Voyage of the Hobbit: Part XV - Fury Cove to Rebecca Spit

August 5 and 6, Port McNeill

As is the usual case when we make an ocean crossing, we rose before first light and left Fury Cove just before dawn. We spent some time listening to the weather broadcast and decided to give the crossing a try. The forecast was marginal but the 3 current reports relevant to our journey (West Sea Otter buoy, Pine Island, and Egg Island) seemed ok. West Sea Otter reported 8 knots of wind and swells of 1.2 meters (we prefer less than 1 meter). Pine and Egg Islands both reported wind calm, a 1 foot chop, and low westerly swell.

We were the 5th boat to depart and right behind us were many more. We were soon joined by boats from different anchorages; it was almost crowded in Queen Charlotte Sound. One of the first things we noticed as the sun rose above the mountains was that the sun was bright red. The smoke from forest fires far to the south is having an obvious effect way up here.

Red smoked sun over Cape Caution

The 15 to 25 knot forecast winds didn’t materialize in Queen Charlotte Strait so we plugged on and moored at Port McNeill. It was surprising how few boats were at Port McNeill. A few mega-yachts, but very few others. Marina staff said there have been very few boats here this summer.

August 7, Shoal Harbour

We had a leisurely morning at Port McNeill and didn’t depart until about 9:30. As we headed to the Broughtons we encountered a pod of half a dozen Orcas. While watching them we spied another pod of close to a dozen. We probably spent a couple of hours watching them as we slowly moved toward our evening destination.

Cash’s photo of one Orca pod

Big male

Cormorant Channel Orcas

Orca tail slap

First order of business when we arrived at Cramer Pass was to set out two shrimp pots. We then spent half an hour fishing before Cash caught a nice Coho weighing about 8 pounds. No room in the freezer, this fish has to be eaten fresh. Cash needs one more salmon to tie the 27 I caught on my first trip to Alaska. He insists he needs to catch 2 more.

Cash with his 26th salmon - a Coho

August 8, Port Neville

What a bummer picking up the shrimp traps. We used to measure our Simoom Sound prawn catch near Echo Bay in gallons. Now we measure it in individuals. First Greenway Sound, then Lagoon Cove, and now Simoom Sound prawns have disappeared. Adding insult to injury, an octopus was in one of the prawn traps and ate a bunch of our catch. Cash was delighted as he has wanted to catch and eat an octopus. After picking up the shrimp traps we made our way through the Broughtons to Village Island and Mamalilaculla which is a favorite of ours and which Cash has heard so much about. Mamalilaculla was a First Nations village. After potlatches were banned, the local tribe held them here in secret. All that remains is a fallen and decaying totem pole and other miscellaneous decaying structures.

One last item on Cash’s bucket list for this trip (not counting 2 more salmon) is a ling cod large enough to keep. As we approached Johnstone Strait, we stopped for about an hour to fish in an area where I previously caught one. Eventually Cash had a very large fish on the line. Unfortunately, when he got the fish to the surface it turned out to be a large halibut possibly in the 75 pound class. We now had a dilemma on several fronts. First of all the flying gaff and harpoon had been put away in the upper helm cabinet so all we had available was a hand gaff; with that it would be dangerous to bring the halibut aboard even if we were able to hold on to it. Second, if we did get it safely aboard, what would we do with all the meat. Finally, I was pretty sure the fish was larger than the maximum size allowed for halibut in BC (126 cm or about 50 pounds). Much to Cash’s dismay the fish solved the problem by straightening out the relatively small hook on the jig he was using and got away. I know Cash felt bad about losing the fish, but Linda and I breathed a sigh of relief.

Check one octopus off Cash’s bucket list

Mamalilaculla: Note log arch and decaying hospital

Pressing on we entered Johnstone Strait with wind blowing 15 knots gusting 20 and waves of 1 to 2 feet. I wouldn’t have gone out there if we faced the wind, but with it quartering our stern, the ride wasn’t too bad. Going to Port Neville makes it practical to go through the Whirlpool and Green Point Rapids tomorrow.

Linda notes that we have an awful lot of fresh food still in the fridge: Remnants of a Chinook, one whole Coho, one rockfish, 9 live crabs, an octopus, a few prawns, and a couple of pounds of hamburger. As previously noted, the freezer isn’t an option.

August 9, Shoal Bay

Not to be confused with Shoal Harbor which is in Simoom Sound, Shoal Bay has been a favorite stopping place of ours for many many years. More pictures are in the May 14 entry. One unique thing this time is that we learned Shoal Bay hosts a music festival (an International Blues Festival!) the second week in August every year. We were here a couple of days too early for the whole event, but two musicians arrived early and we spent an enjoyable evening listening to a jam session.

Shoal Bay jam session

August 10, Drew Harbor (Rebecca Spit)

Our journey from Shoal Bay through the Dent and Yuculta rapids was pleasant; however, as we traveled south we were struck by how much the visibility was impaired by smoke from fires far away. My eyes were burning and I found myself in need of my bronchial aspirator; something I almost never need in the summer or while on the water.

Smokey view of Desolation Sound islands

In Sutil Channel just a few miles from Rebecca Spit I nearly ran into a humpback whale that surfaced right in front of us. Hobbit was quickly put into neutral, and we drifted both to stay out of the whale’s way and to enjoy the sight. As we got closer to Rebecca Spit we could see that people were fishing. Cash twisted my arm and convinced me to try fishing so he could catch two more salmon. After he caught one salmon, a Coho, I pointed out that, if he caught a second one, that would be number 28 and we wouldn’t have to fish in Campbell River tomorrow. Grudgingly, Cash decided to quit fishing because he wanted to fish at Campbell River where he has fond memories from fishing in years past.

Much to our delight, when we entered Drew Harbor, which is behind Rebecca Spit, we spied the unique 3 masted 63 foot sailboat Deo Volente built by our friends Ralph and Ruth Hollenberg. The name comes from their common response to each other while they were building the boat – “God willing”. Deo Volente is God willing in Latin. We had lost track of Ralph and Ruth for the past year and welcomed the opportunity to get together. Before joining them for happy hour, Cash cleaned his salmon, and then without warning, jumped off Hobbit into the 64 degree water of Drew Harbor to cool off.