1. Campbell River
2. Gowlland
3.Seymour Narrows
4. Walkem Island
5. Entering Johnstone Straits from Walkem Island
6. Cutter Cove
7. Sargeaunt'ss Passage
8 & 9 Kwatsi Bay
10. Echo Bay
11. Shawl Bay
12 & 13 Moore Bay/Thief Island
14. Claydon Bay
15 & 16. Turnbull Cove
17.Waddington Bay
18 &19. Alert Bay
20. Sointula
21. Port McNeill
Campbell River, Broughtons
to Port McNeill
This section of
the Blog finds us 14 days since Campbell River and 35 days since leaving
Seattle. We had committed to updating the Blog every week plus or minus a
couple of days and although we knew communication would become more of a
challenge as we moved to the top Vancouver Island we underestimated how much we
would actually be off the grid. Cell
coverage, including WiFi, is spotty or non-existent: not enough cell towers, period.
The one piece
of communications equipment that works every time no matter the location is the
SSB radio. It’s slow, but dependable. No
pics, no attachments: it’s a text-only
WWII technology.
Campbell River
gave us the opportunity to catch up on communications, laundry, grocery
shopping, boat-part exchanges. The town
was surprisingly modern and had great amenities for boaters and those who live
there full time. It’s not as sleepy as
Sidney nor as “stuffy” as Victoria. We
enjoyed it: the opportunity to have a
conversation with the locals (we’ve found Canadians to be helpful and friendly)
and even just sit in a Starbucks or dinner at either Moxie’s or the Riptide Pub
sitting in a chair that was not moving.
It’s the small comforts one appreciates, right?
The next
chapter of our trip started by leaving Campbell river (we were there three
nights) and making our way to the
Broughton Archipelago: a group of
islands Northeast of Vancouver Island. We
originally planned to travel the inside channels and not chance the Johnstone
Strait - a fifty-four-mile long channel notorious for strong winds and choppy
seas. However, having to pick up parts in Campbell River put us on course
through Discovery Channel, the Seymour Narrows, and you’ve got it, Johnstone
Strait, unless we needed to “turn right” into Nodales Channel, which would add
three days to our entrance to the Broughton’s.
All three –
Discovery Channel, Seymour Narrows, and Johnstone Strait have unique and strong
tidal flows. Discovery Channel and Johnstone Straight can
reach ten knots and Seymour Narrows an incredible fourteen knots! This is
really fast for a sailboat whose top speed under engine power is a little over
seven knots. That means we could
potentially be traveling 21 knots (boat speed plus speed of tidal flow), all
through a rocky, narrow passageway. We
were looking for slack water at Seymour (flow not moving in or out) followed by
an Ebb tide (flow going out) to push us.
We said
good-bye to Campbell River on Tuesday, July 14, knowing we were going to have
to wait for slack tide to enter the Seymour Narrows around 5:00 p.m. We headed to Gowlland Harbor on Quadra
Island, which is five and half miles from Seymour Narrows. We’d had some problems with the head (that’s
boat-speak for “toilet”) so used our time in the Harbor to work on what had
become our “number one” priority (no pun intended.) Mission accomplished, we re-entered Discovery
Passage, facing who-knows-what ahead.
What we saw and
experienced was nothing we’d seen in our nineteen years of sailing Puget Sound,
San Juan and Gulf Islands: whirlpools, strong
riptides and sloggy, slow waters due to the strong tidal waters. Slack tide was less than thirty minutes after
which we’d catch a strong ebb tide (tide moving out of the strait and the
direction we wanted to go). We followed
the Cruising
Guide by staying to the Northeast side of the channel and capitalizing
on the reverse flow (yes, another confusing thing that happens up here) along
the shore. That gave us a two knot of
“push” in the direction we wanted to go.
Captain
Vancouver referred to the Seymour Narrows as a pass that “rushes with some
impetuosity” and one of his officers said “[it was] the most nightmarish
spectacle his eyes have ever beheld.”
Yes, the Narrows have quite a legacy for boaters and boats of any
size. Even cruise ships and work boats
wait for slack: A message we heeded.
Seymour Narrows
has been the site of many ship wrecks and much loss of life. Ripple Rock, a huge underground island, was
and continues to be to a lesser degree, responsible for that. In 1958, the “island” (nee, Ripple Rock) was lowered
by 35 feet in “the largest non-nuclear explosion in the world [to date,
including now]. Even today, if the
Narrows are attempted incorrectly; i.e., wrong weather, wind or tidal flow, you
are putting yourself, your crew, and boat in jeopardy.
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| Waiting at Gowlland Harbor |
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| Travelling to Seymour Narrows-Not Boat Wake |
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| Whirl Pools |
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| Seymour Narrows, just starting in |
The wind and
weather was with us at the time we had to decide whether to “turn right” into
Nodales Channel, or “left” into Johnstone Strait. We’d been following another boater who seemed
to know what he was doing (not that we didn’t), and chose the Strait. It would knock off two or three days in
getting to the Broughtons and our weather was holding. Entering the Strait, we planned to use all available
daylight (which up here is until 9:30 – 10:00 p.m.) to reach Helmclen Island
& Billy Goat Harbor (you can’t make these names up) hopefully arriving
around 9:00 pm. This wasn’t to be. About
7:00 p.m., Johnstone Strait gave us a taste of its reputation: The wind increased to about twenty-five
knots, the sea became really choppy. We
sought shelter and a place to anchor. Walkem
Island, not known to be a great anchorage was about our only choice. We followed our “buddy” boat which turned out
to be in route to Ketchikan, Alaska, behind the island and anchored in the
crook of a small bay. All night long, the wind howled, probably reaching thirty
knots or more. Our little bay was a calm:
a mild two knots.
 |
| Anchor at Walkhem Island |
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| Anchor at Walkhem Island |
Ebb tide, water
flowing out of the Strait (the direction we wanted to go) was at 4:20 a.m. We needed to be out of the Johnstone Strait
before the forecasted thirty- to thirty-five knot winds materialized that afternoon
(time unknown). We waited till just
before 5:00 a.m. (it’s barely light at 4:20 a.m.) so we had good
visibility. We estimated getting to
Havanna Channel and turning North toward the Broughton’s by10:00 a.m.
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| Under way before sun up |
We passed the
tidal rips at Ripple Point, the whirl pools at Camp Point, negotiated Current
Passage and Earl Ledge and by the time we approached Hickey Point we were past
the worst of it. The tidal flow was so strong that we achieved a boat speed of
12.6 knots over the bottom! It was
unnerving to consistently see over ten knots while traversing or rather
speeding through the passage (remember, our maximum hull boat speed is a little
over seven knots).
The Cruising
Guide sometimes refer to this section of the Strait as being like two
salt water rivers flowing in opposite directions. We turned into Havana Channel
at about 9:00 a.m.- a full hour before our estimate – all due to that fast ebb
tidal flow. While exciting, and
requiring that we be alert at all times (even Winslow was on watch), our
overall experience was positive. We
could have had 23 knots of wind blowing us in the opposite direction making for
an extremely harried passage. We
consider transiting the Johnstone Strait a major milestone in spite of hitting
a 12” submerged log during the trip, fortunately without boat damage.
Travelling up
the Havana Channel was uneventful and certainly less stressful. Because we’d saved an hour of time, we didn’t
have to anchor at the south end of Chatham Channel and wait for the tide change
before passage. We caught the last
forty-five minutes of the ebb tide which pushed us through this narrow and very
pretty passage to our next anchorage at Cutter Cove and well-deserved night on
the hook.
Cutter Cove a
long narrow inlet with a cliff on one side and a steep treed hill side on the
other. In days past, there was a logging
camp at the head of the bay. We anchored
in twenty- to twenty-five feet of water we ended up with over 150’ of chain out
to make sure we didn’t move. The wind entered
the mouth of the channel and accelerated at the back of the inlet where we were
anchored. We had a consistent 15 – 25
knots before we went to bed. One gust at
3:25 a.m. heeled our fully-loaded 25,000 pound boat over far enough to wake us
both up. As any sailor knows, the boat
can always take more than the sailors aboard.
We’ve come to trust this vessel to keep us safe and she quickly righted
ourselves and we fell back asleep.
When we have
shared this experience with other boaters we met, they asked us why we didn’t
anchor at nearby Lagoon Cove, waxing on about how beautiful and calm it
is. The answer: We didn’t know. Lesson learned: Some things are convenient and pretty during
the day but can’t be trusted overnight.
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| Cutter Cove with 15 kts wind |
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| Departing Cutter Cove. Windy but pretty inlet |
The next
morning, we gladly pulled anchor and headed to Kwatsi Bay via Knights Inlet
which is nothing short of spectacular!
With its 6000’ granite mountains, dense forests and sun shining
brightly, we were in paradise. We opted
to take what was described as a very picturesque short and narrow channel
called Sargeaunt’s Passage.
We waited for
high tide since it’s pretty shallow. The
steep-sided banks lining the passage were 600 – 800’ high. We immediately felt the temperature drop just
like when you walk into the woods and feel its coolness. We watched for rocky shoals on the edges,
maneuvering from side to side, and soon emerged into the glorious sunshine of
Tribune Channel. With its hyperbolic
granite mountain views and places where waterfalls normally emerge (none this
year because it’s so dry), it was one of the most beautiful places we’ve
experienced.
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| Sargeaunts Passage, Narrow & Shallow |
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| Sargeaunts, best to wait for high tide |
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| Tribune Channel |
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| Tribune Channel |
Kwatsi Bay is not unlike a bowl of granite with a slot just wide enough to let water and boats
through.There is a
small family-owned marina at one end of the bay which was on the site of a
1900’s shingle mill. At that time, it
was manned by Japanese & Chinese workers and later became the site of a logging
operation till the 1960’s. Several of the anchorages we’ve visited have had a
history of logging, fur trapping or commercial fishing most of which are now long
gone: The resources plundered or cost of
operation in such remote areas is too high.
We anchored at
the opposite end of the bay with three other boats that first night and on our
own the second night. It was one of the
more peaceful stops we’ve made, placing the bar very high for future anchorages. Our only regret is that we didn’t put the
kayaks into the water which we’ve done at most coves of this type. I think we were just happy to sit, see and
BE.
On our second
day, we took the dinghy to shore and hiked to a small waterfall, followed by a
visit to the marina where we sat on the deck and talked to the owners who had
lived there year round for 30+ years.
Their two children had been home-schooled through the eighth grade and
then transferred to Port McNeill High School.
These strong, independent Canadians, formerly of Victoria, found a
lifestyle and home that suited them perfectly.
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| Kwatsi Marina |
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| Kwatsi Marina |
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| Waterfall Hike |
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| Tuamotu at anchor with stern tie in Kwatsi Bay |
Fittingly, we
were escorted out of Kwatsi Bay by literally hundreds of white-sided
dolphins! They look like small Orca
whales but only about seven feet long. They
jumped, frolicked, and fished around the boat for about an hour, rushing under
the bow of the boat to ride the wake, sometimes rolling onto their side to look
up at us with what appeared to be a curious smile. While we madly tried to take pictures and
video their antics, we soon gave up.
They were just too fast we were enjoying them too much to waste our time
trying to catch impossible shots. It was
a magical experience and being only about four feet away from them in our boat
made it exceptional.
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| White Sided Dolphins hunting |
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| Playing with the boat |
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| Playing with the boat |
We were also
amazed at the huge granite mountainsides, and entered Watson Bay to see Lacy
Falls and perhaps hike to the home of the 1,000 year-old, fifteen-foot diameter
cedar tree. Sadly, Lacy Falls was more
of a trickle than fall, and we decided not to drop anchor, saving the visit to
the cedar tree for another time.
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| Inside Watson Bay with its narrow entrance |
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| Lacy Falls, not enough rain to make the falls spectacular |
Saturday
morning, July 18, we decided to head over to Echo Bay, following up on the tip
a sailor friend from Poulsbo Marina had given us to “stop go to the pig roast
at “Pierre’s Resort! Surprisingly, they
had space for us at the marina because several boaters had left based on a
weather front that was moving into the area.
They begin
preparations for the pig roast begin every Saturday morning through the summer
season at 5:00 a.m., and the potluck dinner is at 6:00 p.m. Pat put together a salad, and together with
about a hundred other people, we gathered inside a hugely-windowed event center
with outlooks onto Echo Bay. There we
shared dinner and a couple bottles of wine with a couple from Blaine,
Washington, and one from Vancouver, B.C.
In conversation we learned the young Canadian couple, with their
daughter, Dominque, had circumnavigated Vancouver Island the previous
year.
The pig roast
lived up to its reputation, with Pierre doing the cooking (they bought and
dramatically enlarged and enchanted the facilities of the resort in 1999) and
his wife of 40 years directing us to a bountiful table full of food. This couple has learned how to make
long-distance relationships work. She
works for the Nanaimo School District as a special education teacher’s
assistant (she’s a former teacher) while he and the sons live and work at the
Resort year round. If you are in the
area, by all means head to the Resort.
If you favor prime rib, those dinners are Tuesday and Thursday evenings;
fish and chips are on Wednesday. Of
course, you’ll share your dinner with guests from all over which in itself is
worth the trip!
After the pig
roast, we met with Marc, a French-Canadian transplant to Vancouver, who shared
with us their travel plan, anchorages, places to fuel and water, “must see”
places and “places to avoid” on the West side of Vancouver Island. We took copious notes, and enjoyed Marc and his
enthusiasm. They were heading North this
year past Cape Caution. They spend summers sailing and winters skiing. Dominque didn’t speak English until fourth
grade, and her mother Nichole, teaches at a French-American high school in Vancouver.
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| Echo Bay |
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| Echo Bay |
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| Echo Bay floating homes |
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| The Pig. He gave it his all |
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| The hosts. Pierre on the left. |
Reluctantly, we
departed Echo Bay on a sunny Sunday, heading for Shawl Bay near Gregory
Island. The nearby marina is known for
their pancake breakfasts and cinnamon rolls, a “must do” follow up to a pig
roast! Arriving in sunshine, we trolled
the bay to find a suitable place without a stern tie to shore. The cove has protruding rocks and a rocky
bottom. After making two attempts to get
the anchor set and far enough away from rocky shoals knowing that a 15 – 25
knot wind was expected during the night, we ultimately decided to give our
windlass (the piece of equipment used to drop and hoist our 50 pound anchor) a
break.
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| Shawl Bay Marina |
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| A resident of Shawl Bay |
Moving through
a very narrow no-named channel to Moore Bay on Kingcome Inlet, we anchored on
the North side of Gregory island behind Thief Island. It was a very secluded
two-night stop with a visit from the white-sided dolphins. We kayaked around
Thief Island into Kingcome Inlet through 600’ of water. We saw our friendly dolphins feeding nearby
and knowing they’re inquisitive, smart and elegantly swift creatures decided to
return to the boat, avoiding a dolphin-kayak encounter of a third kind.
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| No name channel between Shawl Bay & Thief Island |
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| Anchorage view |
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| Moore bay behind Thief Island |
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| Pat in 600' water looking up Kingcome Inlet |
We had a quest
to get as far East in the Broughtons as was practical visiting those bays and
inlets that were on “THE LIST” (per
Pat, “Ian always has a list;” She always has a spreadsheet. Old habits die hard.)
Leaving
Kingcome Inlet and turning left into Penphase Passage and on into Sutlej
Channel on the North side of Broughton to Sullivans Bay where everything except
the fuel storage tanks are on floats!
The Resort, which is probably one of the most high- end-off-the-grid
stops here in the islands, is a floating village. There’s even a one-hole golf course, which
depending on tide and wind, the target is 100 to 140 yards out.
Several
floating homes, some with beautiful flower gardens and of course their own
floating moorage, started out life in Claydon Bay in 1945. In the 60’s, several of the homes moved to
Sullivan Bay where they have been updated and added to ever since. The town
still has a Town Hall and street names. While it was beautiful and definitely worth
further exploration, since we’d just been tied to dock, we chose to continue on
and return to an anchorage on the hook.
We will add it to “PAT’S LIST” for future return.
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| Sullivans Bay Resort & Marina |
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| Sullivans Bay Resort & Marina |
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| Sullivans Bay Resort & Marina |
We decided to
check out both Carriden and Claydon Bays off Grappler Sound (north of Well’s
Passage and Drury Inlet), looking for a place with a muddy bottom and shallow
water to drop the anchor. The view from
Carriden Bay towards the spectacular knob called Pandora Head was amazing, but
there were several boats already at anchor in close quarters. We continued to Claydon Bay which lived up to
its reputation of being laid back. We
respected those sentiments, acted appropriately and laid back.
We put the
kayaks into the protected anchorage and met several interesting boaters,
including Juniata, a 37’ Pacific Seacraft, with experienced sailors aboard who
had done the West Coast passage in both directions. David gave us some good tips which caused us
to reconsider the date we were going to go around the point to Cape Scott. Local knowledge is invaluable on these types
of trips. It’s fellow cruisers who will
pass on intel about best anchorages, where there are challenges, where you’ll
find the best water: all info is not
necessarily in the Cruising Guides.
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| Deerleap ran aground entering the bay. For fishing charter |
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| Temporary resident of Claydon Bay |
After spending
the night, we made a late day decision to move to Turnbull Cove which is a
round, steep-sided bowl of trees with a narrow passage of fast-moving water. It
has a short hike up a steep trail to Watson Lake. You can still see the logging cables that
pulled the trees over the hill to the bay. The winch used is just back from the
water’s edge. This logging camp operated
from 1960 to 1985 and was one of the last logging operations in this area.
Turnbull Cove,
at the head of MacKenzie Sound, was our first significant change in the
weather. Since leaving Seattle on June 24, through the San Juans, Canadian Gulf
Islands, Desolation Sound and most of the Broughton’s, it has been clear, sunny
and hot. One exception was in Desolation
Sound where it rained for two days. On
Thursday, July 23, the clouds were very low settling into the high, tree-lined
bowl of Turnbull Cove. It was chilly,
the temperature dropping to 65 degrees and we experienced our first significant
rain.
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| Walk to Watson Lake |
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| Using the Kayaks to go to the beach |
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| Turnbull Cove, boat in back ground |
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| Logging Legacy |
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| Kayaking the bay |
Turnbull Cove
became oppressively dark and we pulled anchor and headed south. We back-tracked around the North end of
Broughton Island rather than travel South through Wells Passage which dumps
into Queen Charlotte Strait where we’d heard there was lots of wind and choppy
seas. Instead, we re-entered Sutlej
Channel, passed through Penphase and Raleigh Passages and turned east toward
Cramer passage. We’d heard Waddington
Bay on Bonwick Island was beautiful, and it was well worth the 23 miles we’d
traveled that day.
Arriving late
afternoon to milder weather and calm waters, we immediately put the kayaks into
the water, taking the opportunity to kayak through the Fox Island’s. We were gone about an hour and one-half. As soon as we got back to the boat, the skies
opened up and it rained hard and got very cool. We turned on the diesel heat
that night to take the chill off and restarted the heater the next morning to
take the chill off the boat (and out of our bones).
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| Waddington Bay Entrance |
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| Near Waddington Bay kayaking the Fox Islands |
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| Near Waddington Bay kayaking the Fox Islands |
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| Waddington Bay, close to Port McNiell so more boats than usual |
We wanted to
spend a couple of nights at Waddington Bay, but read that Alert Bay, the home
of U’mista Cultural Centre, and the meeting ground of five First Nation Indian
clans, was holding its annual Seafest celebration “the fourth weekend in July”
according to the 2015 Waggoner’s Guide.
We decided to participate in the festivities. Pat had recently finished reading “Totem
Poles & Tea,” by Hughgina Harold, a woman’s account of living on nearby
Village Island as a teacher and nurse during the 1935s, and wanted to see and
learn more about the Indian culture.
Alert Bay is
the home of the “Namgis First Nation” clan.
It used to be a fishing and fur trading hub in this part of Vancouver
Island during the 1800’s. The community has done a lot to attract tourists with
one of the best Interpretive Centers in BC, a city coastal walk with some very
cool period lights and even some cruise ships stops. Unfortunately, you can’t trust the Waggoner’s
Guide every time. The Seafest and Paddle
Boating contests were to be held the following weekend. It was very quiet during our visit. We did get a nice walk in, however, and Alert
Bay has a well-stocked grocery store with fruits and vegetables at reasonable
prices: no small thing to find as one
travels through these islands. It was
well worth the effort although the rain took a lot out of the spirit of the
day.
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| Alert Bay Marina |
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| Burial Ground |
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| 1890's Church |
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| Interpretive Center |
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| Pat @ Interpretive Center |
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| Mis-directed London Busses?? |
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| Board Walk |
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| Down Town - London Taxi Cab |
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| Alert Bay |
We woke to
dense fog the next morning with one-half mile visibility: our first fog on this trip. The fog burned off very quickly and the
weather quickly changed to warm, sunny, blue skies, and a light breeze. We once again happily donned our shorts and
T-shirts. We decided to wrap up the
Broughton’s part of our trip with a visit to Sointula before going into Port
McNeill to get ready for the West side and the next phase of our adventure.
Sointula means
“Place of Harmony” in Finnish. The Fins apparently settled this town at the
turn of the 20th century, what would bring a Fin all the way from
Europe to what was then a very remote location, who knows. They did however
leave their mark in some of the construction and the neatness of the town, some
homes have signs that say Fins only.
A very clean
neat town with a nice marina and new showers and laundry facilities, we decided
to check out the town and do some on-foot exploring. We walked from the marina down to the “Sea 4
Ever” Inn, a charming retreat with see forever views of the mountains and
ocean. We chatted with a vacationing
couple from Denman Island near Hornby Island and Tribune Bay which we’d enjoyed
after leaving Nanaimo. They said they
usually spent a couple of weeks in this area, loving the relaxed atmosphere and
low-key town. Yes, it was low-key. We discovered on our walk that everything in
town, including the grocery store, is closed on Sunday and Monday.
Our legs were
tired, and upon checking, we saw we’d walked about eight miles – our longest
walk since leaving the home. Before returning
to the boat, we decided to “have the best burger in town” at the Burger Barn,
the only place other than the Pub which was open on Sunday. The burger and
Greek wrap were thoroughly enjoyed as we looked out at the water of Cormorant
Channel.
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| Sointula on a sunny day |
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| Sointula Marina |
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| Memorial |
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| Friendly horse at road side |
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| Port McNeill, Alert Bay Sointula Ferry |
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| Down Town |
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| Pity it was'nt open |
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| Museum and Town Hall (Right) |
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| Marina, Best Burger Place, Cruise Ship in background |
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| Marina Area |
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| Burger barn |
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| Departing Sointula |
Ready for the
next leg of our journey to begin. We are in Port McNeill where we can post this, our next update. Know that we’re trying our best to keep you
updated on our journey, but are finding places with cell towers and internet
coverage farther and farther apart. We
don’t know what it’s going to be like on the West side; we’ll do our best.
We’ve plotted
three different ways to go around the north end of Vancouver Island and will
make the choice based on the conditions of wind, tides and weather when we get
there. The weather has to be appropriate for this section of the trip if it isn’t we will turn back down inside of
Vancouver Island using a different rout for our return. Safety is concern one! Hopefully,
the God of the Waters, Neptune, will be with us.
The Other "Reluctant" Crew Member
