Couple days ago we made the move from Matilpi to Lagoon Cove.  We wanted to get to Lagoon Cove because everyone we’ve talked to says it’s “classic Broughtons”.  A low key, family run establishment that exists because it caters to folks cruising in these waters.  The issue though has been that there have been rumors it is closing.

Let me be clear to any cruisers reading this.  LAGOON COVE IS OPEN AND DOING WELL.

Now that’s covered, here’s the news.  Jean, the 80 year old owner has found a buyer and is transferring ownership as I type this.  The good news is we have met the new buyer – Jim – and he is a wonderful man with a vision of carrying on here as it has been in the tradition of Jean and her late husband Bill.  And it’s going to continue to be family run.  Several of Jim’s children (in their 40’s) are going to live here and run it while Jim and his wife with stay involved as well.  And rest assured they are still doing a daily prawn feed and pot luck that everyone comes to at happy hour!

Ann and I spent an evening with Jim just talking about his plans and it sounds like this place is in very good hands.  An extra bonus on our evening – Jim and I played some music down on the dock with an audience of some of the cruising folks here (spoiler alert: those present said we should put out an instrument case so they could make donations for the entertainment so I guess we did OK)  Turns out Jim plays a mean banjo.  In fact he also made it himself.  It’s a beauty.  I won’t go into detail although it deserves it, but suffice to say, for the round body, he repurposed an old antique “grain measurer”.  Apparently this is a circular wooden box, joined with copper “clinch nails” that he cut in half to make two banjos out of.  It’s a work of art.

We didn’t play together.  Turns out his banjo is tuned differently that my uke and he is taught in an Appalachian style of finger picking (think the soundtrack to “O Brother Where Art Thou”).  He therefore doesn’t read musical chords.  I am too novice to play by ear, so we did the next best thing.  He would play a song from his repertoire (he’s been playing for something like 17 years) and then I would play a song from my songbook/binder I have put together and he would sing along with me.  Other’s joined in when they knew the words and we all had a good old time down on the dock in the twilight singing and just enjoying being out here in the land of eagle, salmon and bear.  And that’s what this is.  While there is a pier here with a dock, couple sheds and a house, most of the rest of the island is pure forest.  In fact, a sow grizzly was seen here with her two cubs a week or so ago, so we have been taking our noise-maker, air horn and pepper spray on our hikes.

Fun, fun, fun!

We moved all of about a mile today.  This spot is a former First Nation village, now abandoned.  The identifier is a “midden” beach.  It is bright white, sand looking from afar, but as you row closer you realize it is actually made of crushed clam shells from centuries of people living here on the clams that are so plentiful.

It has been a very blustery, cloudy and sometimes rainy day, but after our July 4th dinner of hot dogs and homemade potato salad (thanks Ann!) the wind finally died down and we rowed ashore about 8PM.  Bob explored and Ann stayed on the beach and picked thimbleberries for tomorrow’s breakfast granola.

Moving inland, I found the area to be largely grown over with berry and other bushes, but it was pretty obvious that the flat areas under huge cedars was where the village was situated.  Add to that a fresh water stream and you have a perfect spot.  Must have been good living at one point with the clams, salmon, berries and so many other foods available to forage and hunt.

We wanted to get in here yesterday, but it’s a very small spot – really only room for one or two boats at most and there was a small powerboat and sailboat already here.  They were likely the last of the Canada Day voyagers on the long weekend (their version of US’ July 4th).  Anyway, when we saw the spot was taken, we ducked in across the inlet – about a mile away – in Burial Cove.  A decent spot, but over-taken by a cabin on one side of the cove and a research shed on the other.  Also in the cove is a log dock – four 40 foot logs lashed together and more or less anchored.  We dropped the hook to windward of them, backed down to about a boat-length and crossed our fingers that they wouldn’t drift excessively.  We came close a few times as tide and wind played their games, but it worked.  It was fairly nice, but not nearly as beautiful as this spot.

So for tonight, we’re tucked in behind a tiny island off the midden beach.  One end of the inlet is too shallow to traverse and the inland side of the inlet is only about 75 yards wide.  We are tucked in between the beach and the island with just enough swing room to keep us off the rocks.

Tomorrow we pull anchor at 1000 and make our way through the very narrow Chatham Channel passage.  While we are technically in the Broughtons right now, the real archipelago in on the other side of this narrow three mile long passage.  Once through that we’ll take a left through the even more narrow “Blow Hole” passage and come out at Lagoon Cove.  We’ll tell you about that after we get there.  It’s supposed to be a hoot – but at this point in the season we may or may not be able to get a space at the dock.  Our alternate plan is to make a reservation on the Radio and go another five miles to Potts Bay and anchor for a night or so.  We’ll see.  Mostly we are anchoring out in quiet places, but there are a few spots up here that are “must visit” spots.  We’ll blog about them as we get there.  Lagoon Cove is one of them.  Stay tuned.

Almost ten weeks ago we left Port Townsend on this leg of our great adventures full of anticipation ….bright eyed and bushy tailed. And we are still adjusting to the area. We never quite know what to expect.

We expected to see eagles and have been richly rewarded and miss them when we go for a day without seeing one. At least we hear their “chitter” —the best way we have come to describe their communications with each other — and know they are near. But no whales and no bears…only a pile of bear scat when picking cherries.

We expected berries but not all of the fabulous cherries! And salmon berries and huckleberries and thimble berries! And raspberries! We love to forage and snack for days on our haul. Yummy.

Today we have anchored in Burial Cove. Sounds eerie, right? Well, we had two potential anchorages in mind as we left Port Harvey this afternoon but unfortunately the smaller more intimate Matilpi Cove was already occupied by two boats as we came by. So we anchored in Burial Cove willing to be respectful of the potential spirits residing there. If only the guy on shore with the chainsaw and hammer had been as like-minded! Not sure how Bob napped through it but he did!

The other surprises have been the “marinas and resorts”. I put them in quotes on purpose. We actually like to anchor out most of the time but a nice “marina” with a shower and laundry is hard to pass.

The “resort/marina we were at last night, Port Harvey, was described as “rustic but welcoming”. We give them a lot of credit given that the two story building that housed the store, showers, laundry and pub was built on a floating dock that caught fire and collapsed into the water since last season. This year there is a large, welcoming tent with a generator run pizza oven. The proprietor and his dog could not have been more helpful as we docked. The pizza was pretty good, the happy hour enjoyable. Heck we even joined their yacht club to help support the rebuilding efforts. How could we pass it up…it was a one time fee for a lifetime membership! We are hoping it has reciprocal privileges up the road!

Compare this “Yacht Club” to our stop at Blind Channel Resort that had showers, laundry, a store with a fair selection of groceries, a well-stocked liquor store (always a plus) and a full serve 4-5 star restaurant! Oh, and tons of huckleberries and thimble berries on their paths. A nice family run operation for over four generations. Great docks, fuel, water….what you think of when you say “resort”.

But one of our favorites, and the one that held us the longest ( four nights!) was Shoal Bay with mandatory rafting and a pub. Truthfully there was never a need to raft up as just enough room was available on the docks for those that wanted it. At Shoal Bay you are not allowed to “check in”. As Marcos, the proprietor quickly informed us, “You come to Shoal Bay to check out. Relax!” And how could you resist…especially watching the dogs frolicking along the shore and the purple martens flittering around the dock posts. Lovely, relaxing, just missing the on-tap beer that was always just a day away. Maybe the fresh vegetable garden that you are allowed to harvest herbs and berries from distracted us. Or maybe the great hikes up the hill. Or the fun conversations at “the pub” and on the dock.

But we realize in all of these places, minus the bears and whales, we are meeting delightful people. Our story is very different than everyone that we meet but they are they sage veteran cruisers in these waters. We have lots to learn and we can entertain them a bit by confirming that we came up from San Francisco….via New Zealand. At every stop we get great new bits of information to enhance our travels. We may not have quite figured it all out but we sure are enjoying getting there….wherever there is!

Happy 4th of July, Fellow Americans!

Sounds more impressive than it is, but that’s the charm in most of these places. They are mostly family owned and “rustic”. We’re having a lot of fun meeting all the characters that live and cruise these areas. In between places with docks where we spend happy hour with all the new friends we’re meeting, there are gorgeous, quiet, coves that we duck into for the wilderness experience.

Anyway, here we are. Cocktails at 5PM, pizza cooked in the pizza oven on the dock at 6.

That’s been part of the adventure the last three or so days.

We left Shoal Bay on Thursday for Blind Channel. Blind Channel has a Rapids in the channel outside the docks, so you have to take care timing your arrival. We timed for slack and just about made it. The current never completely stops there, so a bit of scrambling at the last minute, but a safe arrival. Once settled we had a nice hike through forest to an 800 year old cedar. A massive tree – so impressive! Then our stay was topped by a spectacular dinner – Blind Channel is known for its culinary treats – a nice change from cooking “at home”.

Next up – timing the passage through Greene Point Rapids and Whirlpool Rapids. Normally a Rapids is not too hard to time, but in this case, these two are 8 miles apart, there’s no really good place to stop and they “turn” at the same time. You want to get through both and in our case to Douglas Cove in Forward Harbor. After much discussion with folks who know – and a few who pretend they know – how to do it, we settled on going through Greene Point two hours early and hope to ride the late ebb and hit Whirlpool at slack, since it is deemed the more “attention getting” of the two. We almost timed it, but the flood at Greene Point slowed us down to 3 knots over ground for several miles. This put us at Whirlpool half an hour late and the whirlpools WERE starting, but not difficult that early in the tide. Phew! Ducked into Douglass Bay shortly after and tucked up in for the night.

It’s on Quadras Island and we’re there. We’re actually at the Taku Resort since the “town” marina didn’t have any space. Turns out this was a lucky break. This is a lovely spot about a mile around the point from town. Very peaceful and nice neighbors, versus the hustle and bustle of the main marina, which is also adjacent to the ferry – which is noisy, makes big wake, etc. we’re here mainly to do some laundry and resupply. Turns out the very well stocked grocery is a short walk away (ten minutes) and they do “dock delivery”. We’re going to take advantage of that tomorrow for some serious shopping as this is the last real grocery for quite a while.
So…our internet is still a little shaky, maybe we can upload some pics tomorrow. We’ll see. In the mean time – after getting the jumper cables from the nice powerboat “Griz” yesterday, by running the engine we have been able to charge the starter battery and are now “independent” again. I think I will buy some jumpers though if we find some. Anyway, the new alternator is purring along and all is good. Boy did we luck out with the Squirrel Cove connection even though it meant 16 miles of hiking over two days to get it. Part of the adventure, eh?

We’re going to stay here for a couple days, then head to the northeast corner of Quadra Island to a spot called Octopus Islands. It’s another BC Provincial park – supposed to be beautiful and with lots of hiking. In the mean time we’re enjoying some “Marina time” with requisite cocktails on the dock with the other boats who are here. Nice people and we – especially Ann – are enjoying the cameraderie.

OK, much happiness aboard Charisma tonight.

A long day, but success. We did the 8 mile round trip hike into Squirrel Cove again and picked up the alternator that the folks in the store so graciously picked up for us at Campbell River. Yay, Squirrel Cove store!

Carried the 20 lb beast back to Charisma (Ann lugged about the same amount of groceries, so I can’t really complain). Got back around 2:30 and went to work. The usual jammed bolts and had to reach into difficult places, but after about two and a half hours I had the new alternator bolted in and wired up and we were ready to give it a try. Ann was at the helm and I was below watching in case something blew up!

“OK, turn the key”. Nothing. Actually a pathetic excuse of a moan from the starter, but not much more. Ouch. Not unexpected though, since the starter battery is isolated from the main bank. I’ll explain when we have more internets. Suffice to say, I went in the dinghy around the six boats that are here in th cove, looking for a jumper cable and found one on the second to last boat. OK, back to Charisma – jump from the starter battery to the house back. Try again. Success! The engine started and it’s charging the batteries! Yay!

All is good on board. We’ll leave tomorrow for Hariot Bay on Quadra Island, where we’ll anchor to resupply, shower and fuel up for our next leg up toward the Broughtons.

Hopefully, tomorrow we’ll have better internet and can post pictures.

(Pictures yet to come when we have better internets.  Right now just to get a signal, we haul the cell phone halfway up the mast.  Seems to work, but still dreadfully slooow.)

Yup, that’s where we are.  It’s on Cortes Island – two islands east of Campbell River, Vancouver Island (if that helps anyone find us).

So, we left you with us anchoring in the rain, then discovering we had a dead starter battery and alternator.  We’re nicely tucked in to a good, safe spot, and the house bank gives us plenty of power for the lights, fridge, etc so no worries for the short run.  We’ve been letting the solar panels charge the starter battery for the last day and a half and are hoping that it’s getting enough “juice” to try a start tomorrow.

In the mean time, yesterday we hiked (7++miles round trip) through the forest, to Squirrel Cove.  It’s a tiny town on Cortes Island.  One store, a restaurant and a few houses.  It was a desperate trek – we needed wine and beer!!  BUT, the proprietress of the store was also very helpful when I asked her how we might obtain a new alternator.  “You call Campbell River and buy one and my husband is taking the ferry over tomorrow, he’ll pick it up for you and bring it back.  Here’s a phone book…”  Wow!

So when we got back to Charisma (a two hour hike) we called the Campbell River marine diesel shop at around 5:45PM.  They were officially closed but we got what sounded like the owner.  He took our notes and said he would give them to the “parts guy” in the morning.  At about 9:30AM, next day, we got a call (thank goodness for our T-Mobile cell phone) from the parts guy and to make a longer story shorter, we ended up buying (hopefully) a new alternator.  I say hopefully because we won’t know until tomorrow when we hike back into Squirrel Cove and pick it up whether it’s an exact fit and we can make it work.  Cross fingers!

In the mean time we went for a nice five mile hike today.  The sun finally came out and we might have some nice weather again soon.  The last three or four days have been rainy and in fact, there has been a “water-spout” (marine tornado) warning issued for the whole area.  You know it’s bad weather when the seaplanes (i.e. bush pilots) are not flying.  There was some thunder yesterday and some nasty clouds but here’s hoping for SUN!

Anyway, that’s our update.  Hopefully a) the alternator is the right one and b) the starter battery has charged enough via the solar panels to start.

In the mean time the Dana 24, “Heron” that we met back in Melanie Bay has pulled in here this evening.  We rowed over to say, “Hi” and invite them for Charisma’s tomorrow, so at least there’s that!

Stay tuned.

Yup, a rainy day. Actually we avoided the rain all afternoon until we just made the entrance to the inlet, then it dumped. We anchored in the rain and it’s been raining since (about the last four hours). Possible thunderstorms tonight and tomorrow, but who cares! We’re not on the ocean!!

Our main problem right now is the alternator seems to have quit. The starter battery is low, but fortunately the house bank is good for now giving us lights and refrigeration. What we need is some sun tomorrow so the solar panels will charge the starter battery. For our “boat geek” friends – I have the starter battery on a “Echo Charger” that charges it anytime the house bank is getting more than 13 volts. So that’s what we need, enough sunshine to produce the needed 13V. Oh, well, we’re nice and tucked in and have time to figure out how to fix it. We just need to get enough charge to start the engine at which point I might be able to “excite” the alternator and get it charging again (did that with the old one when it went wonky a few years back). If not, we’ll have to try and get to Campbell River on Vancouver Island, where we can likely get a new alternator. In any case, there are a couple other boats here and there’s a trail from near where we’re anchored down to Squirrel Cove where we can hike and then get a ride down to the Ferry to Vancouver Island, so fortunately we have a lot of options. We’re just a little shy of good internet, so can’t yet post pictures of the last few days – which were gorgeous!

So…a little interruption on our adventure. Stay tuned.

Actually, Melanie Cove, which is further inside Prideaux Haven.  We’ve been here two days now.  Came in yesterday and went for a nice hike out to the entrance of the cove.  I think they call this a “haven” because it is so tucked in and lovely.  There are some serious twists and turns among some rocky inlets to get here, but once inside, it’s lovely!

See what I mean! Here we are tucked into Melanie Cove.

Once nicely “tucked in” for the day, we went ashore to a hike.  Lovely two hour “out and back”.  The trail was not maintained, so a bit “tough”, but lovely nonetheless.

HIke to Melanie Point.

So, then last night it rained into this morning and we were thinking, “OK, it’s going to be a book day”.  But – it cleared enough for us to think we could have a bit of a hike and we went ashore again.  This time, we did the hike over to Laura Cove.  In her book, “Curve of Time”, set in 1927, Muriel Blanchet described anchoring in Melanie Cove and visiting “Phil, the French Trapper” over in Laura Cove.  That’s the hike we did today.  The story has it that his cabin was in the cove by the wild cherry tree but that the cabin has disintegrated to the point of non-existence.  Guess what?  We found the cherry tree and I hiked up to a level spot just above high tide that I’m pretty sure was the site of the cabin.  Fun!

Kinda fun tracking down locations from a 90 year-old story...

...and fun to taste the wild cherries. They were amazing!

So, back on Charisma we met a lovely couple who came in on a Dana 24 and did a very nice job of dropping anchor and stern tieing to the cliff.  They are on S/Y Heron, Phoebe and Mike.  For Karen on Sockdologer – they are Canadian and went to Port Townsend last September to hear you speak at the wooden boat festival.  They said your talk was awesome.  Nice folks!

OK, that’s our update!  Tomorrow we leave for Roscoe Bay.  It’s actually two bays.  An outside and inside.  The trick is the narrows between the two actually dries at low tide.  We have to wait a bit before high tide to get in.  With a 12 foot tide forecast for tomorrow that means we “should” in theory have 6 feet under the keel at 9:47AM – we’ll start in a bit earlier on the rising tide in case of a problem.  We’re tried to “squeak in before like this, and hope that the results this time are better than last (See “Escape From Aitutaki”, August 10, 2012).

As always, we’ll post the result if we have internets.