Author: zoebird2005

We stayed two nights at the dock in Tofino. Sharon caught the shuttle to the airport on Sunday afternoon. I did a load of laundry and lost my brand new purple hoodie ! I washed the laundry in the dock machine because of the water shortage we weren’t sure if we could get water. In the end – and the assistance of some crab fishermen- we were able to fill the water tanks.

We had to leave the dock quite late in the day because the low tide in the morning left about 6 feet of water under the boat.

We left around noon and motored up to White Pine Bay for the night. it was a pretty spot. A fairly large and open anchorage. We put the poles out and got ready to put the paravanes in the water for travelling through the ocean swell past Chesterman’s beach and the Pacific Rim National Park

It is as definitely good we had the paravanes in the water. It wasn’t too windy but the swell was mostly on our beam the whole trip.

Unfortunately though that means we have to stop somewhere close to the dock in Ucluelet and pull them up before we can go to the dock.

The Harbour Master in Ucluelet was wonderful and helpful and just a great guy! Not a lot of dock space there. But he fit us in and help us dock. And once again Jim just stuck it ! But leaving the dock was a bit more of an adventure and required a lot of assistance from the Harbour Master to avoid the big rudder on the catamaran- all hands on deck ! Kevin was great !

A shed in front !

We spent two nights in Ucluelet. It was a much better maintained dock. And less expensive. We always would spend time in Ucluelet during our spring break vacations. There was the Ucluelet “Chowder Chow-down” competition – and there were a number of good little shops.

Jim got himself a couple of new “Ray Troll” T-shirts. They are his favourite T-shirts and are hard to find. Victoria has a shop that sell them. And Ketchikan Alaska. And Ucluelet.

We went out to dinner but it could not compete with the amazing meal we had a SoBo ! It was a bit of a disappointment and the cost was comparable.

Next stop is The Broken Group.

Next stop was Tofino for a couple of nights at the dock. Sharon had a flight booked to Vancouver and then back to Cranbrook. Her time with us is coming to and end. Probably because we are almost out of raspberry jam!

We got a spot at the Tofino Harbour Authority dock. It is was pretty tight and a tricky docking but Jim just stuck it ! Yay Jim.

It was fun to wander around Tofino again. We used to come here 2-3 times a year from 1996-2007. We used to stay in one house on Chesterman’s Beach every spring break and then other houses at various different times of the year.

In some ways Tofino has changed a lot. And in other ways it has stayed the same !

We took a free shuttle service to Chesterman’s beach and walked from the house we used to stay at on South Chesterman’s- to the north end of Chesterman’s.

We have an original watercolour of this log we bought in Tofino about 2004.

This is where we stayed for many years at Spring Break. But it has been through a major renovation. The family we rented it from sold it in 2005. We stayed there for nine Spring break vacations plus other wonderful Tofino holidays during the years.

We had a wonderful dinner out at SoBo restaurant. When we first came to Tofino SoBo was a food truck in the parking lot of the surf shop that was across the highway from Chesterman’s Beach Road – Lynn Road. And then the food truck moved to the Botanical Garden site. And now it’s a brick and mortar restaurant. The food was amazing then and is amazing now. We had a visit with Lisa – the chef. She says she’s celebrating her 20 year anniversary of being in Tofino. Sharon bought the new cookbook as well.

After Friendly Cove we had plans to spend the night in Hot Spring Cove and walk the boardwalk to the hot springs. That did not work out as planned.

Phoenix Hunter was too large to tie up at the dock – maximum length was 40 feet.

We anchored up for a while but it was blowing 15-18 knots. It was full of fast boats coming and going – and float planes ! The dock was full of tour boats. We estimated there were 50-60 people in the hot springs. We didn’t take the skiff down because it was too windy.

We decided to wait for the tour boats to leave and go to the dock for a bit and then walk to the hot springs. We went to the dock at 4:30. And we were informed that the hot springs were only open from 11-5 everyday. That wasn’t listed anywhere! So in the end we left and went to a lovely quiet and calm little spot called Bottleneck Cove.

Sharon was particularly fond of my friend Suk’s raspberry jam and has eaten most of it ! I told her I’d better take a photo of it before it was all gone !

There is a lot of history in Friendly Cove ! This is where Captain Cook first landed in Canada and came ashore.

Yuquot (Friendly Cove) — Centre of the World

This is a really interesting article to read to get the history.

We took Phoenix Hunter to anchor up in Friendly Cove and dropped the anchor and then took the skiff to the dock.

We were met at the top of the dock by a member of the community. There is a $20 landing fee – $10 for elders. Well we are elders now ! That sounds so much nicer than seniors.

We had a lovely walk around the village.

We walked along a lovely pebbly beach

We visited with Sanford Williams the Master Carver in his shop. His work is beautiful. And he is very well know and highly respected.

We left Jim chatting with Sanford Williams while we walked to the lake. It was only about a 10 minute walk from the carving shed.

https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/the-race-to-preserve-a-b-c-first-nations-history-and-the-village-where-one-couple-remains/wcm/6495fcdb-4cba-4434-8556-e4ef8bdd52aa/amp/

This is another good article to read. I was unable to create an imbedded link but just click on the text and you will get to the National Post story

I’m very glad we stopped and spent the day here. It was fascinating. It was a beautiful place and a beautiful sunny day. I learned some history I didn’t know before. After our day we went back and spent another night at Santa Gertrudis Bay.

After leaving Nutchatlitz we travelled the east side of Nootka Island. Hecate Channel – It was a lovely calm and narrow channel with a few little new and old communities along the way.

http://www.esperanzaministries.com/history

We were very close to Tahsis BC which was just up the end of Tahsis Inlet. We did not go in to Tahsis as we were planning to go to Tofino in a few days to take Sharon to the airport.

We anchored up in Santa Gertrudis Bay. It was a lovely little bay just around the corner from Friendly Bay. Just south of Nootka on the map.

There was a lot of sports fishing going on all around us. We managed to catch up with Steve again who came down with another friend of Jim’s and they were catching salmon. Nootka Island is a very popular sports fishing spot. The fishing was better in Winter Harbour according to Steve.

We spent two nights in Santa Gertrudis Bay so we could visit the small community of Yuquot in Friendly Cove.

We put out the hummingbird feeder I bought in Port McNeill after the hummingbirds came calling !

Nutchatlitz is another Provincial Marine Park.

https://bcparks.ca/nuchatlitz-park/

We stayed two night at a lovely anchorage with cabins and cottages on the shore. We met up with some Kadey Krogen friends – Lynn and Neal and their two Maine Coon cats. Lynn and Neal have a 48 foot Kadey Krogen and Jim has boat envy. It is a beautiful boat ! We went over for an afternoon tea visit. They had a cantaloupe!

Sharon and I went for a walk on shore. We were able to walk all the way around a small island. There are a number of homes and cabins. I didn’t take my phone so I didn’t get any photos. Jim dropped us off on shore with the skiff – which is still sputtering along. Good thing we bought the paddles in Port Hardy!

Jim wanted to put down some prawn pots just outside the anchorage. So we did. We put them out in the early morning and then pulled as we were leaving the next day. We had a small bet going as to how many prawns we would get – I said six. Sharon said 20 and Jim said 50.

All we got was a couple of hagfish. According to Jim they are the most disgusting fish in the world and they creep him out. They produce a sticky slime that is gross. So for a biologist to hate a fish you know it’s pretty bad!

Jim really wanted to see Rugged Point Provincial Park. We were able anchor up in a small bay on the north side of the park. We took the skiff to shore and walked to the beach on a very nicely maintained trail about .5 km long.

It was a lovely sandy beach. There are 3 beaches separated by big out crops. We were only able to walk on one beach.

Jim went back to where we left the skiff as it was a rising tide and there was a lot of surf action. Sharon and I walked on a bit longer. We saw some prints in the sand that looks like they were from a wolf

The skiff ran well to the shore. But after when Jim had to retrieve it the surf was coming over the stern it started having problems again. It’s working, but struggling.

We didn’t spend the night at Rugged Point. There was a bit of a swell coming in.

We motored off to a lovely little spot called Dixie Cove.

Saturday morning we headed out early to conquer the challenge rounding the Brooks Peninsula. The Brooks Peninsula sticks way out from the coastline like a square thumb.

It is 11 miles along the north side to get to the end and around Cape Cook. And the weather can be pretty nasty if the wind is blowing.

Lilly had such good travel day the day before. She was medicated and slept the whole trip. I decided to give her the Gabapentin again and put her in the crate. She was obviously anxious! She barfed before we even pulled the anchor !

The wind was minimal and the seas were 1.2 meters on 18 seconds ! It was fabulous. Overcast but no fog. Couldn’t ask for more !

We spotted a number of Tufted Puffins and a few Humpback whales, as well as lots of Sea Otters along the way.

We ended up at an anchorage in the Burnaby Island called Little Hollywood. A bit of a nail biter to enter but lovely and quiet. The main anchorage had 4 sailboats!

We have yet to figure out why it is called Little Hollywood. This is the name given in the Dream Speaker book. No explanation was given.

We left Winter Harbour very early Friday morning – July 7th. The wind had come down and the waves were around 1.8 meters on 8 seconds. So still a bit bumpy. But less windy.

It was a good trip to Klaskish was a bit foggy and the autopilot was acting up but we medicated Lilly and she was quiet and slept all day !

It was nice to finally leave Winter Harbour. The wind has been blowing 25-30 for about 5 days with the seas 2 -3 meters. Friday was a good day to travel and we had the poles and paravanes down which helped a lot with the swell that was left over.

We’ve been hanging out in Winter Harbour for a few days. We picked up my sister Sharon and Jim’s friend Steve in Coal Harbour and spent one night on the dock there and then towed Steve’s boat back to Winter Harbour

We are still here in Winter Harbour because it is too windy to leave yet. We have been keeping busy ! Walking and playing crib and a daily shopping adventure at The Out Post !