The Journey

Tofino, Barkley Sound to Bamfield

Mon 31^st August – Mon 7^th Sept

Ucluelet
#1 Cataract Cove
Joes Bay
Effingham Bay
#2 Bamfield
(Note! Didnt realize the Spot battery needed changing till Bamfield)

Tofino: Monday, August, 31^st:

We departed Tofino on Monday, August 31^st after three great days in town, leaving in light fog, rain and low visibility. We travelled down Templar Channel on an Ebb tide (out-going) at 7.5 knots and into a predicted three meter (9’ approx.) Pacific swell moving south. This was one of the few times the weather forecast was close to correct.

As the trip south progressed our actual experience on the trip to Ucluelet (You-CLUE-let) was seas that grew to five meters (15-plus feet) and variable wind from no particular direction. It was the roughest trip to date. The boat, however, handled these conditions very well, although Winslow probably felt like he’d been thrown into a washing machine on the agitate cycle!

Early morning mist, departing Tofino at 7:00 am.

The Cruising Guide and our discussion with other boaters warned us to watch out for Jenny Reef as we rounded Amphitrite Point and entered Ucluelet Channel. As we came around, there was a three- to four- meter Pacific swells which caused large waves to crash over Jenny Reef. That, together with the heavy rain and low visibility made passage through the 200 yard wide channel challenging. We aligned ourselves with the center of the Channel, added some horsepower and frankly said a few prayers. This wasn’t “just another day at the office” type of sailing, and was one of the trickiest and perhaps most dangerous entries we made. We were both glad we weren’t doing it at night in these conditions.

Photos really flatten out the waves. It was a little tense travelling through this pass past Jenny Reef.

Ucluelet: Monday, August 31^st – Thursday morning, September 3^rd:

We arrived around 1:00 p.m. in Ucluelet (pronounced you-CLUE-let) which means “safe harbor” in the Nuu-chah-nulth language. The town has an ongoing population of about 1,800 people. After spending three nights at a marina in Tofino, we were anxious to head for Barkley Sound and were planning on one night in Ucluelet. That one-night stay turned into three as steady rain and fog continued. We wanted to enter Barkley Sound – the gem of the west side – with good weather not only to see it but do some kayaking in the Broken Group.

Entrance into Ucluelet Small Boat Harbour.

However, we adjusted to what was the current situation and decided to check out the area. Like most of the towns on the west side, Ucluelet is a primarily a fishing port. Like Tofino, it promotes eco-tourism with several venues available for whale watching. It’s also a drop-off point to catch the “U-Chuck” boat which serves many of the small towns on the west side not only delivering groceries and hard goods, but also fishermen and tourists to their fishing lodge or other resort destination. Ian came down with a bad cold and needed some down time to rest. We found a nearby pharmacy with some cold medicine to help him feel better.

Ucluelet has a large fully-stocked Co-Op grocery store (produce is very expensive); many coffee shops a couple nice bakeries, a large elementary and secondary school, and several hotels. In fact, a former Canadian hydrographic vessel, the Canadian Princess, was at “dry dock” in our marina, offering hotel-like services including breakfast, lunch and dinner. I enjoyed a Fisherman’s breakfast (three eggs, sausage, bacon, potatoes and toast) and Pat splurged with eggs benedict great breakfast in the main galley stateroom. After breakfast, we made our way back to the marina and headed out with clear skies toward Barkley Sound and the famed Broken Group.

Ucluelet Marina

Canadian Princess resort and restaurant

Tuamotu out at the end of the dock

Cataract Cove, Pipestem Inlet, the Broken Group: Thursday, September 3^rd – Friday, September 4^th:

Leaving Ucluelet behind, we were happy the weather finally gave us a break and the high pressure system that was stalled over much of the west coast moved south toward Seattle and home. After three nights with my cold abating, we put out the sails and enjoyed 15 knots of wind. We sailed with a boat from Coupeville, Washington, to Pipestem Inlet, which is at the NW corner of Barkley sound. We entered the Cove and anchored in driving rain with low visibility.

At anchor in Cataract Cove

Culmination, the boat from Coupeville, raced us to the anchorage, quickly got into their dinghy to harvest mussels and clams in a nearby area. Apparently they thought that was our plan, but we were happy to just have our anchor down. I was suffering from low energy from my cold and enjoyed a cup of tea below deck. Later, the sun came out; delivering one of the most beautiful sunsets we’d seen. We relaxed and listed to the rushing waters of a nearby waterfall and later watched a huge orange moon rise over the distant horizon. All was well in the world and we just paused to realize it was now September and we’d spent over 70 nights on the boat. With some sadness we faced the fact that we were in the last weeks of our journ

Travelling by boat the dinghy is the pick up truck. Its used for all types of transportation. Picking up supplies, as a platform for cleaning and waxing the sides of the boat, for us it is used as a deck to get in and out of the kayaks. Its also used for sight seeing. Here we are on the way to Lucky Creek.

Skinny entrance to Lucky Creek. Getting the tide correct is key to a lot of the trips we took.

Lucky Creek Falls. The Cruising Guides refer to a Tinker Bell like experience. No Tinker Bell here.

The next morning, we woke up to a beautiful sunny, blue skied-morning. We noticed that the morning temperature was lower than we’d been experiencing: Fall was in the air!

After breakfast, we jumped into the dinghy and full-throttled it across the Cove to Refuge Island, the entryway to Lucky Creek to the waterfall we’d heard the day before. This trip, according to the Cruising Guides is one of the must does when at this anchorage.

As with most water ventures we’d faced, we had to enter Lucky Creek around high tide because some areas are very shallow. That meant we had no more than two hours to spend in this area. If we didn’t time it correctly, we’d be dragging our dinghy back out! We twisted and wound our way up the Creek to a very pretty waterfall. We were happy to see that with the recent rain, there actually was water coming over the fall! So many locations we visited hoping to see waterfalls and areas we wanted to kayak were dry due to the lack of rain this year.

We spent only a short time at the waterfall, not doing a nearby hike because we didn’t want to get trapped. There were some places we’d nearly run aground and water was going to be lower on our return trip. Remembering how to zigzag through the Creek on our return trip we got back on the boat and decided to head to a less sheltered anchorage, hoping for more sunshine and warmer weather.

Joe’s Bay & Effingham Bay: Friday, September 4^th – Sunday morning, September 6^th:

Barkley Sound is a twelve by twelve miles area of archipelagos within which The Broken Group; seven by five mile area lies. The islands are small and close together framed by Loudoun Channel to the NW and Imperial Eagle Channel and the Deer Group Islands to the SE. The numerous islets make it ideal for short kayak trips from the home base of the boat or “isle hopping” if kayaking and camping.

We had returned our inflatable kayaks to the lazarette during the rain and were anxious to get them back in the water in Joe’s Bay. After having Cataract Cove pretty much to ourselves, we were surprised to share the anchorage with two power boats. The weather was gorgeous, but listening to the weather report, more rain was expected by Sunday. Unfortunately, the kayaks stayed in the hold while we read books, enjoyed the sunshine and figured out what our next move was going to be given the weather forecast. The cold I’d had left me with a lingering cough, and unfortunately, Pat was getting sick with the same bug.

Rather than spend a week to ten days in Barkley Sound and the Broken Group, we decided to cut the stay short and start the trip home. With the three nights in Ucluelet and other anchorages we spent a total of seven nights in Barkley Sound.

The Broken Group is made up by a lot of very closely spaced islands.
This shows our two anchorages only two miles apart as the crow flies.

We left Joe’s Bay Saturday and reluctantly headed for Effingham Bay, a popular anchorage for boats entering the Broken Group. Traveling only about seven miles, we entered a wide bay surrounded by high mountains in the distance. It seemed like we could see forever, and with sunshine, our solar panels happily starting recharging our batteries as we turned the engine off. Saturday night’s sunset was at 7:55 p.m. We remembered at the start of our trip how we were able to see clearly until 10:45 p.m. just ten weeks earlier.

I planned how we were going to do the trip to Bamfield, while Pat made some muffins, keeping the entire boat up to fiberglass-melting temperatures, while we both drank some tea to help our colds.

Sunday morning we had sunny, blue skies and an amazing, panoramic view of Barkley Sound. It was magnificent and we regretted the decision to pull anchor and leave. Not only were we not 100% health-wise, the mainsail was jamming pretty regularly while deploying it. Our boat had performed beautifully, and we felt safe throughout every situation we’d encountered on this trip. She was, however, telling us she needed some down time for repairs to also be at 100% performance.

This was a place we wanted to return to and explore more fully. We agreed that Barkley Sound is a delightful gem of a place, different from the Gulf and San Juan Islands we’d thoroughly explored in the past. We left Effingham Bay around 10:00 to motor sail to Bamfield, about 12 miles away.

Late afternoon Effingham Bay

Effingham Bay

Bamfield: Sunday afternoon, September 6^th – Monday morning, September 7^th:

Bamfield inlet is called “Main Street” and the village is on both sides. The east side abuts Vancouver Island while the west side is on an island unconnected, except by boat to the other side. With the exception of fuel this isn’t a location you would consider for a major re provisioning stop.

We arrived late afternoon to a very busy harbor bustling with fishing boats coming and leaving the bay. We chose an anchorage deep in the bay, a bit away from some of the other boats. It was a bit shocking to see so much activity after our periods of quietude. We counted five other sailboats and too many powerboats to count.

Entering Bamfield

General store center Coast Guard station to the right. This is one of only two Coast Guard stations on the entire west coast

It is a town well worth the visit and a good jump off point back into the Juan De Fuca Straights toward home or travelling back to Barkley Sound. There is a local general store which has a decent selection but limited inventory. There is a great boardwalk along the west side of town which connects houses along “Main Street, and twines through a wooded area that features gnomes and “Cat Village,” a group of dollhouse-sized buildings with a cat theme. We knew our grandchildren would love to see it and we were missing them.

The "Main Street"

Pat on "The Street"

Enchanted small town for cats and children

Enchanted village

Public out house

Ian on "The Street"

Gnome town in the woods on "The Street"

Coast Guard Station. Brand new this year 2015

Looking towards the entrance to the bay

We also did a walk out to Brady Beach, about 1.5 miles away. The beach features lots of white sand and a beautiful open outlook. There’s also a sea cave and bench built atop a rocky outlook which we climbed up and admired the view.

Bamfield is known for its small cabin style houses so much so you can buy a book about them. The town has a certain level of cute and is a great protected anchorage with lots of fishing boat activity. We liked the town, found the people friendly, and homes charming. We could imagine the town attracts a huge number of people to a lovely resort on the east side as well as a fisherman’s support center to enter nearby Barkley Sound.