NORTH TO ALASKA - ALL POINTS IN BETWEEN

Goes to show you

2011-08-10T08:46:00.000-07:00

The left hand side of the glacier is what is in the article

Was sitting here at my desk this morning and reading the news and chanced upon this article.....I went through my photographs and found the chunk that calved as Mike and I and Hayly and Bob and Pat sat and stared at it for some time. Keeping a respectful distance appears to be a good thing!!

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/dailybrew/alaskan-tourists-assailed-collapsing-glacier-ice-225644873.html

You might have to cut and paste the link as posted.

Conclusion to another great trip to Alaska 2011 - and some of my favorite photos

2011-07-29T16:09:00.000-07:00

"Tufted Puffins"

"Kermode Bear" - Butedale aka "Betty's Bear"

Alarmed Sea Otter - Sitka to Pelican

Grizzly sow nursing, Khutze Inlet

The scenery outside Elfin Cove, the speck on the bottom is Mike and Bob Fishing

Disney "Wonder" at Sawyer Glacier

Breaching Humpback outside Elfin Cove (In the pouring rain)

Sealions outside Petersberg

Breaching Humpback Whale - Tracy Arm

Some reflexions of our 2011 Trip to Alaska.

We learned that if Canada hadn't been so busy trying to form a country in 1867, we might have been able to scrape up the $7.2 million to purchase Alaska from the Russians and added Alaska to BC. - .02 cents an acre seems relatively inexpensive for all that they have!

We learned that travelling in a herd can be fun!

We learned that we are blessed to have such good friends and family to share this adventure with and that they can all cook real well too!

We learned that we could back to Alaska year after year if it wasn't so far and probably not see all that there is too see.

Southeast Alaska is big country! The vastness is immense but truly breathtaking. The glaciers, the bays and the water ways make Alaska a truly spectacular place to visit.

We learned that sometimes the Boating Gods are on your side! We were fortunate to have had the flat, calm seas that we did and that the weather was relatively good for most of our trip. We had the odd pouring rainy day, but certainly not like at home!

The Alaskan people are for the most part very hospitable and share their secret spots willingly with visitors such as ourselves

The company was good, the scenery magnificient! And thanks to some of the sightings through my camera lens, a shorter bucket list! The moose will be there next time!

Day 61 - 62 - Laura Cove - Desolation Sound

2011-07-29T16:03:00.000-07:00

Forbes Bay

Laura Cove

Native Summer camp

So busy they are parking outside

Well if its piece and quiet you want and some solitude - don't come to Desolation sound in the summer. Both Mike and I are having a bit of culture shock with almost 50 boats in Laura Cove and over 100 boats in Prideux Haven (Next door)....

We run into some friends from the yacht club and tie up with them for the two nights. Half of the yacht club is up here!

We gunkholed to Forbes Bay this morning and then over to the other side where we show our friends the old hippie village in the woods. Trees have fallen on most of the structures and we are not surprised to see that most of it is going back to nature. There are a few of the houses still standing - they're more like glorified tree forts than houses, but back in the 60's this probably was commune living at its best. Except for maybe in the winter, but we do notice that most of the little homes have insulation in them so perhaps it was not all that cold.

A fish fry of our self caught halibut and some french fries for dinner and then we pack up and head down to Pender Harbour and then home for Monday.

Day 60 - Shawl Bay to Port Harvey

2011-07-29T15:54:00.000-07:00

We are sad to wave goodbye to our friends Lorne and Shawn. It's twofold sad - 1) our trip is truly now at an end and 2) it might be a whole year before we see the good folks of Shawl Bay again!

Its a beautiful flat calm day and we opt to get as far down as we can - Port Harvey is along the freeway so its a good stopping point for us as we finish our journey south.

The docks are busy at Port Harvey and we have dinner on the deck with Bob and Pat ("On the Edge") before we say goodbye to our new best friends from 100 mile for another year. The pizza is delicious and the company is good. Its good to see the new kid on the block (Port Harvey) be so full. With 3 less marina's in the Broughtons, we are glad to see that Port Harvey is coming on nicely! We have often discussed the group of marina's in the Broughtons and have come to the conclusion that we need them far more than they need us. There is enough business to go around that all should be fairly full for the short summer season. Each has a different thing to offer the boaters. There is nothing wrong with anchoring while you are up in the Broughtons, but its nice to drop in and stay at a dock and meet up with other boaters that you probably would not meet if you were always on anchor.

We hope that next year they are all still there and that they will have a good August - September to keep them going until May 2012.

Day 57, 58 & 59 - Shawl Bay

2011-07-24T21:17:00.000-07:00

More Sunny and calm weather in the Broughtons

Dave leaves (Carves)
another sign behind

Carol the Bead Lady busy as ever

Last years sign weathered well
thanks Dave

!

The place looks fabulous. All of their flowers are blooming, some of the docks have been re decked and the party barge has had facelift. Lorne is sporting a bit of a beard and there seems to be some mistaken identity with some of the other bearded marina resort owners up here. We missed the deepfried turkey night, but the bread is fresh and hot and the pies are streaming out the door as fast as Shawn can make them!
The prawns being caught up here are the size of small cats and crabs are ending up the crabpots by the dozens! They are full up quite a few nights and three quarters full for one of the nights we are here. It makes us so pleased to see their success!

Off to Broughton Lagoon to check out our dolphins tomorrow and run the rapids. Will check back again soon.

Day 56 - Jones Cove to Jennis Bay

2011-07-22T15:45:00.000-07:00

This is the reason there are
no mosquitos in Jennis

Impromptu Happy Hour

Red Throated Loon

The view from Jennis

Nice place!

Flat calm and sunny - you could have waterskied south today! A nice travelling day from Jones Coves to Jennis Bay. A 180 degree change over yesterday. We make good time and head into Jennis Bay for an early afternoon meet and greet with Allyson and the kids (Charlie & Orian)

The winter has been kind to Jennis, all looks good. There is lots of activity going on here and lots of boxes being carted around. Allisyn looks great and her new life agrees with her. We look forward to hearing about the next chapter in her life! Good luck Allyson and we hope to hear from you!

We were one of the first set of guests when they first opened ( Shaman II and Oceanaire). We arrived with the afternoon tide and along with one other boat tied up to their new docks. After being given a welcome package with all the do's and don't's at their place (heavy emphasis on the don't) - we proceeded to do what we always do, lower the dinghies and go exploring. While racing around Drury Inlet, we received a call from "Jobel" still on the dock, telling us that we had better come back to our boats and be prepared to take our boats off...the anchors were newly set and the dock were tied together still, but they were in danger of closing in amongst themselves. We loaded up and ended up dropping anchor at the head of the inlet. We did stop by again and after being asked what they could do to improve things, we told them ixnay on the welcome letter with all of the don'ts...just put up some cutsey signs telling us where to walk the dog and where not to enter. We have enjoyed going there for many years and hope that the spirit of Allyson lives on with the new caretakers. We'll report back next year!

Day 55 - Fury Cove to Smith Inlet (Jones Cove)

2011-07-22T15:30:00.000-07:00

Just us in this little Cove

Then there were three

We end the day with Five
In a one boat cove

We head off early as the surf doesn't look bad outside Fury Cove. Wrong Ohhhhhhhh. We hit the mouth of Rivers Inlet and the boat was immediately swallowed up by huge rollers. The weather on the radio said long and low swells, please define long......the trough in the swell had me terrified, it was white knuckle riding. I made the bad mistake of making my way down to the bathroom and all I saw outside the windows was Green Water. When asked with Mike if we should keep going, he said that it would only be bad for a few more miles and then we would have it on our stern. Not beleiving a word coming out of his mouth I said, no, we are turning in. We looked on the chart and found a little bay just inside of Smith Inlet called Jones Cove. We turned in and found a welcome calm little bay. There was just enough room for us to put the anchor down and sit sideways in this small cove. Mike put the dinghy down and went out fishing while I poured a stiff drink and put the boat back to rights. A few hours later a sailboat trickles in and set anchor behind us. Nice to share the bay. A few more hours after that another sailboat comes in and over dinner, two crab boats drop anchor. A one boat bay that is now holding 5 boats. We can see the surf pounding on the rocks outside the bay so we know why this little quaint cove is full. Not bad in 55 days to have been hit with only one really bad ocean day.

Circulation is back into my knuckles, time to head off and try the crossing again.

Day 54 - Hakai - Fury Cove

2011-07-22T14:53:00.000-07:00

We beat ourselves up in the morning to get to Hakai Pass and to the resort. The resort is no more, its is now the Hakai Institute. A generous donor has purchased it and its now a teaching or studying place for SFU biology students doing salmon studies. There are probably thousands of salmon lives spared with no more sport fishing lodge. We only pop in the bay briefly and opt to continue on to Fury Cove, we have been listening to the weather and want to be close to the 50 mile open ocean crossing if there is a window. We run into "Raven Sprit" in Fury and tie up with them and get caught up on lots of the news from home. We have a nice evening with Rick and Faye and head off tomorrow to try our hand at the crossing.

Day 53 - Swordfish Bay in the Spider Islands

2011-07-22T14:44:00.000-07:00

A few rocks and nothing
but the Charlottes outside
our Anchorage

A ninety degree turn and he finds us

Playing Peek a Boo in the rocks

A beautiful kind of wild!

A bit overcast, and the occasional squall of rain greet us. Time for beach fires and some fine gunkholing. The surf is pounding outside of our little bay and we get the occasional gust of wind. To pass the time, I baked up a storm - 36 buttertarts, 2 loaves of banana bread and 3 loaves of bread. Who diets on holidays anyways?

Mike goes out fishing and Rick and Bev lower their kayaks and Bev and Parker go kayaking. There is a bonfire on the beach and Cayden comes over to make bracelets and such with Bettys bead collection. Its a nice productive day doing inside stuff. The rain stops long enough around 5:00 o'clock and we take our dinghies and go gunkholing into the next few bays. Too bad there is so much surf, it would be great to do some beachcoming here.

Off to Hakai tomorrow.

Day 52 - Eucot Bay to Namu

2011-07-22T14:32:00.000-07:00

More Jumping for Joy

No shortage of humpbacks

Turtle Dove?

Still standing - Namu Restaurant

We used to get shrimp in cans

Soon she will be gone!

In the morning we decide to take Burke Channel all the way around to Namu. WE have never taken this route before and it is the same distance back to Namu whether we came down Burke Channel or whether we go back the same way we came. There are so many twists and turns in this channel and a new type of climate around every bend. We see humpbacks and numerous pacific whitesided dolphins. They are the most playful of the three types of dolphins we have seen on this trip. They love it when I whistle and the dog starts barking. While playing in our bow wake, they like to turn on their sides and look up at you! We went through rip tides, strong winds and flat calm parts of the channel. Every bend was a new surprise! We are greeted on the dock by Renee and Pete and have pleasant evening around the fire and have a great dinner on the dock.

I borrowed Renee's book on Namu and had a good read about what was in this once thriving little community of fish processing. There are still items in the store (for looking at) and there are still pallets of tin cans for canning shrimp for restaurants. Again, mother nature has taken more of the structures with here into the ocean and the board walks (where there is wood) are now showing signs of rot and are closed off. The houses on land are full of mold from the dampness and there is more equipment molding itself into the earth than you can shake a stick at. Its been a gradual decline and we have seen many changes in the 15 years we have been coming up coast. It was good to have Namu in much better days. Renee has done a great job in sprucing up the place with birdhouses and plants and gardens but the inevitable is soon to come. The birds love it here and they must really love the birdseeds Renee puts out. She has two different types of swallows nesting and lots of hummingbirds and a flock of Turtle Doves that never did leave. We awake in the morning to the gentle cooing of these cute little birds.

Off to Spider Islands for some fishing in the morning!

Day 51 - Eucot Bay & Nascall

2011-07-22T14:16:00.000-07:00

Natural Hot Springs at Eucot

Empty Resort at Nascall

Gunkholing with the Granthams

Confined Hot Springs at Nascall

The kids cooling down in the ocean

Bev bucketing salt water into
the hotspring to cool it down

A calmer place we did not find

Is the boat falling over?

Well, the rain we wished for is not here, we have a smoking hot day at the hot springs....Mike the dork has put fresh water out of the hot springs pipe into the Hot springs tub and its so hot, we cannot even go into it. The bathtub has finally rusted through and is no where to be seen! A couple of black bears share the beach with us and are probably just waiting for "Human Soup". We opt to go gunkholing up to Nascall hot springs as were told that we might be able to go ashore there if we are nice!

We take the 20 minute gunkhole up to Nascall. Sad story here - back around 5 years ago, we went into Nascall looking to see if we could find the hot springs and we found a resort that was massive with a hotel looking structure and lots of nifty looking cabins. Chickens and such running around but no humans. Sadly the owner had put an airstrip in behind his property and the week or so before had crashed his plane on his airstrip and was killed. We found this out a few weeks later when we were back in Shearwater and at the time, we never did find the hot springs. The hot springs were put in a covered building and was not open to the public. This time we are lucky to meet the caretakers (Al and Sharon) and they invite us to come and have a wander around. The place is forsale and the hydro from the waterfall dam project is on hold. Were it not for the caretakers, this place too would be in ruins. Its a harsh environment up here with the winds reaching over a 100 km an hour and freezing rain storms - if someone wasn't there looking after the infrastructure, all would be falling down! The caretakers share with us that there is another natural hotspring on the ocean side that is accessible at low tide. How cool is that! We wish them well and go back for a soak in Eucot hot springs and call it an early night.

Day 48 & 49 - Ocean Falls

2011-07-22T14:06:00.000-07:00

Our boats at the dock in Ocean Falls

Bric-a-Brac in the "Museum"

Some locals

Top of the Spillway showing signs of disrepair

Soon - back to nature

"1969"

Always best to "Vote"

Heading into a Sunny day

Another creepy doll at Ocean Falls

We arrive late in the afternoon in the pouring rain. Finally the weather we have come to expect in Ocean Falls but have only seen once here. The best water on coast can be found here and we empty our tanks of any of the remaining water we have to take on this great water. We have a nice prime rib dinner on Shaman with Bob and Pat and Bev and Rick! We are then treated to a great Thunder and Lightening storm that last well over an hour. Good thing that the dog is deaf now! Kobi slept through the whole thing!

The next morning dawns bright and sunny and we walk up to the dam and see what changes have happened in town. Between the dam and Link Lake, Kobi chases a bear off of the road into the bush! That was a good point to turn around and head back to town, although there are bears there also ( we watched one walking down the road from the safety of or boat) The dam is showing big signs of neglect and the lake is quite low....lots of water coming down the spillway. The town is further deteriorated and soon it will be back to nature as well. Nearly Norman is still there and has moved the museaum from the house on the hill to the Marine Ways building. He has done an admirable job of having a nice and tidy new place and has quite the collection of memoribillia from the town. We met lots of nice folks and head up to Eucot Bay tomorrow.

Day 47 - McMcKing Inlet to Shearwater

2011-07-16T20:01:00.000-07:00

The weather is changing so we opt to go as far south as we can. Although the sea is a bit rolly, it's a head sea (we are going into it) and we make good time to the bottom of Aristabel Island. To cut about 20 miles off of the trip and get out of the waves, we take a route not recommended for many. Our trusty books notes that Higgins Pass has a drying channel at at 5' tide. So in order for our boat to get through, the pass must have a tide level of at least 9-10 feet. We draw 3.5 feet and in order for all of our "under the water" parts to clear the bottom we need this 3.5 feet to pass through without incident. Since math is my weak subject, it helps to write it out - bottom dry at 5' tide, plus 3.5 feet = 8.5 feet of tide to squeak through. to be on the safe side, we like to have a few extra feet. We arrive at the drying point at 11.5 feet of tide and sigh a huge sigh of relief when we go through. This is surely a "pucker" factor of 8. With Haley on the bridge watching the depth sounder and tracing the route from the paper chart in the book and Betty on the bow rock spotting and Captain Mike steering on the helm, we all smile a little bit bigger when we make it through! its always an adventure when you are with Mike. Thank you for good instructions in your book Mr. and Mrs. Douglas!

It's raining cats and dogs and we make it into Seaforth channel to calm seas and Shearwater. In the meantime, on the radio we hear the other three boats who have popped out from the inside passage without incidence and we all get help on moorage from Cap't Bob who helps to make the arrangements for us all to get securely tied to the dock. A great birthday dinner in the restaurant to celebrate Pat's Birthday.

Day 46 - Anger Island to McMcKing Inlet

2011-07-16T07:51:00.000-07:00

Funky Rock formations here

Mike Beachcombing

A great variety of birds in this inlet

Morning Mist view from our anchorage

Miles of sandy beaches here

Another peaceful anchorage (until nighttime!)

We cruise for about three hours and once the fog lifts, we end up cruising into another glorious sunny day. We opt to take the outside route down the coast and the rest of the group went inland using the inside passage. We find out a few days later that they never did see the sun again. Funny how 30 or 40 miles makes such a difference There are miles and miles of white sandy beaches to explore.Mcmcking Inlet has all sorts of tidal bores and interesting birds to see. We head off exploring in the dinghy and to do some beachcombing. We see that there is a kayak camp around the corner from where we are anchored, this does not bode well for beachcombing as no doubt the kayaker’s have found all the glass balls and such. We see human footprints on most of the beaches we go to and end up with some nice abalone shells as a souvenir for Haley.

We are anchored in an exposed anchorage overnight, which was fine until an unexpected wind came up at 3:00 am. The wind was not bad and it just brought in some chop, but nonetheless, no more sleep for me. On the bright side, it gave me the opportunity to finish the book I have been reading!

Day 45 - Prince Rupert to Anger Island - "Ire Bay"

2011-07-16T07:48:00.000-07:00

"On The Edge" sneaking through the opening

"Ladner Lass" leaves in the morning fog

Anger Island amongst other little islands

Bettys Moose

We enjoy 2 days in Prince Rupert in the sunshine and head off on our return trip south. The four boats are all spanky clean, cupboards and fridges and liquor cabinets are fully stocked and we are off like a herd of turtles.

Our first stop back in Canadian waters is Anger Island. The place naming people had a field day with this place...."Anger Island"...."Ire Bay"....

The story in the cruising book about a sailboat cruising through the narrow entrance to Ire Inlet and having a tree fall on them is a bit daunting – good thing Marko has a chainsaw on board. Mike and I have stayed in this inlet before and it’s the only place we have ever seen a wolf. A white or Silver one at that! The photograph is a bit grainy from 2004. We do not see wolves this trip, but at dinner time a very old and tired bear comes down to the beach for a feed. This poor old bear appears to have ticks and is missing an eye and is very scarred up. The ticks have caused major fur loss on his hind legs and side and drained enough energy that he lays down to eat. Nature is often cruel. We see a few mink swimming around the bay going about their business and nothing to speak of in the crab trap (just some undersized rock crab) The group splits up from here in the morning, we head off on the outside and the rest of the group heads of on the inside channels.

Day 44 - Dundas to Prince Rupert

2011-07-16T07:40:00.000-07:00

Proof in the Photo - Its sunny in Rupert

Leaving Dundas - Flat Calm

Immature Bald Eagle watching over the fish tray

Prince Rupert Yacht Club - "Full"

An uneventful trip from Dundas to Prince Rupert. Seas very calm and the sun is burning away the fog nicely!

A beautiful sunny day in Rupert was had by all. Customs was cleared via phones and after our onshore duties were all done, a relaxing day in the sunny Prince Rupert. Having Sunny and Prince Rupert in one sentence seems a bit of an oxymoron, but its true! We watched the Newshour and with a bit of cackle we reveled in the sunshine until around 10:00 pm. We note that Southeast Alaska is also bathed in Sunshine, while the lower mainland is on flood watch and its rainy and cold. Ladner Lass left some money behind in Rupert for a diver, while moving from one dock to another she lost one of her long lines overboard and fouled a prop. Luckily there was a diver at the ramp able to help out! A few of the group take in the Museum here, for those that have not been and enjoy native art, it’s a must see when in Prince Rupert. Finer pieces of Haida and Tlinget artifacts you will not find.

Throughout the trip, I have had a "Hit" list of things that I wanted to see, among them was the Kermode Bear, the Puffin etc. One animal was a moose, although I did not see one in the wild - it appears that there are moose in Prince Rupert - I came back from shopping to see a moose on the bow of my boat --- it must be from the same family as the Puffin is for Dave!

Day 43 - Rudyerd Bay to Dundas Island

2011-07-11T10:53:00.000-07:00

Sunrise at Dundas

Orca cruising by

Haley + Fish = 5' smile

A 5 hour cruise brings us back into Canadian waters for some fishing. We anchor the big boats in behind an island at the top end of Dundas Island. Bob, Mike and Haley go off fishing and return victorious with Haley catching her first Spring Salmon! A nice fish to be sure, at least 30 pounds! Oceanaire and Ladner Lass have opted to continue through to Rupert and we will see them tomorrow.
We are now fll up with fish and are looking forward to fuel, water, groceries, laundry and of course the ever present need to go to the liquor store. Hopefully Dave will have found a replacement bottom end for his motor. if not, Scupper will be using the facilities of the "Betty Boop" for the next week or so.

A beautful calm crossing with some summer sunshine await us in Rupert.

Day 42 - Bell Isle to Rudyerd Bay

2011-07-11T10:51:00.000-07:00

Gunkholing up the river

Our boats on the mooring buoy

A huge crater or bowl in Rudyard

Plenty of Lupin to be found

Mike wonders about his ice cave collapse

A humpback show before we enter Misty Fjords

Another lovely cruising day – a mist of rain and some sunshine greet us when we hit Rudyerd. The small floatplanes with cruise passengers have scared any possibility of wildlife away as there is a steady stream of them coming into the bay, landing and then taking off again. Betty does her first side tieing docking against Ladner Lass....Jamies is happy that there is no white paint on her burgandy boat and Mike is happy that there is no burgandy paint on his white hull. Piece of Cake!

No takers on the hike to Punchbowl lake (the group is tired from trying to find the Bailey hot spring yesterday) We opt to go high speed gunkholing to the end of the inlet to visit the remains of Mike and Penny’s Snow cave…. The snow cave is no more....another collapse....Mike keeps going on about global warning, I say that it was just time for the snow to melt. 8 years since we first saw the snow cave, so I would think that it’s a long enough time for the snow to melt! No wildlife to be seen – just a few birds. This trip into Misty Fjords finally gave us some “Mist” --- it is truly a magnificient place to visit.

Day 41 - Yes Bay to Bell Isle

2011-07-11T10:50:00.002-07:00

One wall still standing

Not much left of the lodge

Barely standing still

We were last here three years ago and what sad sight when we pull up to the docks. As documented by some other blog readers, the main lodge is now collapsed, the docks are sinking, and basically nothing has been done to clean up the mess that we last saw. If this place was in Canada on a fish bearing stream, the owners would have been forced to at least clean up anything on the stream. The house and bridge are all collapsed into the stream and the place is mess! Besides our little “herd” a sailboat called “Impossible dream” with two brothers aboard also tie up. Turns out that their boat once belonged to Ray Disney (brother of Walt) --- Tom and John end up coming to shore with us and having dinner with us.
The pool (hot spring) is still full of water and someone has taken the time to reconnect the hot spring water enough to keep the pool from freezing, but not enough to heat up the pool. Please refer to this link to see the “before” photographs and how nature starts to take its own back in a relatively short perod of time when no-one is around to maintain. Some yahoos have come through and broken all the windows on all the remaining cottages and someone has been trying to take the diesel fuel that is left and try and get it down to the dock.

My turn to cook to night, so I opt to stay behind while the others trek off to see if they can find Bailey hot springs. Someone in the last few weeks told us it was a 10 minute walk. Judging from the complaining, its more than a 10 minute walk. Its almost 3 miles through rivers and up the side of mountains, we will save this seek and find for another time. Meanwhile...back at the boat, Betty is feeling pretty full of herself being on schedule with the cooking tonight and having a lemon Meringue pie in the oven. She should know better than to be so smug....calamity is about to reign! First I run out of propane - so I head upstairs to switch over the tanks, done! Cooking proceeds. Next, I am on schedule so a little clean up is in order and a table to set. While I go up stairs to set the table, I start the sink filling up with water to do some clean up so that there are minimal dishes after dinner. Must be old age or something, I can't find my lighter to light the candle and see it on the dock....I am so chuffed with myself, I stop to have a smoke and a chatter with the brothers....meanwhile, a steam bath is happening on the boat. When I go back to te galley to get the plates, I hear the cascade of waterfall and suddenly remember that I have left the tap running on the kitchen sink....in I run and I do not see the water on the floor, after promptly slipping and falling on my face, I finally get up to shut the water off. The water is overflowing from the sink and cascading over the edge onto the floor.....OMG.....there are 80 lbs of clumping kitty litter in the hold under the galley (where all the water is seeping down to) --- I quickly hop down below and manage to get the 2 boxes of kitty litter out before they turn to cement along with all the other items getting wet. While picking up the 20 lb flour bag to put it out of the waters way, the bag bursts, so now I am not only wet, I am white (covered in flour) and in the humidity, I am quickly becoming a human glue stick. I change my clothes and proceed to mop up the mess.....for days after, I am opening drawers and finding things are still full of water.

We are thankful that we saw it 3 years ago before it came to this ruin and with our memories of what was, we have a nice dinner with our new neighbours and call it a night.

Day 40 - St. Johns Harbor to Yes Bay

2011-07-11T10:50:00.001-07:00

A long day of travelling to cover some ground today. A 12 hour day of travelling down Chatham Strait to ‘Yes Bay”. This bay has a fishing lodge and some great anchorages in it. We all get anchored and tied up when one of the lodge fishing boats comes roaring through the islands behind us at about 30 miles an hour. Not only is there a wash but dangerous if people are out in their dinghies. They zoom past us into the far reaches of the bay. Mike chased after them and asked if was really necessary to be going those crazy speeds in between the islands and so close to the boats…..well you guessed it….a confrontation occurs. The kids (early 20’s) in the boats proceed to egg Mike on by saying “Come on – bring it on!!” and “We have guns in Alaska” --- Luckily Mike was composed and just turned around and came back to the boats. Both these young fellows need a kick in the ass and smack across the side of the head from the lodge owner…..threatening people with guns is nothing short of a criminal offence (even in Alaska) – and we are very disappointed the next morning when these hooligans come back up into the back of the bay and proceed to shoot off guns. It’s really not worth getting the law involved at this point of our trip. We debate talking to the lodge owner but again, is it really worth it to start something we are not prepared to stay around to finish. We don’t let it spoil our trip nor taint our views of the rest of Alaska. Just some small minded, more than likely bored kids with their red necks showing. Hope some of their high paying guests don’t end up with these two kids guiding them about.

Day 39 - Tracy Arm to St. John's Harbor

2011-07-11T10:49:00.001-07:00

Fisherman at work outside the bay

Just us and the Seagulls

Carbonated underwater spring bubbles

Scenic but sad

Oceanaire anchored in St. Johns Harbor

The next morning we take Haley and along with “over the Edge” – we head up to see if we can once again get into Dawes Glacier. There is considerable more ice in Tracy Arm than the previous 3 weeks when we were last here, so one of the glaciers has been “calving” a lot. The way is very clear so by deductive reasoning, it must be Sawyer Glacier bergie bits that are making their way into the arm. We see some calving and there are lots of big pieces ready to fall off, but nothing major. We head out at noon for Petersburg and through Wrangell Narrows to St. John’s Harbor. Enroute, Dave makes phone calls to try and find a new bottom end for his motor. Its hard up in this country to be without a dinghy. St. John’s Harbor is a new stay for us. It’s a great bay with some interesting things to see. We read in the book about a natural “carbonated” spring that wells up in the bay --- we found it and sure enough, a lot of fizzy bubbles are making their way up from the bottom of the ocean. It’s a phenomenon that we have not seen before. The scenery is magnificent here but then we have found that the scenery has been stunning everywhere we have been up here (other than the towns) This anchorage is large and can accommodate a lot of boats and this bay is where we have seen the most amount of boats up here (8) – due to it being later in the summer, it is definitely getting busier up here.

Day 38 - Juneau to Tracy Arm

2011-07-11T10:46:00.000-07:00

Shaman playing in the Bergs

Bubble Feeding Humpbacks

Photo D. Thompson

Being towed - Broken Motor (waaaaaaaahhhhh)

Photo D. Thompson

Haley Gunkholing in Ford's Terror with Mike

With the Crozier precious cargo on board (Haley), we head off back to Tracy Arm to start the trip south. There are commercial fish openings everywhere with seiners in one area, gillnetters in another area and trollers and long liners lazily inching along. We see lots of humpbacks but none very active. It’s a beautiful sunny day interspersed with a few rain showers. The seas are flat calm and we arrive in Tracy Arm in about 5 hours. We head off to Fords Terror to our favourite anchorage and everyone hops in their dinghys to go up the rapids into “Fords Terror” – we missed this particular section last time in as we simply ran out of time. I opt to stay on board and putter about. When we go out gunkholing and someone stays behind, we always leave the vhf radio on. But due to the area we are in, the radio contact is sporadic. I hear lots of yelling on the radio and wait in anticipation to hear what was going on in the inlet. One by one, they all make it back through the current driven river with Bob coming in last with something in tow. It appears that “Peaaire” (tender to Oceanaire) is peopleless and on a lengthy rope being towed in. There are some grumpy faces a missing piece of “skeg” (sp?) off of the bottom of Daves dinghy motor. And then the ribbing starts….. it appears that all of the dinghies very carefully went up river as there were large boulders to be traversed, and all but one of the dinghies when returning went slowly out. Peaaire was anxious to get back to the big boat as she lept over the waves and straight over a large boulder breaking the shaft on the bottom end of the motor. Always happy to help out a friend, we take on shore duty with Scupper with our dinghy. Surprisingly enough, I though if anyone was going to do damage to their dinghy, it would have been Mike (Crazy River Runner that he is) --- guess the calming influence of Haley was good for our dinghy!

Day 36 & 37 - Juneau

2011-07-03T13:32:00.000-07:00

Mendenhall Glacier - Juneau - Photo H. Crozier

The Trade of the century - Vodka for Tanner Crab

Fourth of July in Juneau is actually celebrated on June 3. Fireworks are weather permitting tonight in Juneau at Midnight. Don't know if we can stay awake that late, but it might be worth it. Naps for everyone!

A "rent a wreck" was had by the group these few days to shuttle groceries, booze and laundry down to the marina. Yo can easily travel the town by bus, but there are too many heavy items to lug around that splitting the cost of a van makes economical sense. The neophytes have headed up to Mendenhall Glacier this morning and then a quick ride into town to see whats what. There are 10,000 people in town today with 5 cruise ships at the cruise terminal. There has been a steady stream of helicopters over our heads heading up to the glacier as the current tourist fad is to take the helicopters up to the glacier and go dog sledding. It feels like apocolypse now around the marina. There are at least 25 large jet driven boats that are taking cruise ship guests out to see the whales. Some of the boats carry upwards of 100 people. I guess if it keeps the economy going, then the residents put up with it.

Gunkholing this afternoon through the "ditch" to Juneau as the book says we can't do it by big boats. Off early tomorrow morning to start heading south. First stop to be Taku Harbour or there abouts and then an evening stop to see Fords Terror. We will be out of range until we hit the US Canada Border, so look for updates in about a week to 10 days!

Day 35 - Swanson Harbor to Juneau

2011-07-02T20:57:00.001-07:00
Lots of whales this morning and a flat calm ride to Juneau to pick up our friends daughter, Miss Haley!

Day 34 - Swanson Harbour

2011-07-02T20:54:00.000-07:00

Swanson is a split bay with a spit in the middle

One of the two docks in Swanson

"Ladner Lass" coming out of Swanson at low tide

Two state docks greet us at the end of the bay but they are called floating docks as there are no ramps to shore even though they are on pilings. One of the docks has our friend from way back in Cashman Bay, the Mary L (Dennis and Mary Lou) . We are first in and opt to go to the empty dock. This is our most difficult docking yet, the wind is howling and the current is flowing against us as we try and tie up, Its takes both of our muscle power to winch the boat into the dock. Even with the motor running in forward, its still a struggle to keep the boat at the dock. A quiet night here for our little herd to celebrate Canada Day! A great meal at Chez Marko’s and a few drinks with the tolly that comes in with people from Juneau and their friends from New York.

Day 33 - Hoonah

2011-07-02T20:53:00.000-07:00

We head out at 9:00 am Alaska Time (not 7:15 am like Dave Time) after rousting all of the fisherman to untie their boats from our boats. It felt kind of good rousting them all up with their pounding heads! Its calm and rainy through South Inian pass which we are trying to hit at slack tide as the currents can go up to 6 knots and with the ocean swell coming in from the Gulf of Alaska, there have been known to be 15-20 ‘ standing waves in this pass. We luck out until we hit Point Adolphius. The wind is now 20-30 knots and the tide converging on this point make for a rough couple of hours. Lots of things flying around in the cabin, but its all I can do to sit in my chair and hang on. The dog is terrified and the cat is laying flat under the bed with all four paws splayed, claws dug into the carpet, to keep from bouncing in the air! Cats can experience zero gravity too! Its too bad that its so rough as there are at least 30-35 whales bubble feeding in the riptide inbetween the large waves. Mike is busy dodging whales and tide lines of kelp and puff kelp and the inside of my boat sounds like its breaking to pieces. I manage to get some good shots of Ladner Lass pounding through the rough water and we are thankful when we make it into calmer water behind Hoonah Island!
There aren’t a lot of people around in Hoonah, they must be all snuggled up inside with their wood burning fires. This town boasts one of the largest “ziplines” but the weather is too nasty to see about going on the zip line this trip. There’s not much too this town, except for the marine store at the head of the ramp at the marina. The boys make a beeline for the store and the ladies make a beeline for the grocery store. Getting your boat fueled up here is a unique experience. Due to the huge tide fluctuations here and the absence of a floating fuel dock, the towns only fuel dock is way up in the air on an anchored dock. The fuel attendant lowers the hose from about 25 feet up and there a ladder that you can climb to go up and pay. We opt to pay in cash as Mike is afraid of heights and it’s a long way down if I slip. We opt to have the bucket lowered with our bill and we put the cash in the bucket to pay our fuel bill. In all of our years of boating, we have never seen anything like it! This morning low tide was a minus 3 with a high of 14.5 feet, a 17 foot swing, makes for a long drop of the fuel hose!

Day 32 - Elfin Cove

2011-07-02T20:52:00.000-07:00

Arch Rock in front of Elfin Cove

"On the Edge" with the glaciers

Dave and Penny and the dogs being taunted by the sea lions

Sunset in Elfin Cove

Hows this for a boat name?

Tufted Puffins

A full breaching humpback

"Ladner Lass with a stunning Glacial background

Marko's first halibut

A raft of Sea Lions

A beautiful cruise up Lithianski Channel to Cross Sound brings us back out to the open ocean before turning right and back into protected waters. We stop to fish and the others head into Elfin Cove. I have been on Puffin Alert since Sitka and it was my lucky day as Mike and I spot about 8 of them swimming beside the boat as we head in to tie up. They are a strange looking bird with their mane of platinum hair and bright orange oversized beaks and red rimmed eyes! I was lucky to get some good shots of them before they dive and make a swift getaway.
This is one of our more memorable stops. Elfin Cove is a mish mash of board walks with a small store, fishing lodges, a Laundromat and the stopping place for the fish boats to fuel up and ice up. There are a plethora of whales, dolphins, sealions, sea otters and birds in the area. When we went gunkholing, we stumbled into the rip tide where about 30 curious sea lions follow us around. They are an intimidating sea creature with their immense size and rows of sharp teeth. Curious sea lions have been know to board boats if there is something they want. They are entertaining us with full back flips and jumps out of the water and they spy hop three quarters of the way out of the water to have a good look at the dogs. The dogs are both on Dave’s tender and Penny has to restrain our dog with a rope as he is liable to fall over in his excitement in seeing all these Sea Lions. What a fun display! Meanwhile over on the boys boats, Marko has caught his first halibut, a nice 65-70 lb halibut for good eating and freezing! Lots of fish are being caught and my little sealing machine is working hard!
The next day is dreary and raining, but we decide to go out whale watching anyways. Soaked to the skin and cold, but it was worth it getting to see these mammoth whales jumping out of the water. Some more awesome photographs!
While at the dock, we befriend some young folks that are preparing to go out for the opening of salmon fishing (trolling) on midnight of June 30th. They teach the boys how to tie up herring hook ups and clean our halibut in less than 5 minutes! We wish them luck in their new venture of owning fishing boats and selling their salmon in Texas! People are constantly coming and going in this little area as they are close to the outside for fishing. We ar forewarned that the fishing fleet is enroute and we will be inundated with small trolling fish boats. The third night and last night in Elfin proved their predictions to be correct. Both On the Edge and ourselves had 4-5 fishboats tied to us and it was a rowdy night! There are celebrations by the fisherman on the eve of their salmon opening like a bachelor party gone awry! Lots of loud music and partying by the young folks. Bob spent the night awake to make sure none of the fellows crossing his boat fall into the water, not to mention the rowdiness on their bow as they are crossing to get to their boats. Oh to be young again!

Day 31 - Pelican

2011-07-02T20:35:00.000-07:00

Hunting and fishing is a way of life here

A local expresses his displeasure with our presence

Rose's World Famous Bar

Local Law Office in Pelican

A very picturesque town

Nothing but the Gulf of Alaska on the other side of these rocks

"On the Edge" Facing one way on a 90 degree turn, "Over the Edge" still catching up

A surprised Sea Otter

A beautiful trip, warm and sunny weaving our way through the back door bays and channels on the inside of the Gulf of Alaska. This area will be saved for another time as you could easily spend a week or so in all of the different bays and hot springs that this area has to offer. We make it into Pelican just before the deluge of rain hits us. Pelican is a former cannery town with boardwalk roads and lots of houses/cabins. Pelican is known for its once famous Ice Production in the fishing heyday, and the towns folks are trying to revive the ice plant part of the cannery for the fall. The denser the ice the more prized it is for the fisherman to ice down their catch (it lasts longer) -- The town is so named for a fisherman with a fishboat named Pelican. And here I thought we would be able to see Pelicans! We spend 2 days here at it is a quaint place and we meet a good group of people here in the World Famous “Roses” Bar. We go to the bar for cold beer and burgers and are treated to what it is famous for! A group of guys on a sailboat behind us in the marina are encouraged to staple a Dollar bill to the ceiling with their names on it, while standing on the stool – one of the fellows is intent on stapling his dollar bill, Rose, the 80 year old owner comes over and “Pants” the fellow, not just the outside pair of pants, but also his skivvies! It must have been cold in the bar! We have a good time that night and the next day, the boys go out fishing. A few salmond and some rockfish and the ever present story of the one that got away!

Day 29 - Sitka

2011-07-02T19:52:00.001-07:00

Russian Orthodox Church downtown Sitka

Seiner heading out to work

Eagle "In memorium" totem

Sitka Harbour at Sunset

A Tugboat that had a shorter life than expected

Frog Button Blanket worn by one of the protesters

Celebrating the Salmon on a hat

Halibut Fishing hook - Tlinget

Sitka is a lovely Alaskan town. The Russian influence is evident in their architecture and named streets. We went out to the Native Cultural center to view the totems and some of the items such as Sea Otter Pelts, button blankets, masks, woven bowls and fishing implements from the Haida and Tlinget. While there, a group of about 20 natives are having a peaceful protest. The majority of the Cultural center is about carvings, totems and historical artifacts donated by the Haida and Tlinget, the natives have apparently been shown the door and are not wanting to leave. There are armed park rangers all over the place and it’s a shame to see them at logger heads! Hopefully they sort it out, for now it’s a peaceful protest. The totems in the forest at the Cultural center are worth seeing and there are some great reading boards that explain the different style of totems and the meanings on the poles. Be it an “In Memorium” pole or a “Clan” pole.
At the Eliason Harbour marina that we are docked at, we run into fellow BYC member “Up Spirits” as they are dropping a guest off at the airport. It’s a very clean town and the people are so friendly and helpful. There aren’t many places we have visited that the folks haven’t been both forthcoming in local knowledge and very friendly. Because Sitka is a fishing town, “Ladner Lass” became a center of attention for most folks walking down the dock. Tours and questions about the origins of this lovely seine boat converted to a pleasure boat are asked all hours of the day and night. Oceanaire’s velvet ropes for tour line ups have been moved over to Ladner Lass for the duration of our stay and Jamie has had a wet cloth in her hand to wipe off the drool on her side deck from all those fisherman that are in awe of the Ladner Lass!
The ladies spent the afternoon, doing laundry and reprovisioning. The town has 2 grocery stores and3 Laundromats, we obviously picked the wrong Laundromat as half the machines are not working. Dining out in any new place can be both entertaining and satisfying or it can be a bad experience not to be repeated. We enjoyed both sides of the epicurean coin here. We had a disastrous meal the first night at the “Dockside” café – recently opened (that should have been a dead giveaway!) --- over charged meals and under rated food! Shame on the manager for not coming over to make it right! Cold lumpy fish tacos and warm salad with waterlogged greens small bits of bad tasting seafood. On the flipside, we went to the Chinese food restaurant and picked up Chinese food the second night. It was hot and yummy and reasonable!! We highly recommend Bayswater Café(Lunch Stop)and the Chinese food place in town for restaurant dining in Sitka. Don’t bother with the Dockside Café until there is a management change! The wait staff are good but spend too much time being apologetic for things not in their control.
We are good to go with food and booze and clean laundry and will depart at 5:00 to head up on the outside of the open ocean and head over to a little town north called Pelican.

Day 28 - Appleton Cove to Sitka

2011-06-22T17:43:00.000-07:00

Black tail deer on the point

Appleton Cove in the sunshine

Our neighbor in Appleton Cove

Wild Iris on the riverbank

Lots of rapids and narrow passes today. We go with slack water and it is a non-event. Lots of wildlife enroute to Sitka, whales, deer but no bears. Just as we get to go though Whitestone pass (Lots of markers, buoys and range markers and very narrow) – Oceanaire and Ladner Lass manage to get caught in the pass with the Highspeed Catamaran “Fairweather”. A pull out to let the Catamaran Ferry pass and all is well. The mountains on the islands surrounding Sitka are amazing. Lots of 4000 to 8000 year old extinct volcanos. Off to see the puffins and do some sightseeing for the next three days. I hope to get some time over the next few days to update all of the photographs while we are here. Another week to 10 days and we start our return trip home.

Day 27 – Baranof Warm Springs to Appleton Cove

2011-06-22T17:42:00.000-07:00

Our boats on the state dock in Baranof Warm Springs

Waterfall coming down from Baranof Lake

Penny enjoying a dip in the hotsprings

Oceanaire in Baranof Warm Springs

Jamie taking a breather from the hot water

Resident mask carver on the dock

Mike and Kobi taking a dip

Baranof Lake

Japanese bath in the warm springs bathhouse

Lots of dolphins this morning, a few fish boats out and two whale sightings. Its actually quite hot today, we are cruising with all of our doors and windows open. Destination is a bit sketchy – the travelling is good and Peril Straits are fairly calm. Our two day destination is Sitka. We pulled into Appleton Cove for the evening and spent an uneventful night rafted to the Big Red Boat (“Ladner Lass”) -- Its quite windy in the bay and the whole bay is only about 25’ deep. We hold very well for night. We went gunkholing through the end of the bay and up into the small river at the head, could only get about a mile up the river. There are more iris’ growing up here, did some green thumb gardener come up here and plant them randomly or are they indigenous to the area? Lots of deer in the bay, but no bear sightings. Mike and Bob go out fishing before dinner but forget to take the cannonballs for the down rigger…..we laugh when someone cuts in on the radio and tells Bob he should never leave home without his balls!

We heard from Tony and Gayle yesterday and it appears they are already down on Grenville channel with a hold full of nice salmon!!!! They should be lapping up the sun in Desolation Sound in about a week!

Day 25 & 26 – Cashman Bay to Baranof Warm Springs

2011-06-22T17:41:00.002-07:00

Wild Iris' growing on the beach

A View through a mountain

Lots of Color on the beach - "Paintbrush"

Snowcrab shell?

Ever so watchful

Stern Tied in Cashman Bay

Lots of lazing Sea Otters enroute – but they do not stay to pose for our cameras. Another calm day and we head west to Baranof Warm Springs. All appears to be the same here with some cabins still hanging precariously over the edge. There is room on the state dock for us (rafted) and we decide to spend 2 days here so we all have a chance to take a soak! The next morning, three sailboats leave and Over the Edge and Shaman get their own spot on the dock. There are three bathhouses here and the natural hot springs (called the “Grotto”) and we get a chance to do both! No fisherman on the docks this trip – again for the most part, we are early for the fishing season as well. We have a lazy day and take a nice soak in the Grotto and a quick walk to Baranof Lake. The docks are in poor shape, but they are well used. Two fish boats anchored in the bay in the morning and a charter boats come and go all day long, ferrying their guests to shore for a soak. There are two sailboats on the dock that came in at 3:00 am after completing the first part of their sailing race. They race from Juneau have a mandatory rest stop in Baranof and head out in a few days back up to Juneau from the the south east channel. If they were to do it direct, its about a 70 hour trip (lots of becalming). We look for a carving left by Dave on the last trip but find only the screws left in the tree. That makes all the carvings left by Dave – gone to new homes!
Most of the big fish boats we have seen up here have what they call a “skiff” – a hulk of a steel squarish boat that they carry on the back of their boats and they use these boats to purse their fish nets when they are fishing. These skiffs have huge motors in them to give them the power to drag their nets around. When not fishing, the fish boats like to hang out in Baranof allowing crew to go back and forth to shore for trips to the hot springs etc. So why am I telling this story? Well….when coming back from the Grotto for our soak, Mike gets to the top of the ramp and sees Bob gesturing wildly with his hands (we know he not Italian so he is not having a civil conversation) with a member off of one of these “skiffs”……naturally the open space where these skiffs land is right on the bow of our boat! Mike knows immediately that or boat has been hit…..a big dint is seen on our bow with the crewman apologizing profusely about his accident. He goes to tget the captain off of the fishboat and we trade information just like in a car accident. When we get to Sitka, we will phone coast guard and get the “Claim Number” as the fishboat immediately phoned in to report the accident. No point in getting all huffy about it, it was an accident on their behalf.

We spent some time speaking to a local lady who lives in Baranof full time, we believe she is the owner of the “massage therapy” place as well as the expresso coffee café and store. She tells us that there are 12 cabins in “Baranof Proper” with residents numbering from 12-24 throughout the year. She is the only full time resident with three dogs to keep her company. Takes all kinds to live in this remote area!

Day 23 & 24 – Tracy Arm to Cashman Bay

2011-06-22T17:41:00.001-07:00

Dave & Penny checking to make sure we aren't lost

Disney Wonder appearing like the Titanic

The immenseness of this Fjord is apparent with the Disney Wonder

Tony, Gayle, Bob & Pat, enjoying Sawyer Glacier

Marko and Jamie enjoying the sites

Feeling small?

There is some wildlife around the glaciers

This Berg makes a nice seagull bridge

You could park a couple of semi trucks under this berg

Sawyer Glacier with a tight ice pack around it

Another natural work of ice art

It’s a sad morning, Tony and Gayle (“Gulf Island”)have made this their turnaround point and will be leaving at 5:00 am to head south to start making their way to Vancouver. Work awaits them July 4th. A lot of pear cider was consumed the night before and we send them packing with hangovers at 5:10 am. They want to leave themselves lots of time to get home in case they have to wait out bad weather. They should be in Prince Rupert in a few days and they will make their way home safely and slowly!
The rest of the herd makes its way south and then west with a stop on Admiralty Island and into Cashman Bay. We pass only one other boat enroute and arrive in Cashman to see two other boats anchored in there. We meet the “Mary Lou” who is the equivalent of Coast Guard Auxillary and see them again in Baranof Warm Springs. While we are eating dinner, we see a crab boat come in the bay to drop her pots and two other large charter boats drop anchor at the head of the bay. Having not seen many boats up here, it now starting to feel quite busy. We see a grizzly on shore in the morning and a deer and her fawn on the other shore. The most wildlife we have seen in any Alaskan Bay this trip. We do some gunkholing into the next bay and Mike goes out fishing. A nice spring salmon for dinner and we all keep wondering how Gulf Island is making out. Its been difficult getting both Cell and Internet – my apologies for the delay in reporting back to you all on a more timely basis!

Day 22 – Tracy Arm – Sawyer Glacier

2011-06-22T17:38:00.000-07:00

You Try heaving 20 tons out of the water!

Humpback in Full Breach

A leisurely 2 hour cruise from one end of Tracy to the other to “Tracy Harbour” for an anchoring to go and sightsee the north part of Tracy Arm. Enroute, we stop to watch whales at the entrance. Gulf Island opts to go fishing while On the Edge and ourselves hang out watching the whales. Stroke another item off of Betty’s Bucket list! 3 Full breaches by an adult whale with the camera clicking away furiously. Oceanaire and Ladner Lass are already through the entrance and playing in the ice bergs while we await the Disney Ship “Wonder” to go into Tracy Arm to view the Sawyer Glacier.
Its truly a wonder to see these 30 to 40 ton animals jump clear out of the water and then there is a brief pirouette and a flop back into the water. I use the word pirouette loosely as they do a 180 degree spin mid air and do an actual side flop back into the water. We watched them previously rubbing their bellies on the rocks on shore, probably to get some of their barnacles off! I only have a humpback whale bubble feed, puffins and a moose on shore to capture in my camera viewfinder on this trip and I will have a hat trick of trip goals (life goals) to get
We all anchor separately in the bay as there is a worry of the cruise ship swells coming into the exposed anchorage and bashing us around, so a 5 boat raft is not ideal here. We see the boat “Seawolf” is anchored in this bay (we saw them in Wrangell and then in Sandborn Canal) -- Dinghies are prepped and gloves and touques are the order of the day (having learned that glove and hat trick from Dawes Glacier run) – and we head off for what we think is an 11 mile trip to the Sawyer Glacer. It is in fact, double that in mileage one way --- the wind and tide are making the seas lumpy all the way into the glacier, but we make it as close as we can get before it is too choked with ice to go any further. We encounter a cruise ship coming out (Carnival Cruise Lines) and when we get right into the glacier, we see the Disney Wonder in close. The optical illusion when we first saw the cruise ship in the bay looked like her bow was on the rocks and that they had hit an iceberg…..as we got up closer, she is quite aways off of the cliff face and is about 50 yards off of a rather large iceberg. You can see from the photographs above how it looked when we first arrived. We decide we will turn around and go out in behind the cruise ship as she is clearing up an ice-free path on her way out. Judging from the people out on the decks, we will be in many souvenir cruise ship photographs. Sawyer Glacier appears to be calving quite a lot more than the Dawes glacier as we cannot even get close and judging from the amount of ice bergs in the bay, its been calving a fair amount. We find it a lot warmer in the sun here as the cliffs appear to be higher and the bay smaller. This is truly one of the most scenic arms we have been in with fjord like mountains, lots of greenery, lots of snow fields and a lot of happy smiley faces around us! By the time we get back to Tracy Harbour, there are another 7 boats anchored in the bay – where did they all come from and where are they all going?

Definition of Calving: this is not the official thesauraus definition, but it will explain the meaning --- Calving is the falling off of big chunks of the Glacier into the water. This falling down of the ice creates a tremendous thunder noise and is accompanied by a small wave - or bigger wave if a larger piece of ice falls off.

Day 20/21 – Sandborn Canal to Tracy Arm – Dawes Glacier

2011-06-22T17:37:00.001-07:00

Green Glacial water around our boats

Ladner Lass in the bergs

Oceanaire Peaking out of the Bergs

Playing in the Bergs

Berg in the shape of a bird?

A balancing Act

Orion Mini Cruise Ship - Next stop Japan

Abundant waterfalls in Fords Terror
This is one of our all time favorite stops. We anchor and stern tie in a small bay just off of the river that takes you into “Ford’s Terror” -- we share our day with a small charter boat and watch the ice bergs swirling around just outside of our bay. There is a big sandbar that prevents the larger bergs from entering our bay but some of the smaller pieces do make their way into the bay. In the morning we will take the dinghies and go into Dawes Glacier.
Dawes Glacier – Happy Birthday Gayle! Marko has the rack of lamb on the menu for your birthday dinner! A bright sunny day and off like a whirling dervish we go in our dinghies up to Dawes Glacier. The sun might be out, buts its very cold out. Note to self – wear gloves next time. While in the glacier, a small cruise ship “Orion II” enters and drops off quite a few tenders and passengers to go up to the front of the glacier. Again – compared to 2008, there is very little ice in the bay and very little calving going on. Its still a beautiful sight, but not nearly as exciting when there is no calving going on. The Orion makes it way into the bay and is in view of the glacier. There must be a 1000 seals in here with their pups. It’s a safe place to bear and raise their pups away from Sea lions and Orca. A few small bits of the glacier fall off but nothing of note. Back to the boats to watch the final Game of the Stanley Cup. The Orion II anchor in the outer bay of where we are and again they send their passengers in by tender to Fords Terror. Ford’s Terror is so named for a crewman of Captain Vancouver who stayed too long in the bay and due to the tidal bore action could not come out for 6 hours, Mr. Ford was truly terrified that he would not make it out to the main ship because they could not row against the tide and were stuck inside for a full tide swing!
What a disappointing end to a fine hockey season and 4 series of playoff games. Then to hear on the news that the riots etc. have broken out in Vancouver with looting, overturned cars etc. Its almost like seeing shots of Tripoli or the Gaza strip on the TV. I hope all the perpetrators get found and prosecuted!

Day 20 - Petersburg to Sandborn

2011-06-22T17:36:00.000-07:00
Off we go exploring places we have not been to before. After a 5 hour travel day, we arrive in Hobart Bay – Sandborn Canal. Another beautiful bay with killer scenery. Still no wildlife on shore, lots of whales and such, but no deer, bear or moose. We watch a disappointing Game 6 that night and do some crabbing and gunkholing. We are amazed that there is no sign of bears or anything on the shore. Dave and Penny opt to go exploring while the rest of us are watching the hockey game - it will be good when this hockey business is done so we dont have to find an anchorage or dock where we can get Satellite TV to cheer on the Canucks!

Day 19 - Petersburg

2011-06-22T17:35:00.001-07:00

Safe haven from orcas and sealions to raise her pup

"Iceberg dead ahead Captain!"

Ice Sculptures

Ever changing works of art

I wonder how old those rocks are that are lodged in this ice?

Moose tracks on the beach

Room for one more?

LeConte Glacier from afar

A bit of rain and sunshine today! We make arrangements with Breakaway Adventures for a pick up in Petersburg to go into LeConte Glacier. It a 6 hour day on the jet boat into the Glacier from the other side. We stop at one of the channel markers where we see 7 or 8 stellar sea lions jockeying for position on the buoy. They are not happy with the intrusion. The bull and his harem make all sorts of snarling noises at us to let us know that we are in their space. We stop briefly at an island where we see a dead porcupine, moose tracks and Marko tries eating some “Puff” kelp. There is lots of greenery on land and a few flowers, mainly ‘paintbrush’ and “lupin”. There is quite a bit of ice in the outer bay of LeConte so we only get in part way to see the glacier. We all get chunk of souvenir ice to take back with us for Martini’s! For the group who have been in here before we are disappointed for the rest of the group that did not get to see and hear the glacier “Calving” and to hear the accompanying thunder sound when the ice chunks hit the water. We feel it is probably too early and still too cold for a lot of calving to be seen as the previous two times that Mike and I have been in there, its been mid July.

Day 18 - Petersburg

2011-06-22T17:34:00.000-07:00

The tug we passed in Wrangell Narrows with the Squirrely Barge!

Every size of fishboat can be found here!

In memorium Statue to those who lost their lives to the sea

Ladner Lass looks pretty small next to some of these bruisers

Ravens as large as some dogs

Note the sign on the door

Who names their boat this anyways?

Huh?

Another fine cruising day to Petersburg! How lucky are we! In order to get to Petersburg, we have to use a pass called “Wrangell Narrows” --- which is just that – “Narrow”. There are range markers and buoys all the way through this 20 mile channel with the tide running part way in your favour and the other part against you. Today we are realizing a 4 knot push and a 3 knot against us current, but the trusty . Travelling just ahead of us a US Coast Guard cutter (about 75 feet). We monitor the radio and hear that about ½ way through, the Coast Guard Cutter is pulling over to let by a tug and barge that the skipper of the tug says is a bit squirrely…..not knowing what that means, we also pull over in when we hear that the tug and barge are close to us (all the markers in the channel are numbered so we know he is getting close) --- now we know what the meaning of a “squirrely barge “ is --- the barge was on a short tether to the tug but swinging widely side to side behind the tug. Good thing we pulled over and waited. The tug and barge was an exciting event in our day! Oh - except for maybe Tony who managed to pick up a crab trap in his prop, lucky he was able to cut the rope off and continue on in without having to dive in and cut the rope. It was tax free day in Wrangell today including fuel. Oceanaire decides to fill up to take advantage of the lower pricing. However --- even with the discount, it cost more to fuel up in Wrangell than it cost all of us in Ketchikan! Guess Dave’s not buying dinner tonight! Speaking of dinner --- we ordered Chinese food in for dinner and that was quite the experience. The owner must have been stiffed a lot on his deliveries --- after ordering, he phoned us back and picked up our fella’s to go and pay before he even starts cooking our order – lots of Dine and Dash going on up here?

Petersburg is a town of about 5000. The majority of people in this town are involved in one or another with fishing. The town was settled by Norwegian fisherman well over a hundred years ago. Reading the names on the memorium statues to those who have lost their lives to the sea, there are generations of the same family listed. There is a large seafood processing plant in the heart of town and the docks are filled with all sizes of fish boats. As with most towns involved with fishing, there is considerable slow down here. They get a few small pocket cruise ships in but thus far, this quaint town is untouched by the mammoth cruise lines.

Day 17 - Wrangell to Petersburg

2011-06-11T14:07:00.000-07:00

Sunset at 11:30 pm in Wrangell

"Elephants Nose"

Humpback enroute to Wrangell

Another beautiful cruising day – a bit of rain and then bright sunshine when we reach Wrangell. We get moorage in the Heritage Marina. There are three to choose from in Wrangell and the optimum one is the inner harbor. We are about ½ mile from town, so in the water the dinghies go. A little shopping and and nice breakfast out. We were going to take the Le Conti Glacier tour from here but it would have added 3 hours onto the tour as we would have gone through Petersburg. We opt to see if we can get a tour out of Petersburg. The tides are not conducive for even the jet boats to use “Dry Straits” as part of their route into the glacier. Dry Straits do exactly that at low tide as it’s the delta for the Stikine River. We spend a nice day in town with a “greasy spoon” breakfast and some shopping. Hockey Game on tonight, so we make sure we are back in time to get the game! It will be nice when this series is over so that we aren’t tied to making sure we are somewhere where we can get satellite. When we were in Wrangell 7 years ago, we met a character by the name of “Doc.” We were not able to get any information on the whereabouts of Doc on our last trip in 2008, but did see his boat – “Zimovia” – at the docks still. The harbor master told us this trip that Doc managed to put his boat on the rocks and was in the Philippines somewhere cruising for a new wife. There is a whole story behind meeting Doc in 2004 and the most hospitable treatment he gave to us in our stay in Wrangell. We were sorry to hear that he has lost his boat and things are a bit awry in his life.
We head out in the morning to Petersburg. Just as we pull out, “On the Edge” backs up and promptly leaves her dinghy behind --- WTG Bob! There were all sorts of salvage claims in the group for the “Over the Edge” but Bob beat us back to his own dinghy.

Day 16 Meyer Chuck to Wrangell

2011-06-11T13:47:00.000-07:00

F/V Savage as in the book "Fishes & Dishes"

George planning how to escape

A woven work of art in the forest

A beach find - Sea Urchin picked clean by a Sea otter

Phone booth only used for nesting now!

A long day of cruising today to make the run into Wrangell. Through Narrows and against current. Its a beautiful sunny, flat cruising day and we arrive in Wrangell around 2:30 ish. We would have been earlier but it appears that we thought that we left George the Cat in Meyers Chuck. With heavy heart and a bag of kitty treats, Betty borrows the whaler from "On the Edge" and makes her way back to Meyers Chuck to find the cat. I didn't hold out much hope that we were going to find little George, but it was worth a try.... After crawling in and out all of the boats on the dock for about 20 minutes, I get a radio call from Mike saying he found the cat sleeping comfortably on the chair on the bridge! The only place we didn't look! Releived, I head back to the boats who are just drifting in Union Bay with a few lines in the water. From now on, better Lockdown procedures for George!

Wrangell is a quaint town with very little industry due to logging slowdowns and no cruise ship business to speak of. A few taverns, couple of hardware/marine stores and a couple of grocery/Liquor stores.

Day 15 - Kasaan to Meyers Chuck

2011-06-11T13:45:00.000-07:00

The bustling metropolis of Meyers Chuck

The Sunsets here around 10:30 - 11:00 pm

Quarter anyone?

Another beautiful sunny day with a light northwest wind and slight chop on the water. Its no wonder Kasaan Bay has no fish (salmon) left, there is a pod of approximately 6 Orca cruising back and forth the in the inlet the entire time we are in there. This resident pod must have cleaned out the bay of any type of salmon and feed fish to keep themselves going! We see them in front of the docks when we wake up and they are slightly ahead of us almost all the way out of the inlet.

Nice four hour cruise to Meyers Chuck. A little artists’ colony of sorts with a little art gallery and some gift type items for sale. A nice quiet settled dock with a iller view of Clarence Strait. While there some of us purchase the book “The Fishes and Dishes” Cookbook. What a great read! It’s written by three ladies and a few other co-authors and is a mix of recipes and stories of the ladies that crab and fish in the Bering Strait and other areas of Alaska. Kiyo and Tomi Marsh and Laura Cooper. Look it up and purchase it – it’s a great read and has some great recipes in it.

Day 14 - Kasaan

2011-06-09T09:38:00.000-07:00

A raven eating one of Marko's cherry pits

Black Lily (native flower)

Yoshi the fish master contemplating todays stradgy

State Dock in Kasaan

Martin Crosing the beach

Baby Eagle feasting on Halibut stuffs

Kasaan is noted for its Totems and longhouse – they were moved here in the early 1930’s by the Haida. There are 52 fulltime residents here, a school, library but no store or any other amenities. We are all parked on the “State” dock which there are many of in the State of Alaska. They is no charge to moor here and the docks are very well built. These docks need some TLC and while we are here, a team fly in to do some estimating of the repairs and replacements that are required for these docks. Some of the docks have been handed over to the local residents to maintain but we think that most are still state maintained. The docks go a bit awash during high tide and early evening due to a stiff breeze that seems to kick up. The first night here, there is very little sleep for most of us. It's a bit rocky rolly, so the next day, Oceanaire, Shaman II and On the Edge move to the inside of the docks.

We opt to stay here an extra day - its a beautiful spot and has lots to see and do. At high tide, we head over by dinghies to see the totems and longhouse. They are in such a beautiful setting, its hard to believe that they were transported here so many years ago! The long house or "Whalehouse" (as they call it here)is showing a lot of its age with lots of rot and a bit of roof falling in. The residents have taken up a collection to raise money to re-build. The photographs do not do it justice! The last time we were here (2008), we did not walk the trail to the end, this time we do and are rewarded by finding the cemetary. There was much that must have gone wrong in 1927 as the majority of headstones death dates are marked 1927.
Kids fish off the dock at dinnertime and they are successful in catching a few "Doly Varden" -- they are pestered by an immature eagle for the fish they have laying on the dock. We are not sure, but the eagle does not look like an immature bald eagle, but rather an immature golden eagle. The locals tell us he was kicked out of the nest early and has learned to be an opportunist on the dock. Te locals have been feeding him with some of their catch. Hopefully he weathers the winter without handouts.

In the afternoon, the boys head out fishing to further their derby standings. Lo and behold both sets of fisherman are checked by the State Trooper to ensure they are properly licensed and that all aboard have fishing licences. Imagine in the middle of nowhere that this would happen! Some resident obviously didn't like that we were there. The residents have been successful in a 10 year fight in getting rid of the commercial fishery in their bay/inlet. I guess increasing the population by 20% was a bit of worry to them on their fish stocks. To celebrate this win, the residents are having a crabfest on the 18th of June. We were not successful in crabbing, but prawning was good and Bob managed a catch of a 50 lb halibut.I see a fish fry in our future!

In 2018 the tiny town will host the meeting of clans with a show of war canoes - they are starting preparations now. That might be a good year to come back!

Day 13 - Ketchican to Kasaan

2011-06-07T11:27:00.002-07:00

Our young feathered friend

Haida influenced Totem

View from our boats of Kasaan Harbour

Marko having a quiet moment

Totem in the Bush at Kasaan

Kasaan Longhouse or "Big House"

Kasaan is located on Prince of Wales Island, a short hop from Ketchican. Prince of Wales Island boasts the longest road networks on any of the islands – connecting the towns of Thorne Bay, Craig, Klawock, Hollis, Hydaburg and Kasaan.The day dawns bright and sunny but a brisk wind is blowing down Tongass Narrows fairly strong (20 knots).. The vhf radio weather reports starts with wave heights in most areas being between 8 to 11’. It doesn’t look promising to leave, but we attempt it anyway. A quick fuel stop before leaving ketchican – with prices being $4.39 a US gallon (@$1.00 lt) for diesel and $3.69 for gasoline. After poking our noses out, its fairly flat all the way across Clarence Straight to Kasaan Bay. Weather forecast look shot and sunny for the upcoming next few days (Hot being 70-75 degrees)

Day 12 - Ketchican

2011-06-07T11:27:00.001-07:00
A day of rest and repair. We spend the day in town getting reprovisioned, with Gulf Island hunting down the part she requires to fix her second motor. We rent a minivan in town and do some sight seeing and shopping. On our two previous visits, we have not ventured past the tourist part of town, so it was nice to get around town to explore a bit. We went to Totem Bight where there are many Tlingit Totems and a Haida women is rebuilding a longhouse. There are more eagles than you can count in town, with them hanging out at fish cleaning troughs and fish processing plants. Opportunists to say the least!
The price of food and liquor is at least 40% less than at home but be forewarned that no-one takes Canadian money here and the banking machines do not except Credit Union debit cards for cash withdrawals. Visa/MC and American $ is what you will need to do any purchases in Ketchican. Game 3 of the Stanley Cup playoffs is playing in most of the pubs in town. It turns out to be a disappointing night for hockey!

Day 11 - Prince Rupert to Ketchikan

2011-06-07T11:26:00.001-07:00

The New Disney Wonder in Ketchikan

Ketchikan Totem Park Long House

The representative on the pole of clan "Thompson"

A young Eagle going cross eyed having a stare down

"On the Edge" proving who has the the right of way

5:00 am departure again – Sunny with no fog leaving Prince Rupert! Flat calm crossing through to the top of Dundas Island. Once we round the corner to Dixon entrance we are greeted with long and low ocean swells. A pod of half a dozen killer whales greet us at the top of Dundas Island. Lots of boats fishing the area but we don’t see any fish being caught. All in all a good crossing. “Gulf Island” experiences some engine problems while leaving Prince Rupert when one of his water hoses fall off. So their departure is delayed by about and hour and half. In that time, Prince Rupert is completely socked in with Fog. She makes her way across Dixon Entrance with no problem but experiences a problem with a filter off of one of her engines after they cross into Revilliago Channel. She manages to limp into Ketchican on one motor and we will hunt down a new part in the morning! We gain an extra hour in Ketchican with the time change up here.
Ketchican Harbor is thick with cruise ships again. “On the Edge” gets chased by one of the Celebrity cruise ships as she makes her way to Bar Harbor Marina.
We all clear customs in the late afternoon – we hear from the Customs lady that there were 18 pleasure craft cleared through customs the day before our arrival and 5 cruise ships today alone with it also being the once in 90 day cruise ship clearance – they are one busy bunch during the late spring to early fall crusing season. and head to the pub for a pizza to celebrate our good crossing. The wind picks up after we get docked and continues to blow strong most of the night.. Ketchikan population is approximately 12,000 with most geared to the tourism industry (cruise ships) – there is some fishing here (commercial) but the population decreased when the mill shut down in town.

Khutze Inlet - Grizzly Photographs

2011-06-04T12:43:00.001-07:00

Curious Cub

Dinner time!

What a pair!

I have another 100 photographs for this pair, so when blog ready, will post some more.

Day 10 – Bishop Bay to Prince Rupert

2011-06-04T12:25:00.001-07:00

Wright Sound at 5:00 am

Bishop Bay Hot Springs

Prince Rupert with the rain lifting

Grenville Channel on the inside passage

Another long day – 90 miles from Bishop Bay to Rupert. The weather does not sound promising for the next few days, so we may be spending extended time waiting out the weather for the opportunity to continue north. Game 2 tonight – hope we can moorage in Rupert as the yacht club cannot accommodate us.
Our first sighting of Orca today - A Female and her calf just having their morning nosh. Its pretty smooth sailing and we make the long day fun chatting on the radio to each other. The weather is a bit drizzly in spots but the ocean remains calm. When we arrive in Rupert, the sun pops out and we go to the pub for a good hockey game and some food.

Day 9 - Khutze to Bishop Bay Hot Springs

2011-06-04T12:23:00.000-07:00

"Kermode Bear"

This day goes down as a milestone in these few years I have spent on this earth. This was my day so I will proceed to hog this part of blog! Sometimes, it just has to be all about me. The day started out quite nice, peek of sunshine and a decent departure time of 7:00 am. After loading the dinghy back on the boat we head back out to continue north. As we head out of Khutze Inlet back onto Graham Reach -- I asked Mike to hug the shoreline on the Princess Royal Island side. For those that have been following this blog, you will remember that I have been on a quest for about 8 years to see the Kermode Bear. I had even toyed with the idea of hiring a guide out of Hartley Bay this year to take me on an excursion onto Princess Royal to find this beautiful bear. I have quite the collection of “Spirit Bear” paraphernalia given to me over the years because of my desire to see this bear.- Stuffed animal Spirit Bears, Crystal Spirit Bears, Bateman print Spirit Bears, photographs I have purchased etc. and a whole lot of books on this unique bear. I have spent many an hour with binoculars attached to my face, scouring the shoreline around Princess Royal looking for this bear. I have run into fisherman that have seen them, people that have hired guides on Princess Royal, Klemtu natives that have stories of this bear – Mike knows how determined I have been in searching this bear out. So my request to hug the Princess Royal shoreline while continuing our cruise north,was not an unusual request for Mike. About a mile down the channel, Mike tells me he has to do some minor repair to the dinghy on the back deck, so could I please drive and bear watch at the same time. At the same time, David comes on the radio and asks what I am doing – “Bear Watching?” -- I grouse “yes” and continue scanning the shoreline while at the same time keeping an eye on the water for logs and debris and making sure we don’t wander too far over to the shoreline!
White Rocks, bleached tree stumps keep my heart aflutter that maybe I was seeing the bear. Nothing for about half hour. Then all of sudden, one of those bleached tree stumps moved…….its the elusive Kermode bear “Spirit Bear”. I get so excited I yell at Mike at a scream pitch (He’s still outside on the back deck) – “Oh my God” – instead of being the good mariner that I have been taught to be, I leave the helm – in gear - and proceed running onto the deck with camera in hand. Mike comes running onto the bridge thinking that perhaps we were about to hit a reef…..good thing he didn’t have a heart attack --- I would have had a real dilemma on my hands! I grabbed my camera, ran to the front of the boat and started to take photos. Some are blurry, but no matter --- one of the items on my bucket list had been fulfilled! We eventually get on the radio and let the others know about this fantastic find on the shore and we all take turns with camera in hand.
We eventually make our way up to the Hot Springs, but they hold no appeal for me – I am glued to my computer looking at Kermode Bear photographs!
New boardwalk and a face lift to the hot springs greet us at Bishop Bay. It looks like there was a lightening strike and small fire that may have taken out the boardwalk at some point since we were last here. The big cinder block wall that used to be around the hot springs is gone, so now the hot springs should be called “Luke Warm” springs. Crab feast at Ladner Lass tonight with the catch of the day from Khutze. At Bishop Bay, a pair of fish boats come in with brothers on board. Turns out that they were behind us coming up Graham Reach and they also saw the bear, but got a bonus as they had 2 Kermode Bears come out for a showing! What a day!

Day 8 - Shearwater to Khutze Inlet

2011-06-02T08:03:00.000-07:00

Dreary but flat calm day

Klemtu on our left

Photo Gayle Robson

Breaching Humpbacks

Another dreary travel day. But no wind! Listening to the weather on the VHF radio this morning and its a good thing we made our crossing when we did. Its quite snotty down coast so our timing has been impeccable, thus far.

A good travelling day as we have to make a lot of miles today and we are hoping that the weather is calm. We all took different routes today, as there are many ways to get up into the inside passage if you are small like us (A no cruise ship zone!). We five all spider webbed out on different little routes and met back up again on Finlayson Channel. Some went through Jackson Narrows, some went through Oscar pass and some went right on the outside and came up the middle. The weather was settled enough and it was a good no wind day. Our route took us about half an hour ahead of the others so we missed the whale show. The group received a nice performance by some humpback whales, some breaching and some aerobics by these mammoth whales. Nice pix Gayle. While cruising today, we were listening to the VHF radio and it appears that the navy ship with all the young things on board enjoyed the hockey game too much last night, it appears that the Bar Manager left her purse on board the ship last night.
What a day! We managed to get into Khutze Inlet by early afternoon. After setting the anchor, Mike takes the dog to shore for his business. This inlet is one of our favourites! It’s truly one of the most spectacularly beautiful inlets on our coast. We have not been here for 2 years and sometime over that time period, there has been a huge slide in the bay. Other than the slide, all thing are as they should be in our favourite stop. A valley surrounded by steep mountains and waterfalls with a river coming down, split by a large delta. Due to the influx of fresh water (from the river and waterfalls) and the nice sandy bottom, the crabbing is awesome!
Not long after, the rest of the group make their way into the inlet, we hear on the radio that Penny has spotted a bear on the beach. Turns out that where Penny saw the bear, there was 2 of them - a grizzly sow and her cub. What do ya know, they are in the exact place on the shore that Mike had just let the dog ashore! The cub looked to be last years cub. They were not the least interested in us and continued foraging and eating the grass along the shoreline. We took the dinghies up the river to look to see if we can see anything else – no more bears, but I finally found my Harlequin ducks! After our little jaunt up the river, Mike, Gayle and myself headed over to see how Momma and her bay were doing. We sat and watched them for a while and then were lucky to witness one of the most poignant moments between the sow and her cub. The cub started crying and the sow immediately sat down and proceeded to nurse the cub. We quietly left and went to Ladner Lass for an awesome dinner. Oh --- I forgot about the crabs – gayle put her trap down as soon as we got there and just prior to going to bed, Mike dropped our trap. In the morning after the “dinghy the dog to shore” (to a different spot!) – I pulled up our trap and found 8 crabs with backs the size of the kitchen sink…..some had to have been 12” across their backs. Bob witnessing this great haul asks how long we are going to be in the bay and we told him throw his trap down anyways. After an hour and a half, Bob pulled up his trap and much to his amazement had 12 crabs – with 11 being keepers. Being the good friend I was, I offered to pull Gayles trap -- no crab?..... either her gates on her crab trap opened and allowed all the crab to escape or the interloper in our inlet who also had crab pots out with a similar buoy, accidently pulled Gayles trap and allowed the crabs to escape or took the crabs. Next time Gayle!

Day 7 - Fury Cove to Shearwater

2011-06-02T07:59:00.000-07:00

A barbeque on the beach poop out Dave and Scupper

An evening around the fire

An uneventful trip from Fury Cove to Shearwater. Yeah....no cooking tonight - pub dinner for all and Game 1 of the "Canucks get the Cup"!

Lots of changes at Shearwater! No power, no water and its not safe to walk your dogs far from the marina. A storm came through in February of this year with sustained winds of 115 knots (Hurricane force) -- its ripped all the docks apart and wreaked havoc with alot of the land stuff. Fuel is weirdly priced at the fuel dock with gasoline being cheaper than Diesel. No maka da sense! Gasoline is 1.39 and Diesel is $1.41 (Plus HST). The fuel dock attendant told us a story of his wife taking their dog for a run on the road - a pack of wolves snatched the dog away, even with his girlfriend tossing boulders at them. They must of really needed food! So Kobi and Scupper are allowed to do their business on the lawn in front of the pub. We haven't come this far for our babies to become wolf food. Speaking of animals --- George the cat is still on board and has made no attempt to leave the safety of the ship. When we have been anchored, he has made trips to the other boats but I find him sound asleep at the foot of the bed in the mornings! He must of really understood Mike when he was told that we would not be waiting for him to come home at any of our stops!

For those coming up to Shearwater this summer -- make sure you have enough water to get you to Ocean Falls for a water fill. The water in Shearwater is not potable.

A dreary day - with a heavy mist, but no fog and no wind.

Day 6 - Fury Cove

2011-06-02T07:32:00.000-07:00

All the members of the flotilla are enjoying the rest

Mike and Bob return from a successful fishing trip

Cruise Ship heading South

Our flotilla anchored in the bay

4:30 am comes early when you were up late, having a good time with your fellow travelers! Admiral Thompson sleeps in (tsk...tsk) and our departure is slightly delayed. Around 5:00 am we depart. We are greeted by a pair of humpback whales as we leave our anchorage, goes just great with your morning coffee. The sky is a bit overcast but there is no wind, or is it just dark still?. The ocean is very calm but here is a long and low ocean swell as we continue our trek north. Its gentle unti we get to Rivers Inlet and then it sort of acts like a washing machine, with waves coming in every direction. We suspect it’s just tidal action combined with the swell. It’s not hair raising, just slightly uncomfortable! Ladner Lass swore that they were putting their stablizers down to make for a smoother ride. There ar e a few parts to the "fish" (stabilizers), poles, fish (weights for the end of the poles) and a myriad of lines. Unbeknownst to the group, when the stabilizers were to be deployed, the fish part were not attached. Good thing he didn’t just throw them overboard! It would have been an expensive toss! Ladner Lass ended up doing the crossing just like the rest of!

By the time we arrive at Fury Cove, the sun is a blazing and it’s time to put the sunblock and shorts on! The boys go fishing and the rest of laze around, nap and go gunkholing around the area. This is truly one of our favourite stops and this bay marks the start of fairly flat, safe passage north, it’s all inside from here until Dixon entrance (Prince Rupert). There is a tradition if the weather permits that we have an barbeque and fresh French fries on the beach. The beach is white and sandy and we were lucky to see and hear humpbacks on the other side of our bay. Salmon, Chicken, corn on the cob and fresh cut French fries were had on an open fire on the beach. Does it get any better???

We had to anchor seperately in here because the bay had a lot of boats in it. All fellow travellers heading north.

Day 6 - Going Around Cape Caution

2011-06-01T13:53:00.000-07:00

Lots of seaspray from the rollers hitting the rocks

"Gulf Island" cruising along at Dawn

"Ladner Lass" heading out for Fury Cove

"Oceanaire" cruising along

"Starting to go down into the trough"

"Almost Gone"

Lots of surf breaking on the rocks

"On the Edge" picking her way through the rocks.

These photographs just demonstrate how bad it looked, but it didn't feel this bad! These swells were long and low - and with no wind, there was no chop! It really looks worse than it felt. Another safe crossing! And our virgin crosser "Ladner Lass" had a good go of it with no problems.

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Day 5 - Walker Group to Fury Cove

2011-05-31T06:06:00.000-07:00

"Stellar Sea Lions"

Big Bull keeping an eye on his Harem

A face only Momma would love

Threes not a crowd

A pose for the camera
What a beautiful travelling day – Sunshine a bit of a breeze, only a slight chop on the water. We depart Port Harvey at 7:00 and continue trekking north. By 2:00 pm, we reach our destination – Walker Group of Islands. A new stop for most of the group, Oceanaire and Shaman II last stayed here with Mariner Bob ! A toast to you Mariner Bob!
The boys head out fishing for the afternoon and the girls go gunkholing (dingy riding to see the sites!) With cameras in hand, we head out to a Sea Lion rookery. Stinky but with a "wow" factor! There is a huge male with a harem of 6 females. Everyman's nightmare!

Day 4 - Port Harvey to Walker Group

2011-05-30T08:40:00.000-07:00

Our Boats at Port Harvey Dock

The neighbors new aquistion - the old Mill Bay Ferry

Penny walking the dogs

Mama and twins across the bay

Relaxing in the afternoon sun

Found Floating - sponge

A new sponge growing out of one of the other old mussels

We woke up to a thick blanket of low clouds. A bit of rain overnight, but the forcast is good to travel to the middle of Queen Charlotte Strait today. A good travel day to get caught up on the blog and get some photographs posted!

Summer has arrived. What a beautiful afternoon we had. A bonus was a Grizzly bear sow and her two cubs (probably last years cubs) foraging for clams and such on the drying beach behind Port Harvey. Penny also found an interesting ocean find - a floating natural Sponge.

After a quick sleep we are out of Port Harvey at 7:00 am. A nice send off by Gail and off we head! Before hitting our pillows last night, it was decided that there would be a fishing derby over the duration of our trip. There are two teams - Ladner Lass & Gulf Island versus Shaman II and On the Edge. Oceanaire has admitted that he is not a big fisherperson, so he will run his own team. Fishing is in our future tonight I am sure.

Day 3 - Stuart Island - Port Harvey

2011-05-29T06:33:00.001-07:00

"Red Sky at night...yada yada yada"

Lots of Snow on the Mountains (Still)

As the Sign Says

Lots of Eagles hanging out for the Fish leftovers

Nice boats at the dock - tide running in the background

Stuart Island Community Dock

Sonora Lodge getting her electrical Generating supplies

A bit of wind is forcast today and we have heard from Gulf Island who has left Vancouver at 5:00 am and has intentions (god-willing no problems!) of meeting up with us in Port Harvey. It’s a bit choppy on the way up, but quite comfortable. We are looking forward to seeing Gail and George at Port Harvey. Port Harve is a nice jumping off point to get back out to Johnston Strait to continue our trek north. We landed in Port Harvey to be greeted warmly by Gail (George was out of town) – some great changes that will have the boaters coming back for more over the summer. We were treated to a grizzly bear and 2 cubs sighting in the drying bay around the back of the bay. Port Harvey has weathered the winter well and will be a delight to any boats that stop in this year!
After a 17 hour day, “Gulf Island” crept into Port Harvey at 10:00 pm. We warmed up some dinner (Homemade French Fries and Burgers – Wayne!) and I kicked the tired but happy bunch off of the boat at 11;30. Another fine day!.

Day 2 - Pender Harbour to Desolation Sound

2011-05-28T08:18:00.000-07:00

Arbutus (Mardona)Trees in Thulen Pass

Grief Point just before Powell River

Ladner Lass - Pender Harbour

Late Spring in Pender Harbour

George the cat is on board --- time to leave! Oceanaire and Ladner Lass pulled out at 7:00 am and we are not far behind. Light breeze and calm seas.
A nice cruising day from Pender Harbour to Big Bay. We are teaching flexibility to the group - original destination when we left Pender Harbour was Squirrel Cove but the tides/currents and timing allowed us to transit the rapids at slack tide and stop into Big Bay to the Stuart Island Community Docks. “Sambuca” will remember this style of cruising from 2008 Alaska Trip. Flexibility is the key Ladner Lass! The island is surrounded by rapids – Dents/Aaron’s/Yucultas and Gillard. The current is too strong for most boats to navigate through this area unless its slack tide and around the corner is the infamous “Hole in the Wall” – another set or rapids. So when the conditions are right, we go!
It’s been many years since we stopped at Stuart Island. There used to be a very nice marina with all the facilities and after it was privatized, the only game in town was Dent Island Lodge. For the ordinary boater, Dent is not an economical stop ($3.00/ft + $30.00-$50.00 power) – and since we are all quite ordinary, we have, in the last few years opted to rush through the rapids (at slack tide) and anchor on either side of Stuart Island. The site of the former marina is now a private golf course! Next door to the Stuart Island Community dock, is what used to be the only pub in the area – “The Wheelhouse Pub” – formerly owned by Oceanaire’s brother! It’s now a private residence for the family. We were fortunate to run into Oceanaire’s nephew, Tommy (the best guide at Stuart Island!) and saw his fabulous photographs of the 72 lb. spring salmon he caught last September (A record weight fish). We had a nice relaxing night watching a most beautiful sunset and slept to the sound of the roar of the rapids.
George has been on lockdown tonight as we are planning to catch the early.

Day 1 - Vancouver to Pender Harbour

2011-05-27T22:31:00.000-07:00

Looking North through Welcome Pass to Pender Harbour

Nice Yachit! MV Contessa (Part of the Washington Fleet)

Some Folks still at work!

Nice Travelling Day

I thought this day would never get here....you know that feeling of waiting for the last day of school to arrive? that's what this week has been like! Thankfully It's here now and we are on our way. There isn't a square foot of spare storage space to be found on the boat and other than produce, we should do well until we reach Alaska (and probably then some!)

On The Edge, Ladner Lass and Oceanaire left this morning and have had a nice relaxing day in Pender Harbour. They had a stern sea most of the way from Vancouver to Welcome Pass.

We left North Vancouver at 4:00 and made good time, arriving in Pender Harbour at 7:30 pm. Tide was ebbing so we had up to a 2 knot push - Saving fuel like crazy! It was flat and fairly calm when we got past Bowen Island and continued to be so all the way to Pender Harbour. It takes a keen eye to navigate the ocean anywhere around the lower mainland as the Fraser River is "Freshing" and leaving a fair amount of debris in the waters from Bowen Island to Welcome Pass.

Gulf Island is still in her boat shed, stressing because new parts are being made as I write this. With luck and preserverence, Gayle and Tony should be enroute on Sunday.

Just came back from a nice hot tub and will probably call it a night fairly soon. Tomorrow up at 6:00 am and up coast to Desolation Sound. George the cat is on the loose,having made a run for shore earlier this evening. Will he or won't he be here for the scheduled departure time?

Is it Friday Yet?

2011-05-22T21:43:00.000-07:00
The new top on the boat is installed - Yeah Brenda! (Custom Boat Tops) - not only was it done a week ahead of schedule, it looks great! Oil change on the motors tomorrow and I am awaiting a nice high tide to bring all the booze and groceries out of the cars down to the boat. For you landlubbers, we are awaiting a high tide so that the dock ramp is level and it's not on such a steep slope - much like hauling a wheelbarrow down a 50' ladder!

Meat has all been purchased, sorted and "sealed" and is happily frozen solid in the freezer. Supplemented with fresh fish, crabs and prawns, the occassional pub meal, we should be good for the time we are away. We have planned meals so that we are rotating meals between boats. Not a 100% sure if we are 3 or 5 in the rotation, but any night of no cooking is a bonus! A few more items crossed off of the never ending list of "Things to do" and it should be a nice short week until our departure day! My next post will be on Saturday - Day 1.

One More Week!

2011-05-20T07:26:00.000-07:00
We are starting to count down until departure day! We are sitting topless in a borrowed shelter (thanks Gordie!) -- We are attempting to get our new roof on as the old one is shredded! Nothing like waiting until the last minute!!

Lists upon lists are being made - some even have big lines through them with some of the jobs being completed. Gulf Island has new Diesels in and all seems to be running fine. "On the Edge" will be getting stocked up next week and ready for our Friday Departure.....no sign of Ladner Lass in her home, but I am sure she will be back in plenty of time to be re-provisioned, Oceanaire is lollygagging up at the outstation for the long weekend as they are old hats at this sort of thing and can basically be ready to depart in a day! Things are starting to fall into place and are as they should be!

Fishing licences are being purchased, dog is getting new border papers, cat will be in "lockdown" mode until we leave (he's a runner!), internet banking will have all the bills entered for while we are away, cars are being shuffled around so that we are not taking up valuable summer parking space at the "Compound" (Burrard Yacht Club) and this weekend, Betty will start her wheelbarrow pilgramage to the liquor store and back to the boat with valuable Mike commodity - "Beer". At the end of the day, whatever we have forgotten can be purchased along the way! Put your money on which stop we will lose George the Cat (he will be maintaining his facebook page while we are travelling! - add him as a friend - "George Davison" - city North Vancouver. I am sure that he will have lots to say about his first trip to Alaska.

Long term weather forcast looks good right now, but who knows, we are afterall heading into one of the forecasted doomsdays (May 21) --- perhaps we will be surfing on a Tsunami to Alaska! So if nothing happens this weekend, I will be sure to update the blog starting next Friday!

May 5, 2011

2011-05-05T06:40:00.000-07:00
Preparations are in the works to head north to Alaska again this year. The "New Top Phobic" Skipper (Mike) has had a wallet breakdown and we are putting a new top on the boat in preparation for this trip. For those not aware, we have been proud owners of Shaman II for over 13 years and our Top over our command bridge has seen better days, oh, perhaps 5 years ago. 5 years ago, we started with Porch sealer to re-seal the top against the elements....."Thompson's water seal" and over the years Mike graduated to putting on buckets and buckets of liquid plastic. This was all fine until he decided to clean the inside with some sort of toxic cleaner that lifted all the previous years layers of coating on our Bridge Top and over the past year we have these big chunks of plastic flying off everytime we cruise or have some wind. The leaks are back and we look like we have the pox. Mikes "Top" replacement phobia also extends to our car (Trans am Convertible) -- he has been handsewing the window back in place since the stitching started to rot out a few years ago. The car is over 20 years old and deserves a new top also!! But I Digress!

We are excited about heading north again and have slated new and old places on the cruising agenda. We are looking forward to dragging Dave and Penny around "the corner" again and are thrilled that the other three (Ladner Lass, Gulf Island & On the Edge) will be coming along! My book needs some blank pages filled on places we have not seen and things we have not experienced. Tune in often and comment often. We love to hear from you and your posts are quite often humourous.

July 22-23 - Port Harvey

2010-07-23T10:46:00.000-07:00
A bumpy ride down with winds of 40 knots on backs bring us into a full Port Harvey - we wanted to come down this far on the off chance we could take a run down Johnston Strait. It wasn't to be. The good folks at Port Harvey made room for us at the dock with "On the Edge" side tied to us. There are 1/2 dozen boats or more anchored in the bay as Port Harvey is packed right up.

July 21st & 22nd - Shawl Bay

2010-07-23T10:39:00.001-07:00
One last stop in before we head south, we stock up on good times with good friends and with a frown on our faces head south. We will be missing Turkey night at Shawl but will be sure to mark it on our agenda for next year. We feel bad as we did not visit alot of other places on this trip, but a family get together in Powell River has us heading south 2 weeks sooner than the end of our vacation.

We head out at the crack of 7:00 and head south to either Lagoon Cove or Port Harvey.

July 19th-20th - Booker Lagoon

2010-07-23T10:32:00.000-07:00
Amidst a pod of pacific white sided dolphins, we plod our way down to Booker Lagoon. One last crack at killing some halibut before we start our journey south. We have never stayed in Booker before so it was nice to go somewhere where we haven't been before. The boys go off fishing and I head out with my camera to look for the Dolphins that I had heard were in the bay. I obviously went to the wrong end as they were there but no sightings were had until we were leaving.

Fishing gods 3, boys zero. No fish!

July 15th - 18th - Deserter's Group

2010-07-23T10:27:00.000-07:00
The day dawns with bright blue sky and not a drop of wind. We have heard from Oceanaire who is tucked way up in Acteaon Sound behind Drury Inlet. We hope to catch up with them in a few days. A beautiful flat ride up to Deserters and the boys are anxious to get their fishing rods wet and catch some fish. Lots of boats poke their nose in but see us on the anchoring buoy and since there is not much swing room, they leave again.

The second day in our secure anchorage brings us crazy wind and again we swing around and around until we get dizzy! The boys have been beating themselves up trying to get fish, with a three wild coho that they release (there's a story coming up on this)

Bob manages to wrestle one coho onto the barbeque and we start to head south.

July 13 - 15th - Shawl Bay

2010-07-23T10:24:00.000-07:00
We meander our way up to Shawl Bay to see our old friend Lorne and Shawn and find that they are indeed busy and it has been a good year. We have missed Oceanaire by a day but hope to meet up with them in Turnbull Cove. A grizzly sighting in the bay behind Carol's (the bead lady) floathome and again over in the ditch leading to Moore Bay. The first time they have had this sighting, lots of black bears in the area, but not many grizzly. We have a relaxing time and after a 2 day stay head up to do some fishing in the Deserter Group.

July 9 - 12th - Port Harvey to Joe Cove

2010-07-20T22:43:00.001-07:00
We head out with the morning tide to go through Chatham channel and head over to Joe's Cove to do some fishing for a few days. Its fairly calm but a bit overcast. We arrived in time to beat the wind and other boats to the dock at Joe Cove. The bay is quite full with a few boats tucked in behind the island and a raft of three boats where we are securely tied to the old dock.
Fishing is the pits, the boys have caught everything but a halibut or salmon. My prawn trap is the only thing yielding any goodies from the sea. We bump into friends from years gone by "Aces High" - Pete (the plumber) and his fun wife Bonnie.

Three days of spinning around in the wind is starting to make us dizzy, not much wildlife but a comfortable feeling that we are secure in the blow that is happening outside.

July 8th - Destination Port Harvey

2010-07-08T08:41:00.000-07:00

Planes Trains etc. on Johnston Strait

Oceanography Vessel passing us in Johnston

Someone else tearing down a Ferry?

Lichen in Bloom

Up at the crack of dawn, we lift anchor and head up through the Yuculta/Dent and Green Point rapids. Slack tide is 8:30 so a 6:30 departure is in order. Its another beautiful day, but with the nice sun and cloudless sky, we are expecting Gale Force winds on Johnston Strait (or sothe weather man on the radio says!) -- Destination today is Port Harvey. This is a relatively new resort so it will be nice to see what changes they have made since we were there last August!

We manage to beat the wind into Port Harvey, its hot and sunny on the docks. We order our "Pizza" dinner and go for a nice gunkhole through the bay. A New dock has been added to their docks. Order the bread if you go in, I know white isn't right but its probably the best "white" bread I have ever had! Pizza is good and the drinks are cold. We'll certainly try our darndest to come through here on our way home.

July 7th - Desolation Sound

2010-07-07T13:34:00.000-07:00

Lunch in Thulen Pass

Bob & Pat's "On the Edge"

We pull out under glorious blue skies from Pender Harbour and head upcoast for about four hours to Squirrel Cove in Desolation Sound. We will spend the day lazing around, prawning, oystering and getting a few swims in. the plan is to laze around for a day and head up to Port Harvey tomorrow and then look for the Oceanaire and Grey Pearl up in the Broughtons. Speaking of which, Happy Birthday Dave! Lift a wee dram for us tonight!

July 6th - Pender Harbour

2010-07-07T13:31:00.000-07:00

A view from our new Outstation Deck in Garden Bay

Woody Woodpecker!

A heat wave is on the way, its expected to be 30 degrees today, finally its summer. We spend the day lazing around Pender Harbour with a nice gunkhole throughout all the bays. A pub dinner and early to bed to head off tomorrow to start our new adventure.

July 5th - Pender Harbour

2010-07-07T13:16:00.000-07:00

Blurry (Hands were shakin') Photo of Bear on the Road

Nice Young Buck on the Beach

Why doesn't he fall over?

The day dawns with a nice sunny sky and we have a nice visit with my inlaws and meet fellow club members "Thirsty Traveller" -- a day of gunkholing, cooking, cleaning and the ever present laundry. While I am physically on holidays, my inner clock cannot help rousing me from my bed at 6:00 am, so with camera in one hand and cup of coffee in the other, the dog and I set off to see who's up this early in the morning. A large bush crashing and thrashing greet Kobi and myself at the end of the driveway (road) and with my coffee on the ground, hand on the dog collar, we watch a rather large black bear ambling out of the bush -- you guessed it, to cross the road! We stood perfectly still and my Kobi must have sensed the trouble he would have been chasing the fat ass of that bear down the road as he stood still as a tree wrapped around my legs.....good thing I didnt have to run away, I would have fallen flat on my face over the dog. By the time i remember that I have a camera with me, I get a few shots off of him running down the road! that's enough excitement before breakfast for me! The evening brings us our new best friends from Williams Lake, Bob & Pat from "On the Edge" whom we met in 2009 at Namu and spent the month travelling with. We have stayed (loosely)in touch through out the year and will be spending the next few weeks together.

Over the course of the last few months, I have also started up another blog that has melded my love of photography and now the game of bird and critter spotting together. This blog has only photographs of these critters, so when you wish to view some nice bird and animal shots, go on over to http://critterseyehaveseen.blogspot.com

July 4, 2010 - We're off again

2010-07-07T13:08:00.000-07:00

Leaving Vancouver Harbour - A Grey Day

It's a new summer and a new adventure is in the offing. Lots has happened since I last posted. I have a "real" job and Mike is continuing to work on boats. We appear to have settled into a nice routine and plans have been in the offing for another great summer odyssey.

Due to my going back to work, we have opted to take the month of July this year to travel up coast. Thank you to my new employers "BC Nature" for allowing me this time to pursue my continuation of our dream.

Day 1 - An extemely cold holiday weekend has kept us locked up tight to the dock at our homeport (also a wedding on the Saturday!) --- its hard to beleive that its summer again when our furnace is roaring away and I have both a long sleeve sweater and a fleece on my person to keep the biting wind and cold at bay! The boat is fully stocked, cleaned and good to go for our trip, the cat seems to have managed to keep his bad ole self on the boat and the dog is dreading more wavy seas!

After a nice 3 nights with our friends and a nice wedding ceremony, we are ready to go, bad weather or not, we are leaving early on July 4th! Much to Mike's chagrin, I haul his sorry ass out of bed at an ungodly hour of 5:30 am. we make it to Pender Harbour in about 5 1/2 hours with overcast skies and about a 1' chop. We have some drinks with "Kisaki" and find that the hot tub is beckoning us for a dip and an early night to bed.

Pender Harbour

2009-09-11T14:13:00.000-07:00
A very smooth, quiet ride south now. We are on the last stretch of water before hitting reality.

We have a nice dinner in the pub and in the morning say good bye to our new best friends - Bob and Pat on "On the Edge"!

Thank you viewers for tuning in for another summer of exploring, learning and playing. A new book is coming your way soon, with all of the best of the best photographs from the participants of our travels these last two years, great narration (by yours truly) and maps, charts etc so that any and all of you may either visit these places yourselves or arm chair travel through my blog and/or book!

Be safe, enjoy life and remember - we are only gifted with a few usuable summers in our lives, enjoy them to the fullest - look, listen and you will be amazed at what is out there.

Desolation Sound - Teakerne Arm

2009-09-10T12:05:00.001-07:00

It was a bit of a dreary, soggy day, so no-one ventured up to the lake for a hike. I have opted instead to upload some photographs taken by Dave T of their time previous to meeting up with us. There is always something to see no matter how many times you go into a bay or cove that you have seen many times before.

Thanks Dave - Great Photographs!

Desolation Sound - Laura Cove

2009-09-10T12:04:00.001-07:00

Quiet Time in Desolation

Not as much sun as the last time!

Back where we started 10 weeks ago.....Desolation Sound. Pretty quiet in here...the tourists have all gone home, except of course, those without children. The weather is rainy, low overcast and a bit colder than the last time we were here, regardless, it's still nice to be here. We anchored in Laura Cove as we thought that 7 or so boats in Prideaux was a few too many. Turns out by the time we woke up the next morning there were 12 boats anchored in Laura! Its a bit windy and lumpy overnight, so the Admiral decides we are going to lift anchor and go over to Tenedos Bay.

Until Next Year!

Day 74 - Gorge Harbour Marina

2009-09-07T16:47:00.000-07:00

Shark Spit at the entrance to Gorge Harbour

Pool and Hot Tub await the weary traveller

Lots of Apple trees on the grounds

This is a great Weathervane!

Customer Service 101 - that is where we believe the owners of Gorge Harbour should send their employees. It's a shame that the owners spent a dump truck load of money making their "marina resort" a star attraction but did not invest in their employees the same way.

Gorge Harbour is pricier than most marinas that we have visited on the coast, but the lure of the swimming pool, hot tub and 5 star restaurant drew us in. We last visited this marina in April of last year and although the docks were rickity, the restaurant was excellent and the service and people were first class. Perhaps we have come into the tail end of a busy season and the staff are tired.....none the less, the attitude should be like we are the first boats of the season. The girl behind the fuel barge said that although they had a great busy season, she does not understand why the last 10 days have been so slow. We know it is not a shortage of yachts, we have seen quite a few travelling south in our travels. That would lead me to believe that not everyone knows of the upgrades or there might not be repeat business from some of their summer guests.

We can live and abide with all of the rules you have in place, we respect that this is your place and we are your guests. What we will not tolerate is rudeness, abruptness and lack of information to first time guests and friends. For 3 of the 4 boats in our group, this was their first visit, nothing was told to any of us during our stay except to "please drink your liquor behind your boats or go onto our boats with your drinks as the owner was in residence and he does not like the children to see drinking on the docks." We assume there was some bad customers during the summer heat falling down drunk on the docks...?? Guess "Happy Hour" is out of the question. We find out 1/2 hour before we leave that the marina includes free internet in the moorage, not a lot of time to check emails etc. We also tried to get water out of your taps and were told (albeit nicely) that due to the lack of rain, someone in the summer drained the cistern dry so all the water to the docks is turned off during the evening - again, had we not asked, we would not have known and we would have left for other ports to go and find water again with a lingering question as to why the pool had plenty of fresh water, but we couldn't get water for our boats??

Had service been better, we might have all stayed another evening and perhaps even had dinner in the restaurant (this is what we had planned prior to coming in) We guesstimate that between the group we would probably have left an additional $1000.00 behind, but we were pretty put off on our initial visit with the attitude and probably won't be back for a while. Its a shame, its a beautiful place and has a lot to offer boaters on their visit to Gorge Harbour.

Day 73 - Octupus Marine Park

2009-09-07T16:46:00.000-07:00

Some of the Treasures left behind in the Cabin

The cabin of "Remembrance"

The strange sights you see when the Tourists have all gone home!

Even the seagulls have all gone home

Empty everywhere

After leaving Cardero's we decided to head down through the rapids, turn right through "Hole in the Wall" and go to the Octupus Marine Park. 2 of us almost got done in while travelling through Hole in the Wall by opposing boat traffic. I don't think the other boats realized how fast the current goes through there after the tide swing. We also didn't realize how quick the change occurs in Hole in the Wall compared to all of the other rapids. We all manage to traverse the rapids safely with only a few tense moments. Contrary to the name, we did not see any octupus!

We had a lovely stay in one our favorite marine parks on the coast. The cabin is a great lure while gunkholing with all of it's eclectic carvings and donations by the boating public.

Day 72 - Cardero's

2009-09-05T10:55:00.001-07:00

Schnitzel Anyone?

Guest Cabins for rent also

Bring your private planes to Cardero

A dreary day of travelling through Johnston Strait brings us to Doris and Reinhardt's famous Schnitzel Haus. We went via dinghy up to Blind Channel Resort to the Liquor store and Food store. Very quiet in Blind Channel with only 3 boats in for moorage.

Again, 3 of the 4 of us had never been to Cardero's, so this was a bonus dinner out night for them. We had a great meal (as always) and rowdy night of cards (Congratulations Penny on your two wins) and awake energized the next morning in the sunshine and on the ready to ride the rapids to Octupus Marine Park

Day 71 - Port Harvey

2009-09-04T10:12:00.001-07:00

Lots of chowing down before the winter!

Our Hosts, Port Harvey - Great Store

The Neighbors have a great carving

Petroglyphs enroute to the end of the bay

What a delightful place. This is their first year open and they will certainly do well in years to come up. Attitude is everything, they are upbeat and friendly, have a great store, great baked goods and very clean and tidy docks. We will most certainly stop in there next year. There are petroglyphs 1/2 up the channel to Port Harvey and there is lots of activity in the area.

Perhaps on a real high tide you might get a dinghy up Canoe Pass to see Lagoon Cove!

We booked in for dinner and had great Hamburgers and French Fries (almost as good as mine!) There is ample room for dogs on the little isthmus beside the marina. We were also told that perhaps next year, a liquor licence would be in place and there are plans for laundry and showers.

Good Luck to George and Family on your new venture and we hope to see you for many years to come!

Photo's Compliments of Dave T (This photograher took a day off!)

Day 70 - Lagoon Cove

2009-09-03T16:55:00.001-07:00

Even Fuel Dock is used for moorage!

Good bye Bill and Jean - until Next Year!

Still stacking them in! Lagoon Cove is still busy with every inch of dock space taken up by boat footage. It was good to see Jean as we missed her last trip. Nice group of boaters in here this time of year and most of the same boats we have seen along the way. It has started to rain after the spectacular sunny afternoon we had yesterday and during the night it was a tad windy.

We all filled up with Propane, Dinghy gas and water.

Jean and Bill will be heading out in the next couple of weeks for a well deserved "warm" southern vacation. We hope to see them next year.

Day 69 - Thompson Sound

2009-09-03T16:54:00.002-07:00

Some of the Dolphins surrounding the boats

View up the River

Gordie playing with the Dolphins

Old Logging site on Thompson Sound

We arrived in Thompson Sound early afternoon to find Oceanaire tied up to a small log boom and the sight of a school of dolphins cavorting around his boat. The dolphins stayed in the area until late afternoon and then went on to thir night stop.
Around 8:00 pm in the evening, the current kicked in and the raft of 4 boats goes spinning 180 degrees at mach speed, well actually around 3-4 knots. It was wild to watch and it was good to experience so that we wouldn't panic when it happened again in the middle of the night.

Oceanaire was in Thompson around a month ago and told us of a fantastic trip up the valley they took with a guide named Charles. They went fly fishing, saw grizzlies and learned alot about the area through Charles. As luck would have it, we met Charles and he joined us for a spaghetti dinner on Oceanaire with many tales of the valleyand some historical information about himself. What a well spoken, knowledgeble young man he is! We hope to take the tour next time we stop in and have more time.

The weather breaks out in warm sunshine for the afternoon and it rains during the evening.

Thanks for some of the photos DT!

Day 64 - 68 - Shawl Bay

2009-09-03T16:54:00.001-07:00

Mike's First Ever Halibut!

Always "Welcome"

Neighbour Coming Home after Fishing

Dave & Penny going uphill in Broughton Lagoon tidal Rapids

Pacific Whiteside Dolphins do not disappoint!

Acrobatics at its finest

Hoopla

Happy to see us

A 4 day enjoyable stay with the Browns and the "Bead Lady", Carol. All the boys went out fishing and Gordie took Lorne out. As you may have read in past posts, Mike has never caught a Halibut. This 4 day stay was to change all of that! Now we need Lorne's harpoon gun to deflate his ego!

The first day out fishing yielded 2 halibut for the Gordie boat and 2 halibut for the Bob boat. Mike is still at halibut 1, Mikey zero! The second day of fishing yielded a 45 lb. halibut for Mike and a smaller halibut around 15 lb., a broken fishing rod for Bob and zero halibut for the Gordie boat. For those of you who know Mike, he came back a 6' smile and talking a mile a minute! Thank you Bob for enduring your pain in silence, it can't be easy being with Mike on this momentus occasion!

Lorne and Shawn break out the deep fryers, potatoes and fish batter and voila - a Fish Fry is in the works for dinner!

On the second night there, we are having dinner on Oceanaire and Brenda takes a stroll to her boat for a coffee and enroute falls right down Dave's open hatch. The foot is painfully swollen and the other leg has a large bleeding gash. Brenda and Pat go to town with Robbie the next day and it is discovered that Brenda has torn all the ligaments in her foot and has had to have a tetnus shot for the gash and antibiotics for the infection in her leg. It pays to have these things looked at! Through all of this, Brenda has continued to stay a non-smoker and has been a real trooper!

Speaking of smoking, I am down to 1-3 cigs a day and the champix appears to be working. Will let you know when I make the 7 day "no smoking" milestone.

We leave to head out to meet up with Oceanaire in Thompson Sound. It's always sad to leave and we hope to come back in the spring for amonth or so.

Photo Update

2009-08-28T09:06:00.000-07:00
Sorry all, have been trying to upload photographs to blog, but am having some technical difficulty. Hopefully as my internet signal gets stronger, I will be able to update. I have some awesome photographs to show you, check back in a week or so.

Thank You
Betty

Day 62 & 63 - Jennis Bay

2009-08-28T08:55:00.003-07:00

All Painted and Spiffy

Resident Heron

A very pleasant stay at Jennis awaits us as always. The place is looking real spiffy and Tom and Allison are busy moving down to the docks in readiness for their house moving.
The place is full and we meet some real nice folks. For anyone who has not visited Jennis Bay in Drury Inlet, you are indeed missing a treat. Hopefully next year we will have our motor bike as there are miles of logging roads and great things to see inland.
We met some folks that went to look for the old railroad up Aceteon Sound, but like us, they were not successful. Next time in we will give it a good try again. The directions in the book are somewhat erroneous and a bit confusing. Allison has given us a copy of "search" instructions that were emailed to her from a fellow Burrard member. With these instructions in hand, we will surely find it next year?

Onward to Shawl Bay for our last visit of the season there.

Day 60 & 61 - Turnbull Cove

2009-08-28T08:55:00.001-07:00

Heron in Overflow Basin

Totem in Hopetown

A great anchorage that we have not stayed in for a few years. This is our last night with the group of 5. Two of the boats in the group have to head home and we say good bye to them on Day 61 of our trip.

Great hiking and great gunkholing in the area. We all took a high speed gunkhole through "Hopetown Passage" and around to "Overflow Basin" and a few other bays. Highly recommend this area as there is such great gunkholing. We found an old Fish Ladder that is still being serviced by fisheries in one of the bays, lots of fun going in and out of the rapids in the bays.

Day 59 - Greenway Sound

2009-08-24T22:14:00.004-07:00

Day 55 - 58 - Shawl Bay

2009-08-24T22:14:00.003-07:00

Day 55 - Burdwood Group

2009-08-24T22:14:00.001-07:00

White Sandy Beaches!

Mist in the Morning

This quiet group of Islands just outside of Echo Bay is a great anchorage in settled weather. There are nice stern tie rings in the cliffs and a couple of real nice sandy beaches for both humans and dogs alike. Prawning is awesome and it appears the fishing is good around the area as well. We wake up to a misty morning but the weather is still hot. Sue and Penny go for a ride around in their Kayaks.

We also find an "Uncharted" island in the middle of the group of islands, there is no sign of this island on any of the paper or electronic charts. We claim it as our own Sovereign country!

Day 53 + 54 - Joe's Cove

2009-08-24T20:01:00.000-07:00

Noone we know looking for beads

Our 7 Boat raft - stern view

Entrance to Twin Lagoon - rocks abound

"Moon Jelly"

Stephen - 6' smile and a 22 lb. coho

Excellent Shot Gayle!

Rope around the neck ?

One of our favorite bays on the coast, this tiny indent on Eden Island has the greatest gunkholing in the area. As from earlier explanations, this group likes to go "High Speed" Gunkholing,we go at fast speeds and cover great distances in our dinghies. This is the perfect terrain to do both highspeed and regular gunkholing. Hundreds of tiny little bays with wildlife and scenery that boggles the mind.
We stopped to do some fishing prior to going into Joe Cove and my nephew had the experience of a lifetime, he caught a 22 lb. Coho. Our resident humpback is still around, it was spotted (not by my camera tho) jumping straight out of the water a few times.
Everyone was arguing that Stephens fish couldn't possibly be a coho of that size, but sure enough, that night when we all anchored, it was the mother of all cohos! Congratulations Steven!
At the bottom of Fife Sound is a "Sea Lion" Rookery where upon blow up of some of Gayle's photographs, we spot a mature Sea Lion with a rope around its neck. We have since reported it to the local fisheries folks who will hopefully humanely treat the animal.
We went high speed gunkholing in and around Fife sound, visiting "Twin Lagoon", "Old Passage" and some midden beaches. Except for a few small rock dings when entering and exiting the Twin Lagoon, no drama!

Day 52 - Beaver Harbour - Fort Rupert - Port McNeil

2009-08-24T18:57:00.002-07:00

Note the log in the background where Mike and Gordie spent the morning

Raft of three

View from our Anchorage

Great Kayak Beach and site of the first Movie ever filmed in BC

None to happy to see us!

Where the Sky and Ocean run as one

Port McNeil Sunset

Beaver Harbour is another one of those "must do again" bays. Very picturesque with white sandy and midden beaches throughout the bay. At the head of the bay is Fort Rupert. Time did not allow for us to go ashore for a visit and a trip to the museum or carving area. We'll save this for another time. We found great anchorage in "Patrician Bay" in Beaver Cove.

The beach behind us has a nice long log at which Mike and Gordie sat the afternoon away chatting about whatever boys chat about. Dogs had a great romp on the same beach and then off they went fishing. A few hours later, as we watched the beach, a huge black bear came ambling out of the woods over the log that had seated the boys earlier. We followed the large bear (via water) all around the bear, this must have been her beach! Good thing we didn't decide to have dinner on the beach.

A short jaunt from Beaver Harbour to Port McNeil to meet up with Oceanaire, Summer and Nut n' Special. Some shopping, guest pick up (Gina and Stephen on Gulf Island) and general catch up with the group.

Day 51 - Port Hardy

2009-08-24T13:16:00.000-07:00
Groceries, Laundry and a nice lunch in the pub. And best of all, when docked in Port Hardy (The Quarterdeck Marina), and noone is using the company truck, you may take it to town to get your liquor and grocieries. The folks are great in Port Hardy, the fuel prices were good - 93 cents + gst. The sun and fog were woven together to give us a hazy take off toward Beaver Cove. Laundry and small store are right at the docks and will do in a pinch!
The fish cleaning trays were constantly busy with everything from halibut, large springs, pinks and coho being cleaned.

Day 47 - 50 - Secret Bay

2009-08-13T16:14:00.004-07:00

"Yoshi's Nemesis"

My what Big Teeth you have Grandmother

I like my salmon fresh - preferably caught by fishing rod

Mama told me to stay close to shore
"Ladner Lass" picking her way through the narrow opening

This fishboat didn't maker her next season!

Oyster Catcher flyng towards us with a sea eel dinner

Some sort of Red Lichen growing on the rocks

The group goes gunkholing around the kelp beds

Abandoned Cabin in one of the bays whilst gunkholing

Severe Winds in the area cause the trees to grow on an angle

Curious Baby Bird hanging around all day

A view towards the opening of our bay

Our 7 boat raft in "Secret Bay"

This little unnamed bay is not written up in any books and is such a beautiful little bay, with protection from all winds and virtually invisible to the outside world. Since we cannot find any other information on this bay, we have decided to call it "Secret" Bay. The gunkholing is fantastic in this area and the fishing second to none. All of the boys have limited out on their maximum catch of Salmon. All coho, no springs (except for one - Gordie caught a 29 lb Spring yesterday). Tony has been nick named "Yoshi the Fishing Guide" as he and Marko have been virtually fishing day and night! The only fishing problem there are here are huge Sea Lions picking your salmon off of your line. You either have to reel in fast or chance these wily (Huge) creatures trying to get into your boat to get the salmon! We have spent most of the week here and the weather has been fabulous. Fog all around us, but our little Island sanctuary seems to be immune from all the bad weather and fog

Day 45 & 46 Blunden Harbour

2009-08-13T16:14:00.003-07:00

Day 43 & 44 - Napier Bay

2009-08-13T16:14:00.001-07:00

Day 42 - August 6 - Smith Inlet to Napier Bay

2009-08-06T15:55:00.000-07:00

Sea Lion Rookery mid coast

Check out the lazy one laying across the front

An uneventful crossing south. The seas are calm and we stop to fish for a while. We have spoken to all of our friends and family and we are to meet everyone down in Napier Bay.

Enroute south, we first heard these sea lions prior to seeing them. There must have been over 150 of them on the rocks. Most were not jumping into the water, just staring at us and barking obnoxiously. Very smelly and rowdy!

Day 41 - Spider Group via Duncanby to Smith Inlet

2009-08-06T15:48:00.000-07:00

Our "Friend" the Washington State Ferry

I wasn't kidding about the Flies in "Fly Bay"

Note the lack of branches on this side of the island

We went to anchor in the islands outside of Duncanby Landing with the intentions of visiting family friends at their Fish Camp "Black Gold" - it is late (7:00 pm) and there is a boat in the only safe anchorage around. We made the decision to go and try Smith Inlet which is on our way down and not a place we have frequented much in the last bunch of boating forays upcoast. After consulting the charts, we decide on Fly Cove on the south side of Smith Inlet. We arrived around 9:00 pm and anchored in the bay with another boat already inhabiting the bay. No time for exploring but the bay is aptly named. We awoke in the morning to our boat covered in flies????.....The area is worth exploring some more on our next trip and perhaps we will have the answers to the questions we asked ourselves last night - Why are there no fish camps in here? The head of Smith has the third largest Sockeye run in BC and we are sure there must be other species of fish in the area? - we do not often hear of people coming in here and the "Book" does not elaborate too much on this area - perhaps it is drive by for most boaters and not a destination?

Day 40 - Namu to Spider Group

2009-08-06T15:46:00.000-07:00

"Sooke Post looking for someone to save?

Addenbrook Lighthouse

George helping me knit

View from our Spider Island Anchorage

Mike hits it big with Coho

A leisurely meander through Hunter Island brings us back to Swordfish Bay to fill the freezer up with fish again. Alas, it was not to be, fish 1, Mike Zero. We would have been better of to stay in Namu and to have fished off the docks for Coho!

We hear from Lloyd and Sandy who are tucking into one of the millions of coves in the Spider group but due to his ongoing Battery problems, we think he has now shut his radio off as we do not hear from him again.

Day 38 & 39 - Namu Harbour

2009-08-06T15:40:00.000-07:00

Grapevines in Renee's Greenhouse

Peach Tree with Fruit in Renee's greenhouse

Shaman at dock in Namu

Garbage Burner

Renee's green thumb at work

The big town of Namu (overview)

Gilnetters await their opening

The original Cafe in Namu

Pete and Renee looking for Halibut

It has been approximately 10 years since we have last been in Namu - the current caretakers - Rene and Pete have done been good for Namu. There is a lot of available moorage and we take advantage of the space and hang out for a couple of days. Fish are being caught right off the docks at Namu and the docks are full of fish boats waiting for a one day opening on Chum.
Rene and Pete have been here for approximately 5 years and although the place is falling into further decay, they have managed to make a little oasis amidst the crumbling ruins. Renee has a green thumb to the extreme, she has a greenhouse attached to her summer float home with one cherry tree, two peach trees and grapes growing in it! On shore, she has more tomato plants and assorted vegetables with a fruit bearing Fig tree growing amongst the rubble. We meet new friends, Bob and Pat on "On the Edge", and have a couple of fun nights kibitzing with them and their group from 100 mile house. They are awaiting guests (their daughter) from 100 mile house but due to the ever growing forest fire in Bella Coola, it will be doubtful if they make it through as the road is now closed. We hope to run into them again in the upcoming month as they are also out until end of September.
The gillnet fleet is amassing in Namu both on the docks and anchoring as they get an 11 hour opening tommorrow. How they could possibly make a living on this short opening is beyond our comprehension! We beleive it is a chum opening as we are told by the fisherman they only make around .10 cents a pound on the pink salmon, they couldn't hold enough to make it pay!
A must do stop for any boater in the area!

Day 37 - Ocean Falls to Kismeet Bay

2009-08-06T15:38:00.000-07:00
Another favorite stop along the route south, again, we are the lone boat. Mike goes out fishing and we listen to the sounds of the humpback whales at night.

Day 36 - Ocean Falls

2009-08-06T15:21:00.000-07:00

I wouldn't put by boat in here, danger!

Old luggage cart from the hotel

The abundance of rain and some hot sunny days make for great flowers!

On its last legs!

More curious than scared.

There are a few changes in Ocean Falls this time around. A new Dockmaster, Sally has moved on and the new Dockmaster is a transplant from the Okanagan - his name is Neil. Neil informed us that the Dam and power plant have been sold to a company from Quebec. There is a wait and see attitude by the residents as no-one knows what will happen. There is a temporary bridge to the power plant from the town as the bridge is nearly all gone now. Both sides of Town have no water pumps so gravity fed water to the docks and no water to Martin Valley. The fish camp in town has no bookings and is for sale. More roofs have fallen in on some of the stores and buildings, so it won't be long until nature reclaims the town back.

A great stay even with the wind and a spot of rain!

Shearwater and Vancouver

2009-08-06T15:12:00.000-07:00
We took the 50 mile jaunt from Fiordland down Mathieson Channel to Shearwater on the third day so that I could get the laundry done, re-stock the boat with perishables and on the 29th, I flew down to Vancouver for an overnight trip to do some work. I was thrilled not to have to stay in the city any more than one night and came back to Shearwater with a new Dinghy prop and new lightbulbs for the searchlight. I also came back to some great stories of Mike and his new found friends in the pub.
Mike ran into Carl and Mike - the extreme adventurers we met in Butedale - in the pub that night and invited them to stay on the boat while I was away. When they picked me up in Bella Bella, the two boys hopped off and were on their way to catch the ferry to Prince Rupert. They had a truly great adventure and are no doubt planning their next one!

There is no water to be had in Bella Bella and the water at Shearwater is the "Tea" water, so we after Mike picked me up in Bella Bella, we headed over to Ocean Falls. Twofold - to fill up with water and see what was new or not so new.