Author: zoebird2005

A nice calm spot. Last time we were here in 2021 we got a bunch of prawns. This year the Prawn commercial fishery is still on so we didn’t put out the pots.

Next stop was Shearwater where we went and tied up at the dock to pick up Sharon from the Bella Bella airport. We haven’t tied up to the dock here since 2015. Usually we just anchor out and dinghy to shore. But we are having a bit of a stalling issue again with the skiff. Not a big one. But one that needs more investigation. Plus we figured it would be easier to get Sharon and luggage on the boat from the dock rather than a skiff.

I took the water taxi over to Bella Bella and the plane landed and we took the water taxi back – lickity split !

We went to the pub for dinner on Friday nights and watched the Edmonton and Florida hockey game. Edmonton won.

It is very quiet in Pruth Bay this year when we motored in to the anchorage. Only two other boat. Some years there could be over 20 boats in there. Although it think the salmon fishing is not quite happening yet.

We didn’t see any university students working around the labs there either. Just a small skeleton maintenance staff.

As soon as we dropped the anchor and dropped the skiff we went to Hakai dingy dock and headed straight to the beach.

Walking on the beach we ran into Bob and Lois from the SV Passages. They used to own the Desolation Sound Charters back in 2012 when we first ventured into boating and charted the Gulf Mariner and poked our way into Desolation Sounds. We had a great catch up ! We also had a nice visit with them back in 2015 in the Bay of Plenty.

We have been following the Race to Alaska – R2AK – again this year. A number of the boats have been travelling in and around where we have been travelling. We saw the winning Trimaran – Team Malolo – just south of Calvert Island as we were heading to Fury Cove.

On our way to Pruth Bay we saw another boat. I took a couple of photos. I’m pretty sure it was Team Roscoe Pickle Train.

They have now arrived in Ketchican Alaska.

From Minstrel Island we made our way to Port McNeill for the usual stop at North Island Marina. I really like North Island Marina. The docks are good and the staff is friendly and helpful.

There is an IGA close for stocking up stuff that you realize you forgot.

We do a couple loads of laundry. Go out for dinner. The usual.

The weather for making a jump north past Cape Caution was quite favourable for us. We left Port McNeill and spent a night in Clam Cove which is on the top of Negei Island.

We left Clam Cove at 4:56 AM. The West Sea Otter weather bouy is out of service so we did not have a clear idea of the wind or wave height. Something that Environment Canada needs to get fixed !

It can get really rolling with the swell and the wind so it’s best to give Lilly the drugs and let her sleep the whole way. Which she basically stuck her head in the corner and didn’t move for 6 hours.

As it turns out it was barely any wind. Less than 4 knots most of the time and seas less than 0.5 metres just a slight swell. No chop at all.

We went to Fury Cove and dropped the anchor. We’ve not been for Fury Cove for many years as it was restricted in 2021 due to Covid.

As we move north and west we like to stop at the places we love and the places we know.

Shoal Bay is always our first stop after going through “ The Dents”. The dock, the view, the garden, Mark and Cynthia. I got some mint and rhubarb this year from the garden.

I got this lovely little bouquet of flowers from Cynthia and Lilly has been trying to chew it for three days ! She has chewed off most of the bottom leaves. Does anyone want a cat ?

Two nights at Shoal Bay because there was a Gale warning.

Next stop Minstrel Island.

The weather was still pretty windy and we were bouncing around on the dock so we only stayed one night.

We saw a dog that looked just like Khyber !

Not quite as lovely as Shoal Bay ! But it’s free !

We are now at Monday Anchorage in the Broughton Archipelago. It’s cold and rainy. We have the Webasto running and it’s nice and toasty warm. I threw out the chewed up flowers.

She’s pretty pleased with herself !

Tomorrow we are going to Port McNeill.

We are here – spending two nights in Prideaux Haven. Today was a bit of a relaxing day after two full days of travel.

Yesterday was a 7 hour trip from Bargain Bay. About an hour into the trip Jim noticed the instrument panel was off and the Alternator had stopped working. Oh no ! Now what.

With some posts on Trawler forum and some quick texts to a very knowledgeable fellow boater – a series of diagnostic tests were performed. After an hour and a half of problem solving it was determined that it was not the alternator- fortunately – but the power to the ignition had failed. And on looking at the breaker panel – It was noted that the breaker to the ignition switch – had accidentally been switched off. Flicked the switch and everything worked ! Jim was pleased and a little embarrassed but with the many comments Trawler Forum- seems an accidental switched off breaker is a regular occurrence!

We are thrilled to have a beautiful sunny couple of days in Prideaux Haven !

So – although it was a relaxing day for the most part. There is still a slight issue with the voltage regulator on the skiff. This required a bit of an investigation before we could go out on it.

Not so easy on a bad hip!

The voltage regulator problem has not been solved. But…. Time for a glass of wine !

Our plan is to head through The Dents tomorrow.

We left our home dock in Steveston at 3 pm today. It was a very eventful busy lead up to this years boating season.

First – Jim is waiting for a hip replacement so everything is harder to do this year.

Second – A lot was done ! Phoenix Hunter was up on the hard for a month. And Jim worked almost every day on different projects starting in early March. And finished one of the last ones today at 2:30 pm. After driving to Point Roberts to pick up a needed special order seal that was put on an overnight UPS delivery from Virginia !

But the weather was rain and wind up until this morning anyway. So here we are – on our way to Bargain Bay – set to arrive around 9 pm tonight.

It was a very tiny bit bumpy going out the river. And Lilly responded with her usual enthusiasm!

Cabbage Island.

One of Jim’s favourite spots in the Gulf Island. Cabbage Island is part of the Gulf Island National Park Reserve.

There are 10 mooring balls and five camping spots on shore for tents.

The weather was beautiful and the winds were calm. We only stayed one night but we took the skiff to shore and went for a couple of walks around Cabbage Island. There is another island there called Tumbo Island that has a longer walk we have also done in years past.

We left Cabbage Island around 1 pm to catch the ride going up the Fraser River. Instead of our usual beating against the tide going down the Fraser River ! We got back to home dock around 4:15 pm. We were just zooming along over 8-9 knots most of the way. The Strait of Georgia was flat calm – which is a bonus ! I can’t tell you how many times we’ve been out there in 25 knots and rolling and sloshing along !

We left the Port Renfrew area around 5:45 AM. We needed enough light to avoid all the crab pots ! We had the poles and paravanes still out and in the water for the swell we knew we would be dealing with. We were not expecting much of a wind. The forecast was for light winds in the morning and coming up to 10-20 later in the day.

We planned to go as fare as Becher Bay – which was 42 miles and just past Sooke.

Around 8:30 AM we had some Dolls porpoises decide to swim along with the boat ! That is always exciting

As you can see the swell had gone down and it was pretty flat calm. We decided to pull in the poles and paravanes. We figured we’d be in Becher Bay by 11:30. The wind at Race Rocks was 7 knots. And we thought if we could get a spot at the dock in Victoria maybe we should just carry on. We’d be in Victoria around 1 pm. it was a total of 55 miles.

We called the Victoria harbour authority and got a spot at the dock and just carried on to Victoria. Which was – in the end – very smart because the wind came up that evening and then it was blowing 32-28 knots at Race Rocks for the next 3 days!

We went to the Legislature Building and watched our nephew Carter perform a short interactive play about the architecture of the building. It was so much fun to see him perform.

We had a lovely dinner out with Carter. We walked the streets of Victoria for 3 days. It was lovely and warm and sunny! Did some sight seeing. And some shopping. Got some Rogers chocolate!

We were able to leave early Sunday morning and luckily the wind had come down and we started to head home. Next stop Bedwell Harbour on Pender Island.

When we got to Bamfield we thought we would anchor up in the end of the harbour. But it was quite crowded with sailboats and we didn’t feel it was a good spot. There is a small narrow entryway to a second little bay. We decided to go look at what was further inside. We ended up anchoring in the inner area – surrounded by crab pots – but only a couple of other boats. It was a good enough spot. But because we were expecting to be in Bamfield for 3 nights and the wind was supposed to come up – I sent an email to the Bamfield West Government dock to see if they could accommodate us for a couple of nights. We were please to find they could.

The next day we managed to pull the anchor and get to the dock between the downpours!

Although it rained heavy – at times ! Later in the afternoon the sun came out and we were able to go for a lovely walk on shore.

We spent two nights at the dock and had a number of nice walks along the Bamfield West Boardwalk.

We really enjoyed walking around Bamfield.

The second day we decided to walk to a beach called Brady’s Beach.

It was a difficult walk for Jim and his bad hip and me and my gimpy ankle joint ! But we persevered! Jim said in 1978 it was just a narrow trail to the beach.

Most of the people on the west side of Bamfield have small golf cart type vehicles to drive as there is no road access to the west side – only the east side. There are water taxi’s going back and forth regularly. We did not go to the east side.

It was a long day. We ordered a pizza from a local place – but we won’t go into that.

We left Bamfield at 5 am to travel the 42 miles to Port Renfrew during the calmest time of the day. Before the afternoon winds come out. We motored out into the middle of the harbour and put out the poles and the paravanes before traveling out into the west coast swell and surf !

It was as a pretty good travel day. The wind was mostly light. But there was a good metre of swell at times and it was nice to have the paravanes out.

Once we got close to Port Renfrew Jim was able to motor past a fishing boat that used to work for him years ago – the Belina. We took a bunch of photos of the boat fishing with the big camera – not yet downloaded.

We did not stay at the end of Port San Juan where the government dock is located in Port Renfrew. It was as windy and lots of wave action. There is a small little shallow bay with a beach about 1/3 the way in on the north side that is the preferred spot to anchor. Still lots of swells but a much better and less windy.

The beach was loaded up with tents and hikers finishing up their walk along the west coast trail. We figured there were 40 -50 hikers. We counts over 30 tents. We arrived at the anchorage around noon and watched them arrive over the afternoon and early evening. We figured the water taxi would pick them up in the morning and drop a new batch off. The West Coast Trail goes from here to Bamfield.

After Ucluelet we spent 3 days in the Broken Island Group. We anchored up in the Dodd Island Anchorage. It’s a big anchorage with lots of room for a number of boats. There is also a camping site there for Kayakers.

We had a bit of a mixed bag of weather. It was lovely and sunny the day we arrived.

The next day we were planning to go to another anchorage but it was drizzly and foggy. So we decided to just hang out and relax.

We had a hummingbird come looking for a feeder so we made up a fresh batch of hummingbird juice and put out the feeder.

And then we were swarmed ! It was like a a buzzing hive of hummingbirds around the feeder ! In 24 hours they consumed 2 full cups of juice. There were 6-7 there at any given time. At times there was two on one spout.

I felt bad leaving them the next morning!

We decided we were going to do a tour of the Broken Island Group and chose another spot to anchor for the night. This area is part of the Pacific Rim National Park and a very popular kayaking spot. There are a number of campgrounds for kayakers. You can only get here by boat. And only camp in designated campgrounds. We saw a lot of kayakers as we motored about.

As we were traveling around we heard a gale warning announced on the VHF radio for the area for the next day. So we decided to head straight across Imperial Eagle Channel and into Bamfield for the night instead of being stuck in The Broken Island group on anchor in 30 knot winds. Which was a smart move in the end.