Last edited: June 30, 2004
As we're writing this entry, it is New Year's Eve. Dream Chaser rests on her moorings in our boat slip in Friday Harbor. We came ashore for the winter months, November through April. Our condominium is in the Cannery Village Condominiums just south of the Washington Ferry dock. As we enjoy the warmth of our accommodations, we look forward to a winter enjoying family and friends staying with us, as well as visiting them off island. We also are using our time to accomplish more boat projects in preparation for our trip to Mexico next year. Sue has undertaken a number of sewing projects: sail cover, settee covers, and awnings. Santa gave her a Yamaha keyboard for the trip south. So she is working on her "Susie Buffet" CD. I've had a long list of refinements and repairs: raw water circulating pump, water heater, waste holding tank plumbing, DC outlets, fans, steaming light/deck light repair, and...you get the idea. The biggest projects are solar panels for battery charging, and a more stout anchor system and anchor rode (chain and line). We have upgraded our inflatable dinghy thanks to a generous gift from Sue's mom. We love you, Mom!! Our winter projects also include getting our 'general' HAM radio operator licenses. We will be catching the Seattle Boat Show in January in between ski trips, and other R&R activities. Did you see 'Master and Commander', 'Pirates of the Caribbean', and 'Finding Nemo'? We're shaping our lives after these movies...Ha!
One of our New Year's resolutions was to upgrade our HAM amateur radio licenses. Sue is venturing into the electronics world for the first time so that she can participate in some of the marine nets. I will be upgrading to my General license level. What this means for both of us is that we will be learning Morse Code, testing each other at the dinner table, and putting up with sputters and mutters in the middle of the night as we restlessly sleep before the final test in February. One plus for going through this information bath is that we are understanding and appreciating our Single Side Band (SSB) marine radio and VHF radio that are the heart of our ship-to-shore communications while cruising!
It is the week before the test now. Both of us have read through the material for our respective tests. We're taking sample tests through www.wrz.com, and are happy to say we are successfully passing them. But the Morse Code practice is coming slower. We're practicing every day for 1-2 hours. The toughest letters are the F, L, Y, P, Q, and X. And throwing a number or two in the fray, is enough to boggle the mind! Wish us luck on February 17th when we take the test.
We PASSED!! We passed the Morse Code 5 words per minute test in spite of the butterflies. In addition Sue aced the Technician license test. I aced the General license test. Sue's call sign is KD7ZRN, and I am continuing to use KB7SIR with /AG after it indicating I have passed the General test. Life is good. Now we will be able to participate in the HAM marine nets along the way. In April Sue also aced the General test. So she is now a General AND an Admiral.
It’s been a wonderful 7 months here in Friday Harbor. Stormy weather forced us into our condo a month earlier than expected, but it was available, and meant we could get organized more quickly for the winter.
Friday Harbor has welcomed us well. We became acquainted with our church members who had us over for welcoming parties, took us hiking on the island a number of times, and introduced us to activities in the community. Sue spent her time at the Fitness Center and the church learning to play the organ since their organist became incapacitated shortly after we arrived. We were grateful to fill a need and it give her an opportunity to be involved in music while ashore. We continued to express gratitude for the warmth of the community as well as the freedoms felt here, freedoms from crime, traffic, and general stress. Although the winter weather was pretty dismal for November, December, and January, spring sprang with beauty, warmth, and the fragrance of flowers everywhere. Tourists come on the week-ends, but in general, it’s still pretty quiet here. Ferries coming and going, a few boats moving in the harbor, and the continual activity of winter birds kept us looking out the windows through our spotting scope.
George spent the winter working on a myriad of boat projects: replaced our windlass with a bigger, stronger model, replaced the cabin water pump after the big freeze which somehow damaged it, replaced engine pumps, filters, oil and other engine fluids, replaced the hot water heater, upgraded the alternator system to include a multi-regulator and on/off switch, installed the solar panels, added new DC outlets for fans throughout the cabin, strengthened the navigation table, dining table, and companionway stairs, redid the head plumbing, added steps at the top of the mast, and passed the General HAM license. (Sue got her General license as well.) Tom Averny, author of “Ask the Surveyor” in 48 Degrees North conduced a marine survey in preparation for insurance coverage which included a little bottom paint while Dream Chaser hung in the slings. Our gooseneck which connects the boom to the mast broke off while sailing with friends recently, so that has been replaced and made stronger. Sue’s projects included some sewing: sizing down the sail cover and slip covers for the interior cushions. Her heavy-duty sewing machine was busy making covers for various things all winter.
Jenna and Steve came at least once a month to Scuba dive and spend time with us. We loved seeing Elaine growing up, learning to dance, and becoming interested in so many things. They were helpful in many ways, especially determining how we could get rid of a block of concrete in our boat slip that came dangerously close to the surface at low tide, right where our rudder would be when pointing into the wind during storms.
Our condo will be rented full time for the next 2-3 years under the watchful eyes of the local Windemere office. We head out tomorrow, May 1st for a few favorite spots in the San Juans before leaving the US for the Canadian Gulf Islands. We plan to stop at Jones Island and Sucia, two state marine parks.
We plan to circumnavigate Vancouver Island during May and June, counterclockwise, then head down to Portland for the 4th of July with our family. Then we will head out to the Pacific and harbor hop down to San Diego, spending a month in the Bay area with Ted and Christine.
This may be the last e-mail you receive for a while unless we hear from you individually. E-mail will be sent via short wave radio, and they do not allow us to send to groups. When you do receive an e-mail from us, please pass it along to common friends. Please feel free to write to wda7363@sailmail.com, our e-mail service on the boat from here on out. We will check that e-mail everyday. We love hearing from every one of you. We will pick up e-mail at george.sue@svdreamchaser.net about once a month, whenever we get to shore where there is an internet café (not many along northern Vancouver Island). We won’t have phone service, so consider that no news is good news. J
Love and peace to you all. May the spring bring a renewal in your hearts as it has for us. The winter has provided us with renewed spiritual strength, and now we leave in good health and good spirits, looking forward to smooth sailing, making many new friends, and giving to our community whenever we can, following the motto of the Seven Seas Cruising Association: leave a clean wake.
Vancouver Island Circumnavigation
We departed Friday Harbor on May 1st, a beautiful day among many we've had this April. Our condo is rented for at least 2 years, maybe 3 to a woman on the Planning Commission for San Juan County. It was hard to say good-bye to the many friends we have made on the island, especially knowing it will be at least several years before we will return. Since the average time for newcomers to stay on the island is only 3 years, the locals don't pay much attention to you until you have been there for at least that long. However, we made friends through a little Christian Science church in Friday Harbor and at the San Juan Fitness Center where I worked out pretty regularly.
We are headed north as fast as possible to spend time in the Broughton Islands near the tip of Vancouver Island. We are already at Comox on Vancouver Island and plan to be in Campbell River for 2 nights tomorrow. We're still struggling with a software program that will give us weather maps over the short wave radio. We need to get that resolved before we head out into Desolation Sound. We plan to breeze right through, stopping only in Cordero Channel to see the Orcas (hopefully they will be there again). Then it will be all new territory.
The spring wildflowers are just starting to come out here. Today we hiked 6 miles on Hornby Island. The weather was sunny and warm with a little breeze. I bought a new flower book covering the coastal areas of Oregon, Washington, and BC, so we took it with us to identify all that we could:
Death Camas, Idaho Blue-eyed Grass, Camas, Chickweed, buttercup, Indian Paintbrush (just a little), Larkspur, Velvet Smoothie grass, Shore Sorrel, monkey-flower, chocolate lily, rosy plectritis, apple tree, arbutus, and Service Berry.
The birds haven't been very numerous this spring. We haven't seen any whales yet, but we did see Dahl's Porpoises for the 1st time a few days ago out on the Straits of Georgia. They followed us for a short time, never long enough. Today we saw a small flock of Brandts on the Straits, and 3 Pacific Divers in the cove where we are currently anchored. Pacific Divers are a type of Loon. Instead of a black head with the pearl necklace of the Common Loon, it has a grey-white crown and back of the neck. They have the same speckled/striped black and white back. Probably the most spectacular birds we have seen in large numbers are the surf scoters. We saw a group of about 30 (they seem to have large family gatherings up here) in the Straits of Juan de Fuca about a month ago. Of course, we always thrill over seeing Bald Eagles. We see them nearly every day now that they have returned from their winter refuges, and instead of just one or two, we often see 4 or more now, including juveniles.
We were in Portland May 26-27 to move our stuff back into storage. We had so much to do getting ready to leave this time, that we made it a short stop. Most of our furniture stayed in the condo, thankfully, so we didn't have so much to move. We loaded our little truck Saturday afternoon and took the Sunday afternoon ferry after church, left our car with Jenna on our return, and sailed away the next Saturday. The list of things accomplished on the boat is too long to list. I'm so proud of George for all his hard work. I did manage to pull him away from projects for a few hikes this spring on San Juan Island. We both needed a little recreation and a break once in a while.
Campbell River
We had a beautiful day for our trip from Hornby Island to Campbell River, about 48 nautical miles. Starting early, we were able to take a side trip to Mittlenatch Island, a nature preserve we visited last year. As we approached this island, an eagle flew along the top with something in its talons, probably a small bird. At the same time, the island came alive, bursting with cormorants and gulls, all crying out at the nest robber. The eagle settled down on a rock, its sibling (both immatures) watched from the air close by, and all the cormorants circled down to the water. We figured there were several hundred of them, all floating just below the surface with their necks stretched out, like little periscopes. We circled the island slowly to see what else might be going on. Sea lions slept on the rocks on the shore and began murmuring as we approached. Another sailboat approached, circumnavigating the little island in the opposite direction. The sea lions became a little more testy, but finally settled down as both boats sailed away. Further around, we saw where the Glaucous-Winded seagulls nest. Several pairs of Harlequin Ducks appeared from around shoreline rocks or flew in small flocks around the island. As the water became more and more shallow, we continued on towards Campbell River along with the other sailboat that happened to be from Bremen, Germany.
Our purpose in Campbell River, beside fresh provisions, was to work with the computer, get the website working again (since having to reformat the hard drive on our laptop just before leaving Friday Harbor), and to get our weathermap software working with Sailmail. We were able to work at a Cyber Cafe not far from the moorage. George put in over 3 hours fixing things, updating things, and working with e-mail. By that time it was lunchtime, and we had hoped to spend the afternoon on Quadra Island where the First Nations settlements reportedly have fine museums. We headed over to April Point Fishing Lodge, a 5-star resort on Quadra Island who advertised bike rentals. Navigating the shallows at low tide, we tied up to an empty dock. Apparently there had been over 400 people there the day before for Mother's Day. It was deserted today. Rather than rent bicycles, we rented motor scooters, Honda 90 machines capable of 50 MPH! Yikes! I had never ridden a motor scooter and wasn't really comfortable with the prospect of handling one all by myself! However, George encouraged me and away we went with helmets, map, and prayer.
Quadra Island is a good size island. The prospect of walking or even riding a bicycle the distances we traveled in the next 3 hours would have been truly daunting--and discouraging since the museums were closed and the petroglyphs on the beach either removed or hard to find. We really didn't get good information from the April Point people. But a woman at one of the other lodges run by First Nations people was truly helpful. She gave us excellent directions on how to find the only petroglyph she knew about on the beach. After searching along the beach for about a half hour, we found it above the high tide mark. Although it wasn't completely clear, we could definitely see the dorsal fin of an orca carved in the rock. Then I found another rock carving on a much smaller, less permanent rock not far from the big one. It reminded me of the ancient art on Kona: a central blob with dots all around it. Since it had the same old lichen growing in the carving like the orca petroglyph(unlike any of the rest of the rocks on the beach), I figured it might be authentic. The orca petroglyph rock had other carvings on it too, but none of the others were recognizable at this point. We will put the picture on the website when we get the film developed.
After all that excitement, we ate dinner out and decided to stay another day here at Campbell River in hopes of getting even more accomplished with the computer. We will send a CD to Mom and Dad, Jenna, & Ted of all the pictures that were in the digital camera before it crashed. The pictures include Easter, our flight from Friday Harbor to Seattle, and when Ted and Christine came to Portland. We have put a few of the best ones on the website. We will have the film developed from our Nikon onto a CD as well as prints so any of them can be used on our website.
The weather is cool up here, but mostly sunny. Lots of wind, too. We plan to sail out of Campbell River to the other side of Quadra Island this afternoon to one of our favorite spots from last year: Rebecca Spit. This Provincial Park is a long hook-shaped peninsula with very clear, clean water inside and a sandy beach that runs several miles. Then tomorrow we head out for Desolation Sound and beyond.
George just realized that due to our problems with the computer, our Windows software was updated just before the Sasser cyber worm hit. He commented on how long it took for the update even on high-speed internet access at Friday Harbor. We are very grateful not to have been affected by this noxious little germ. So there is the silver lining in the cloud of a computer crash.
Timing the Five Rapids
We made it! very smoothly, in fact. We started from Rebecca Spit on Quadra Island, just east of Campbell River, at 7:15 yesterday morning. We entered Whiterock Passage 5 minutes before high tide (actually the mean tide which is the lower of the 2 high tides of the day). The lowest point on the depth sounder was 13.5 feet. This passage is extremely narrow. There are 2 sets of ranges to follow, and if you vary as much as a few degrees, you'll hit bottom. Dad did a great job of staying exactly on the ranges. We observed a few smaller local power boats racing through the passage, staying generally on range, but not needing to be so careful as a sailboat. One boat was taking their children to school on another island.
As we headed into Calm Channel and passed the Rendezvous Islands, we saw a Canadian Navy Patrol boat (about 150') looking for terrorists and druggies, cruising around Raza Island. We also saw 2 sailboats motoring up from the Desolation Sound area, probably Squirrel Cove on Cortez Island. They caught up with us as we prepared to go through Yuculta Rapids on the south end of Stuart Island. We headed into the oncoming current, expecting to make only 2 knots headway until we got into Big Bay. The other sailboats waited for more slack water.
The navigational problem going north through all the rapids in Cordera Channel is that they turn to slack from north to south. So if you are coming from the south, the rapids are already running when you get to them. On the way south, you can go through each one in turn at slack. However, some of the rapids are wide enough that you can go through with the current without too much trouble. We also realized that the moon is half full now, so the tides are neap tides, a time when the currents are at their least and the tides most moderate, the best time to be traveling through rapids.
So we headed into Big Bay and stopped to wait for the slack at Gillard Rapids. That one is pretty narrow. We figured we could slide along with the current at Dent Rapids which would have been running north for an hour by the time we got there. There was another sailboat at Big Bay headed for Alaska, another retired couple in a smaller boat who remembered seeing us in Barkley Sound last year with Ray and Anne. They headed into Gillard Rapids an hour early, so we followed them, about 15 minutes behind. The other 2 sailboats who had waited below Yulculta Rapids came into Big Bay and continued on to Gillard Rapids. Just past Gillard, we picked up another sailboat. So now there were 5 of us going through Dent Rapids together, at the same time.
The currents pushed us all along at the same speed for the rest of the day, traveling as a small group. We passed the area where we had seen the orcas so regularly last year and only saw 3 sea lions, basking in the sun, floating along with full tummies. They floated with their heads under water, occasionally coming up for air. Their huge flippers would slowly fan the air as they rolled in the calm water--behavior we had never observed before. There were lots of birds (Bonaparte Gulls and Glaucous-winged Gulls). We saw a few Pacific Divers (loons) as well. They were busy working the rapids as the little fish got swirled around and came up to the surface in the eddies.
Around 2:30 in the afternoon we entered Green Point Rapids at its maximum flood point. We had talked to people in Campbell River about taking those at maximum flood. They said it would be a "fun" ride and not to worry. We had slowly passed 2 of the sailboats since Dent Rapids, and the other 2 in front of us stopped before entering. We charged on through along with the couple in the smaller boat. Due to George's superior thinking on dealing with the swirling water (no whitewater, just whirlpools), we came out of the rapids ahead of them, putting us in the lead. The 1st sailboat which seemed to have been the fastest of all of us sailed into a nearby cove before the Greenpoint Rapids, but when he saw the rest of us heading into the rapids, he followed behind. The knotmeter read 10.4 at one point during these rapids (6 knots of boatspeed and 4.4 knots of current). We got pushed around a little bit, but George never lost control of the rudder. So now the flood began to slow down and prepare to turn the other direction. We got to Whirlpool Rapids an hour before its turn to ebb and turned into Foreward Harbor just north of these last of the 5 rapids. Whew! What a day!.
I was a little miffed that all the other boats put down their anchors right next to us as they arrived in this huge inlet. But the wind came up in the evening and would have made an uncomfortable anchorage for anyone outside this little spot around the corner from the entrance. We heard on the Hamnet this morning that this place is usually very crowded. They couldn't believe there were only 6 boats in here for the night (another trawler pulled in about an hour after us).
Broughton Islands
This is a pretty wild place up here. We are one of only a few boats we know about who are not breezing through on their way to Alaska. All the tourist traffic comes in July and August when the salmon fishing season heats up. So the resorts aren't really open yet.
We've enjoyed dry but cool weather most of the time. A few days after departing Friday Harbor, we hiked along a bluff overlooking the cove where Dream Chaser lay at anchor. We donned our shorts and sandals to row the dinghy ashore and pulled the boat way up on the sand in order to reach the trails on shore. That afternoon we identified at least a dozen wildflowers. The birds have been most numerous around Campbell River. Loons are much easier to spot now that we are familiar with at least 3 varieties, the Common Loon being the most elusive.
Everyone has told us how much more wildlife we would see up here near the northern end of Vancouver Island. The season must be wrong, because we really aren't seeing very many birds. They should all be nesting and hatching their young, and many probably are. We have seen more activity among sea lions this trip. Today we observed one eating a very large fish and trying to keep it away from two other sea lions. He was attempting to swallow it head first, whole, but having a very difficult time since it was such a big fish, probably about 20". We see lots of Bald Eagles everyday. We can see 2 working the shoreline for a bedtime morsel as I write this. Another of our favorites is the Western Grebe. With their very distinct black-and-white curving necks, they look like question marks when they pop up from diving below the surface. They are migrating in large groups right now. We saw about 100 of them around Campbell River and about 30 here today.
As for George's fishing, I think he needs his fishing buddies to really get excited about taking out his pole. We have done some crabbing and shrimping, but have had no luck so far except when a commercial fishing boat called out to us asking if we wanted to buy some as soon as he had finished gathering up his traps from the lagoon where we were motoring.
Probably the most interesting has been to see how people live up here. The resorts and most of the houses are floating buildings strung together with dock space for boats to tie up. Each resort is run by people with a different slant or personality. We have heard some wonderful stories from these people about their lives up here.
The culture here lives and breathes by the logging industry. The tourist industry only lasts about 5-6 weeks and certainly doesn't support them for the whole year. We talked to 2 loggers last night who came by to pick up their crab trap and learned that the price for lumber is excellent right now, hence the clear-cutting we are seeing all around us. Ah wilderness! Some Canadians, seeing we are from Oregon comment on how fortunate we are to have true wilderness in our state. ALL the old growth was cut up here in the 1890s, with 2nd and 3rd plantings being cut now.
We're looking forward to visiting a 1st Nation village tomorrow and a museum of their artifacts in Alert Bay later in the week. May 24th should find us in Port McNeill on Vancouver Island provisioning for our trip over to the west coast of the island, an even more remote area of BC.
Kingcome Inlet
This morning we talked with Loren Brown of Shawl Bay. Loren had arranged our visit to the Native Village at the end of Kingcome Inlet. We thanked him for making the arrangements. Mentioned that John Makau gave us a boat ride to and from the village for $30/person. Part of the expense is for the gasoline since there isn't any gasoline in the Village, and they have to go out to get it. A 5 gallon fuel tank costs them about $30. The river trip to the village is against a 3kt current, but the 40 hp Mercury takes the aluminum boat at about 25 mph, and you're there in 20 minutes.
Although we were thinking of more of a wildlife boat trip, he stopped at the Village and let us off. We jumped ashore since there wasn't any dock. We walked in slowly feeling our way. We spoke to an older gentleman and a man in his early 20s about who we were and that we appreciated seeing their Village. We asked if anyone had climbed any of the surrounding mountain peaks. The older man said that one of the Village after returning from the Army climbed one of the steep rocky slopes with a couple of other men. They took two days to do it. He said to go see their new 'long house', and let anyone know that the Chief said we could see it. Then John showed up, and walked over with us talking about the long house. They had just had a Potlatch there the past weekend. Since their children take schooling in the Village up through 7th grade, they go off to relatives in larger communities to have the rest of their high school education. So the high schoolers come back for the potlatches, and for the summer months. In July they will have hundreds of people there for a 4 day potlatch. John helps in the meal preparation. He said the Long House is just filled with food and gifts (jewelry, crafts, and cash). Each family puts on a dance for everyone else to watch. There are masked dances that tell the legendary stories, and so forth. The Long House has a dirt floor, with a large fire ring in the middle, with a roof opening that vents the smoke but doesn't allow rain to come in. There was the smell of cedar and smoke in the long house. There are 4 tiers of benches around the perimeter of the Long House for all to sit on. Their were four totems, each with a meaning about coming in, learning, enjoying, and leaving in peace. In the front was a long, horizontal hollowed log with a wolf head on it. The log was drummed by 6-8 boys as the ceremony proceeds. The wolf was this village's special totem animal. While in the Village, John also took us to the Anglican church that they had. The alter and other interior woodwork were beautifully carved. They had a few painted murals like the Last Supper, and so forth. One of the congregation had crocheted the Lord's Prayer in memory of a couple that had passed on. Beautifully done. In addition John said that once a year the river floods over the village up to the children's waists. Everyone moves their belongings (lawn mower and all) to the second floor. Sometimes fish will be swimming right by their homes, and they try to catch them by hand! He also commented that grizzly bears will wander through the village from time to time. They keep the children inside when this happens.
In talking to Loren we mentioned that we signed a note to them saying that we would not use any photos publicly (on the Net) or for commercial reasons. In their Office Sue saw a survey that was being taken of all the Village people regarding allowing visitors/tourists to come into the Village. Loren said it has been a coordination problem. Having people come through all day long is difficult on the Villagers; having one larger group of visitors once in the day is easier to handle. Makes sense, but how to arrange it is difficult. Loren said some of the Village members are enterprising and straight with visitors. Others have skimmed off some of the proceeds, which is one reason why the gasoline operation had gone into receivership, and was no longer in operation. They don't pay any taxes on income. This Village pays 10% tax when a house is built. They are on a government stipend. There is some discussion about being paid off by the government once at $250,000 per person, and then having to pay normal taxes from that point on. Loren commented that there are alot of political issues under discussion. One part of the Village will be in favor of one idea, and another part another idea. Sounds like politics as usual.
One other observation is that there is a sense of family. Mothers strolling their babies in strollers, lawns being mowed, guys sitting on a door step 'chewing the fat', school kids playing soccer, the Chief schmoozing with everyone.
What I enjoyed the most was seeing how proud John was that his son had played soccer in England. The best player of each tribe in the area had been selected to play. John worked logging trees for three months to help pay the $2000 airfare that his son needed. They won 4 games, lost 4 games while there. Sue and I saw a couple guys kicking, heading, and passing the soccer ball back and forth without the ball ever touching the ground. These guys were good!
Quite an experience!
Downed Pilot Saved
Today was a pretty exciting day. We had spent yesterday in Port McNeill in the rain and thought we would simply motor up to the tip of Vancouver Island, Bull Harbor, using radar if it was very foggy. And foggy it was this morning as we departed, around 7:30 a.m.
We motored north along the east shore of Vancouver Island, eating breakfast, using radar since visibility was about a half mile. But seas were calm and the current was with us. I was listening for our call sign to be called on the Pacific Northwest Boaters Hamnet. At 8:40 I heard George call down to me that he had just seen a plane crash and turned Dream Chaser in that direction. I quickly took a look, and could see the small plane in the water, not more than a quarter mile away. I immediately broke into the Hamnet to let them know what was happening and then called the Canadian Coast Guard.
As we approached the wreckage, we could see that there was stuff all over the water, and the plane was still afloat. Both of us prepared our thinking for finding dead, dying, or drowning persons, badly hurt. But all we saw was one person sitting on top of the plane, trying to make contact with a satellite phone. He said he was alone, and that he only had a nasty bump on his head, that he was OK. So we approached slowly with our boat. Brian was able to climb up onto the bow of our boat without much effort other than shaking from the adrenalin rush of the event.
Apparently, George saw the plane approach the water as if to land. Since the fog layer was pretty low, George figured the pilot was going to land his pontoon plane on the water and wait for better weather. But when the plane hit the water, it crashed immediately, broke in half, and managed to stay afloat so Brian could crawl out, keeping his satellite phone dry.
Brian was about 45-50 years old, had 2 children, and lived near Newberry Springs, California. He had a house in Alaska and was on his way there. He had extra clothes in a dry bag so he was able to get out of his wet things and into dry clothes. We got a cold pack out to put on his forehead, and got him wrapped up in a blanket, laying down in the cabin where it was nice and warm.
It wasn't long before other boats came along who had heard my radio call to the Coast Guard. 3 fellows in a small open boat picked up all the floating stuff and put them in Hefty bags. Others stood by if there was any need for their help: a large power boat returning from the Queen Charlotte Islands. A high speed inflatable Coast Guard skiff came from Port Hardy, 20 miles away. They took a look at Brian, took his pulse, and recommended he see a doctor at Port McNeill. So they whisked him away. We barely had time to exchange addresses, take a few pictures, and say good-bye. A Coast Guard Pursuit Boat (able to go 27 knots) came by to look at the wreckage and determine if it could be salvaged. They told us we could "stand down" and continue on our way.
The fog soon lifted and we could see to the horizon again. With the current with us most of the way, we made it to Bull Harbor by 4:00 p.m. By the time you read this, we will be on our way to Cape Scott, to round the top of Vancouver Island around noon, weather permitting. The barometer has been falling, so we may not go until we see it rising again. Although there hasn't been very much wind associated with the last 2 lows that have blown over, we don't want to take a chance on getting out to the ocean in bad weather. As soon as we stick our noses out of the cabin tomorrow we should know.
We were so grateful to find Brian so quickly, and to find him relatively unhurt. We were ready for all sorts of rescue techniques with lines and life-saving rings, but so glad Brian wasn't in the water, especially since our inflatable dinghy was deflated on our deck and would have taken time to pump up and deploy. It's always a good feeling when you can help someone, especially in a life-threatening situation.
Rounding Cape Scott
Sitting in the companion-way, it's 7:00 a.m. and we're heading down the West Coast of Vancouver Island. We're heading for a place called Winter Harbor, about 3 hours away. The weather is mostly blue sky with a tiny bit of fog along the shore, nothing to be concerned about at all.
God has really blessed us on this portion of the trip. The weather turned rainy in Port McNeill a full 24 hours before the forecasters said it would. We spent sunny Monday doing laundry and cleaning up the boat. I almost got the lettering done for the dinghy, something that must be done before we enter Oregon. Tuesday we woke to rain, rain, pouring rain, which lasted all day. We got our mail first thing. Then we did some computer work at an Internet spot in town, and then went to the U'Mista museum on Cormorant Island at Alert Bay by ferry. We had been advised to take the ferry and not the boat. When we got there we could see why. The moorage looked pretty seedy.
The U'Mista exhibit is well worth seeing. It displays half the artifacts that were taken from the Indians in the 20s, their precious possessions for use at the potlatches. The other half of the collection is at the Cape Mudge museum on Quadra Island, just across from Campbell River. Hilary Stewart mentioned it in her book, On Island Time.
So we left early Wednesday morning and you know the rest. We really felt God had arranged it for us to be there just as the plane went down. The other boats that came by may not have seen it due to the fog or they actually came over to the wreck after hearing our call on the radio to the Canadian Coast Guard. Forgot to mention that another pontoon plane came by the wreck, landed right behind our boat. At one point, the pilot was hanging onto his airplane with one hand and our stern railing with the other. The plane was right there, poking its engine into the cockpit! George says it was a Beaver plane, the workhorse of the fleet.
We ended up in Bull Harbor at 4:00 in the afternoon. Goletas Passage, just north of Port Hardy on Vancouver Island, was a little choppy, the wind on our nose, but the current was with us most of the time. Goletas Channel reminded us of the Columbia River Gorge with taller mountains on one side (the islands), and more gradual terrain on Vancouver Island. We were the only boat in the channel and the only boat in Bull Harbor, a very nicely protected harbor on the north side of Vancouver Island. Actually, it is located on Hope Island.
We got up to leave Thursday morning at 7:00, weighing anchor at 7:45. We went around the kelp beds just east of Nawitti Bar, a tactic meant to keep us out of the rollers on the bar. But it was calm, and we could have gone over the bar with ease. But it was prettier staying close to Vancouver Island. Out in the ocean finally, we began sailing since we had plenty of time before slack current at Cape Scott. The weather forecast SW winds becoming moderate and then veering to Northwest. Well, we never got the NW winds. Wind was on our nose all the way down to Sea Otter Cove. So we motored around the cape, through the confused seas (got there exactly at slack current), and down the island. Wheee! We're finally going south, South SOUTH to Mexico.
Not one, but two
We are in Columbia Cove, a beautiful, protected place on the southeast corner of Brooks Peninsula. Capt Robert Gray anchored his ship 'Columbia' here, hence the name.
Well, at 7pm after a dinner of white-spotted prawns (caught near Julian Cove in 330' depth), Sue rowed the dinghy while I jigged for who knows what. We never snagged on any rocks or kelp. We saw 2 or 3 seals and a sea otter in the area. As we rowed over a deeper spot outside the cove past the kelp beds near the outer rocks in 40 to 60 feet of water, I was using the Ugly Stick that I got for Christmas, using a white/pink hoochie, when I felt a strike.... Not one, but two fish were on one hoochie with one hook. One was a 13" and the other was a 19", both a bass that had a white belly and pretty much black everywhere else. You should have seen my consternation over catching two fish on one hoochie. I was bringing them into the front of the dinghy, as Sue was scrambling to the rear. Must have been quite a sight. She wasn't too happy over my dispatching them with my billy club. But it makes quick work of the task.
It's now 10 o'clock pm. The fish are filleted, or should I say, butchered! Two squid about 5 inches long were in the larger fishes tummy plus a 2" minnow. Well, back to Filleting 101. We will use the heads for crab bait, and enjoy the fish tomorrow night.
By the way, the two crabs that we caught two days ago, were already molting. Sue made great crab sandwiches for dinner last night with the meat that was still in the shells.
Have to make this Canadian fishing license pay for itself!
Luna
Friendly Cove, at the entrance to Nootka Sound (about half way down the coast), is an historically important sight. A 6 foot tall pyramid marks the importance of the Spanish giving up their claims to the west coast of America, at least north of the Oregon territory in 1792 to the British. A large lighthouse complex is located next to an Indian reserve now. We paid to go ashore ($5 each) to enjoy the scenery: a lovely pebble beach on the ocean, an old Catholic church with stained-glass windows depicting the signing of the treaty between the Spanish and the British, and trails to a lake.
As we were leaving to go back to Dream Chaser, we met a young man heading onto land with a backpack. He said he was heading out to look for whales. Turned out this young man had taken it upon himself to direct the movement of Luna, the orphaned Orca whale, who will be reunited with his pod sometime this summer. He invited us aboard his boat when he returned. Here is his story:
Funding for Luna's movement has just been granted, so the Canadians will capture the whale and somehow take him to Vancouver, BC where he will be kept in a pen until his pod happens by. This man, Keith Wood, has been hoping to see this happen naturally as "L" pod, Luna's family, swims south along the west coast of Vancouver Island to its summer feeding grounds in the Gulf Islands. Uncharacteristically, "L" pod swam on the east side of Vancouver Island and was then spotted coming back out into the ocean through the Straits of Juan de Fuca. So no one knows where they are. George and I suspect the pod is looking for the salmon run that still has not started, also unusual. Anyway, Keith is furious that the reunion cannot go forward naturally. He is certain that the whale will become too weak, in its pen, to join up with its pod, and they will sell Luna to an aquarium. Apparently, Anheiser Busch has offered big money to give Luna to Sea World.
Luna has been causing a bit of trouble in Muchalat Inlet (on the Nootka Sound chart). Depending on who you talk to, there has been some boat damage, and he's a real menace. No person has been hurt, however. There are signs at some marinas asking boaters to stay away from him. Boat damage has been rudder damage and depth sounder transducers broken off, purposely inflicted by Luna. Aqua culture farms have been using strong sonar for their work which made Luna leap out of the water. So he doesn't like depth sounders on any boats.
Luna seems to love the attention he gets from people. The damage occurs when people ignore him. He likes to rub up against the hull of a boat and probably loves to be petted. Keith told us that he has become attached to at least 3 individuals who he recognizes, regardless of which boats these people are on. Due to this attachment, it would be easy to lead Luna out of Muchalat Inlet to the lighthouse where he could hear his family if and when they swim by. Keith told us this has been done a couple of times before, but that Luna refused to go out into the ocean.
The 1st Nation people have other views of this very special whale. Their oral traditions speak of young male orca whales leaving their pods in order to start a new pod. Currently there are already 5 males in "L" pod, with only 1 male in each of "J" and "K" pods. Since orca males do not mate with whales in their own pods (with mother and sisters), everyone hopes Luna will mate with the females in "J" and "K". (If he is taken to an aquarium, this will never happen.) 1st Nation people believe in reincarnation. Last year the chief of the Nootka tribe died. He said he would come back as an orca. Well, Luna showed up 5 days later! Keith told us that when the tribe heard Luna would be moved on Monday, June 14th, they put their canoes in the water. Keith expects there to be a demonstration and hopes they are successful.
Cougar Annie's Garden
Just before we left Friday Harbor, a woman showed me a book about a garden on the West Coast of Vancouver Island. The stories about Annie were straight out of a western novel. Annie moved out here with her husband while in her late 20s, had 8 of her 11 children here. She started a mail-order business of selling plants all over the US and sold small farm animals to locals. The farm animals attracted bears and cougars. So she trapped them and shot them, killing 73 cougars over time, hence her nickname, Cougar Annie. Her garden covered 15 acres of cleared land and was filled with all kinds of flowers, bushes, and trees. I suspected it was like an early Butchart Gardens at one time so we made the effort of finding the place.
Annie's Garden is at the head of the bay just south of Estevan Point. Some charts call it Boat Basin, just north of Hot Springs Cove. The basin is quite shallow, but navigable. We saw lots of birds and some sea otters as we entered the shallow water. Anchoring in 30 feet of water, just off the beach, there were no breakers or rollers, so we knew Dream Chaser would be safe while we were ashore. There were no signs, just an arrow in the book on a hand-drawn map. We didn't even have a chart of the area other than the electronic chart on our radar screen. There was no evidence of any commercial activity other than a few homes along the beaches owned by 1st Nation groups. But we did see a group of children on the shore and thought they might be able to direct us.
We wound through the woods on a trail that led to a gravel road and the entrance to the garden I recognized from pictures in the book. The children, 4-6th grade, were waiting to go into the garden on a tour, so we asked if we could go with them. (A sign at the entrance said you needed special permission to enter the garden and a guide.) They gladly let us tag along. The guide is the current caretaker who cleared out all the overgrowing bushes and created pathways around and through the maze of gnarled trees and spot gardens. At this point, we saw rhododendrons and a few iris and day lilies in bloom. That was all. The rest is still in the process of being cleaned up and possibly replanted. A thick grass and moss had been mowed along the trails. It was actually difficult to see what had been there maybe 50 years ago. Annie finally left in 1983 when she was in her nineties. The caretaker said the garden was too much to handle over the years after her children were gone, and was simply overgrown to the point of non-recognition.
One of Annie's grandsons and great-granddaughter, were with the group of children. When asked, the grandson volunteered that he had memories of coming there as a child, swimming in the lake, and having to be very careful to stay on the trails to avoid the animal traps everywhere. There had been many improvements since he and his daughter had been there last.
After George and I had meandered through the garden, looking at the various buildings, all in various states of decay at this point, the caretaker took everyone back into the woods, beyond another gravel road to a camp he had built on the additional property Annie owned which was not part of her garden. A beautiful cedar-planked trail, much like the one here at Hot Springs Cove had been built up through a little canyon to a new, large building, all made of cedar logged from the property. There was a great room where at least 50 people could dine, and a kitchen with all the tools necessary. A 25 foot long table made from one giant cedar board 4" thick was in the center of the room, with smaller tables around the large windows looking out over Boat Basin to the ocean. The big table had been finely finished and varnished. Raw logs held up the roof in a post-and-beam construction. Comfortable seating lined the tables. 6 cabins, much like glorified tree houses dotted the woods around the building, each one private with room for 4 to sleep and small tables. To give you an idea of the how rustic this was, even though the woodwork was simply exquisite, thoughtful, and artistically generated, there was no running water except in the kitchen of the main house, and the only lighting would be from kerosene lamps. Outhouses were around the cabins. One outhouse was built around a tree with a skylight. The children all wanted to come here to study. From our adult eyes, we could relate to their excitement about seeing a lovely summer camp, not realizing there were no showers. That you would bathe in the lake. They would love that sort of thing. George and I hadn't showered in 4 days, but maybe a dip in the lake wouldn't be so bad after all since the water is about 70 degrees now. But bathing in brown tanic acid water doesn't really appeal to me. The camp will be used for university students and continuing education, researching botany and forestry. I thought of the monasteries of the past, the wonderful long days up here, the long dark nights and constant wind and rain in winter. Annie was isolated here with her family, and even with the logging roads all through the area, it is still very remote. Water taxis take people from place to place since the roads are just gravel and probably washed out frequently during winter.
It really was a fascinating experience, especially having the opportunity to go with the school group.
Sockeye
Well, we left Ucluelet to go fishing outside. It was a little lumpy and 10-12 knot winds. Sue steered into the waves, with the waves, abeam to the waves in our sophisticated search pattern for the little bugger. Commercial guides have been pulling in some 20-25 pounders that we saw filleted at the dock. Soooo, we put one pole with a downrigger setup down at different depths, using a 5 pound weight which seemed to do fairly well and didn't break my line. The second pole had a releasable flasher and a spoon on a five foot leader. The second pole line was attached to the downrigger with one of those friction clips that release the line when the big one strikes.
We fished at 50 feet, 90 feet, 120 feet, and everywhere in between as the boat lurched, yawed, speed up, and slowed down. We checked the line a couple times, and when we pulled it up the third time giving up, WE HAD CAUGHT A FISH! Is this how it's supposed to happen. The little 15" sockeye had been whipped to death by the flasher. That's all we could figure :) Poor guy! I put him out of any further misery after we had kept him out of the water trying to figure out what kind of a salmon he was, and whether or not we could keep him. What an ordeal for such a fish!
She reminded me that we had prayed for the Lord to give us our daily bread. Indeed it was wonderful to have such fresh salmon for dinner.
Sue and I are realizing that we need to fish every day this week to make the most of our Canadian fishing license. I fear for the reduction in fish runs that the mainland will feel from the ensuing on slaught :)
In Summary
George and I are sitting in foggy Barklay Sound, having finished our circumnavigation of Vancouver Island. We took our time, waited out gale after gale, rain storm after rain storm, and finally arrived here on the 20th. The scenery along the coast is indeed spectacular, with several headlands to go around, great rocks along the shore, and sandy beaches in between. We were always on the ocean on sunny days when the winds were turning from SE to NW, so winds were generally less than 10 knots, hardly enough to sail. We've purchased a lot of diesel to motor into the great arms and fjords along the way, visiting Port Alice up north and Zaballos further south.
Highlights along the way were seeing the sea otters in the northern reaches, sometimes in large groups of 20 or more, probably protecting their young, and often individuals simply popping up to see us as we passed by, rolling onto their backs with their hind flippers up in the air; meeting an interesting couple from Germany, cruising the world for the 2nd time; talking with Keith Wood, a whale expert, volunteering his boat and time to find a way to join Luna up with "L" pod without human intervention; Cougar Annie's Garden; and learning about the people, customs, and ecosystem along the way. We spent two lovely days on lonely sandy beaches, the only boat in the cove. Combing the sand for souvenirs was quite interesting up by Brooks Peninsula.
Disappointments were the weather: mostly cloudy and rainy, and observing an entire ecosystem in various stages of ruin from 100 years of extensive logging and over-fishing to the extent that there is nothing left. We expected to see lovely tidal pools rich with sea creatures. There are only rocks. We expected to see birds everywhere. There are only a few here and there other than eagles. We have seen a few bears and cougar tracks. We rarely went ashore for fear of the wild animals since it was only George and me. We only saw 5 other cruising boats along the way in our circumnavigation until we got to Tofino where tourists flock by the hundreds for the hot springs. Facilities were either preparing for summer tourists or non-existent. On the bright side, we have gathered some shellfish along the way for fabulous fresh fish dinners.
I spent 5 days in Seattle around Father's Day with our daughter and her family. Once in Tofino, it was possible to get a flight out. George spent those 5 days working on projects, enjoying fabulous weather in a lovely cove about 10 miles away. We're getting set at this point to sail down the ocean to Astoria.