Author: wall2wallblue

We were starting to get worried when the generator part still hadn’t arrived this morning.  So, Al checked the tracking information online and found that the part was still in Courtenay.  However, after chatting online with the carrier, they assured us that the part was in fact on the truck and would be delivered this morning. 

In the meantime, I headed back to the grocery store hoping they had done some restocking, and was pleasantly surprised to see lots of produce that was missing yesterday, even a jicama!

By the time I got back to the boat, the generator part had arrived.  After checking the weather, we decided we’d be crazy not to take advantage of the current excellent traveling conditions. 

Al fired up the port engine, while I got ready to untie our dock lines.  “We’re not leaving,” Al shouted to me on the dock, as I was about to release the bow line.  “The starboard engine isn’t starting”, he said, as he crawled down in the engine room to see what the problem was.  He tapped on the starter solenoid with a wrench, while I pressed the starter button, and it fired right up.  “Solenoid might be going bad,”  he said.  Luckily we have a spare solenoid, so not to worry, I hope.

When we got underway the seas were flat clear to the horizon.  Perfect.  So, I activated the  course for Miles Inlet.  We ought to be there in about 5 hours.

Well, it actually took us 5.5 hours, because the current was against us.  But, the seas were flat the whole way….nice.  And, there wasn’t even one boat at Miles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was up until almost 0200 hrs this morning, posting to my blog.  Unfortunately, the band was too busy to connect to WordPress until about 2200 hrs.  I was beginning to think I wouldn’t be able to post anything until I got back to Nanaimo, but after trying all day and into the night, I was finally able to connect.  Persistence pays off once again.

The generator part, which was supposed to arrive this morning, never showed up.  We called to track it down and found that the part only made it as far as Courtenay, but should arrive tomorrow.  So much for overnight shipping. 

I spent the day doing laundry and grocery shopping.  Apparently, Thursday is not a good day to do grocery shopping in Port McNeill, as they were out of a lot of things, even broccoli.  In the past, if the IGA didn’t stock something, you could find what you were looking for at the grocery store just across the parking lot.  But, since they closed the mill, the populations is probably shrinking, which is probably why the other grocery store went out of business.

I ran into our neighbors from Elliott Bay Marina, Alan and Jane, when I was checking in at the marina office yesterday.  What a pleasant surprise.  They invited us over for drinks and we had a lovely time catching up on what they’ve been doing since they left Seattle.  Unfortunately, they’re headed south now, so we won’t see them again until October.

Once again conditions are perfect for paddling this morning.  I set off for the Northwest anchorage, hoping to find something to photograph.  It was so quiet all I could hear was my paddle striking the water.  I searched in all directions and came up with zero photo ops.  So, I decided to head for Booker Passage.  It isn’t slack tide for a few hours, so I can’t go through to Cullen Harbour, but I just want to see what the current is like at this tide level.  Even though I was almost two hours later than yesterday, the current didn’t look all that bad.  But, chicken that I am, I decided I’d better not try it.  I had just turned around and was heading back north, when I heard someone calling on my VHF.  I thought it was just a fellow who had been talking earlier to another boat about some whales he had spotted.  All I really caught was “Do you Copy”.  The voice sounded stressed.  Then, I heard “I need you back at the boat, now.  We’ve got a major problem.”   This time I recognized the voice as Al’s, and responded, “I’m on my way.” and started paddling as fast as my skinny arms could paddle, all the time thinking, “What kind of major emergency?  Is he bleeding?  Are we sinking?  Is the boat on fire?”  Well, I couldn’t see any smoke, so I felt fairly certain the boat wasn’t on fire. 

It took what seemed like an eternity to reach the boat, although it was probably about twenty minutes.  Al was ready to catch my lines as I got to the boat.  I couldn’t see any blood, and the boat wasn’t setting any lower in the water.  “What’s the problem?”, I said.  “I’ll tell you when you’re aboard.”  Uh, oh.  “What did I do?” I asked.  “Nothing you did”.  Then he showed me a little bronze disk with a bolt in the center and pointed out a few cracks in it, one pretty severe.  He said he was in the head when he heard the bilge pump come on.  Then, about 3 minutes later, the pump came on again.  Not good.  So, he immediately went down in the engine room to take a look.  At first he didn’t see anything. But when he got to the other side of the generator he saw water gushing out of the end cap on the generator’s heat exchanger.   He immediately shut the generator down, turned the water off to the generator, and then went to see what the problem was.  He discovered that the cover plate on one end of the heat exchanger had a gaping crack in it.  Unfortunately, it’s not a part you would carry a spare for.  Until we get a replacement part, we don’t have a generator.  Well, I felt much better knowing the “major problem” wasn’t life threatening, but we would have to head for Port McNeill at the next slack tide in Booker Passage, which would be at 1245 hrs.  That gave us almost three hours to go out and pull the prawn trap, process the prawns, stow the prawn gear, get the dinghy and kayak onboard, and eat breakfast.  No problem.

When we pulled the prawn trap, there were three rock crabs and 38 prawns; not great, but enough for dinner tonight.

Al used our satellite telephone to call Steve Jackman at the marina in Port McNeill to ask if he could have the end caps shipped to the marina.  Steve said that would fine.  Al then called the marine parts supplier in Nanaimo that carries Westerbeke engine parts and, miracle of miracles, they had the parts in stock.  Since the parts are coming from a Canadian supplier, we won’t have to worry about waiting for them to clear customs.  We’ll probably have the new parts  in a couple of days.  We’ll see.

As luck would have it, the seas were flat calm, perfect traveling weather.  Three hours later, we were tied up at the North Island Marina in Port McNeill.  There were more boats in the marina than we’re used to seeing, but that’s just because it’s later in the summer.  In talking with Steve, he says business has been a lot slower this year. 

The light is better, the seas are calmer, there is more wildlife at 0500 hrs.  Yes, I know.  But my warm bed felt sooooo good.  Then, I remembered how ugly the seas were at 0900 hrs yesterday, and I grudgingly decided I’d better get my rear in gear and suit up. 

I was on the water at 0600 hrs.  The seas were flat calm, not a ripple on the water.  Beautiful.  I spotted several flocks or gaggles of birds circling the bay, just out of range for a decent shot. Then, I spotted this Common Murre, or at least that’s my best guess as to what it was.  It was so far away I had to shoot at 200X.

 

I paddled clear across the lagoon and about halfway out Booker Passage before turning around when I started seeing little whirlpools.  I wasn’t about to hang around until those little whirlpools became big whirlpools.  So, I paddled toward the Southeast anchorage, hoping to find some wildlife.  I was just about to give up when I spotted this Kingfisher landing not too far away.  Kingfishers don’t usually hang around very long, so I couldn’t believe my good fortune when this one sat there posing for me for quite some time. 

 

 

 

 

 

There were lots of Salal Berries around, some looking ready to pick.  If Anne Reeves were here, she’d probably be picking them to make her delicious Salal Berry Jam.

 

 

I spotted this old fallen log that reminded me of a swordfish.

 

 

The sound of an outboard motor got my attention.  It was Al, going out to pull the prawn trap.

 

 

 

I started paddling as fast as I could in his direction, curious to see if the catch was as good as yesterday.  By the time I got there, he had already pulled the trap and was resetting it.  Sadly, the catch consisted of 6 rock crabs and 28 small prawns. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were a few cat’s paws on the water when I set out on my paddle this morning, but I didn’t think much of it.  Big mistake.

I hadn’t gone 500 feet, when I felt the first gust.  I didn’t like it, but it was just a momentary gust, nothing to worry about.  So, I paddled on, headed for the Southeast end of the lagoon. Pretty soon the water started getting choppy and the occasional gusts got up to about 30 knots.  This was not fun, so  I decided to head for the lee shore, hoping to find a bit of protection from the uncomfortable seas and gusty winds.  After what seemed like forever, I finally started making some headway and eventually made it to calmer water.  By this time I’d been paddling for about an hour-and-a-half and hadn’t  taken one picture.  I might have missed a lot of photo ops, but was too busy staying right side up to have noticed.  About that time I spotted Al on his way back from picking up the prawn trap. 

When I finally made it back to the boat, Al was busy counting prawns.  He had 70 beauties, and they were big…….yumm.

 

 

Time for Al to pull the heads off so I can get them boiled and peeled for tonight’s dinner.

 

 

The spectacular sunset was the perfect end to a lovely day.

 

 

 

 

 

It’s sprinkling this morning as we pull the anchor, headed for Booker Lagoon, on Broughton Island, where we hope to catch some prawns.  We’re so late this year, they may all be gone by now.  We’ll see.

The mist turned into a high fog that followed us all the way to Booker.

 

Just as we got into Cullen Harbour, I spotted this row of ducks.  I’d never seen ducks like these, so I was anxious to get some photos.  They were so far away, and moving at a good clip, so the photos aren’t great.  When I looked them up in my bird book, I discovered that they were Rhinoceros Auklets!  But actually, “Auklet” is a misnomer, since these little guys are actually not Auklets at all, but instead are closely related to Puffins.  I’ve looked for Puffins for years since my friend, Anne Reeves spotted one years ago.  I guess a close relative is as close as I’m going to get to finding a Puffin.

 

 

 

 

As we entered Booker Passage, it looked like we might have the lagoon to ourselves.  Yay!

 

 

As soon as we had our hook down, Al went out to set our prawn trap.  I’m looking forward to a delicious dish of Booker Lagoon Prawns Linguini tomorrow evening.

 

The wind blew itself out during the night, leaving beautiful flat calm waters this morning.  I spotted a bird way off in the distance and decided to take a look through the binoculars to see what it was.  The binoculars weren’t powerful enough to figure out what it was, so I zoomed it in with my camera to 200X and discovered it was a Red Throated Loon. 

 

 

 

Kwatsi Bay, just across Tribune Channel, was to be our destination when we pulled the anchor this morning.  But when we saw how many boats were in Kwatsi, we decided to keep on going to  Waddigton Bay on Bonwick Island.

We used to spend a lot of time cruising in this area years ago, so it was interesting to see what changes had transpired during the last twenty-some-odd years. 

We couldn’t believe the building that has gone on at Echo Bay on Gilford Island, since Pierre and Tove Landry bought the place.  They’ve done an amazing job of revitalizing the place.  The marina was full of boats.  Apparently, you have to make reservations well in advance in order to get a slip….not our kind of place, but good to know that there is a lodge, grocery store, liquor store, fuel, floatplane services, post office, WiFi, cellphone service, laundromat, and restaurant,  should we need any of that.  And, every Saturday they have a pig roast!  Al was not impressed.

 

 

 

 

There seemed to be people and boats moving everywhere.  I spotted some kayakers hauling out on the beach at the head of the bay.

 

 

 

This was way too much civilization for us, so we continued on to Waddington Bay.  We were hoping to have the anchorage to ourselves, but no such luck.  There were three boats anchored in Waddington.

As soon as we got anchored, I went for a paddle around the little islands and islets that dot this area.  With my poor sense of direction, it’s amazing I didn’t get lost. 

There were lots of summer wildflowers, but not much else.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the very head of the bay is a large midden, indicating that this anchorage was a favorite anchorage for the First Nations people who lived here many moons ago.   

 

 

Finally, I spotted this lone Marbled Murrelet.

 

 

 

I had just read about a local naturalist who gives tours in the Echo Bay area, collecting native edible plants and then making a delicious meal from them.  This seaweed looked like it might be tasty. 

 

 

 

 

 

The wind blew all night, and was still blowing about 10 to 15 knots this morning.  It’s got to be really ugly out in Johnstone Strait.  We’d decided to check out Wahkana Bay, off Tribune Channel, just 21.5 miles from Cutter. 

Wahkana Bay is a very pretty anchorage, with a beautiful little creek at the head.  As soon as we anchored, I had my kayak in the water. 

I paddled for a couple of hours and all I saw in the way of birds was this lone Pigeon Guillemot.

 

I did, however, find this lovely little hidden creek at the head of the bay.

 

 

 

I spotted this First Nations sign above the creek indicating that this is unceded Native Indian territory. 

 

As I looked back at Jubilación, I figured Al probably had dinner ready and I’d better not be late.

Al was up at 0500 hrs checking wind conditions at Fanny Island in Johnstone Strait.  It was blowing 16 knots again this morning.  So, I turned over and went back to sleep. 

When I finally got up at 0700 hrs, all the other boats in the anchorage had left.  So, we checked Fanny Island again.  The wind had increased to 26 knots at Fanny.  Didn’t sound like good traveling weather to us. 

At 1030 hrs, Al checked Fanny again.  The wind had dropped to 9 knots.  “We’d better get going while the going is good,” Al said, and started going through his check list for leaving an anchorage.  By 1100 hrs, we were underway.  The wind was only blowing about 10 knots.  As we got closer to Johnstone Strait, we could see a dark wind line ahead and hoped it wasn’t going to be ugly.

By the time we entered Johnstone Strait we were pleasantly surprised.  The wind was only blowing about 12 to 15 knots, and the wind and current were blowing in the same direction, so the seas were flattened.  Nice.

We travelled clear up Johnstone Strait with great conditions, until we got about 2 miles from Havannah Channel, when the wind picked up to 20 to 25 knots.  Luckily we would be turning into Havannah Channel, having decided to anchor in Cutter Cove off Chatham Channel. 

By 1500 hrs, we had the anchor down in Cutter Cove.  There were two other boats anchored in the cove.  It had been about 25 years since we’d been to Cutter.  The main reason we chose Cutter as our anchorage for tonight is that it was only 35 miles from Forward Harbour, a comfortable four-hour run.  Sadly, after we’d been anchored for a couple of hours, I spotted a crane lifting felled trees near the top of one of the hills.  Luckily, we couldn’t hear it.  Looks like a helicopter logging operation.

The wind is still blowing in Johnstone Strait this morning.  When we checked report for Fanny Island at 0700 hrs, the wind was blowing 16 knots.  After breakfast, we checked again, and it was blowing 27 knots at Fanny Island.  So, we decided to kick back and wait for the wind to die down.

Al put up the hummingbird feeder, and within about 30 minutes we had our first hummer of the year, a Rufous.