Whales, Waterfalls and Natural Wonders -- July 29, 2010

It seems we have decided to continue north despite a great deal of discouragingly wet weather, mostly because we just didn't want to admit defeat just yet. Our de facto choice has certainly paid off this past week!We have been in Fiordland Recreation Area in some of the most beautiful, hot sunny summer weather we have ever experienced on the north coast. We are surrounded by steep, tree-covered mountains punctuated by the bare slashes of huge landslides; granite peaks and huge rock bowls still covered with the last of the winter's snow; with glimpses of glacier-topped peaks farther inland. Waterfalls are a strong possibility around every point of land, and up the many inlets that mark the outflow of snow-melt rivers. Long, vaguely parallel tracks gouged out of living rock meander across the face of naked granite walls, giving mute testimony to the vast power of the glacial ice that carved many of these stunning mountain valleys thousands of years ago. Floating at anchor, the majestic silence imposed by these mountain walls can be shattered by the piping cry of a young eagle practicing flight, or the gutteral bark of a passing sea lion.

Kynock Inlet, Fiordland -- June 25 We ventured in to Kynoch Inlet for the first time, and caught up with our friends Elsie and Steve Hulsizer about their beautiful 44' sailboat Osprey. As we traveled up the inlet they told us about some pictographs they had found on the rock walls. We marked our chart and promised to hunt for them ourselves on the way out. Our destination was Culpepper Lagoon, a tidal inlet that can be most safely entered (and left) at high slack tide, the time that occurs twice each day when the tide is at its highest for the day, and the water level on both sides of the very narrow, shallow entrance to the lagoon is just about equal. We came in when the tide was still rising a bit and got a speed boost as the incoming current lifted us through the narrows. I stood on the bow and watched our hull pass by huge boulders, barely covered with water, that littered the edges of the narrow fairway. The lagoon is a couple of miles long and very deep throughout, so few cruising boats have reason to come in, let alone try to anchor, so we were completely alone as we passed rock near shore, covered with barking, groaning, grumbling harbor seals who watched us suspiciously with their bright, dark eyes.

We dropped anchor in about 80 feet of water and only about 50 feet from shore. A creek tumbled out of the deep forest and dropped a few feet to the rocks below; a little cascade that made a pretty picture our of our aft cabin windows, and lulled us to sleep through the open hatch.

In the morning we pulled up anchor and went back to the lagoon entrance. We needed to time our departure to coincide with high slack again, but we hoped that maybe we could sneak out a little early. We wanted to explore the site of an old cabin, and it was so calm that we were able to leave Tenacious adrift and drop the dinghy to go ashore to see what was left. We found signs of human habitation in the form of foundation logs and some burned timbers, but evidence of bear habitation was much more recent! Deep holes were everywhere - sign that they had been digging up the abundant skunk cabbage plants to get at their roots. Both black bears and grizzlies eat skunk cabbage, and we wondered which species had been where we were standing.

We returned to Tenacious to make the run out of the lagoon but the current was still too strong against us so we waited an hour before our attempt. Success! We were back out in Kynoch Inlet and we headed toward the area where the pictographs were reported. Here is one of the ones we found. Note the tiered dots at left, the human-like figure at the top and the "box" at the bottom. (Sorry about the shadows.) We were surprised to hear a whale blow, but enjoyed watching a humpback move slowly along one of the bare rock walls, scratching himself against the rock. He moved so slowly and seemed so relaxed - he must have really been enjoying himself! Kynoch Falls were lovely, and on this hot day we edged in close enough to feel the cool spray off the falls from where we stood on the bow.

Poison Cove - June 26 Our next anchorage was Poison Cove, named by Captain Vancouver when several of his crew ate mussels infected with a toxic algae and sickened. One died. We decided not to try the mussels... When we reached the head of the bay and saw the dark aquamarine river racing through the fresh green of a grassy meadow that was bordered at the shoreline by mustard-yellow rockweed, I was reminded of the colorful thermal springs in Yellowstone. The sparkling clear tiered colors looked like they came from an artist's paintbox. We scouted around for a good place to drop the anchor. The water was still and clear when Pat called "Let fall!" and pushed the anchor out of its berth. Pat backed Tenacious toward the shore to set the anchor and as the numbers on the depth sounder dropped from 80, I could see the steeply-angled mud bank that dropped from just a few feet near the shore line to hundreds of feet in just a few dozen yards. On our way out, we stopped by beautiful Lizette Falls, where Patrick and Jessica had a photo opportunity.

We headed for Bishop Bay and its popular hot spring for some hot-water soaking. Only those who have been "enjoying" sea showers (using water only very sparingly) can truly appreciate the luxury, the sheer joy of stepping down into a deep rock tub full of steaming fresh water that just bubbled up out of the ground. It's a darn miracle! The only reason I was able to leave there was the knowledge that there are more hot springs out there that we can visit.

We were joined by some Pacific White-sides on our way here in Kitimat, a new destination for us. We will leave here tomorrow and plan to continue exploring new territory in Gardener Canal and the Kitlope.

Hot, sunny days and stunning deep-water anchorages, waterfalls to cool us, hot springs to soothe us, whales to watch, pictographs to discover, all in all its been a pretty good week. More soon!

Ocean Falls and Special Visitors: July 18, 2010

I'm catching up on the blog in fascinating Ocean Falls, a ghost town and favorite spot of ours in recent years. Once a thriving mill town with one of the world's purest water supplies (from Link Lake) and limitless power generated by the dam that gave this place its name, Ocean Falls now has about 35 full-time residents, a handful of deteriorating buildings and houses, and lots of clues as to its past scattered about. I have already gathered several bouquets of wildflowers, and flowers once planted in well-kept gardens that have gone feral. I can fill the boat with their beautiful colors and fragrances just by taking a short walk. I have to watch out for the local deer population though--you can practically stumble over them as they calmly munch on flowers and berry bushes. They are my biggest competition! The berries are especially plentiful this year, and yesterday Patrick and I picked enough huge, ripe salmon berries for him to make a beautiful pair of strudels. We delivered one of them with our boat neighbors across the dock who had given us a sizeable Dungeness crab for dinner.

We have been relaxing after returning our nephews, Nate and Sam, to their parents a couple of weeks ago. Their visit was such a highlight! This will catch you up on the rest of their trip since the last posting: After we left Sullivan Bay we thought a stop at Shawl Bay was in order. Their claim to fame is an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast each morning, and our boys made a pretty good showing there. We will leave the actual number of pancakes consumed per boy private... As we left there we pulled up our prawn trap to find a small octopus inside. Everybody got to hold him and feel the little suckers on his tentacles, then he was carefully set free.

Our next destination was Pierre's at Echo Bay. We wanted to be there July 1 for Canada Day and their famous Prime Rib feed. We came in a day ahead and got settled on the dock, then made our way over the bridge and through woods to Billy Proctor's Museum. Billy was there, and showed us around, talking about some of his treasures and where they had been found. Nikki van Schyndel was there and we played with her dog Cricket. We invited Billy, Nikki and dear friends Lorne and Colleen Shantz over for dessert that night. Patrick made strudel from salmon berries the boys had gathered on their bike ride at Jennis Bay, and I made a key lime pie. It was a lovely evening and a great gathering of friends. Canada Day dawned sunny and beautiful, and with many of the boats decorated in honor of the day, the marina was a festive sight. The prime rib feed was terrific! We always enjoy our visits to Pierre's.

We left Pierre's on July 2 and headed back toward the Johnstone Strait. On our way we spotted a deer swimming! We watched it rather anxiously--the seas were rough and it was a long way to shore, but it got there safely, and we all heaved a sigh of relief. It was quite a sight to see those antlers making their way through the chop.

We spent a night in an unnamed anchorage in the Broughtons. Uncle Pat sent the boys out in the dinghy on their own to do some fishing. They had been practicing their skills with running the motor, controlling the boat and bringing it in to Tenacious for landings, and they did a great job out there! And they caught some more fish, but let them all go. In honor of thier success we named the pretty little nook "Nate and Sam's Anchorage" and posted the new name on our electronic charts. We'll go back there and remember their wonderful visit.

In the morning we left the newly-named anchorage to try to find some whales. Though we were in an area where humpbacks, orcas and other whales are often seen, all we found were some Pacific White-sided Dolphins, so we decided to head over to the Whale Interpretive Center in Telegraph Cove. There we spoke to some of the staff who told us about the huge fin whale skeleton that hangs overhead, and about how the bones of the many marine mammals there are preserved and displayed. We got some pre-lunch ice cream treats and headed back to Tenacious, anchored just outside Telegraph Cove, and returned to our pursuit of the elusive whales.

We had better luck with live whales in the afternoon. After Patrick and Nate did some work with the sextant, the volunteers of StraitWatch, who do research and protection work for marine mammals in this area, stopped by our boat and told us that it was the first day that members of the northern resident pod of orcas had been seen in the area this season. A grandmother orca who had lost her son a few years ago had connected with two young male orcas who had lost their mother recently. The three were traveling together, and we saw them! Soon after, we were joined by a pod of dozens of Pacific White-sides and we enjoyed their frolicking in our bow waves. Sam took this great photo of a group of them! A humpback whale then appeared, blowing, fluking and diving, and the dolphins moved over to join the whale. Finally, the pair of young male orcas, swimming synchronously side by side, proceeded to parade just past the humpie and dolphins, all three species in a single frame. It was a memorable day!

We spent our last night out anchored at Native Anchorage at Village Island. A pair of eagles soared overhead as we dropped the anchor. Our trip back to Port McNeill was a bit rough, but we got back safely and had a day free to drive inland to Port Alice, and some time to visit the First Nations museum and cemetery with its unusual memorial poles at Alert Bay. This one seems to be a man who looks very surprised to find a very colorful life-sized halibut standing behind him. All too soon I had to take Nate and Sam back to Vancouver for their trip home. We are still missing them, their jokes and games of Liar's Dice and Refusal, and being able to share the wonders of this world with them. Dan and Leslie, thank you so much for sharing them with us!!

So - we plan to continue north when we leave Ocean Falls tomorrow. We'll keep you 'posted' when we have more to tell.