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 “_”)