Summer Cruise Aboard "Jubilacion" 2017

We were up early again, hoping to get to Port McNeill before the wind came up.  Sea conditions were perfect, making for a quick and uneventful crossing.  The North Island Marina, where we tied up, had lots of dock space available, and they gave us the monthly rate, since the season is over — heck of a deal.

The WiFi is excellent here, so I spent all my time posting to my blog.  The weather was ugly, so I couldn’t do much else anyway.  Al went to the local hair salon for a haircut, which was a treat for me, since I usually cut his hair. 

Today we’re hoping to round the dreaded Cape Caution.  We were expecting to wake up to fog, which is the usual condition for this area this time of year.  But, when we got up at 0530 hrs to listen to the weather report, we couldn’t believe our eyes.  The sky was overcast, but no fog…  hurray!  And, the wind was dead calm.  The report from West Sea Otter was 1.4 meter seas, not ideal, but the wind was only blowing 5 knots.  We decided to take a chance and go for it.

Getting across Rivers Inlet wasn’t too bad, but by the time we got to Smith Inlet there still wasn’t much wind blowing, but the seas were still ugly from the storm conditions of the last several days, but they were on or stern, so we soldiered on.  I was just thankful that we still didn’t have any fog.  The uncomfortable seas didn’t bother me, but then I wasn’t driving.  Al was hating it, because the seas were too big for the autopilot to handle, so he had to steer. 

The seas were ugly until we got south of Slingsby, and then they flattened right out and we had smooth waters all the way to Blunden Harbour, where we anchored for the night.

The water was flat calm and we had wall-to-wall blue skies as we left Shearwater at dawn.  We started out thinking we’d only get as far as Codville Lagoon.  However, when we got to Codville, traveling conditions were so good that we kept going all the way to Fury Cove, on Penrose Island, where we anchored for the night.

This morning we’re on our way to Shearwater to pick up fuel and some fresh produce.  I hate to leave Kakushdish, but we’ve got to take advantage of a weather window that is forecast for Thursday.

The season is over, so there was lots of room at the dock at Shearwater. .  The wharfinger has even left.  Unfortunately, the laundry service wasn’t available, so I spent the morning doing laundry.  The rest of my time at Shearwater was spent working on my blog.  Unfortunately, the WiFi service was so slow it was almost impossible to upload anything.

While the wind was blowing 45 knots out in Queen Charlotte Sound, we only experienced the occasional 35-knot gust.  However, the accompanying rain was a real soaker, making it impossible for me to go paddling.  Fortunately, the one reasonably dry day resulted in a lot of interesting photo ops.

The weather was so unstable, that I decided not to paddle to the creek near the entrance to Kakushdish.  I was disappointed that I wouldn’t have one last chance to possibly see a bear or wolf there, like I have in the past, but I didn’t want to be caught out in 30 knot winds either.  So, I checked out the small creek closest to the boat first.  These Sandhill Cranes blend in with the shoreline so perfectly that I didn’t spot them before they spotted me and took flight.

 

 

 

I was surprised to find this pair of Hooded Mergansers cruising along the shoreline.  I didn’t dare get too close.  This was my first encounter with a male Hooded Merganser and I didn’t want to spook him.

 

 

 

 

 

The male caught himself a nice fish.

 

 

 

 

I spotted this Immature Eagle perched on a rock onshore, looking for salmon.

 

 

There were a couple of other Eagles perched on rocks in the middle of the creek.  They seemed to take their salmon fishing more seriously.

 

 

 

 

This lucky guy caught himself a nice one.

 

 

 

Here’s another lucky guy, but his “friend” looks like he’s hoping he’ll share.

 

 

Another Immature Eagle flew in to check out the action.

 

 

 

 

I spotted this guy hiding in the weeds.

 

 

It certainly looked like the salmon have finally arrived.  I decided to check out the bigger creek.  As I was paddling around the point that separates the two creeks, I spotted Eagles way up in the treetops.  You would think they’d be down here where all the action is.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I heard a murder of Ravens raising a racket and looked up just in time to spot this big Black Bear sitting in the tall grass, sizing up the situation.

 

 

 

 

I couldn’t figure out what he was staring at, and why the Ravens were in such an uproar.  Then, I noticed that he was looking into a huge Indian fish weir that I’d never seen before.  I paddled around to the mouth of the creek to get a better look at the weir.  I guess I’ve never been to this creek at a spring low tide before.  I spotted a dead salmon lying outside the weir on one of the  rocks that formed the walls of the weir.

 

 

A little farther down, at a lower spot in the wall, I spotted another salmon.

 

 

From this spot I could look over the wall.  That’s when I saw them…. thousands of salmon, dead.

 

   

They must have spawned and died this morning, because there was absolutely no odor.  I noticed that the bottom of the weir is pea-sized gravel, the perfect spot for salmon to spawn.

 

 

Then, I saw the bear make a move.  He was on a mission.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Luckily, he wasn’t interested in me, he was looking to have salmon for breakfast.  He quickly snatched up the first salmon he came to and took off for the trees.

 

 

I decided to hang around and see if he would return.  I moved to the other side of the weir so I could get a shot of him head on.

 

 

 

About 10 minutes later, he was back.

 

 

I took shot after shot, from my position on the other side of that 2 ft. high rock wall, as he returned time and time again, gorging himself at the Kakushdish All-You-Can-Eat Salmon Bar..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These salmon will give a lot of bears the necessary fat they need to survive the winter months, which will be here before we know it.

 

The Ravens were getting their fill also.

 

 

We enjoyed a couple of beautiful Kakushdish sunsets.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A big storm is supposed to hit this evening, so we’ve decided to head for Kakushdish, which has proven to be bomb-proof in the past, and it’s one of my favorites.  Most boaters have already headed home, so we had Kakushdish all to ourselves.

We’re headed to Rait Narrows this morning.  It’s been several years since we’ve been to Rait, and since I’ve never paddled there, we’re going to check it out.  Rait Narrows never impressed me before, but then I’d never seen it from a kayak. 

Since I’d never been back in the lagoon, that’s what I wanted to check out first.  I found the lagoon to be bigger than I thought it would be, with several good sized waterfalls in different coves.

 

 

This eagle wasn’t too happy with my presence.

 

 

I spotted some Hooded Mergansers in the lagoon, but couldn’t get close enough for a good shot.  So, I left the lagoon and checked out the shoreline of the South Cove.  There are several little coves within South Cove. 

While checking out some rocks…..

 

 

……….I almost paddled right into this giant spider web.

 

 

I discovered a little lagoon and decided to check it out while there was still enough water to get through the entrance.

 

 

This is obviously a great place for clamming.

 

 

Thick, luxurious moss covered many of the trees.  Trees like this would be the perfect nesting spot of Murrelets.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Never having explored Wigham Cove by kayak, I was looking forward to checking it out.  I found this family of Hooded Mergansers hanging out near a small waterfall. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I got up early this morning so that I’d have time to do a little bit more exploring before we leave for Tankeah River.  I came across what looked like a path of horse clams.

 

I saw this Kingfisher way up in a tree.  This angle really shows off his beautiful tail.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We arrived at Tankeah River two hours ahead of high tide.  This is a spring tide, so I was  hoping to get quite a ways up the river.  Before I’d gone very far, I came across this skiff beached where the trail takes off for the lake.  There’s probably good fishing up there.

 

A little farther up the river I came across a local Guardian Watchmen boat anchored in the middle of the river.  The First Nations Guardian Watchmen  monitor the health of the plants and animals that have ecological and cultural importance to their communities.  They also monitor impacts of activities such as commercial and sport fishing, logging, and tourism.  There wasn’t anyone onboard the boat.

 

 

I continued on to see how far I could get.  It soon became clear that I wasn’t going to get very far.

 

 

So, I turned around and explored the shoreline.  Natural surfactants in the surface water, when agitated by the rapids and waterfalls result in this foam on the surface of the water.

 

 

 

Tankeah River is not a safe place to anchor overnight.  The seas get really rolly in here in a storm.  So, when I got back to the boat, we headed for Wigham Cove, just a short distance from Tankeah, where we anchored for the night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This morning we’re headed to Klemtu for re-provisioning.  The ferry delivered fresh groceries to the Klemtu Band Store yesterday.  By the time they open the store at 0930 hrs this morning they should have everything restocked.  We want to be there when the store opens so that we can get what we need before they run out again.  We’ve been out of fresh fruit and veggies for a few days now, and we need to top off our water tanks.

We arrived at Klemtu at 0900 hrs.  Al got our propane tanks refilled while I refilled the water tanks and then headed for the store.  They were still restocking shelves, but I was able to get apples, grapes, cherries ($12/lb.!), cabbage, carrots, onions, garlic, broccoli, and cauliflower.  For some reason they never stock zucchini.  Al paid for a $100 credit for next year so that we can call ahead and order whatever we want and they’ll make sure they have it when we get here.  We’re hoping that will work out well for us.  We’ll see.

As soon as we put all our groceries away, we headed for Boat Inlet, in Reid Passage.  We arrived early enough for me to get a paddle in.

I found some Hooded Mergansers hiding in a shady cove.  They were very camera shy, so it took me forever to get these shots.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In another little cove, I came across a couple of Sandhill Cranes rummaging through the seaweed, looking for goodies.  They saw me, but there must have been some good stuff in that seaweed, because they kept rummaging for quite awhile before they sauntered off into the tall grass.