Northing

July 31 at Shearwater, Denny Island
With 40-50 knots winds in the forecast we decided to duck into the protection of Codville Lagoon on the 27th. The first day, before the front moved in, we hiked and climbed an incredibly muddy trail up to a mountain lake with red sand beaches. Pat actually stripped and went swimming! It was too cold for me, although it was a really nice, sandy bottom. Then we pretty much vegetated for the next two days. I think I'm getting the hang of sleeping like the cats. We made lots of progress on a 1000-piece puzzle and listened to music from my iPod. Pat made some delicious banana bread from scratch, and I made Nanaimo bars, which have a chocolate and coconut base, custard filling and melted chocolate on top. MMmmmmm.

We got tired of sitting around in the gloom on the 29th and took advantage of a break in the rain to pull up anchor. Of course, the rain started again while I was on deck getting the anchor up. After a two-hour run, the native town of New Bella Bella looked pretty grim facility-wise and had no protected anchorage, so we continued another 2 or 3 miles over to Shearwater. They couldn't accomodate us at the dock so we anchored out once for two more nights. I knew we had been at anchor for too long when at about 10 am on Thursday morning I started thinking that Bloody Marys would be a good idea...

Once again we're exploring new territory. This is the farthest north - and west - that we have been so far. We're hearing of good salmon fishing up here, so perhaps we'll have some luck. More later!

July 25 at Pruth Bay
We are at anchor for a few days in a pretty place called Pruth Bay. Lots of boaters told us about it. There is a very luxurious (and very expensive) fly-in fishing resort here, but our anchorage is lovely and private. We're tucked into a little nook close to the rocky shoreline. We took the dinghy to the head of the bay and hiked an easy trail over to the Pacific Ocean side of Calvert Island. There we found a wide sandy beach to explore. It was surrounded by huge rocks that had been carved and molded by the ocean waves for millenia. I found rocks covered with huge mussels and tide pools full of colorful starfish and anemones. We even found what looked like a nursery for baby Dungeness crabs where the outflow from a fresh-water stream met the tideline. There were dozens and dozens of little crabs in there. Pat opened up a few mussels and tossed them in. You should have seen them go after the food! I think this might be a sign that we've been anchored out long enough - we're finding it quite entertaining to watch baby crabs eat shellfish ... It has started raining, so we're prepared to relax and wait out the storm.

July 23 at Open Bight
Yesterday we rounded Cape Caution, taking us beyond the protection of Vancouver Island, and made our way up Queen Charlotte Sound. On our way we anchored for a couple of hours at Open Bight, a beautiful white crescent of beach that I love to walk and explore. Off to one side of the beach, separated from the sand by dense forest and huge surf-beaten rocks, there is a white-shell midden beach that I have wanted to explore. We had tried to get there by dinghy last year but found the waves to high to make a safe landing on the slippery rocks that guard the entrance to the midden. I decided not to let a little wild country stop me, so I scrambled up rocky banks, climbed over and ducked under huge fallen logs, crashed through salal thickets and fern brakes and finally came out to the big rocks, only to find that they were quite steep in places. I really had to gird up my loins and do some rock climbing to get across to the midden. Once there, it was just gorgeous. It was obviously a place where ancient people came to harvest shellfish in the appropriate season. The beach was steep with a huge pile of discarded shells, among them many mussel shells in shades of lavender and violet, accented with gleaming mother-of-pearl where there outer shell had worn away with sun and tides. I found the remains of abalone shells, too, with their multi-colored irridescent reflections, scattered against the matte white of tumbled and broken clam and oyster shells. Wildflowers grew at the edges of the beach, finding a tenuous toehold in the tide-washed crevices of silvery driftwood logs. I could look out over the shells to see Tenacious anchored beyond the kelp that marks the off-shore rocks.

When it was time to go back to Tenacious, the seas had settled and the tide was such that Pat could pick me up in the dinghy, so I didn't have to repeat the scramble over rock and tree to get back to the beach - which was quite a relief to me, as I had pretty much already used up my quote of courage and derring-do for the day, but it is an adventure I'll never forget.

On our way up here we spotted a humpback whale in Fitz Hugh Sound. It was just meandering along so we put Tenacious in neutral and drifted along with the current while I got some video of the whale from the foredeck. We were getting closer to the whale, so Pat went aft to steer away. Just as we were turning away, the whale noticed us, scooped up a huge tail-full of water and flipped it right toward me on the deck. I was soaked! Luckily the video camera wasn't drenched, and I just caught the whale's flukes as he dove below us. We couldn't stop laughing as I stood on deck, dripping...

Dear Ones,
Our 2008 season has begun beautifully. We are getting the hang of things now, and Pat is really taking advantage of currents and tides to speed our travel from place to place. We practically squirted through the series of rapids to get to the Broughtons with the tidal currents behind us, at times we were traveling at 10 and 11 knots – pretty good when you consider our average speed is 7 to 7.5 knots. One early stop was at a favorite anchorage, the site of a long-abandoned First Nation village. Its white-shell midden beaches have given up a number of interesting treasures and this year they did not disappoint: I found trade beads and other artifacts.

On our way north from there we saw a black bear on the beach in Chatham Channel, but as we turned up into Spring Passage we spotted a mother and cub, turning over rocks in search of beach crabs to eat. They spotted us at one point and the mother gave us a rather intimidating stare, but luckily we were far enough away that she didn’t seem to feel the need to carry the message any further.

As we progressed into Havannah Channel we found ourselves surrounded by a huge pod of Pacific White-sided dolphins, arcing through the water all around us. There must have been a hundred of them. Three of them decided to take a break from fishing and amused themselves by racing in our bow wake for minutes at a time. They would pop up just in front of our bow, then weave back and forth across each other’s paths and to the other side of our bow, surfacing for a split second to blow and dipping back down to fly through the water once more. We watched from the foredeck as one occasionally rolled on his side to take a peek to see who was providing the waves. Then, as dolphins do, they were distracted by something else and zipped away to find another occupation. A good friend of ours says that dolphins have Attention Deficit Disorder. Evidence seems to bear this out.

Pierre's at Echo Bay
We came in to the marina called Pierre’s at Echo Bay 4 days before their grand re-opening pig roast on Canada Day, July 1. Pierre and Tove and their new partners purchased the Echo Bay marina at the end of April and have been working madly to build new docks and renovate everything in time for the boating season. There was much more work than could ever be done by their hands alone, so a number of boaters donated their efforts. Pat teamed up with another boating friend and ran all new water lines from shore to the entire dock with hookups at the top of each finger. They did a beautiful and very professional job. I helped out with everything from stocking the shelves in the grocery store to painting the fascia boards around the float plane dock.

We had a great time on Canada Day (July 1.) Pat 'dressed' Tenacious with flags for the occasion. We explored the old Echo Bay Hotel which used to house loggers here, and has been more or less abandoned for 30 years. The old photographs, clothing and other artifacts in the bedrooms upstairs were fascinating to rummage through. The interior has beautiful Craftsman-style woodwork. From there we hiked over a new trail to one of our favorite stops: Billy Proctor’s Museum. It is packed with everything from ancient artifacts to old fishing and logging equipment and everything in between, and he has a story to go with almost every item, most of which he found during his 74 years living in this area. One of the first things you see as you enter is a big rock that he keeps out on the windowsill next to the door of the museum. When unsuspecting visitors ask him about that rock, Bill says, “That’s a leverite.” He pauses and adds, “As in ‘leave her right there where you found her.” He always gets a big laugh out of that one – and it still cracks him up, too. (Pat claims that I bring home far too many “leverites” back from my beachcombing trips.) I examined his First Nations artifacts. With all of the beachcombing I do, it helps to know what the little bits and pieces I come across might be. That night we enjoyed the Pig Roast where we all celebrated being a little part of Pierre’s at Echo Bay.

Blunden Harbour
We’ve been in Blunden Harbour since July 2 and I have been beachcombing the shell midden beach every day for hours. I have found a number of old trade beads and other artifacts in my searches, including a barb from a primitive halibut hook – something I wouldn’t have recognized without seeing one at Billy’s museum.

Patrick has been going on crab hunts early in the morning after he takes me over to the beach in the dinghy and drops me off to hunt for beads. I’m up there as the tide is running out, so as the water levels drop, the crabs have to follow the receding waterline out toward deeper water. Pat stands up in the dinghy and poles himself along in the shallow water, looking like a Venice gondolier, until he spots a crab that looks big enough, then swoops in with a big fish net to capture his prey. Each time he’s gone out he has come back with four huge Dungeness crabs, which it turns out is exactly enough for Pat, me, Amanda and Jessica. You should see those cats go after the crab meat. They really love it! Amanda sits at the table with us like a dinner guest. If I don’t give her a piece fast enough she reaches out with her paw and touches my arm to remind me she’s waiting there. Jessica has better manners. She sits on the step next to me very quietly, and with great dignity, and just waits and looks at me with those huge golden eyes….

The pair of nesting bald eagles that I have seen here over the past several years have a youngster who is still practicing his flying skills. One very windy afternoon we watched him practice soaring, following one or the other of his parents as they flew from tiny island to island over Tenacious’ mast, gliding high, turning and swooping down to the tips of the white caps in search of fish. One of the parents picked a fish out of the water with its talons but dropped it.

This afternoon I was sitting in a sunny patch at the edge of the woods where they meet the white shell beach, near a clump of the hot-pink spikes of fireweed. I was startled by the tiny helicopter sound a hummingbird who zoomed in close to the front of my jacket, perhaps checking to see if the red trim along my zipper had any culinary possibilities. We're having a great time.