We went looking for bears today…from the dinghy. No sense in finding trouble. We will just watch them from the water, thank you very much.

It was a very peaceful and beautiful trip, but no bears. Seems they are all over the place when you’re not looking for them, but when you try you can’t find them for anything. Oh well. But we went up the head of the bay and shut off the engine and drifted for a couple hours. Such beauty. Such silence. You not only hear the birds call, but you hear their feathers ruffle with the wind when the fly. A heron that likely didn’t notice us since we weren’t moving flew by just a few feet away. Skimming along the water, gently flapping its huge wings it left a trail of gentle “touches”. Each time its wings stoked down toward the water it would stop just as the end most little feather on each wing barely touched the water leaving a tiny ripple like a raindrop. The sets of ripples were about five feet apart (the wingspan) and fifteen feet distance which is about how far the heron travelled with one complete stroke of its wings. Like magic steppingstones since in a moment as you marvel at their perfection, they disappear.

We’ve been anchored for a couple days in a lovely spot in Mackenzie Sound. We’re behind a little island called Blair Island, in a cove, in the sound end of the Sound in Burly Bay. There are some absolutely stunning views of jagged mountain tops in the distance and just across the bay from us is a monolithic, vertical granite face that rivals El Capitan in Yosemite Valley. Fortunately, day before yesterday was warm with not a cloud in the sky and we relished the day. The last two however have been foggy and occasionally rainy. A different type of beauty where the mists brush past the granite face giving the place a completely different look. Given the weather, we’ve just stayed put but tomorrow we are heading back to Sullivan for a resupply of a few fresh items, then we’ll start slowly making our way back. We get to see some new places on the way back south/east and also stop at a few of our favorites. It should take about a month to get to Vancouver where we’re meeting up with a friend in mid-September for a last two weeks of cruising for the season.

(Please remember to replace the “_” with the letter between the w and y.) We left Jennis Bay and had a lovely overnight stop in Turnbull Cove. Obviously from the name, we had no e_pectations. What we found was a tight passage into a lovely bay marred only by an avalanche slash on the opposite shore. We had been warned so did not anchor over there…no need to find old logs pulled up by our anchor.

Instead we anchored on the opposite shore and dinghied over to the trail head/hike to a mountain lake. Steep, short hike to a dock into a large lake. The folks from another boat who had started the hike ahead of us said our bear bell was very loud. Good thing because they had seen a bear right where we parked the dinghy, just before they came ashore. They had waited for it to move further down the shore to come in with their dog. Good thing I had my bear bell!

Later we dinghied around the entrance point and were able to watch a bear foraging along the shore. We got close but not too close! All this bear e_citement was followed by a lovely evening watching some distant lightning (so fun when not on open water) and counting the seconds from the thunderclap…about 25 miles!

This morning we enjoyed two bear visits right behind us as we had coffee and breakfast. Maybe we should call it TurnBear cove…great spot.

We left this lovely spot because a glorious day of sunshine was calling to us. We ventured up MacKenzie Sound soaking in the sunshine and the jade green color of the glacial water. The best part of the whole trip was passing “Anne Point”….a granite masterpiece that rivals El Capitan….only spelled wrong…who names these places? It should be Ann Point.

Anne's Point in the background.

But lovely just the same. And just further up the coast we found a mama bear and two cubs meandering along the shore line! Glorious traverse up a beautiful sound but no anchorages called to us….until we came upon Blair Island. No, we did not see any witches or symbols hanging menacingly in trees…instead we saw a LARGE bear swimming across the bay in front of us! Wow! I do think Charisma scared him a bit as he kept looking over his shoulder but we kept our distance and reveled in the sight. His e_it from the water rivaled any athletic feat seen in the Olympics (I can say this because we have not seen any of the Olympics…but this bear was so graceful!). So shouldn’t this be called Bear Island? Really…has no one been out here?

Imagine our surprise as we entered Blair Cove...

...Imagine his surprise when we entered!

He was a big one.

Our paddle board around the area confirmed our desire to stay another day….we want to catch both low tides so we can watch the bears!!!! And we dropped a crab trap, to be collected tomorrow – so what the heck…

When the fog clears the paddle boards come out!

The description of this place from one cruiser we ran across was, “don’t e_pect too much”. Yup, that about sums it up.

We’re in Drury Sound. The guidebooks make it sound like this is a rarely visited, off the track spot. Well, there’s a reason. There’s a lot of logging activity here! Even in this little bay, which would under other circumstances be a gem, the logging camp right around the corner makes it look industrial rather than wild. We’re here to support the owners of this nice little spot. The logging camp whose corporate office is no doubt in another state if not country and who could care less about the beauty of the place, will not be here forever, but we hope this little struggling marina will be. So, other cruisers, show up! Jennis Bay are really nice people. Support them. (Addendum: We have since found out the logging is done and they are cleaning up and pulling out.  In that case, next year definitely worth a visit)

A nice spot to drop in. Lots of BBQs you can use on the dock.

We fished for four hours today trolling for salmon on the way here to no avail. It seems they are starting to come in though, as some folks have finally started catching, so we’re keeping our hopes up. I’ve been looking at the other boat’s rigs and they are using the same type of lures as us (“hootchies” – squid like rubber lures). The biggest difference is that the fishing boats have downriggers that put the lures as deep as they like whereas we only have diving planes which can only go 60 maybe 80 feet. As the salmon come in for spawning (some say in about another week) the depth should not be as big an issue. Cross fingers.

In the mean time I cooked the other half of the ling cod a new friend gave us. Yum! Now we just need to figure out how to catch one ourselves!

(sent via shortwave radio. All these islands are out of internet range.)

..teeny, weeny – that about describes the little coves we have been tucking into when we’re anchoring here in the Broughtons. Right now we’re anchored in Laura Cove. It’s actually rather large in the main bay, but the depths are over 100 feet. You have to find a little hidey hole that shoals to a manageable depth for dealing with the anchor. In our case, there’s a little cove on the right side as you go into the larger bay. We’re in there waaaay back in the first little “covelet” on the way in. We dropped the hook in about 30 feet at mid-tide and backed down until we are in 20ish feet at the stern against the rock at the back of the cove. We’re tied by the stern to a tree. A low tide, we’re showing about 12 feet.

We came in yesterday afternoon after a warm, sunny day of motoring up from Kwatsi. We’re staying put another day just to wait out some cold, cloudy weather. We had some momentous thunder last night and the occasional lightning. The thunder really gets your attention here. With all the fjord type inlets with vertical granite walls, the thunder echoes more ominously than I have ever heard. It’s really eerie.

So…good thing we decided to stay since a little while later another sailboat (or as we call them up here, “motor boats with masts”) came in and anchored nearby. While he was getting set, I went out in the dinghy to drop the crab trap and when I came back I dropped over there to say, “Hi”. They are a very nice couple from Idaho who leave their boat in Washington and cruise in the summers. We got to talking and as cruising would have it they invited us over for dinner. Turns out they caught some fresh crab yesterday, kept it in the water and cooked it just now. If I pull some crab later, all the better but our real contribution to tonight’s feast will be Ann’s famous ginger cookies fresh baked in about an hour.

So that’s our update. We’re going to try and move tomorrow to Greenway Sound where we hear there are some good hiking trails, then on to Sullivan Bay to resupply for our last two weeks up here. Yup, we plan to work our way back down into Desolation to revisit some of the places we enjoyed, hopefully visit some friends we made who live in Secret Cove (appro_imately across from Nanaimo) and then meet up with some other friends in Vancouver for a final last two weeks of September fling in the Gulf Islands just north of the San Juans.

That’s our update.

(sent via shortwave radio. Note: a certain key that seems to be broken and I can’t type anymore, but comes after the letter “w” will henceforth be denoted by an “_”)

The Burdwood Group are a group of islands in Tribune Passage, on the north side and west of Gilford Island. We’re tucked into a very tiny spot called “Twin Beaches”. It has a midden beach of shells from centuries of First Nation villages living here.

When I say, “tiny”, I mean it. We literally turned the corner about 20 feet from a rock the defines one side of the cove, turned down into the small cove until the depth sounder read 15 feet, then turned hard to port, out and dropped in 30 feet. Backed down to 20 feet – had a bit of an panic as we drifted toward the rocks waiting for the anchor to “bite”, but it finally did and turned Charisma upwind where we finally backed hard down to set the anchor. Then I took a stern line to the beach and tied to a tree to pull us into the little cove. There’s not enough room here to swing without hitting the rocks, so anchor out and stern line in keeps us lined up in the middle of the tiny cove.

Time to get the stern line out.

Nice and tucked in.

We did a bit of looking around in the dinghy at some of the other islands, then came back and went ashore behind Charisma where we found a lovely trail that wandered around the perimeter of the island – about a 45 minute hike.

Back on Charisma the wind came up in the afternoon as the was working its way in. During “Charisma” time, we watched as the wind and rising tide did their best to set us dragging toward the shore. I didn’t have enough scope out for the higher tide in the late afternoon and we found ourselves dragging anchor and almost on the rocks when we both realized we needed to move, NOW. OK, very rude to have to move during our cocktail hour, but… whatever. So, we let go the stern line, hauled anchor and motored out to assess the issue. We decided we could come back in, get a little further in the lee of the cove, drop more scope this time and re-anchor in the same spot. And we did. I went in to shore, grabbed our stern line which was still tied to a convenient tree and brought it back to Charisma and now here we comfortably sit with more scope, not dragging. OK, more than the non-cruisers want to read, but our cruising friends will appreciate the angst and the effort.

Our benefit? We’re anchored in one of the loveliest spots you’ll ever want to see. It’s a bit of a tradeoff since we’re also about 30 feet from the rocks, but the wind is laying down and the fog’s coming in so it should be a nice night.

(Our only other issue right now is the “letter between “w” and “y” no longer works on our little computer that we use for the shortwave radio. So, please e_cuse us for not being able to spell certain words).

OK, you might be bored reading about us staying here, but we’re having a great time. The little dock here is such a “family” and the Family that owns the place is sooo nice. We can’t bear to leave. Add to that the weather, although great here, is very rough up where we’re headed, so waiting here is very easy. Add more to that the fact that some really, really great folks that we’ve met along the way named Gordon and Glenda from S/V Rest Assured have been soooo much fun. We’ve forged one of those special bonds that you sometimes find with people. The folks up at the pub that we all have a beer with around 5PM told us today, “you guys seem like you’ve been friends for 30 years”. Yup, that happens sometimes and we feel very fortunate. The less fortunate is that we’re heading north and they are heading south at this point. We’re sure we will meet up with them again.

In the mean-time, we did the hike up to the overlook today with them, AND since we didn’t miss the trail and hike an extra hour through the bush this time, we weren’t too exhausted to go a little further up to the gold mine. Well, that was a treat! It took a little looking around, but after a bit we found it. Very cool! We brought a strong flashlight – good thing – and were able to confidently walk in not worrying about falling into a shaft, of which there were several. About 30 yards inside, there was a hole in the floor that dropped at least 20 feet to another shaft. Sidestepping verrrry carefully we went a bit further to another vertical shaft and could look down several layers below. You could see where the sides of the shaft were shored up with huge timbers and such, but we didn’t have ropes and such to explore safely, so retreated back to the light. But very cool to go inside an actual gold mine (decommissioned – nobody is actively working it)

Sooo, after a nice day, we had a few beers with all the locals, dinner aboard and then chatted with our friends Gordon and Glenda until 0130 – the sun sets late around here and you lose track of time – and we’re getting ready for bed and then a move to Blind Bay tomorrow. It’s only about 8 miles away, but should be a whole different type of experience.

Stay tuned…

Just a quick note on Monday night. We got into Shoal Bay yesterday after a short jaunt up from our lovely spot at Handfield Cove. We trolled most of the way, but no luck on the salmon. Got here around 1300 – which was a good time as it was in between the rapids on either side of us, so some boats had left and the new group had not come yet. We slipped right in. There’s only room here for a dozen boats. After that it’s either side tie or anchor off. Anyway there’s a great and eclectic group at the dock and we’re really enjoying getting to know some of these folks who have been cruising up here for years. In many cases when you ask someone how long, they will say they’ve been doing this – coming up to Desolation/Broughtons for 15 or more years.

Here at Shoal Bay there is a tiny community of a dozen or so people. The run the “pub” where you can get a beer or glass of wine between about 4 and 8PM. As the season progresses they expand a bit and do a weekend pig roast and/or fire up the outdoor pizza oven, but this is basically a very tiny, family owned kind of stop.

Yesterday we went on a fairly monumental hike up to the overlook on the mountain above the pier. It should have been about 45 minutes up, but we overshoot the “Y” in the trail and proceeded about 45 minutes further up a very sketchy trail until we realized we had either gone waay too far, or didn’t care if we ever got there because the trail was so bad. We were as close to lost as I’ve been in a long while but worked our way back down to familiar territory, found the trail we missed and got to the overlook. Can’t wait to be able to post the pictures because the view across the sound and up the inlet to the glacier at the end is stunning.

So that’s where we stand. Hope to get some internet, but probably not too soon.

That’s us! Day two at Handfield, we are just chillin’. Did a lot of reading this morning and drank a lot of coffee just enjoying the quiet and beautiful surroundings.

After lunch, time to explore some more. Off we went in Mr. Dinghy – heading toward the cherry trees. The difference today…I made a cherry picker. A cup with a half top and a “V” slit in it on a 12 foot PVC pipe. This way we can get to the cherries that no one else can pick and thus not worry about taking more than we should. Well, it not only worked, but we found several more trees of different varieties. All had very ripe cherries many feet off the ground. Not reachable by normal human beings, thus no worries from our perspective about leaving some for others.

And, each tree we found had different varieties of cherry. As the first explorers in this region (sic) we have now created new Latin names for these varieties. Cherrimas Mostredest, Cherrimas Lightredest and Cherrimas Palest Redimos. OK, so we’ll wait for the names of our new discoveries to be recorded into the biological books. In the meantime, we are eating them as fast as we can. About a gallon worth. Delicious! We also found some blackberry like things that were excellent, but not enough to gather, and bring samples. We just ate them. We are tempted to stay here until the end of cherry season, but go on we must!

I think a bear had the same idea as us. Even though we were on a little island about 50 yards off the main shore, I found some bear – looking scat. It had a very light crust, but was still very soft underneath suggesting maybe less than 12 hours of so old? In any case, we kept a keen eye out for Mr. Bear. I think since he didn’t have a cherry picking contraption (TM, circle c, copyright Bob Johnson/Ann Adams) that he was after the huge number of blueberries on the island. OK, we’ll keep the cherries and give the bear the blueberries. Symbiosis!

And…double bonus for today…three legal crabs in the crab trap. Wow, did we eat well today!

We’re moving tomorrow toward Shoal Harbor. Weather and other things permitting, we’ll cross fingers and troll a bit for salmon.

Stay tuned.