When we woke up today it looked like it might not be a good day to leave Port McNeill…but as we have learned up here – give it an hour and check again. The wind that we could hear singing through the rigging was isolated wind coming over the hill behind us. As the day matured the fog lifted and blue sky peeked through…a good sign.

So we are now comfortably settled in our favorite anchorage which is ours and ours alone…Snuggle Cove.

Although the air had a brisk chill to it, the day was full of sun that tried to warm us. I was making lunch when I looked out the porthole just in time to see a big blow and a magnificent humpback whale swim past. But that was not the best part of my day. An hour later Bob alerted me to some splashing up ahead. All hands on deck…a very friendly white-sided dolphin played along side Charisma. I hurried up to my favorite viewing position on the bowsprit for the show and was rewarded with a delightful show…highlight by the rainbow that appeared as the dolphin blew! Yep…I have seen it all…dolphins that blow rainbows…my first rainbow of this season!

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.)