September 24 – Sidney
Cruising through Sansum Narrows on a sunny day is pretty nice. Not getting hit by a BC Ferry in Swartz Bay, even nicer.
Been ages since we were in Sidney and it is a very nice town to visit and the Marina is great for boats of all sizes. Spent some time doing retail therapy, but did not buy anything. Had a nice dinner on the waterfront and a lazy evening.
Walking the dog
September 21 - Penrose Bay to Jedidiah Island
Oh shucks another sunny day. A bit cool – what do you expect in late September ---- but sunny, we’ll take it.
We cruised along for a long run today. We stopped for a bit on the south east side of Savory Island for some beach walking on a beautiful sandy beach. There was lots of drift wood and many beach ‘huts’/’forts’ made by the summer visitors. We even dug some clams. Tonight’s dinner will be a seafood buffet – clams, prawn, and ling cod…. delicious.
We ended up at Jedidiah island near Lasqueti Island. There were several other southward heading boats there too. The Safari Quest – one of the little cruise ships (maybe 30 passengers I think), and a couple others boats that we have seen up north. This island is known for long horned sheep. Diane and Willard got there before us as we were trying to stay in cell phone coverage range so I could participate in two conference calls tonight (that didn’t work out all that well), but when they arrived, there were sheep on the rocks above the shoreline. At first Diane thought they were dogs, but then realized they had horns, long horns. The story is that many many years ago settlers on the island had goats and sheep and one guy tried to raise sheep as a business on the island. His venture did not do all that well, and the settlers all left, leaving the sheep behind. So now there are lots of sheep and goats on the island. We met a young man who was on a sailboat and he said that he’d done some hiking today and saw close to 100 sheep and goats.
The evening was fairly cool and the mosquitos were out in mass. Amazingly we have only had bugs well bad bugs in a few places this summer. The rain of the last few weeks likely has sprouted a new batch of hungry little mosquitos.
View from the homestead … hard to beat that one.
Glen and I saw sheep but no goats.
September 20 - Teakerne Arm to Penrose Bay, Malispina Inlet
Beautiful sunny morning and all day. Yippee summer is here again.
An Alaskan charter boat anchored in the bay not far from us
Willard and Diane talked to Doug and Danna this morning while pulling our prawn pots --- zero prawn. Doug and Danna only got 5, so we didn’t feel all that bad.
We had a nice cruise down to Penrose bay, what a difference a little sun makes.
This peak looked like it had fresh snow on it but that seemed impossible as none of the other peaks around had snow. After the cloud cleared we could see a glacier lower on that peak.
We spent part of the day lounging on the lido deck of Sea Life in the sun, then took a long dingy ride to go exploring. There are A LOT of oyster beds and farms around here; many with ‘native’ signs. I think we saw like 4 logging operations along the way too. And one spot that looked like it maybe used to have a cannery.
Oyster Lollipop …. Oyster farming on sticks.
Native Petroglyphs or just weird markings on the rock wall.
We got back to the big boats about 6pm and cleaned up a bit before going out to the ‘Laughing Oyster’ for dinner. The dinner was great as usual, and the view is amazing at sunset. If you haven’t been to this restaurant you really need to put it on your ‘go to’ list.
No, we did not have starfish for dinner
After dinner I was sitting outside the restaurant trying to get some emails in and out and I heard a women’s voice say ‘Is that Liz Dodge I see?’ I looked up and saw the silhouette of 4 people but could not see their faces so I replied, ‘yes, who am I talking to’. It was Mary and Jeff Davis from the Mt Baker ski patrol. Small world. Mary knew I was on my boat somewhere this summer and had spoken to Dave May and he told her the name of the boat and that he thought we might be in this area about now. She was going to call us on the radio but just hadn’t done it yet. They were sitting two tables away from us in the restaurant. They usually are on a sailboat but this summer decided to charter a power boat with some friends. They were on a 38’ Bayliner that they chartered out of Nanaimo. We all walked down to the docks together and Mary picked Glen’s brain about where they might want to go over the next week. It was really fun to see Mary and Jeff on the water.
We then headed back out the big boats under a sky filled with stars. Not a cloud in the sky and stars everywhere. Amazingly beautiful.
We were anchored between this yacht and the waterfall; a great spot
September 19 Hemming Bay to Teakerne Arm
It’s not raining this morning. The waterfall back in the inner cove is showing fairly well due to the low tide but we can’t get in there (low water) to be able to take any good photos. The logging operation was in full work mode by 7am. The Sailboat pulled out about 10am and we pulled out about 11:30am. Today’s adventures will include Big Bay, Dent Rapids, Yuculta Rapids, with a plan to anchor in Teakerne Arm by the big waterfall with the lake above it. I doubt that we’ll go swimming in the lake as it very likely has gotten colder with the lack of hot summer days recently. But one never knows with Glen, he’ll probably want to go swimming just to say he did.
The sky today is gray but dry, and the water very nice. We saw a couple tourist (whale or bear) watching boats go by filled, so the tour season is not over yet.
Made it through Dent Rapids about 1 hour before slack, easy transit.
Did a sightseeing loop of Big Bay while Diane got busy north of Jimmy Judd Island in Yuculta rapids and picked up a nice Ling.
At Teakerne we anchored right in front of the waterfall and stern tied to the north rock wall, so we had a perfect view of the waterfall. With all the recent rain there was a lot of water coming off the falls, much more than last year. Diane and I put the prawn pots out with high hopes.
Another couple came over in their dinghy to view the waterfall and stopped by to say hello. They were headed out to put their prawn pot down too. We told them to come back for cocktails and visit. Glen did go swimming and spent part of the afternoon diving around the boats. He checked the bottoms of both boats, and removed crab pot line from one shaft (who knows when it got there) then cleaned out the thru-hull for our front furnace. He was correct, it was completely clogged with barnacles and muscles. Apparently it got missed when the boat was pulled and the bottom work done before the start of this trip. End result we now have heat in the forward two staterooms, something that we did not have all summer long.
Apparently seals can’t read.
Doug and Danna Owen from the other boat came back about 7pm and spent the evening visiting with us. They are from Cle-Elum and have a butcher shop there that has been in the family for 130 years. Amazing. They brought over a package of mixed ‘Candy for the Carnivore’ which was a variety of meats and cheese (Pepperoni, beef stick, jerky, sausage, and cheese), it was a great treat. They told us that they hope to go to Alaska next summer and so we talked a lot about the places to go, see, what to do, not do, and answered as many of their questions as we could. About 10:30 they decided it was time to go back to their boat.
September 18 Hemming Bay day two
Football Sunday Number 2
About 2am I heard talking and went up to look. The sailboat must have had a problem as they were out on deck in the rain, pulling their stern line, and the anchor and trying to reset. I was about to call out to them and have them simply come tie to us, when they, after about 3 tries, found a spot and got their anchor to hold. I went back to bed about 3am. Voices in the night aren’t what one likes to hear.
The day was spent being sloths, watching football and not much else. Okay I did a bunch of NSP work on my computer getting ready for the fall/winter of ski patrol activities.
After football and dinner, we watched some TV … Yep real TV other than football on the Sea Life’s Sat TV system. No cell phone or internet service available but the Sat TV worked. Eventually we’d had enough and called it a night.
Oh it rained most of the day.
September 17 - Lagoon Cove to Hemming Bay
It is still raining --- when will this stop! Glen and Willard went out to pick up the prawn pots. Got a few prawn but no big haul. Diane’s pot actually only had 3 prawn and one large ell. She was upset when the boys tossed the ell out. She likes ell sushi. Yuck! They also reported seeing a couple bear watching boats over near a shoreline so they went over to investigate, sure enough there was a bear on the rocks above the beach. They watched for a couple minutes and then came back. We headed out saying good bye to Lagoon Cove till our next trip. All three boats that were moored there left about the same time. Jim, Dan, and Kelly watched and waved from the dock. They have a big winter ahead of them, starting the process of changing their lives from city folk to marina owner/operators, selling their Midwest homes, and getting things in order and ready for next summers’ cruising season at the cove.
Jim new owner, with Dan and Kelly at Lagoon Cove.
After leaving Lagoon Cove under wet sky, we headed down Johnstone Strait. The weather window was such that pushing down the strait today with basically smooth water was a good idea. The water was much nicer than it had been when we were headed north back in May.
We probably averaged 13 knots all the down with a low of 11.2 and a max of 15.7 knots even though are throttles were only set for 10 knots.
Anchors were set and then off for an excursion to Thurston Cove. Came back and Willard tried his luck for fish behind the boats for a while, guess the outcome. The two fish farms in the bay are defunct now but the logging operation is in full swing.
We anchored in a protected back bay, near the Hemming Community House. There apparently is a group of people who co-own a bunch of land around this back bay and have a house up in the woods; being private property we did not go explore it. There is a logging operation across the bay and shortly after we got anchored their workers all left for Saturday night and Sunday at home or in a town somewhere.
We went for a long dinghy ride around the area, looking at whatever we could find. There was evidence of old logging operations, and canneries. The remains of a couple fish farms,
In the late afternoon a sailboat joined us in our little bay, anchoring nearby and tying to the other shore.
September 16 Mamalilaculla to Lagoon Cove
It is raining again today, very wet rain. We headed out and pulled into Lagoon Cove, still raining.
Even though it was pouring rain we were welcomed by three (Jim, Dan, and Kelly) on the dock and they immediately said that there would be a prawn party in the shed at 5pm. Magic was the first boat to dock here under the new ownership.
Today is the first official day of ownership of Lagoon Cove by the new owners who bought from Jean this summer. Jim (new owner) was headed to Alaska on his brother-in-laws boat earlier this summer and they stopped in Lagoon Cove. He immediately fell in love with the place, found out that it was for sale, well more correctly had just been sold but the deal was finalized yet. He took lots of photos and sent them to his wife back in St Louis and told her the place was for sale. Her response was, well did you buy it? He said he replied that he did not think he had that level of authorization. Her reply was - Well buy it. He contacted Jeanie, told her if she could get out of the deal she had with the Logging operation, he’d buy the place, and continue operating it as a marina just like she and Bill had done for so many years. She contacted him later in the summer, they worked out a deal and he flew down flew down from Prince Rupert and they finalized the details and he started ‘training’. He and his wife worked with Jean for the last month getting to know the place and how Bill and Jean ran it for so many years. They are relocating here from St Louis. Their daughter Kelly and her husband Dan are moving here as well from Minnesota. Kelly and her two siblings were raised in St Louis and Dan was raised in Wisconsin. Kelly got here one week ago after driving from Minneapolis. Her mom was raised in Bellevue and they have family in Bellingham, Bellevue, and North Bend and have spent time on the family (Kelly’s grandpa’s) boat in the San Juan’s and Gulf Islands. I see good things in the future of Lagoon Cove, provided all the numbers crunch out.
One other boat came in to Lagoon Cove later in the day – still raining, it never stopped raining while we were there. That group was new to boating and from California and Vancouver BC. We had a very nice Lagoon style get together complete with Prawns and Cocktail sauce cooked exactly as Jean taught Kelly, all huddled in the upper shed out of the weather. Many stories were exchanges about the area, the cove, life before the purchase, and of course travels in the area and Alaska. A fun evening.
Exercise Stations at Lagoon Cove
Waterfall behind the house in Lagoon Cove
September 15 Port McNeill to Mamalilaculla
Another foggy morning.
The M/V Delphinus is in port. So before we pulled out of port I wondered over to talk to John about their recent adventures. They have had a summer full of charters, some boat issues (generator problem – now using an external Honda on the bridge. Their groups have been good and they have managed to meet the expectations of whatever the group wanted in the way of seeing and hearing about the history of each area (native, early white settlers, fishing, logging, mining, whatever), wildlife – birds, fish, deer, wolves, Grizzly Bear, Black Bear (licorice, cinnamon, and spirit), and lots of Orca and Humpback whale, hiking etc…. It sounds like most of their groups are of a more Naturalist type, looking for an adventure including lots of photography, etc…. They are in port to pick up another ‘group’ this time only 4 who they will be onboard for about 5 days, seeing and learning what they can around this area and then departing from Port McNeil. It sounded like this is their last charter for the summer and they will be headed to their winter port in Port Ludlow by the end of the month. Ron and John live in California and have been exploring up this way and further north for about 20 years and doing charters for much of that time.
I spent much of last night (late into the night) and several hours this morning trying to get work done and get somewhat caught up with my Ski Patrol work. But I did manage to put a big dent into several projects. I had a whopping 1,005 emails come into me (and I responded to I think all or close to all that needed replies) before we left port. Glen just stayed out of my way, but delivered meals, snacks, and beverages at appropriate times – he’s getting smarter. LOL He also watched football, and played cribbage with Willard and Diane on Sea Life. Oh he also washed Magic; so she does not look quite so ‘rustic’ (aka green and brown) now.
We had planned to pull out of port by noon but it became closer to 2pm when we untied the lines and said goodbye to Port McNeill until our next trip north. And to connection with the outside world for another few days/weeks. I do feel a lot better about where the projects I’m working on are now, so I might survive this next leg.
I even managed to correspond with some of our earlier adventure buddies – Michelle and Steve are home and back to work. Her finger appears to be healing, one setback but sounds like she is back on track for a good healing outcome. Her nail is starting to grow back which will make that new (replacement) wedding ring she will be getting next spring look amazing. Sorry Steve we’re on her side on this one. LOL Michelle also reported that Chris’s surgery went well so by the next trip she will be walking without pain. For those that did not hear earlier, Chris had to have ½ of her knee replacement replaced as it had apparently failed. Jim and Cheryl reported being back at home too. I told him wait, you live on the boat so home is where you always are, to which he replied, ‘yes but now we can drive our cars too’. Humm, can one drive a car after 4-5 months without driving without going back through Drivers Education? Lookout world here we come.
We do miss having the Mighty Seven all together. But the Tremendous Two will stay together till the end, gunk-holing our way south.
We had porpoise playing alongside us as we headed out of Port McNeill. Glen also spotted one Humpback whale but it dove, tailed and we never saw it again.
This afternoons adventure was to explore Mamalilaculla (Village Island) where we found some remains of the old native village, midden on the beach (reportedly the village was atop 12 feet of midden), what remains of the logs from in front of the longhouse, what’s left of a couple old houses (circa 1920), and a downed totem decaying in the underbrush.
Decaying old totem in the brush.
Apparently this area was quite the native area for many generations and changed over the years as all things do. One of the books we have on board says that this area of islands is believed to have had native activity dating back 8,000 years. There are old apple trees scattered around and lots of wild rose bushes, but everything is being taken over by blackberry bushes. It makes you wonder what is under all those blackberry bushes. The stories the trees could tell if they could only talk. There are lots of old metal pieces on the beach – some looking like they might have been from old metal wood stoves, pipes, motors, wringer washing machines, etc… We also heard about there being a hospital to care for the natives when Tuberculosis was running rampant in the area. We believe we found what is left of that building as well. We had anchored near the pilings from the old dock/pier. There was quite a bit of evidence of bear activity in the area – scat (recent but not fresh) about every 10 feet on the main trail and lots of critter trails going under/thru the brush along the side of the trail. With no fresh scat and the absence of any black berries or apples it made it a little less nerve racking walking in those tight trails. Definitely an interesting place.
September 14 Walker Group Cove to Port McNeill
It has been very foggy in the mornings – Fall is here. But it clears by noonish and then is nice the rest of the day. But the dew is dropping in much earlier each evening.
Diane decided she needed a chance for a Ling also so we stopped the big boats on the bump but no luck.
The trip into Port McNeill was uneventful which is a good thing sometimes.
The docks in Port McNeill were not full but had a reasonable number of boats. Several there without owners, who had flown home or elsewhere for a few days. Some local ladies were busy washing and polishing a few of those so they’d be ready and pretty for the owners when they come back in a few days. You can tell this is the end of the season.
We went out to a late lunch/early dinner and then I came back to Magic while the others lingered at the restaurant and then did the shopping. With phone service available my late afternoon and evening was spent on ski patrol work. Two conference calls, several other calls, and lots (that is an understatement) of emails going in and out. Once people figure out you are reachable they start jumping at making contact. Yep, they found me.
September 13 Miles Inlet to Walker Group Cove
Arrived after an easy crossing with a little fog. Glen did a little exploring then he and Willard went out fishing in the fog. They found a little bump just south of the cove then hooked and returned with a Ling each, not bad.
Sea Otters in the area ….. there won’t be any crab here.
Pictures from Miles inlet
