Yup, just as we were very carefully inching our way into Beware Bay I spied a bear foraging at the low tide line.  A very large black bear.

We had initially planned to go to a spot on the other side of Beware Passage called Dead Point (what names!), but some stormy weather suggested we would be best to go upwind to the other side, so we pulled into Beware Cove on the north side of the passage.  Turned out to be a good choice as later in the day there were whitecaps driving down into Dead Bay and three or four very, very loud thunderclaps suggesting perhaps some more significant winds in the evening.

Beware Cove seems aptly named.  Beware the bear.  No hiking for us today.  But…a stunning sight to see such a majestic animal casually roaming the tide line – probably looking for crabs.  As we were preparing to anchor less than 100 yards from Mr Bear, we could easily see him casually knocking aside 70 ++ pound rocks as if they were play toys.  And he could have cared less that we were here.  Neither of us saw as much as a glance from him as we dropped anchor and put Charisma into reverse and backed down – usually a somewhat noisy series of events.

OK, we are in the wilderness.  Did I mention the eagles we watched building their nest?  Seems a little late in the season, but we saw both of a nesting pair carrying very large sticks across the cove to their nest.

I did some fishing and caught a couple of small sculpins.  As I understand it, if they are larger they are cabazone, which we used to treasure as “good eatin’” off the coast of Mendocino.  These guys were too small though, so back they went.  I put the crab trap out as well but in just a couple hours only caught a couple “little guys” and threw them back – well one might have been OK, but just as I was about to measure him he got ahold of my thumb.  Needless to say, he was flung some feet off the starboard side of the dinghy along with a yelp!  Anyway, put the trap back in for the night and will check it again in the morning.

I will also pay more attention to my thumbs in the future.

A name like that HAS to get your attention.  Beware Passage.  Hmmm.  A look at the chart gives one pause.  Lots of rocks and shoals at the entrance from Clio Channel which is where we were at Lagoon Cove.

The sailing guide for the area (Waggoner Guide) suggests a torturous route through the rocks, shoals and kelp called Towboat Pass.  Not having any other option other than taking a 20-mile detour through Johnstone Straight, we decided to follow the recommended route.

In the mean time, just looking at some of the names of the landmarks in the area continued to provoke anxiety.  Beware Pass, Care Rock, Caution Cove, Dead Point.  I think you get the point.  Be very, very careful.

We left Lagoon Cove this morning at about 1000 and proceeded down Clio Channel for about 6 miles to Beware Passage.  As we approached the passage, there were so many shoals, islands and rocks you could hardly see beyond into the clear part.  OK, this was going to take some concentration.  The course called to take Nicholas Point close to starboard, then as Karlukwees came to our beam we turned to go through a narrow slot between Kamano Island and an unnamed rock (I almost just closed my eyes it was so narrow, just hoping we wouldn’t hit a submerged rock), then 250 degrees mag across the passage to the other side just behind a small island, where – we were told – we wouldn’t see the small pass we could go through until we were almost in it.  Yipes!  We did as told and voila!  the pass magically appeared.  But, it was very, very narrow.  About the width of a community swimming pool and…as it turned out not much deeper.  Not a lot of room for a 13 ton sailboat to squeeze through.  Going “dead slow” with Ann on the bow watching for rocks and kelp we inched forward.  24 feet deep – no problem.  18 feet, ummm….  15 feet, oooh, I don’t like this.  We went through the narrowest part of the pass with a depth of 11 feet.  As we used to say in Mexico, “No bueno!”  At the narrowest part Ann shouted a warning of kelp beds in front and to the starboard side, so a little to port, then a hard turn to starboard and we were out!   Phew!

All in a day’s work in the Broughton Archipelago.