July 20 - Fancy Cove, day 2

It is absolutely pouring and blowing today.  Bill and Rob suited up in their foul weather gear and went fishing this morning.   It was very windy at our anchorage and so I was a bit nervous while they were out in the dinghy.  I monitored VHF channel 9 -  Rob assured me he would call if anything untoward occurred.  There was no call from Rob but I did hear two other boats arranging to meet up for drinks later today.  Mistakenly, I thought it was Eileen calling me and I joined in the conversation for a brief period.  Embarrassing. 

Rob and Bill head out fishing

We are on day two of the three we will spend in Fancy Cove.  This is the longest we have stayed in one place where there is nowhere to go ashore (i.e. walk).  In addition to preparing meals, cleaning, tightening up the stern lines, fixing and sorting things, we go out in the dinghy every few hours with Blue to look around, get blown about and soaked.  We are not bored and remain content; nevertheless, we wonder how we will feel by day three with no exercise.   I suggest we eat light during this time.  Rob agrees; however, today started with a delivery of Bill’s freshly baked cinnamon buns. 

Rob caught a cod today and we had that for dinner.  Until about 6 p.m., the wind howled, our bow bounced around and the stern lines were pulled taut but our boat stayed put.  As we fell asleep the rain was pounding the boat but we felt safe and sound in the middle of nowhere.  

July 19 - Fancy Cove, Lama Passage

Today we headed for shelter in Fancy Cove.  We are picking up Jessica in Bella Bella in a few days and the weather between here and there will turn nasty tomorrow.  So today we needed to get as far as Fancy Cove (which is only a couple of hours from Bella Bella).  We will tuck ourselves in here for three days and wait for the weather to improve.

The trip to Fancy Cove took about five hours.  Rob and I each took a 30-minute nap (not at the same time) while underway.  The skies were grey and it has been raining all day.  The route here is something of a highway in these parts and during the journey, we encountered a cruise ship, a large BC ferry and a tug pulling timber. 

After you...

Cruise ship on its way back from Alaska

A tug's load

Fancy Cove is extremely secluded and we are the only two boats here.  We cannot go ashore because there are wolves here.  Blue and Casca are again restricted to short trips ashore on tiny islets. 

The islet where we take Blue three or four times a day

The wind is picking up and so we have let out over 200 feet of anchor chain and tied our stern to the shore.  We are getting low on vegetables but otherwise, have everything we need for the three days we will be here.  It is amazing to think how often we run to the store at home.  Theoretically, I could provision our home kitchen as well as I have provisioned the boat but the appeal of fresh groceries will always prevail in an urban environment.  Although we don’t need to go grocery shopping, the daily routine includes lots of time spent on food preparation and clean up.

Rob and I went out and dropped our crab trap before dinner.  We’ll check it tomorrow.  Bill went out fishing today and came back with a halibut.  I had never seen a halibut in full and regret that I didn’t get a photo; it is a very strange looking fish.  I hope to have another photo-op.   As usual, Bill shared his catch with us and we had the most wonderful dinner.  Using one of many fish recipes that I brought with us, I pan-fried the halibut in butter, garlic, white wine, Spanish onion, (dried) chives and capers.

Eileen and Bill stopped by after dinner.  Each of us has been listening to satellite BBC and CBC off and on throughout the day and we discuss the days events.  We are glad of their good company; it could get lonely out here…

July 18 - Green Island Anchorage, Fish Egg Inlet

Before we left Dawsons Landing today, Rob and Bill pulled their prawn traps.  Bill had about 30 prawns and we didn’t have any.  Bill gave us some of his prawns to cook later (are you seeing a pattern here…?), and then we were on our way.  

Eileen took this picture of us un-docking

Such a nice day, we drove from up top for a while

At Green Island Anchorage, we anchored in our very own cove, just around the corner from Eileen and Bill.  This is a beautiful spot, sheltered from nearby Fitz Hugh Sound.  This afternoon, Rob, Blue and I got in our dinghy with our fishing rods and after a lesson from Bill on Buzz Bomb lures and blood knots (all specific to catching salmon), followed Bill out into Fitz Hugh Sound.  We lasted five minutes – whitecaps were tossing us around and Blue was not happy to be there.  He usually positions himself at the bow of our dinghy where, maintaining a forward lookout, he resembles a large hood ornament.  This time, he hunkered down in the lowest part of the boat and curled into a ball at our feet.  We let Bill carry on (in his larger and more powerful dinghy) and we fished for a little while in calmer waters nearby.  No fish today but it was a good fishing lesson and a bit of an adrenaline rush being out in the dinghy in rough water.

Blue, preparing to hit the deck

Bill invited us to pool our prawns (i.e. combine his prawns with the ones he had given to us) and have prawn tempura at their place for dinner.  We enjoyed a great dinner to which I contributed a fairly decent fruit crumble, notwithstanding having to use frozen fruit.  One of the things we are missing is fresh B.C. fruit, especially blueberries, cherries and peaches - we left all that behind many stops ago.  During dinner, Blue busied himself on the back deck of Eileen and Bill's boat eating the many uncooked prawn heads that Bill had set aside to later use as prawn and crab bait.   This left Blue sated but smelling like a 70-pound prawn.   He is back to sleeping outside.

July 17 - Dawsons Landing, Rivers Inlet

We spent a relaxing morning waiting for a higher tide before leaving our anchorage because at low tide, the margin for error (i.e. potential to hit rocks) was too great.   Then we traveled to Dawsons Landing where we are now docked for the night. It has been a beautiful hot and sunny day. Dawsons Landing is a series of floating buildings and docks that advertises “A Genuine Old-Time General Store” that has been serving Rivers Inlet for over 65 years. The family run General Store is very good and we bought t-shirts and hats  there...to prove we made it this far. There is no phone reception here but the wi-fi allows us to connect with family and post to the blog. At the store, we are informed that a Grizzly bear and a cougar have been spotted near the docks during the past week. Blue will be sleeping inside tonight. 

The homes and general store at Dawsons Landing

This float home is being moved 

Rob and Bill went out and dropped the prawn traps tonight and in the morning before we depart, they will pull them up.  We are enjoying our first real summer night at sea. 

Getting ready to drop the prawn trap

The view from our dock

After this post, we will again be out of touch for several days. Next wi-fi stop will be Bella Bella/Shearwater around July 23rd.  Between now and then, we'll be anchoring at Green Island and Fancy Cove and hoping to catch some salmon.

July 16 - Five Windows, Rivers Inlet

We traveled a short distance today and anchored in yet another tiny spot that Bill had found in previous years while fishing and exploring this area in his dinghy.  As usual, we are the only boats here.  This afternoon, Eileen and Bill went out fishing.  Rob, Blue and I went out exploring in our dinghy.  But not for long.  Our portable GPS was not working and we were immediately struck by the extreme remoteness of our location.  As we drove around, with our compass and a chart, we were overwhelmed by the sameness and expansiveness of the surrounding shores.  There are no landmarks to remind you where you have come from.  It would be so easy to get lost here and potentially difficult to navigate home.  The wind had picked up and had it started to rain when we happily spotted our boat sitting in the distance.  Interestingly, Blue seemed happier than anyone to be home.  He usually loves a ride in the dinghy but today, he was restless and seemed a little anxious until we were back home.  We will get a small chartplotter for the dinghy; it feels dangerous to go exploring here without one.  Soon after we returned to the boat, Eileen and Bill returned from fishing.  No salmon today and so we will move on to Dawsons Landing tomorrow.  However, they did catch an extra cod which we were happy to have for our dinner tonight.

Out exploring in the dinghy

Relieved to see our boat in the distance

July 15 - A Lazy Day in Perfection Cove

It rained hard today.  This morning, during a respite from the rain, Rob and I took the dogs ashore and had a lovely walk on beaches that, later today, will be covered in water at high tide.  Then Rob and Bill went fishing.  It was so nice to stay onboard with Blue and do some writing, drink more coffee than usual, write my blog, read my book, bake muffins and stare out the window at the curious seal looking back at me.  I don’t know what day of the week it is but the rain, the birds and the water moving gently around our boat made the only sounds.  There is a phenomenal and comforting peace out here.  Rob and Bill returned without fish.  However, later Bill and Eileen pulled their crab trap which yielded eight large male crabs (female crabs and those under a certain size must be thrown back).  They threw four back and generously gave us two of the remaining catch.  I gave them four bran muffins.  We do what we can. I excused myself to read in the pilothouse while Rob cooked and cleaned the crab for our dinner; I still cannot do this.  We ate the crab and drank cold white wine.  It is a cool night and the sky is clearing.  Tomorrow we’ll be moving on.

A beautiful islet near Perfection Cove

The view from our boat at anchor

The view from our bow

The yellow lines are our stern line, tied to a dead tree on shore

July 14 - Cape Caution!

We were up at 5:30 a.m. to listen the weather.  Bill called on the VHF radio at 5:45 a.m. and it was a go, in part because the seas at West Sea Otter Buoy were one metre and the winds there were from the south and less than 15 knots.  At 6:30 a.m. we pulled our anchor and soon after we were on our way.   As we left Blunden Harbour, the other boats remained dark and at anchor, hmmm.  Visibility was poor.  Almost zero, actually.  We relied on our radar and monitored two VHF radio stations, one for local commercial traffic and the other for emergency broadcasts.  We were nervous and a bit tired, drinking our first cups of coffee and eating breakfast as we drove.  

Our route is plotted and coffee cups filled

View from the helm, not much to see...

Out the side door of the pilothouse,
I can see hundreds of Marbled Murrelets but nothing else

For the first two hours it was ok and then the water changed and we were in the “rollers”.  The swells today were about 3 feet – which is the maximum in which we would want to travel.  We did not take Gravol because we didn’t want to be more tired than we are.  On the way home, we will take Gravol.  Neither of us was overcome with seasickness but we were both feeling pretty bad at times.  At one point, even Blue demanded to be put up on the watch berth (sofa).  Rob went down to check the engine every two hours and in these swells, that is a punishing task.  Plotting waypoints on the charts or writing in the logbook was also brutal.  I did not want to go downstairs unless I had to and so when we really needed lunch (in part to fend off our nausea), I made two of the fastest peanut butter sandwiches ever assembled, grabbed two apples and ran back up to the pilothouse.  Luckily we are interchangeable at the helm and this allowed us to take turns grabbing quick naps on the watch berth with Blue.  For me, these naps were a tremendous antidote to my seasickness.  In the distance, we could see remote shore where I thought I could see white structures or boats.  However, on close inspection with my binoculars, I realized that the white structures were actually waves crashing onto the shoreline.  Bill later told us that this was the best weather day he has ever had while rounding Cape Caution; I would not like to see it worse than this.  

Eileen took this picture of our boat during a period of relative calm

By the time we had anchored and stern-tied and let down our dinghy at a place Eileen has named “Perfection Cove”, it was about 3:30 p.m.   We are now in Rivers Inlet, a renowned fishing destination and Perfection Cove is another of Eileen and Bill’s secret anchorages. Unreported in any of the guide books, its approach is somewhat treacherous as in many spots it is either very shallow or guarded by rocks.  Bill drove around in his dinghy and used his sounder to ensure we would not run aground when we came in.  Secured at anchor, we were truly exhausted and headed in for a nap.  Later we were able to savour today’s success, first with a glass of champagne and then out for dinner by dinghy, to a nearby fishing lodge. At this fishing lodge, Rob and Bill chatted up guests for tips on where the fish are biting.  On the way home from dinner, the indefatigable Bill made a detour to Goose Bay to drop a crab trap.  We went straight home.  We are both still feeling a little queasy but it has been a momentous day.