July 18 - 19th - Clark Cove

A great overnight stop with a close proximity to the fishing grounds. A quiet night was spent in here as Gary and Wendy will be leaving us tomorrow to get parts for their generator in Shearwater and start their journey home. We make plans to head out for Aristabel and have a long travel day ahead of us to Weeteam Bay at the Southern tip of Aristabel.

July 12 -15th – Idol Point – Khutze Inlet

Abysinnia and Raven Spirit arrive after their night in Shearwater. We spend a relaxing time catching up with news from Vancouver and the trials and tribulations and minor slip ups (like not having the dinghy keys and sitting in your dinghy to take your dog to shore while your big boat keeps motoring down the channel….. ) of their crossing. The morning of the 12th, we depart for Khutze. Some of the boats stop for fuel and water in Klemtu and a few groceries, although the storeis picked clean, we are able to get some basics. The weather is the wrmest we have seen it up here with temperatures in the low to mid 30’s. If it wasn’t for the horseflies, we would all be in shorts. Bug spray is the order of the day. The boys go off halibut fishing and we all drop crab traps. Every couple of hours, there are about 8-12 large Dungeness crab, my overnight set yields 16 large with only one female to throw back. The lone grizzly we see on the beach keeps us entertained by splashing around in the water and Gordie gets a good photo of two black tailed deer swimming from one side of the channel to the other. There are about a dozen boats ianchored in here, it’s almost as busy as Desolation Sound! We get a panic call from Rick that he needs his harpoon as his net is too small for the halibut he has on his line. Faye is busy holding onto the Charlie the Fisher Dog so that he does not throw his body into the ocean or the net to help his dad catch the halibut. Between Gary and Mike, they manage to get the harpoon out to them and it took two very strong men to load the fish into the boat and hog tie it! 100 lb on the scale this most ugly beautiful halibut weigh! Fish and chips for all! Faye made a really nice halibut dinner for us and spread the filets around to the boats. Thank you Faye! The flies are incredible in their numbers and the sweltering heat forces us to hide in the shade or inside the sanctuary of our boats to keep from getting bitten. Even going fast in the dinghy does not seem to help. But the crab and halibut make up for the inconvenience. Gordie is so bundled up, he looks like the unibomber, with his hoodie tied up tight to keep his neck and head from being fresh meat from the flies.

July 9th –July 11th – Idol Point

We went back into the bay where we anchored 2 years ago with “Raven Spirit” and lo and behold, there is a dock in there now. It appears to be an abandoned fish camp dock, with a boat already on it and plenty of room for both of us to tie up. Here, we will wait for “Raven Spirit” and “Abysinnia” to catch up with us. From our spot on the dock, we can watch the comings and goings on Seaforth Channel, lots of cruise ships and ferries use this main channel on their trip back to Vancouver. We “Gunkholed” through Rait Narrows and found the backdoor to St. John’s Harbour. It’s a very scenic bay with lots of immature bald eagles and birds, but not too much in the way of wildlife. The sun has been shining in all its glory and we hope that the crossing for Raven Spirt and Abysinnia is good, the weather on the radio says it should be. Gordie and Mike went out fishing in the morning for a couple of hours, Mike for more Springs and Gordie for anything that happens to land in his boat. We have no more room in our freezer, so Mike is on the catch and release program. Gordie catches a couple of nice Coho in a matter of about an hour and is back at the big boat with fillet knife in hand (gotta love that “baitbuster”). Mike only gets a few wily herring stealers but is enjoying the flat seas and sunny day. Throughout the day, many boats come into the bay, looking to get on the dock, but they end up just going back out again. I guess this dock is not much of a secret up here.

July 7, 2012 - Shearwater

After a nice evening on Dukies Beach, doing pagen dances around the fire in honor of being blessed by the Salmon Gods, we get up early and head into Shearwater. Laundry Day and fresh produce stock up. We spoke to the rest of the contingent coming up and they are on track to be here Monday or Tuesday. Will keep updating the blog the next day or so while we have internet. No sign of "On the Edge" up here, must be hiding in a bay somewhere.

July 6th – Dukie’s Beach

Sunseeker and Calliope head off to Shearwater today and we head out to the Spider group of islands to do a night of fishing. We normally stay in Swordfish Bay but have opted to try a new bay this year. It’s a kind of cool bay, Mike is off fishing and there are Humpback whales playing in the channel behind the boat a pod of porpoises swim out to sea and a white sandy beach. Mike comes back after a couple of hours and is victorious, he has added an approximate 35 lb. spring to the freezer. The fish broke Mike’s net in half and being the consummate fisherman, Mike was still able to bring the fish in with one hook still in its mouth and the broken net. Salmon nuggets in a lemon pepper batter for dinner tonight! A restful night and off to Shearwater today to do some laundry and catch up on some groceries.

July 5th, 2012 – Namu

We did a slow meander up to Namu from Fury Cove and Reenie, Pete and Teresa were there to greet us. The weather is fabulous and we wander around to see whats fallen down this year. The winter weather was rather blowy this year but the folks in Namu were holed up nicely in the back bay. They apparently had about a 20 foot rogue surge or wave in February that washed up over the docks and on the streets of Namu and back over to the back bay, it’s a good thing they were nicely tucked away in the and did not have to feel the effects. The Chilcotin Princess tied up to the front dock lost its mooring log that kept it from crashing into the docks during the surge and it took a big bite out of both the dock and the warehouse it sits in front of. Reenie’s Cherry Tree in her green house is laden down with so much fruit, its hard to believe that its not a fake tree. Her peach tree had dozens of peaches on the branches and her figs and Kiwi were on their way to ripening!! We also found out that Pete of Namu was once a former employee of Gord – small world. Speaking of Gord, he did what we’ve all aspired to do once or twice in our lives, tossed his crab traps (both of them) without tying a line or bubble to them….Gord spent most of his time grappling for his traps. Thank god he got them back!

July 3rd & 4th , 2012 – Shawl Bay to Fury Cove

It looks like its going to be a nice day, with some high overcast and a bit of a chop on the ocean. We had listened to the weather report on the VHS radio and it sounds promising with just an .8 of a meter seas from one of the outer weather stations called “Sea Otter” . We hit Wells passage, the pass we leave by, and it’s a bit sloppy but it settles down when we get outside. It all looks very promising until we get to Skull Cove – the tide is running and the seas turn ugly – we steel ourselves for a short bumpy ride, but it was going to be a long “hang on” – things are crashing downstairs and everything on the table is crashing to the floor behind us. I am petrified to open the cupboards later as I am sure everything will be falling out. Apparently the weather had turned and the sloppy seas were not from tide. Without a doubt, this is the worst crossing we have ever had in the years that we have done this crossing – after Cape Caution we turn into Smith Inlet ever so slowly to take the rolling sea on our stern, Gord and Brenda have gone way out to sea to try and avoid the mess. Unbeknownst to us, Gord and Brenda even lost the whaler they were towing as the tow rope had come loose on the boat end – probably from all the ups and downs through the rolling surf! We were never so glad to see Fury Cove, we decide it’s a good place to hole up for a couple of days to get our holiday groove on again! On the second day at anchor in Fury, we see a familiar boat coming in, Calliope! Not only to celebrate their July 4th, but to show them we are happy to see them again, we invite them to tie up and join us for dinner on the beach that night. It is the obligatory “Fries and Burgers on the beach night.” The weather has turned real summer like and its very warm and still. No wind! After a wonderful night waiting on the beach for the tide to come in (our dinghy was high and dry!) – we had a very restful night in Fury. We fell asleep to the sound of Humpback whales blowing and calling to each other on the other side of the beach.

July 2, 2012 – Shawl Bay

We arrived at Shawl Bay in time for Happy hour after travelling in the drizzle for @ 4 ½ hours. The docks are fairly full and we get caught up with Lorne and Shawn and lament the fact that we missed Rob’s wedding last year and how he is missed at Shawl Bay! Like the arrival of our future grandchild, they too are expecting a grandchild in September. Congratulations Brown Family! We see some of the usual folks there and hit the pillow early as we are leaving at 6:00 am in the morning. A failure to communicate between a couple of inebriated skippers from the night before, does not make for a nice crossing.

July 1, 2012 – Fanny Bay to Port Harvey

Happy Canada Day all! A bit of a chop greets us in Johnston Strait, but nothing to worry about. We have not seen Calliope since we so rudely kicked them off the dock this morning, and suspect they went to Port Hardy, not Port Harvey. We enjoy seeing George and Gail and the docks are fairly full with hardy revellers for the July 1 celebration. The place looks great with a few small changes over last year. They have another sighting of Grizzly bears with cubs (2) and some black bear ramblings in their garden. We are treated to a Fireworks show with Hot dogs and Chili, put on by our hosts George and Gail to celebrate Canada Day. Its slightly drizzly out, but the wet does not dampen the enthusiasm for the group enjoying dinner and a wholesome game of “Whoreshoes” on the dock. At Port Harvey, they have a restaurant called the “Red Shoe” – so teams were made up to toss red high heel shoes on the dock on a makeshift “horseshoe” pitch…..It was a fun night and we prepare to head out in the morning to Shawl Bay to await calm weather to head up around the dreaded Cape Caution.

June 30, 2012 – Pender Harbour to Fanny Bay

The seas are calm and we make our way north from Pender Harbour, through the Dent and Yuculta Rapids and instead of tieing up at either Shoal Bay or Big Bay, we opt to tie up at a logging float in a small bay off of Phillips Arm. We had found it gunkholing a couple of years back but had never stayed there. Only problem was, there was a boat already on the dock we wanted to tie up on, but on the south shore of the bay, we found another logging dock so we backed in and tied up for the night. Both Sunseeker and Shaman are Gulf Commander built yachts (the brand) and along the way into Phillips Arm we see another Gulf Commander that we hail and let him know we think he has a nice boat. We invite the Calliope to tie up with us if he wishes. We make new friends in Susan and Mark from Seward, Alaska, where they are headed after purchasing their boat in Anacortes. They have a long trip ahead of them and like us, they are living the dream. They actually live in Anchorage, but the boat will be moored at the closest seaport of Seward. Check out a map, our trip from 2011 to Alaska has nothing on the distance we went just covering SouthEast Alaska. They are approximately 50 hours from the most Northern point we hit and with great determination will be crossing the Gulf of Alaska. I doff my hat tot you both, you definetly have bigger cannonballs for your down rigger than we do! (Or I should say, I do) – “Calliope” opts to tie up with us and we have a pleasant evening getting to know the new Gulf Commander owners. It was not so pleasant @5:00 am when we notice that there is barely a few feet of water under us, so Calliope, unties and heads out, we pull the boat a few feet forward and listen to the weather and opt to go back to bed. We look at Sunseeker, but she appeared to have a lot more water under her than we did. Wrongo… @ 7:30 Gordie is a bit stuck and with some sweat and determination and the help of his whaler, we “unstuck” him from the bottom. Mike of course is still sleeping! I fish wife him into getting up and moving our boat once more and after a few projects, we head out @ 1:00 pm to head up to Port Harvey.

June 28, 2012 – And, We’re Off

We’re off! After weeks of having a wheelbarrow strapped to my butt, we finally finish provisioning the boat. We have the supplies we need to do some long awaited projects while we are away and Mike has his own halibut rod!! Bob will be happy to hear that! We head out after work on a dreary Thursday, but we don’t care. The rain is holding off and we are on vacation. That’s all that matters. We head out of the harbour with Gordie and Brenda on Sunseeker and head north! We ended up staying two nights at Pender Harbour, it gave us a chance to unwind from the everyday stresses and the time and energy it takes to pack up the boat. We enjoyed a much needed soak in the hot tub and saw a bit of sun. The docks are full at Pender and everyone appears to be waiting for the wind to die down to head to points north. The sun peaked its face out a few times and we while away a couple of days of doing nothing (including getting the blog started up again!)