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.