Patrick and I left the home dock near Vancouver on June 1 this year, and made excellent time to the Broughtons. We spent our first night out tied up at Hardy Island at the vacation home of friends, then sped onward to our second night in Forward Harbour - a distance of over 80 miles in one day, only doable because w
e happened to catch the tides through the series of tidal rapids just right. On 0ur third day out as we transited Johnstone Strait, we spotted a pair of frisky humpback whales, leaping, diving and cavorting not far from Robson Bight. We watched them for over an hour as they dove, fluke
d, breached, rolled on their backs, clapped their long, narrow pectoral fins back and forth on the water, slapped their tails, and just generally celebrated life. Twice they breached together. Such grace in such huge creatures... and such joy in sharing their play! A 9 minute video on YouTube is here.A short sail brought us to Pierre's at Echo Bay where we were welcomed by friends old and new. A couple of days relaxing there prepared us for our first trip to Blunden Harbour where we anchored for over a week, exploring and beachcombing. Pat had some great luck crabbing, and we feasted on huge Dungeness crabs so often that we had to laugh when "we caught ourselves say, "Freshly-caught crab AGAIN???"
We headed back to Port McNeill to prepare for the highlight of our summer trip, the visit of our nephews from Kansas, Nate and Sam. I met them at Vancouver Airport and after a stop for lunch and visit to a local museum, we took the BC Ferry from Tsawwassen to Nanaimo, the drove the rest of the way up
Vancouver Island to Port McNeill, where Captain Pat met us with a ship-shape boat and hot pizza for a late dinner. After early morning errands and last-minute shopping, the boys helped to cast off and we embarked for Blunden Harbour. Fair winds and smooth seas accompanied us across the Queen Charlotte Strait. The boys each took the helm for a while, and by late afternoon (after a passing shower) the boys and I were on the 
beach hunting for old trade beads - and they each even had a little luck! Low tide was at 6:30 the next morning, so everybody was rousted out early and the boys had their first crab-hunting lesson from Uncle Pat. They each caught beautiful legal-sized crabs, and we enjoyed them for dinner that night - some of us more than others,
but the boys were great about tasting the new food with interest. Steaks remained quite popular, too.
We headed back to Port McNeill to prepare for the highlight of our summer trip, the visit of our nephews from Kansas, Nate and Sam. I met them at Vancouver Airport and after a stop for lunch and visit to a local museum, we took the BC Ferry from Tsawwassen to Nanaimo, the drove the rest of the way up
Vancouver Island to Port McNeill, where Captain Pat met us with a ship-shape boat and hot pizza for a late dinner. After early morning errands and last-minute shopping, the boys helped to cast off and we embarked for Blunden Harbour. Fair winds and smooth seas accompanied us across the Queen Charlotte Strait. The boys each took the helm for a while, and by late afternoon (after a passing shower) the boys and I were on the 
beach hunting for old trade beads - and they each even had a little luck! Low tide was at 6:30 the next morning, so everybody was rousted out early and the boys had their first crab-hunting lesson from Uncle Pat. They each caught beautiful legal-sized crabs, and we enjoyed them for dinner that night - some of us more than others,
but the boys were great about tasting the new food with interest. Steaks remained quite popular, too. A couple of days at Blunden included some time exploring the old village site, identifying the sites of bighouses from their foundations, and the remains of huge log timbers and house planks over 5 feet wide and thicker than a forearm, all abandoned on the forest floor. We climbed up the slope and found huge old cedar trees, trunks healed around the edges of long ago scars where First Nations people harvested long strips of their inner bark to make clothing, baskets and more.
At our next destination, Jennis Bay, the boys met new friends; Orion and Charlie Marie, children of the marina owners Tom and Allison 
Allo. As the boys managed the lines and fenders upon landing, were greeted with an invitation to join a pot luck dinner of Allison's freshly caught ling cod fish and chips. Nate and I made fudge to contribute, and we provided potatoes for the chips. Potlucks are a tradition up here; each boat contributing what they can. The serendipity of dishes and flavors is always great fun. The boys explored the area, taking mountain bikes and a picnic lunch up the 4-mile trail to Huaskin Lake, and spent the afternoon kayaking around all of the little bays and islets around Jennis Bay with Orion. They brought us a bounty of freshly-picked salmon berries, Our second day at Jennis closed with a guitar sing-along around a campfire, complete with s'mores.
Allo. As the boys managed the lines and fenders upon landing, were greeted with an invitation to join a pot luck dinner of Allison's freshly caught ling cod fish and chips. Nate and I made fudge to contribute, and we provided potatoes for the chips. Potlucks are a tradition up here; each boat contributing what they can. The serendipity of dishes and flavors is always great fun. The boys explored the area, taking mountain bikes and a picnic lunch up the 4-mile trail to Huaskin Lake, and spent the afternoon kayaking around all of the little bays and islets around Jennis Bay with Orion. They brought us a bounty of freshly-picked salmon berries, Our second day at Jennis closed with a guitar sing-along around a campfire, complete with s'mores. We were sorry to leave, but a geocache stashed far up Drury Inlet called so we went on the hunt. Unfortunately we weren't successful finding the cache, but no one else has been either, so we think it might have been muggled. The boys went fishing in the afternoon and caught several red sea cucumbers - ugly, slimy-looking things. Needless to say - not keepers!
After overnighting at Sullivan Bay and enjoying great burgers in their restaurant, we moved on to an afternoon anchorage where the fellows did some more fishing. This time Nate had some luck, pulling up three rockfish, including a really large, really ugly bullhead. Again, no keepers, but we seem to be moving toward the right species! More later...
