June 12th – Afternoon stop – Swanson Bay

Whats left of the original Pier

Dinghys "pre high and dry"

Three Storey Concrete Building

One of the chimneys still standing

Old Wooden ducting still intact but rotten

One of six boilers still intact

Little did we know that this stop would prove to be marriage testing….. All three of us anchored separately in Swanson Bay and took our dinghies to shore to look at the Smokestack and buildings left over from the 1930’s. Swanson Bay was the former site of a pulp mill and sawmill built back in 1908. The remains of a huge brick chimney are still visible from Graham Reach. While on shore, we find the remains of a three storey concrete building that housed the boilers etc (they are still there). Its last production was in 1934 and the population of this bay was said to have been 500. After some bushwhacking, we come back to find that the dinghies are high and dry so we must wait out the tide. There is about a 1 ½ ft chop in the bay, and our boats are all holding on their perspective anchors. Wayne manages to free his dinghy so I get a chauffeured back to our boat for some lunch while Mike and Dave stay on shore to wait the tide out. After a few hours, the boys get the dinghies free and come back to their boats. While I am holding ours off and Mike is passing me all the crap out of the dinghy, a wave picks the dinghy up and slams it down on the back Cleat on our swim grid…..a streak of blue languages is emitted from both of our mouths at the same time as we hear the hiss of the air coming out of our front tube. That popping and hissing sound when a tube blows is unmistakable! After a lot of cussing, yelling and finger pointing (at each other), we decide to pull the dinghy back on deck to start repairs. The gash is around 8” long and is just beside a seam at the front of the tube. The patch kit only has a 7” strip in it……. Two things we learned, don’t fill up your dinghy with too much air and don’t hold the dinghy close to the boat in a chop sea. We agree that it was both our faults and we press on to the Khutze Inlet behind the others.