Steady rain has been with us since we got to Prince Rupert and it was there to see us off. We left mid morning in order to take advantage of the forecast currents which should push us along. As per Murphy, the currents were against us. Not only against us, but they were strong; up to 4 kts. which, in a 7 ½ kt. boat, means you really go slow. In the late afternoon we pulled over in Kumealon Cove; a cozy and attractive indentation off Grenville Channel. Not a place I’d choose to anchor in a storm, but ok for calm weather.
July 31, 2011, Sunday
Kumealon Cove was a stop of convenience. From there we headed to Lowe Inlet which was a destination – the sockeye salmon are running. The salmon have to swim/jump over Verney Falls and enter the Kumowdah River where they will spawn. Eagles have gathered in large numbers for the feast that is about to befall them; fishermen are also abundant. Much to our surprise, two megayachts were anchored in Lowe Inlet to participate.
We arrived at Lowe after days of rain. As a result, a massive amount of water is coming over the Verney Falls and it is impossible for the salmon to climb into the Kumowdah River. Thousands of fish are present and there is the near constant sight of one or more fish jumping. Others are cruising around with their dorsal and caudal fins breaking the surface of the water. The fish are not feeding, but they do snap at lures that pass in front of them.
Shortly after arriving I launched the dinghy and went to the outflow near Verney Falls. The fish hit hard but, because they aren’t feeding, the lures are not always taken solidly and it is common for them to get off the hook after a few jumps. Jumps are frequently as high as 3 feet in the air. One of them startled Linda as it whizzed by her shoulder and nearly jumped into the dinghy. Using a white buzz bomb, I managed to land my limit of 4 fish in not much more than 30 minutes. For those not familiar with sockeye, many consider them the best eating of all the salmon.
August 1, 2011, Monday
At dawn I was again by the falls in the dinghy fishing for salmon. Within about half an hour I had again caught my daily limit of 4. We continued our journey south with Grenville Channel shrouded in mist.
In Alaska, we found the water largely free of floating debris that was large enough to be hazardous to pleasure boats. The exception, of course, was icebergs near glaciers. Once we entered Canada that changed. Logs, both individually and as part of large woody debris fields, are frequently present and require heightened observation. Today the number of logs and other woody debris was exceptionally high and we were frequently forced to slow down and/or change our course.
Logs and Woody Debris all too Common in Northern BC
Once again we had a destination in mind – Khutze Inlet which is noted for its beauty, wildlife, and crabs. The inlet is about four miles long and L shaped. The walls are nearly vertical and, as we have seen in so many places, trees hang precariously onto the rock. Snow still caps many of the peaks. Both ends of the inlet are open; one to Princess Royal Channel where you enter, and the other to a river valley where you anchor, watch wildlife, and trap crabs. A cascade of waterfalls falling about 3,000 feet reminded me of something one might see in a movie like Avatar. It just doesn’t look real. We tried over and over again but were unable to capture the image we see with our eyes.
I set out the crab traps using salmon heads for bait. Only a few hours later I had my daily limit of six. The size limit for Dungeness crabs in BC is 6 ½ inches. We got so many keepers that we set our own size limit at 7 inches and still ended up releasing a large number of keeper crabs.
August 2, 2011, Tuesday
Two sunny days in a row. Today it reached 70 degrees. We have become so acclimated to temperatures in the 50s and 60s that it seemed incredibly hot.
The first order of business today was to take advantage of the low tide and take pictures of shorebirds and seals. I then checked and removed my crab traps which contained another daily limit. In the afternoon Linda and I took a long ride in the dinghy exploring a river and stream which flow into Khutze Inlet.
Space in the two freezers has become a limiting factor. Rather than cook all of the crab, we are keeping many of them alive in a bucket we hang over the rail in the water.
August 3, 2011, Wednesday
We really hate to leave Kuhtze Inlet; it’s now on our list of favorites. As we have done all too frequently, we departed at sunrise in hopes of having the current go with us. On the way out we noticed salmon jumping everywhere so I put Hobbit in neutral and just drifted while I started casting with my trusty buzz bomb. I promptly caught a salmon which turned out to be a pink. Given how full our freezers are, I let the fish go and continued on our journey. Surprise, surprise, the current actually pushed us along for most of the day.
They call it the Inside Passage because, with the exception of Queen Charlotte Strait and Dixon Entrance, you can keep land between you and the ocean from Olympia, WA to Skagway, AK. Sometimes or in some places you may choose to get out from behind the land. So it was today. The sun was shining, the temperature was about 70 degrees, and the wind was calm. One of those days when I like to sit out on Hobbit’s fore deck and just luxuriate in a beautiful day. As we approached the place where we would have to turn to keep land between us and the ocean, we listened to a weather report; Environment Canada was reporting combined seas of only 0.7 meters in Queen Charlotte Sound. As I really don’t like the inland run from Jackson Passage down to Bella Bella, we decided to go down Milbanke Sound which is fully exposed to ocean swells.
In actuality, we experienced swells of 3 – 4 feet which, for most of the trip, gave Hobbit a gentle rocking motion. Towards the end of the crossing the wind came up to about 15 kts and, with the seas nearly on our beam, gave us a ride that wasn’t great. When we turned to put the seas on our stern, the ride was fine.
Mouat Cove is the first available anchorage after leaving Milbanke Sound. It isn’t well charted and is full of small rocky islands but, after leaving at sunrise and going for 9 hours and 60 miles we were tired and needed to drop the anchor. We entered following a drawing in Exploring the North Coast of British Columbia. The drawing, of course, says Not for Navigation. What a beautiful little cove.
August 4, 2011, Thursday
We woke to a fairly heavy fog which, fortunately, burned off by the time we left. Along the way we stopped at New Bella Bella to top off our water tank and then proceeded on to Codville Lagoon. We had spent the night of May 22 at Codville Lagoon with Ralph and Ruth on our way north.
As we entered Codville Lagoon I set shrimp pots which were baited with cat food, salted herring I caught at Petersburg, and No Catchum Superbait Prawn Bait (Superbait Prawn Bait is the real name). The No Catchum name comes from Mike, the commercial fisherman we met at Warm Springs. I concur with Mike’s assessment of this and other commercial shrimp baits. They are made for the commercial shrimp fishery and designed to last a long time in the water. If the bait lasts a long time, it doesn’t put much out much scent and, consequently, won’t rapidly attract shrimp/prawns. Commercial shrimp fishermen leave their pots out for days while recreational shrimpers rarely leave their traps out more than 12 to 24 hours. I use two bait containers: one with the cat food and herring which will usually be gone within 12 hours, and the other with the commercial bait so that there is something there beyond that time.
August 5, 2011, Friday
First thing this morning I took the dinghy and checked the shrimp pots. We caught about 3 gallons of coon striped shrimp and only a couple of prawns. These small shrimp are good to eat, but they take so much work to clean relative to the amount of meat you get. We have reached the point where nothing goes in the freezer unless something is removed. Today I took out all the herring I had packaged for bait. Hopefully it will last in the refrigerator for a week or 10 days until we finish going to areas where I may try to trap prawns.
People in one of the boats anchored near us went fishing for a couple of hours and caught a 75 pound halibut. Having no place to freeze it, they came over and gave us a bag with about 5 pounds of meat. We didn’t have the heart to refuse them, so now we’ll be eating halibut starting in about 3 days when the one sockeye and crab we have been eating fresh is gone.
Reflected in the Water of Codville Lagoon
The day was warm and sunny. Needing some exercise, we took about a mile long hike through the forest to Sugar Lake which has beaches of golden sand.
August 6, 2011, Saturday
We are now in an exploring mode and plan on spending the next two or three days just looking around. Even without going to Alaska, the area between Cape Caution and Bella Bella has some wonderful opportunities for cruising. It is close enough to home so we could come here on a six or seven week cruise. It is also one of the top salmon fishing areas on the coast. Unfortunately, with both freezers full, it’s pointless for me to try and catch more fish.
It is interesting that the mountains which we raved about at the beginning of our journey now seem low and mundane. They’re still grander than what we see while boating south of Cape Caution and in Washington, but they don’t compare with what we saw further north.
Many of the cruising books recommend Pruth Bay which is just south of Hakai Pass, an area I really want to explore. When we arrived there on a bright sunny afternoon, we learned that what had been a commercial fishing lodge was purchased in 2009 by a private research organization operating under the name Hakai Beach Institute. This organization works closely with many universities and operates as a field station. It’s fantastic that they offer the public free WiFi and maintain paths across their property to a beautiful sandy beach on the ocean side the island. Walking on the sandy beach in the warm sun invoked a completely different feeling than being on Hobbit. It’s like you were off somewhere in Never Never Land without a care in the world.
Back on Hobbit we spent the evening watching the last of the two DVD series of Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth with Bill Moyers. Joseph Campbell really has insight into myth, mysticism, and religion across the globe.
August 7, 2011, Sunday
Departing Pruth Bay we are torn about whether to stay north of Cape Caution for another couple of days or cross tomorrow when the forecast is for seas of 1 meter and light wind. We would really like to explore more, but winds are supposed to be higher for Tuesday through Thursday and we don’t want to get stuck here for days trying to cross. Eventually we decided to go to Fury Anchorage which is about 20 miles from Cape Caution and one of the favorite places for either starting or ending the trip across Queen Charlotte Sound.
What a beautiful place (don’t you get tired of hearing me say that?) I would love to come back here on a spring tide cycle to go tide pooling. There are many small rocky tree covered islands intermingled with sandy beaches. Then, of course, there’s the view out into Queen Charlotte Sound.
Not surprisingly, we weren’t the only boaters who are at anchor here tonight. The rule of thumb is that you should be south of Cape Caution not later than August 15. After that date the frequency of storms and heavy fog increases rapidly. Nine other boats are with us and I expect there will be a parade out of the bay around sunrise tomorrow.
Queen Charlotte Strait
It’s easy to see why people get high on northern BC and Alaska. Beauty and grandeur is everywhere; each place seemingly more beautiful than the last.
August 8, 2011, Monday
As expected the parade of boaters heading across Queen Charlotte Sound began before sunrise. We left about 15 minutes before sunrise and were the sixth to leave. The West Sea Otter automated report for 4:50 am was seas of 1.0 meters and wind of 8 kts. West Sea Otter is the name of the weather buoy closest to our route of travel. Our own anemometer read 0 kts so we headed out with an expectation of a smooth trip.
There are two basic routes around Cape Caution and Queen Charlotte Sound. The southern route is shorter from Port McNeill or Port Hardy but exposes you to more ocean swell on your beam. The northern route usually takes an extra day but provides the least exposure to the ocean and has most of the exposure on the bow or stern quarters. There are advocates for each route.
We took the northern route when heading north and decided to take the southern route back. Boy, we won’t use that route again. First of all, much of the trip had the swell on our beam. If the swell is 1.0 meters, that’s not too bad, but with the southern route you cross some shoal waters and the swells build. For a couple of hours we were experiencing swells of 6 – 8 feet which, when on your beam, isn’t fun. We were about 2 or 3 miles from Pine Island which has a lighthouse that gives regular weather reports when we heard on the radio that they were reporting “light westerly swell” at the time we were experiencing 6 – 8 foot swells. Somebody needs to calibrate them.
After six hours of this, we made it across. Rather than continue on to a marina, we decided to anchor in a bay about 10 miles from Port Hardy called Port Alexander. Maybe it was a port long ago, but now it’s a mile long inlet which, as I say for most anchorages, is beautiful.
August 9, 2011, Tuesday
An uneventful 30 mile trip to Port McNeill where we will be provisioning and doing the laundry. Linda read a complete book and I did two tows for my plastics project. We are now back in familiar territory that we have been cruising for 20 years.
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