs on the fishing dock saving space over there now for the cruisers. I watched as some of the fishing boats were turned away because of it. Those poor guys can't even get a rest at the dock now.
We’ve seen some pretty unusual people here during our stay. There is one guy who seems to be living in his wooden canoe, yes, I said canoe. He even docks it at the fishing dock like a regular boat and sleeps and eats in it. BIG BLACK BEAR Larry and Zig ran into a big black bear behind the boat yard last night. Larry said Zig chased him up the hill into the woods if you can believe it. Now he thinks he’s macho dog and that spells nothing but trouble. LETTUCE IS IN Well, once the ferry arrived with the new shipment of supplies, the mini mart grocery was swamped with people all grabbing what they could get before the supplies ran out. Fresh milk, lettuce and any fresh veggies were a premium. The store keepers don’t even have to bother taking the stuff out of the boxes because we all are in a mad rush helping ourselves. Actually, I was able to get lots of surprising veggies. Maybe this store is a good thing after all. It looks like they are trying to get some pretty nice fresh supplies in here for the locals and cruiser, much better than before. As usual when cruising in these remote places you grab what they have and worry about the menu later, that’s how it goes up here. I bought some fresh romaine that looked very good, also broccoli, onions, potatoes, even fresh basil and strawberries!
THE FRONT HAS ARRIVED I’m sitting in the pilot house watching the storm and the winds are clocking 48 knots! The guy in the wooden canoe is hunkered down at the fishing dock, huddle inside trying to hold a bright red umbrella with the Canadian maple leaf logo stenciled on it over him to give him some protection. What a character..
POOP MATS ARE FLYING The winds are picking up
and the skies are dark as the front rolled in. We’re clocking the winds
in the upper thirties and forties. I watched some guy sculling across
the harbor heading out towards Bella Bella. What is he doing
out in these winds? I looked down the dock and saw Ziggy’s astro turf poop mats flying all over
the docks as we forgot to put them away and the winds just whipped them up
and over the railing. Larry went out into the wind and rain to chase them down. Those are a
very important item that we can't afford to lose!
WOLVES ARE HOWLING The wolves are howling in the distance and the waves in the harbor are so high they are moving the docks up and down in an unbelievable motion. The dock look like a wobbling suspension bridge. The two dock masters are trying to walk the docks with so much difficulty that they look like they’ve had too much to drink,. They are looking for breaks and worrying whether the dock will hold up to the beating it’s taking. I wonder myself how it is holding all these big boats tied to it. I'm sure in the old days it wasn't designed for these big yachts. The female dock master looks like she just got up from a long weekend bender. I think she needs to start thinking wearing something other than what looks like her usual PJs.
O The winds just keep roaring through here at a pretty consistent 40-50 knots. It’s surprising. I’m glad we’re not stuck in some anchorage all by ourselves at least here we have lots of company and a warm restaurant to go into. We just hunkered down and watched the excitement and hoped the docks don’t break apart. LOW AND BEHOLD Later that evening the Front seemed to let up a bit as the winds started to die down and then, low and behold, guess who we see rowing in around the bend from Seaforth Channel? It’s the kids we saw in Prince Rupert on the hand made wooden skiff fashioned after the exploring skiffs of Captain Vancouver’s exploration crew. I had been wondering and worrying about them since they left Prince Rupert so quickly again in another oncoming storm. They left Prince Rupert before I had a chance to find out what their plans were whether they were going to continue on their journey to Alaska.
They didn’t seem like a happy bunch as they pulled in but I’m sure most of that was because they were totally exhausted. I can’t even put myself in that frame of mind to imagine or understand what their travels have been like this trip and especially today in the 50 knot winds. I said hello and asked “How was it out there?” They said “hard and nasty”. I asked if they went to Alaska from Prince Rupert as I know they were very iffy about continuing on and they said they went as far as Ketchikan and that was it. They said they had about had it at that point and decided to head south. Understandably, they weren’t too talkative as they were very exhausted, well that is until I said that the winds clocked to 48 knots here at the docks. Then they were amazed and interested.
I asked them where they were during the squall. They said they were coming down Seaforth Channel all day fighting it but kept to the lee of the land. They seemed sick and tired of what they were doing today and at their wits end but tomorrow's another day and I’ll wait to see how they feel then after a warm meal, a good nights rest and a shower. MIGRATION SOUTH CONTINUES Early the next morning
while we were still in bed, we could hear motors starting and boats
leaving. I thought to myself the weather has broken and as usual everyone
starts moving again, heading on their journeys. Most of the boats that came
in yesterday to get out of the storm were continuing south. Some
were very grumpy about the wet stormy weather they had this summer in
Alaska. They all seemed in a big rush to head south to get some
sunshine. Larry says Fury Cove anchorage will be full tonight as they all
think tomorrow will be a good day to cross Queen Charlotte Sound. The
barometer is going steadily up again and things seem calm and on the bright side
again.
In between blasts of strong winds during the storm yesterday we walked behind the boat yard to see if the black bear would be rummaging around again. We heard him growling softly in the woods on the hill and you could tell Ziggy could smell him by the way his attitude changed and how he sniffed the air. There was another couple walking nearby who had seen him the day before who also came by looking for him like us to see if he would be hanging around. WALKS AND HIKES We stayed a few days in Shearwater just taking a break from all the cruising and actually felt a little guilty about it as many boaters heading south from Alaska were all coming through now and dock space was at a premium with not much available. We spent a lot of the time taking long hikes back up in the hills. We found lots of great hiking paths, and interesting plants, views, and coves. We actually found one of those rare marsh plants that eat bugs. I searched all over Queen Charlottes for one and finally found one here of all places. I’m always amazed at the flora here and the miniscopic plant world. The closer you look the more layers of life you find. I loved those walks and so did Ziggy.
On our last night here it was particularly busy and full. We met two other Nordhavn cruisers both 40’s. One was called Chinook and the other was Mach Zero and all were very nice people. I got a kick out of Emily off Chinook right away because she said she gets nervous on the boat also. She said when she first started out boating with her husband they went all kinds of places doing all kinds of things that now that she knows better than to do the things they did then. She said now she would be scared to death. She said she has taken all sorts of navigation and boating classes and now knows as much as her husband and the more she knows the more she fears. She said they have friends that have a Nordhavn 57 like ours and they go all sorts of places too and she also feels the same. I was beginning to wonder what the heck was the matter with me worrying about these crossings after all the things we done but maybe I’m not so nuts after all. CARE PACKAGE I rummaged around in the galley and put together a small care package for the young kids on the small open wooden boat which consisted of marshmallows, chocolate bars and graham crackers, several granola bars and some oranges. They were as I expected in a much more positive mood today after getting dry, a good nights rest and a hot meal. CONTRASTS IN TIME We chatted some more about their travels. I told them about the guy on the jet ski that we saw in Prince Rupert who had come all the way from Anacortes to Ketchikan in two days. What a contrast in traveling methods it was comparing their way, the same as Vancouver's men did in the 1700s compared to his the new way of today, fast and furious on a jet ski. They said they met up with the two South African jet skiers who were heading south from Anchorage. They are heading south following the coast to Panama, and then will head through the Panama Canal and on north to the top of Maine and maybe even farther. They said they crossed paths here in Shearwater as they were heading north and the jet skiers were heading south. We commented on what a strange phenomenon for the two extremes like that to cross paths. What are the odds of that? One group traveling on a boat designed and man powered as they did the 18th century and the others just as adventurous but traveling with the help of powerful engines, going great speeds and distances in a day. It was somewhat like time travel, two different modes of travel passing each other, a clash in challenges, time and technology but the same adventurous spirit just of different ages, passing in time, on the Inside Passage. You meet the most amazing people up here. I’m never disappointed on our travels. THE PEOPLE YOU MEET MAKE IT ALL WORTHWHILE Another amazing guy is that Kentucky Colonel. We met up with him again here as I mentioned and had a nice talk and a closer look at his boat this time. I just can’t believe he has gone where he has in that cute little boat. We found out after talking to him that he with two other identical boats went to Alaska a couple years back together and were written up in Pacific Yachting Magazine I think he said . He also said he trucked that little boat across the country and explored the Bahamas with it. Amazing. We all talked about the crazy guy in the wooden canoe with the green canvas tarp and wondered what his story was. There sure are some interesting people up here.
Well, it’s time to go and I’m surprised to find myself totally melded into the new face of shearwater, and so easily and without much protest. I can barely now remember all the things I was complaining about and its old ways so rough around the edges. Its funny how things change and life moves on and things are quickly forgotten. I hate all change at first. I like things to remain the way they were, land to stay the same, habitats to remain, people and your childhood memories and places you grew up to stay the same, but growing up in southern California you learn very quickly that doesn’t happen and what a high price you pay for this change as things and places you knew just disappear with no regard and people you knew are transient with no roots. I get sad to see the old ways go, even in a funky place like this and even though they weren’t always good, it was a side of life unique to this place, no where to be found elsewhere, but that’s what happens and that’s progress whether good or bad so I have to tell myself get over it. We’ve taken an interesting break for a couple days and the weather is good so it’s time to move on. We’ll leave in the morning heading south, next stop Fury Cove.
SHEARWATER TO FURY COVE ANCHORAGE
TIME TO GO Well, most everyone headed out yesterday after the storm. We’re not on any tight schedule so we decided to leave today instead and miss the crowds heading south. We’re up early this morning, just after daybreak. I take Zig up the dirt road on the hill behind Shearwater for his morning business. The sun is just beginning to come up and it is just beginning to get light. The days are getting shorter already; we notice the difference every day now. You just start to get used to the days lasting well into the normal evening hours and the morning sun coming up so early that sometimes you feel like you have just put your head on the pillow and then its time to drag yourself out of bed again, half rested, not much time to get a good nights sleep. Now it starting on the reverse trend. Ziggy is slow too this morning, taking his time sniffing around along the edge of the dirt road. I sip my coffee and stare back down at the marina and resort and the old ragged looking tree stump that the eagles used to perch on waiting for some scraps of meat from the kitchen. It’s a popular perch this morning, but not with the eagles, just those loud mouthed bad mannered black birds. They sure are doing a lot of preening this morning, scratching and pecking under their feathers for bugs and mites, and wings fanned with scaly legs wrapped up behind, scratching the back of their heads. Pretty soon I imagine they’ll do that familiar loud mouth chorus they always do, waking the whole dam place up.
I met some guys yesterday standing by their parked SUV behind the resort. I noticed the car had Washington plates. Since there are no roads here to speak of I wondered what in the heck it was doing here. I asked them about it. They said they brought their car here on the ferry and trailered a small fishing boat on the back. They said the fishing boat is in the water tied to the dock now. Hmmm, that’s interesting. I guess that’s one way to get your boat up into this remote area because there sure aren’t any roads to get here or any to drive around while you’re here. I guess they will get back on the ferry and could take their little boat to several stops before heading home. ANOTHER TREND Again, we have noticed how the cruising boats have been getting bigger and bigger and I guess that includes us as last time we came here we had a 42 Grand Banks, but we also notice another trend. Many of these boats are towing fishing boats behind them, big ones, eighteen and twenty footers. They also have a couple dinghies, not to mention several crab traps, shrimp traps, handfuls of fishing rods and well, just a lot of gear and stuff. I was dumb founded when I saw this one guy come in to Shearwater and dock with a big fishing skiff lashed to the side of the boat. How in the heck he got into the tight dock space with that big fishing skiff lashed to the side is beyond me. We’ve seen many boats this summer, heading down channels trailing these big fishing skiffs many feet behind. This one boat that docked across the dock from us had so much stuff on it that I thought to myself, wow, what a lot of work to have to take care of it all. I don’t understand the need for multiple crab and shrimp traps for two people either. Isn’t one enough? We always catch more than we want with just one. I wonder too how they manage in rough seas towing those boats. I think I’d need to go home for a vacation to recuperate after having to take care and manage all that stuff the whole summer. But again, we aren’t fishermen so don’t understand the draw of it all.
I glance back at Ziggy and he is still sniffing around and looks like he’ll get busy here soon. I’m in no rush. The little ferry, Nimpkish comes in from somewhere out of the darkness, heading back to her dock. Shearwater seems to be its home base until they get things sorted out after the loss of the Queen of the North. The captain said they are kind of here “on call” for whatever is needed for the people up here. Maybe that’s why the “resort” cut off the taxi service. Maybe they think it will force the government to provide the service since they are here. We saw the ferry crew frequently in the restaurant of the resort. They are a really nice bunch of people. FAMILIAR WATERS Well, today we’ll be heading south back over waterways we’ve traveled before. It’s such an odd thing after our last three years of cruising, everyday on unfamiliar waters and visiting unfamiliar harbors, coves, docks and marinas and trying to figure out and understand different weather systems, tides and currents, and to now, cruise these familiar waters again. Even though we’ve only been here once before it just seems strangely too easy now as we know now most of the time what’s around the corner, what to expect. We know how to read the weather systems and what sights to see, and know the charts and routes much like the back of our hand, almost without needing to look at them. We know what dangers to watch out for, for the first time in three years, without having to study and consult the guide or talking to people for local information. It’s strange not to have that demanding challenge day after day, month after month. We were debating last night whether to go to Duncaby Landing again for a good meal and good power at the docks or to the anchorage at Fury Cove. I guess we’ll decide when we get to Fury Cove and see if it is crowded. NORDHAVNS LEAVE
LAMA PASS We pass Bella Bella in the distance and the new Canadian Coast Guard station up over the hill behind Shearwater and facing Bella Bella as we make our way to Lama Pass. The Coast Guard Station and the ruined buildings to the left of it were once the sight and location of the old Hudson Bay Trading Company. This has always been a busy pass for mariners and there’s lots of stories and history, tales to tell about steamships with gold diggers and others making their way up the Inside Passage. Imagine that, and lots of old ship wrecks too, below the water for those that weren’t so lucky and WWII aircraft too that missed the dirt air field nearby as Shearwater originally once was an air force base. Just rounding the corner we see the large BC ferry heading to the ferry dock on the Bella Bella side. We see Chinook up ahead and eventually pass her before we head out into Fisher Channel leading into the wide expanse of Fitz Hugh Sound.
FITZ HUGH SOUND Fitz Hugh Sound is smooth as glass and as reflective as a mirror today, reflecting the amazing blue sky and billowy white fluffy clouds that fill the sky. It’s a glorious day today heading down the great expanse of the sound. A yacht speeds by towing another fishing skiff behind it on the flat water, no rough seas to worry about.
We pass Namu off to our port. It looks like a huge settlement today, almost a city, even though on closer inspection it’s just one big ghost town with a few hardy tough souls still hanging on trying to restore or making something of the place. Again, we did not stop there, so it will be a place I will always wonder about. You've always got to leave something to come back for though I tell myself.
KOEYE RIVER Just a little farther south we pass the opening to Koeye River. It was just a blink of an eye going by and almost didn’t even give it a glance but we thought we saw something. It turns out to be a long house. I knew this was first nations land and the Koeye River is a sacred place for them, now protected. We decided to go in closer to see what turned out to be a beautiful long house with a canoe beached out front and smoke billowing out of the hole in the center of the roof. Wonder what is going on in there today? What a beautiful spot and the trees behind the building are huge and beautiful. It helps to have a building or boat in your sight to give you an idea of the scale of the landscape because our naked eye just always fills in the scale with dimensions that we are accustomed to and that is much smaller than what the whole picture is up here in British Columbia and Alaska. We didn’t dare go in closer because the bay is protected by rocks beneath the waters surface so we just hovered a bit and looked at the setting. Those first nations’ people sure know how to pick the most beautiful spots.
ADDENBROKE LIGHT The day is so clear. We can see down the sound far into the distance in both directions. There’s a ferry and a large masted sailboat behind us and off in the distance to the left is Addenbroke Light, with its identifiable crisp white buildings and red metal roofs. Until I checked their website when we got home to Santa Barbara I had no idea that Dennis & Cynthia Rose and their children, Heather, Sylvia, and Patricia manned the light. Check it out. See if you can find the automated light keeper that didn’t work out. http://www.fogwhistle.ca/bclights/addnbrk/
Just past and south of Addenbroke light you will find Fury Cove. It’s known mostly as the anchorage before or after you make the Queen Charlotte Sound crossing but really we are soon to find out it is so much more than that. We decided to go there today and skip Duncaby as it will give us a quicker shot across Queen Charlotte tomorrow as the seas are supposed to pick up in the afternoon. mv Patience took mv Raven and us on our first boat in there for a tour of the anchorage on our first trip up (Alaska 2002). We didn’t stop but he just wanted to show us the tricks of getting in the place which can be disorienting because of all the little islets at the entrance. That first and only time going in there I recorded our way points to get in just in case we had to stop on the way back (which amazingly I still have in my old Alaska log). Bill pointed out a white mark on a rock that all the cruisers look for to guide you in. Boy has cruising changed in the last few years. This time it was ridiculously simple as the charts were clear and accurate and we headed right in. Today there was no need for those old way points and no need to search for the strange white mark on the side of a cliff. There was one uncharted low spot as just off the entrance to the inner cove but plenty of water at high tide to get over it. Other than that it was a breeze. The old mariners though had it so much more difficult but in a way much more fun. Think of all the old tricks and clues passed on to each other about places like that, things that eventually will be lost with new technology. Imagine those skippers traveling the Inside Passage in thick fog and only having the help of listening for the sounds of their fog horn bouncing off the sheer mountain sides to tell them where they were. Amazing.
Patience was right though as this is a spectacularly beautiful anchorage. I would put it amongst the top on my favorites list actually. There are several little beaches that are covered in shells, middens truthfully, as it’s the sight of an old Indian camp, probably summer camps though one book said winter camp but I think the Indians used to head way up the inlets during winter. Nevertheless, the shell covered middens are so deep and plentiful that the Indians must have been using this base for centuries. It is the most beautiful shore that you can possibly imagine, a mixture of all types of shells, mostly white, but sprinkled with the beautiful blue black and purple colors of mussel shells all crushed into bits from the wear of the sea and time. And how did they get there? From the leftovers of plentiful meals over the centuries.
We didn’t waste a moment
but got in the kayaks soon after arrival and headed to shore to explore.
It was such a beautifully perfect day to do so. The sun was out and it
was unusually warm. There was such a variety of shells to look at, clams
of all sizes, and other shells, pin head types, swirled, barnacle types,
huge monster mussels covered in huge ancient barnacles, the size I’ve
never seen before and the list just went on and on. The shells extended
far down into and below the water line as the tide came in and the
whiteness of it made the water a light turquoise color. The water was
clean and crystal clear. It actually reminded me of the water and shores
of the Bahamas. The surrounding trees were beautiful too, and the tall
grasses, which were unusual for the shores of British Columbia, waved
slowly in the light breeze.
PROTECTED WITH A GOOD VIEW OF THE CONDITIONS I was more interested in
the shore though because it was so spectacular and didn’t explore the
trail. Just behind the shell covered shore facing out to the sound is a
perfect protected shallow lagoon open to the sea but protected by a rocky
shelf that is mostly under the water. Ziggy used it as a large swimming
hole. The area facing the sound was littered with several really large
and knarly weathered trees and stumps that somehow were thrown up on the
shore in what must have been some pretty ferocious storms.
It is true what they say. You have a perfect view of Fitz Hugh Sound and out to Queen Charlotte Sound and even on a quiet calm day like today you can see the advantage of this anchorage as you will be protected inside its shelter even on the roughest of days. You have a good view point to check out the conditions before you stir up the courage to make your get away for your crossing. Larry tired of the shells quickly and paddled back to the boat, but Zig and I spent the whole afternoon exploring. Another interesting bunch of people rowed in, a group of young kids, probably late teens and early twenties, and a guide, maybe older, traveling in a big open canoe. They said they were exploring the BC waters and camping and fishing along the way. They found a campsite on the other side of the lagoon in a quiet secluded spot. Those lucky dogs to have all of this to themselves.
Back to TOP On to Queen Charlotte Sound |
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THE
PLACE IS CHANGING
“FISHING
RESORT”
WEATHER
GUY
IN A CANOE
Since
they didn’t stay but a minute in Prince Rupert, I was afraid they would be
gone again from here too quickly before I had a chance to talk with them
to see how their travels have been. Although who in their right mind
would chose to go out again in this weather when they had a dock to tie up
to, solid ground to walk around on, a restaurant with hot food, and
showers and laundry nearby? I quickly got my rain gear on though and walked down
the dock as they were getting settled to say hi.
CHINOOK
& MACH ZERO
THINGS
CHANGE
The
canoe man was snug asleep in his wooden canoe under the shelter of his
Canadian umbrella when I quietly tip toed down the dock. I noticed too a
very small little boat that came in yesterday. They parked in front of
Princess Pachena another big monster yacht. What a contrast in boats
and comforts but I might be willing to bet the people in the little boat
might be having more fun, having more of an adventure even though they
don’t have all the luxuries and comforts. 
NIMPKISH
I
look back at Ziggy and finally, he’s ready to go. We head back down the
road and the sun is definitely up now, lighting the sky and people are
starting to surface from their boats. Mach Zero left a few
minutes ago. They seem like really nice people. He’s a retired jet test
pilot, a commander I think no less, therefore the clever name of the
boat. Chinook, left ahead of us going the same direction. We’ll
probably pass them at some point since we travel a couple knots faster.
Larry
had the engines on when Zig and I got back and the lines were ready to
leave the dock. The water is glassy and calm after the storm, quite a
contrast to the 50 knot winds and rains we had just a day ago. Well
folks, another space is free now at the dock for some other cruiser as we
head out. In another couple weeks this place will be very free as the
season will be winding down. The big mega aluminum yacht/semi fishing
boat was still at the end of the dock, still running its generator. I
wonder if that thing left its spot at the dock all summer. 
FURY
COVE
SPECTACULARLY
BEAUTIFUL
Beautiful
magenta colored wild flowers were everywhere and abundantly framed an
opening into the forest like a trellis, which once you poked your head
inside, you were delighted to find a moss covered forest and a well
maintained trail. 
A
handful of boats came in an anchored but the place is plenty big and
there’s room for several boats. We had a nice quiet dinner and hit the
sack early as we had an early morning tomorrow making our way across Queen
Charlotte Sound first thing. Also, this anchorage faces the west and if
you’re lucky you will be further rewarded by a spectacular sunset, as we
were.