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.