Author: zoebird2005

We went from Brentwood Bat to Clam Bay. We thought we would spend a couple of nights in Clam Bat and the maybe go to a couple other spots in the Gulf Islands – Cabbage Island – Jim’s favourite anchorage in the Gulf Island Marine Park.

It was beautiful weather the first day. We put the skiff in the water and went for a motor about Thetis Island.

There is a small narrow gap between Thetis Island and Penelakut Island that can only be navigated at certain tidal heights.

We went for a nice skiff ride – took a look around Telegraph Cove

There are two marinas in Telegraph Cove.

We came across a little sailboat that was being operated remotely by someone on shore

As we were motoring back to the boat we went by a home on Thetis Island where an old friend / colleague of Jim’s lived. Andy Lamb and his wife Virginia. We spotted some people in chairs in front of a house. We were not sure if it was the place we were looking for. So I yelled – Are you Andy Lamb? And he was ! So we met him at the shore and he was pretty thrilled to see Jim. They started working together in the mid 1970’s at the Vancouver Aquarium. We were invited for dinner. Which was home made pizza – fabulous pizza. There were other guests there as well. Another Vancouver Aquarium employee! We really enjoyed the evening and Jim and Andy reminisced about the past. We had a visit with Andy one summer at the Hakai Institute at Calvert Island. Great day in Clam Bay.

And then the next day the wind came up. Gale warning 25-35 knots from the North West.

And it was blowing a gale in Clam Bay. We were anchored in the South East corner of the bay and just got hammered by the wind.

It was quite the gale ! We had an interesting day watching boats coming and going and everyone blowing around. A group of six 60 year olds in an old Bayliner motored in and anchored up a little too closely. They spent most of afternoon drinking and jumping in the water.

Fortunately they did not spend the night. It was a pretty rough night. We were pitching and rolling. Lilly was definitely not happy.

The Gale warning was in effect for another 2-3 days so the next day we pulled the anchor and moved to the NW corner of Clam Bay – to be more in the lee of Thetis Island. And pulling an anchor in 20 knot winds is not very easy.

And it was hot. And Lilly was hot

It was too windy to go on the skiff and it was too hot for us ! And too windy to go anywhere especially out in Georgia Strait

And then on the 3rd day we looked west and there was the smoke from the fire around Port Alberni and Bamfield

The gale warning came off. And the heat dropped to 24c or so. And we decided to go home. We were still going to have a bit of a bumpy ride across Georgia Strait. But we had decided we had enough. Although we had a good summer. The last few days were not that enjoyable.

There was a gill net fishery in the Fraser River so we had to watch for Gill Net boats. Although Jim contacted DFO to ask if there was a fishery – no one at DFO seemed to know. Not did Fraser River Traffic Channel

And there is the big dredger in the river now. Just before Steveston.

We got back to home dock about 5 pm on August 14th.

Aside from the last week it was a pretty good trip. We were very pleased with the new skiff outboard. That was great to have this year. We will see what new summer brings

After spending a night in Thrasher Cove – a little cove just inside Port San Juan – Port Renfrew. This cove is where the trekkers gather as a first or last stop along the West Coast Trail. It’s interesting for us to anchor up and over the course of the day watch all the people arrive at the beach and put up their tents on the beach. It was cold and there was a fire ban. So I imagine it was a chilly night for them.

The next day we had a very calm travel day to Victoria. We started the day with the stabilizer poles out and the fish in the water but we took them out after a couple of hours of travel.

We arrived to the dock in Victoria around 12:45. Docking in Victoria is always a bit of an adventure. The summer staff can be young and inexperienced- often not sure what Port or Starboard means, or what to actually do with a dock line. I might have yelled…. anyway in the end we were assertive and docked on G dock right in front of the Legislature. And the Empress Hotel

The cost in Victoria has gone up over the years. It was $432 for 3 nights.

We had a pretty good visit. The docks were not a busy this year. Most of the boats were American and it seems they were keeping to themselves a bit more than we remember.

We went out for dinner one night at a restaurant we have been to before and really enjoyed- Finn’s

Sharon recommended going to the Leg dining room for lunch but we couldn’t get a reservation for the time we wanted. We had a lovely lunch at a nearby pub with some fellow boating friends. Former Krogen owners, John and Mary. They just sold their Krogen and it sounds like they have many mixed feelings about missing it. And not missing it !

There was a Thrifty’s a short walk away for groceries. As we were walking there on our last night we came across this burger place. Looked pretty popular! Might need to check it out if we are back in Victoria. So far the Zeballos Inn had the best burger of the trip.

The day we left Victoria we motored up to Brentwood Bay. We were planning to anchor up in Todd Inlet. But it was jammed with boats. Brentwood Bay is jammed with boats ! Our friends John and Mary live in Brentwood Bay and contacted someone they knew who had a mooring ball we could spend the night at. So we tied to the mooring ball and went and had dinner at their place just a short walk from the marina there.

We spent 3 nights at the dock in Bamfield. We did that as well 2 years ago. This year we did a few different things.

The dock is on the west side of Bamfield which is only accessible by boat. It is the Bamfield Harbour Authority Dock. The dock managers are so great. We booked by email and they replied quickly and our spot was reserved with our name on the dock.

There was a fishing derby going on while we were there. Most of the boats at the dock were small sports fishing boats. They were not catching a lot of fish apparently- “the fishing was good – the catching was poor”.

The first thing that Jim discovered is the radiator cap was failing. There was a marine store on the east side of Bamfield – Breakers Marine. They said they could bring one in from Port Alberni and it would be there the next morning.

The next morning we put the skiff in the water – it is so nice to have a working skiff !!

And we went across to Bamfield East and picked up the radiator cap.

If you zoom in to the photo you can see Phoenix Hunter on the West Dock.

After getting the radiator cap we went for a long tour up Inner Bamfield Inlet and we also went around the corner and a long way up Grappler Inlet.

We motored past the Bamfield Marine station. Jim was a TA there in the 1970’s and has many fond memories.

After passing the Marine Station we headed up Grappler Inlet. Into Port Desire. Which has quite a number of homes and docks. Jim remembers there was nothing much in the area in when he was there in the 1970’s.

A few photos.

After our drive about we went out for dinner at Flora’s

https://www.florasbamfield.ca/eat

Dinner was wonderful. Highly recommend ! As usual I don’t seem to be great at remembering to take food photos. But I did get one of the appetizer we split.

The next night we went for dinner at The Wreckage Pub. Which is quite close to Mills Landing and the West Dock.

We both had very tasty fish tacos and a basket of fries to share.

Neither of these restaurants were open in 2023 when we were in Bamfield. So we decided to try them both. Enjoyed the both !

We spent 6 nights in The Broken group.

One of the anchorages we stayed at in 2023 and we really enjoyed was in a little group of island. It’s called Joes Cove on the chart. The biggest island is called Turtle Island. The Broken Group is part of the Pacific Rim National Park.

A popular spot for kayaking. Lots of groups are brought in by water taxi for a few days of camping and kayaking. There are designated camping spots for the kayakers in the park.

It looks like the beach has been groomed for the boat drop off and pick up here.

We had the skiff down for a bit of motoring around.

There are new regulations that require prawn pots to have “rot cord” We have yet to fish prawns since we left home. But we’ve decide to give it a try in here. We heard that the prawn fishing was very poor. But Jim saw some prawn pots when he was out trying to catch a Rock Fish or a Ling cod. He was unsuccessful in that endeavour. But came back and put the rot cord in the prawn pots.

The water is very green and murky. Not really sure why it is like that this year.

After putting out the prawn pots Jim decided to try fishing for some rock fish from the big boat. Not even a nibble.

We left the pots out overnight and went back to the Joes Cove anchorage and anchored up on the opposite side from the previous spot.

And that night was the Tsunami. That was a bit exciting. Well the excitement was trying to decide what to do – should we hang tight and hope we didn’t get swamped and pushed to shore. Or should we pull up anchor and head into deeper water. Andrew was giving us regular updates on the situation in Hawaii. There were 4 sailboats in the anchorage with us. We decided to let out a little more anchor rode. And Jim went to bed. I waited until after the 11:30 predicted arrival time in Tofino. And in the end it was a bit of a nothing burger. Which was a good thing !

The next morning it was very foggy in the anchorage.

We had to wait until around 11 am before we could motor off to pull the prawn pots.

We got 145 prawns. In 4 pots. That was exciting for Jim.

Jim put the pots back in the water for another overnight soak.

We motored up to the Pinkerton Islands for the night.

There is a lovely lodge in that area. The Broken Islands Lodge. Our first night in Joes Cove we had met a group of kayakers that said they were staying at the lodge.

https://www.brokenislandslodge.com

Once at the Pinkerton Islands Jim took the heads off the prawns. It was a beautiful sunny day. A lovely anchorage. I was thinking I should get out the paddle board and go for a paddle. And then the wind came up and that was the end of that thought ! We have not had a lot of paddle board weather. We’ve had a lot of wind though!

We had pasta with pesto and prawns for dinner. The prawns were a little small and some were a little soft. So they were a little disappointing.

The next morning it was again quite foggy and we had to wait for the fog to mostly clear before we could pick up the pots.

One pot had a huge amount of kelp wrapped around the line. It was a bit of a worry that it would get stuck on the pots as we were pulling them up. And after all the worry a little jerk on the line and it mostly fell off. And then I thought – I should have taken a photo ! Darn !

We got 225 prawns this time. We were going to go to Effington Island which is another popular spot but it was still in the fog so we motored back to Joes Cove

Jim put the prawns into contains to freeze them. We ended up freezing 5 pots of prawns.

And dinner was prawn salad on sourdough toast! which included a very lovely avocado from Ucluelet.

We were back to the side of the anchorage we started at. The other end had 7 sailboats and 2 motor boats. We are seeing a lot of the same boats along the way. Brother Wind and Arganauta came in after us. We had met them and went for a walk on shore in Nuchatlitz. Aquila Bay – we met them in The Bunsby Islands.

Lots of kayaking activity. This boat came and picked up 9 kayaks.

We had pretty full few days in Ucluelet. After a day at Long Beach we did a grocery a big grocery shop at the CoOp. Stocked up on fruit and vegetables and milk and bread. Did a few loads of laundry.

Lilly enjoys being at the dock.

Lots of walking around Ucluelet.

And then we discovered we were there for Ukee days weekend. Friday night was a BBQ dinner in the village green down by the Aquarium. $12.00 for Salmon or a burger. And a great assortment of salads and desert.

We arrived early and got in line. Which was a good thing! There was a long line.

Jim and I both had the BBQ salmon. No photos of dinner we were too busy eating and enjoying ourselves !

The next morning we were leaving to go to the Broken Island Group. But I was able to go to the parade while Jim was busy doing boat stuff ! it was just up the street from the marina and I could hear it coming down the street.

I took a lot of video ! The parade was great fun. I felt like a kid again. I got candy. And a hat !

Jim had finished filling up the water tanks and we were ready to cast off the lines by the time the parade was over.

We spent 4 nights in Ucluelet.

A bit of a back story – My sister Sandra and her husband Shane planned a trip from their home in Calgary area to the Kingfisher Resort in the Courtney area in July. We were away in the boat and they went through Vancouver area and stayed one night in our condo in North Vancouver along the way.

When they were travelling Sandra suggested once they were on Vancouver Island they could ride their motorcycles and meet us one day. We laughed. We said that we would not be anywhere accessible from the east side of Vancouver Island.

Our first day in Ucluelet – Sandra sends me a text and says –

She said Google maps said it was 2.5 hours from Kingfisher to Ucluelet. They were looking for a place to ride for the day – and here we were ! Ucluelet. I said — it’s a bit of a windy road. And she said — that’s why we ride motorcycles!

So our first full day in Ucluelet was a lovely visit with my sister Sandra and brother in law Shane.

The second day we took a B.C. transit bus that travels back and forth from Ucluelet to Tofino with a number of stops along the way. Senior rate – $2.00. What a deal !

We got out at the Long Beach stop in the Pacific Rim National Park. For many years we used to come to the Tofino area for Spring Break vacations with the kids. As well as a few November storm watching vacations. And we walked all these beaches – for hours and hours back in the day. The last time we were on this beach was 2007. We brought Jenny the first year we got her.

Jim and I walked the portion of Long Beach to Green Point and back. A total of 10 KMS.

It was an overcast and grey day. But it didn’t rain. We have had years we walked these beaches for hours in our wet gear !

When we used to come during Spring Break there would be very few people on the beaches.

Even with the cool weather there were a lot of people swimming and surfing.

It was a great day ! A wonderful walk. Lots of memories. We have walked many, many hours on all the beaches in Pacific Rim National Park. But it has been over 18 years since we were in these beaches. Good to be back.

We left Santa Gertrudis to travel south around Estevan Point at the crack of dawn. As Estevan Point in another headland that can get windy and rolly. And – Lilly ….. we did give her a Gabapentin in the morning. The weather forecast was getting better with the wind and the seas decreasing. Although it was pretty rolly with seas around 1.5 meters. Lilly did barf anyway even with the Gabapentin in the morning.

It was a fairly long trip to the anchorage we planned to stay at – Bottleneck Cove. We stayed there in 2023 and thought it was a lovely little spot.

Bottleneck Cove was full of herring. Jim thought he might try to catch a few but by the time he got organized and put down his special herring lure they had moved off.

I don’t know what we would have done with herring had he caught some. But they were pretty cool to watch.

The next day we went from Bottleneck Cove to White Pine Cove.

We were in a stretch of good weather with the wind decreasing daily but the forecast was for an increase in wind a few days out. We did not want to go into Tofino. Our next planned stop was Ucluelet. We were thinking of going to a few places around Meares Island but decided we would take advantage of the good weather. Seas around one meter on 7 seconds.

When we were in Winter Harbour – the couple we met on the SV Dark Star – Melissa was a vet. And she suggested giving Lilly Gabapentin the night before and then again in the morning before going out on one of these long rolly trips. So we decide to try that this time. Lilly was definitely pretty chill the whole trip !

We left White Pine Cove at 5:45 am and headed south.

The waves and swell and surf between Tofino and Ucluelet were pretty consistent at one to 1.5 meters. It’s a good 3-4 hours of open ocean.

We had a moment of excitement/ terror. Just around Radar Hill we caught a crab pot on one of the paravanes – the crab pot line wrapped around the paravane chain ! And there we are motoring along at 7 knots dragging commercial crab gear. Jim puts the boat in neutral and we are looking at this situation on the port side and the boat is being tossed around in the swell. We are rocking pretty hard ! Luckily Lilly is pretty drugged!

Jim’s plan is to go to the port side deck with the pike pole and a knife and try to catch the line and then cut the crab pot line free. My plan is to just freak out ! Sorry. No photos. I’m too busy panicking! The boat is rocking. I’m trying to think what I would do if Jim gets tossed into the ocean.

As we are both getting ready. Jim looks out and the crab pot floats are floating away from the boat. The drag of the pots maybe on the chain? The paravane is still there – it didn’t get pulled off – that was another bit of a panic. But it seems we survived that ordeal. Thank goodness!

Back on track to Ucluelet. Once we get close to Ucluelet and turn into Ucluelet Inlet we stop in a little bay – Stewart Bay and dropped the anchor and pulled up the poles and the paravanes. we arrived about noon.

We called into the Ucluelet Harbour and Kevin had a spot at the dock for us. Kevin is great. Best Harbour Master on the west coast ! We had to wait until after 1 pm for the boat to leave the spot. So we ended up just waiting in Steward Bay. A big group of kayaker came very close to the boat. Some going right under the anchor chain!

And then some other boat motored in went about 10 feet behind the swim step – took a big deliberate circle around our boat and motored out. It was very odd.

Once we got to the dock we wandered off to look for the taco truck – Flaca’s.

The daughter of a very good friend of Jim’s owns this little taco truck in Ucluelet. Her name is Robyn Lord.

Great tacos! We each had a fish taco and a pulled pork taco. And bought some of her very tasty hot sauce.

We spent 4 nights in Ucluelet. More to come.

We took the skiff to Friendly Cove to spend some time at Yuquot.

When we went to Yuquot in 2023 we toured the church but did not tour the coast guard station or the lighthouse.

This year the church is not open. The Whalers Shrine has been returned to to community and it is presently being stored in the church. So the church is closed to the public.

https://www.timescolonist.com/islander/whalers-washing-house-set-to-return-to-its-home-on-nootka-island-after-120-years-10398924

We had a great tour of the lighthouse instead.

We walked around to the beach. And then to the lake as well

There is an island in the lake that is where the Whalers shrine was located. The Whalers shrine is very spiritual and has historical value for the community. The community has not yet decided what they want to do with the shrine. I include a news article about the shrine being returned to the community.

https://www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=17981

After visiting the lake we went over to see Sanford Williams the carver that lives in Yuquot. Jim had a good visit with him.

Jim had found a large log in Santa Gertrudis Bay that he thought Sanford would be interested in seeing. Sanford came to the bay with Jim. But unfortunately the very large log turned out to be fir rather than cedar.

Jim also got an opportunity to talk to someone who had a Bentwood box camera that Sanford made for him.

It is beautiful!

We had a great day in Yuquot. And it is so nice to have a skiff to take us there !

We left Zeballos! Finally! It was still quite windy but we decided it was time. We were there for 5 nights. We were lucky to get a spot at the dock.

It was getting really hot and muggy there. We went out for another walk.

We walked along a trail on the other side of the flood plain. It started to get quite steep up the hill and required a bit of bush whacking so we turned around. And it was getting hot!

We really enjoyed Zeballos. Suk posted some interesting history in the comments of the last post. The town is really well cared for by the residents who are still there.

Travelling on the east side of Nootka Island we went by Esperanza. There is a small Christian camp there. And a fuel dock for the fishing boats.

We spent two nights in Santa Gertrudis Bay.

The wind started to pick up the last few miles and we were into 25 knots just before getting to Santa Gertrudis.

Just after we dropped the anchor a couple of sailboats came in and anchored up.

It is a lovely little bay. We were here two years ago. With the winds it was a bit more rolly than we remembered.

The next day we put the skiff in the water and spent the day in Friendly Cove at Yuquout. That will be the next post.

We arrived in Zeballos last Saturday. Today is Wednesday.

When we arrived we tied up to the village municipal dock when was empty except for a derelict boat on the inside of the dock. The dock was recommended as being easy access and always empty.

It’s probably always empty because there is no power and no water and a big sign saying that the depth is 0.3 feet at low water.

We stayed at the dock long enough to look around a bit. We motored over to the fuel dock and got a bit of fuel and filled the water tanks. Just in case we couldn’t stay at the government dock which looked to be full of small sports fishing boats.

After finishing up at the fuel dock we walked over to the government dock and discovered a perfect spot for Phoenix Hunter that had just come open.

It was a bit of a tricky spot to dock requiring Jim to back into the spot. But he nailed it. I thought !

We have been enjoying our time in Zeballos. It’s a lovely little village. Everyone is friendly and happy to have a stop and a chat. We have been out for a number of walks along the trails around the village.

We have been out for dinner twice now. There is a small diner/ pub in the village at the Zeballos Inn Motel . It has a very limited menu. But the food is really delicious! The first night Jim and I each had an Inn Burger.

The fries were wonderful and crispy and hot ! The burger was cooked perfectly and juicy. Fresh tomato, onion and lettuce. And only $17!

We enjoyed the meal so much we went back for another meal a couple nights later. I had the chicken burger – always a bit of a risk that the chicken is dry and tough. But it was not! It was moist and also had fresh tomato and lettuce and onions. The onions really added to the burgers!

We are still in Zeballos because there is a Gale warning. The winds have been blowing 25-35 knots for 3 days. And the most important- the seas – 2-3 meters – or almost 4 meters at times.

Since we have power, and water. And we are far away from the winds we decided to stay a little longer than originally planned. We are thinking we might leave early tomorrow morning. Although the winds are still high we have a spot we think will be okay for a few days to be at anchor.

It has been quite windy in the afternoons here in Zeballos as well. There were a couple of sailboats at the dock that arrived the same day we arrived. But sailboaters like that wild wind and waves and don’t have a cat that barfs!

At least it’s been warm and sunny. And we got milk. We’ve done all the laundry we had.

We have another trail to explore. Hopefully we get to head off early tomorrow morning.