Saturday, June 29 Viner Sound

Joan’s birthday.  Yea, today is the real birthday.  What is nice is that my birthday has lasted for about a week.  We took the dinghy to explore and look for the shy bears.  No luck.

Friday, June 28 Shawl Bay Marina to Viner Sound 1½ hours 11.5 miles

Our 27th wedding anniversary.  We are on a mooring buoy (one of four) and alone in the anchorage.  This is our favorite spot in the Broughton's.  It is another place that is like Yosemite Valley full of water.  We are looking up at a magnificent granite wall.  We have seen black bears here in the past so we are on the look-out.

Thursday, June 27 Shawl Bay Marina

Just a day to hang out after our wonderful pancake breakfast provided by Lorne and his helpers.  It was raining all day.  Fred keeps wishing me a happy birthday.  He remembers that my birthday is within one day of our anniversary, however, this is the wrong side.  Happy Hour was a small group tonight but the highlight was the birthday cake that was presented.  It was such a surprise and so nice I didn't have the heart to say this was not my birthday.

Wednesday, June 26 Let Her Rip Cove to Shawl Bay Marina 2 hours 16 miles

We were glad to get out of this exposed anchorage.  We like Shawl Bay but it is rough around the edges.  The German Shepherd, Shiloh, was not on the dock to  meet us.  Lorne said she had to be put down during the winter.  There is a couple with four children living in one of the houses on the dock.  They are here to help since Rob, Lorne's son, is no longer here.  He is married now with a second child and doing well.  There are five boats here so we had a nice Happy Hour on the dock in their dining raft which is covered and protected.  The “Bead Lady” has moved her craft store and gallery over to her house which is on the other side of the cove.

Tuesday, June 25 Let Her Rip Cove, Eden Island

The wind is up to 23 kts and the rocks look awfully close here at low tide.  We are in 12 ft of water but want to move the boat into the center of the cove.  Otava left this morning but we will hang here another day.  Fred is still keeping a close eye on the T/P valve issue.  We moved and anchored in the middle of this small cove.  We feel much safer now even though there is still a lot of noise of the water hitting the hull.

Monday, June 24 Port McNeill to Let Her Rip Cove 21 miles 2 hours

We had a short ride through Queen Charlotte Strait to Eden Island.  We are trying a cove suggested by Tom & Diane Kuhn, Let Her Rip Cove.  We passed them in the Strait and anchored in what we though was a good place.   Otava came in an hour later.  They invited us over for cocktails but the rain was coming down so hard we could hardly see across the channel.  Neither one of put our dinghies in the water.  We were able to sit in the cockpit and read and watch the show.  Our weather station showed that 0.6 inches of rain came down in about 30 minutes.  We are sure glad we are on a boat.  Fred went down to the pantry to get something out of the freezer and lo and behold he had wet feet!!  The @#$% carpets were wet again.  So, he moved everything from the pantry back to the engine room, pulled the carpets up (again) and put them on the bow to dry.  A few minutes later he went to check the carpets and found that the wind had blown one of them  overboard.  Looking down the port side of the boat he saw it merrily floating away.  So, with much haste, he galloped to the stern, grabbed the boat hook, jumped out on the swim platform and rescued the floating carpet.  Of course then he had to rinse it with fresh water to get rid of the salt.  Presently it is drying, again, in the cockpit.  Now, back to the water story.  He found the bloody T/P valve was leaking at the  hot water heater.  So he got another 360o turn on it and now we wait and see…

Saturday, June 22 Port McNeill

Fred has been working on a water leak from the hot water heater.  He replaced what he thought was a defective temp/pressure valve on the hot water heater.  This caused a cascade of terrible events.  Several hours after replacing the T/P valve, and filling the water tank (100 gallons) he went to get a drink of water and all that came out of the faucet was a air.  With a horrible foreboding he checked the water tank gage and found it to indicate that the water tank was empty. Oh @##$$% !  Where did the 100 gallons of water go??  Upon checking the engine room he found the T/P valve had unexpectedly opened up and we had pumped a 100 gallons of water into the hot water heater → out the T/P valve → all over the carpets in the pantry → into his completely dry bilge and overboard.  #$%^ !  He was just a little disturbed…  After moving all the stuff from the pantry floor to the engine room, removing the soaking wet rugs, he pounded on the T/P valve to seat it.  Then we filled the tanks, replaced the carpets and thought all was well.

Friday, June 21 Port Harvey to Port McNeill 36.5 miles 3 ½ hours

Johnstone Strait is as smooth as glass today.  We saw quite a few dolphins but none wanted to play in our wake.  We had reservations at the Port McNeill Marina and Fuel Dock.  This marina offers more services than any other we have been to, and they are included at the same price the Port McNeill Boat Harbour.  When I spoke to Steve Jackman (Manager of family run marina)  I told him we needed fuel too so he put us on “C” Dock.  This is new, the diesel line reach to the docked boat.  Too cool.  We don’t have to dock twice.  Fuel was scary as usual.  We took 482 gallons @ $5.00/gallon.  This fuel is the most reasonable in the entire area.  We had an appointment at the Medical clinic for 3:40 PM.  My knee is still giving me trouble.  We called a taxi and waited by the IGA Market to get a lift to the clinic.  We waited…and waited.  At about 3:30 a lovely older woman asked us if we were OK and did we need a ride somewhere?  Bless her heart.  She gave us a ride up to the clinic. She is apparently a retired nurse who is married to the fellow who owns the marine hardware store across from the market.  By the time we were ready to leave the clinic I received a call from the taxi lady and she came to give us a ride back.  There was another fellow leaving the clinic for the marina so we all jumped in for the ride.  We split the $9 fee.  When we got back to the marina we found out that the Fuel Dock has two courtesy cars available.  We could even borrow them to go for a ride.  We will have to remember this for the future.  We saw that all five boats on C Dock were from Washington and four were from Anacortes.  We had a visit with the folks we saw in Nanaimo and with Tom & Dianne Kukn on Octava (37’ Pacific Trawler).  She is the Commodore of the Fidalgo Yacht Club in Anacortes and suggested we join.  Sounds interesting.  We will think about it.  This club caters to cruisers which interests us.

Thursday, June 20 Port Harvey Marina

At 8 am George brought us some fresh out of the oven cinnamon buns   They are huge and delicious.  The weather is rainy and windy so we are staying put for one more day before we head back our into Johnstone Strait. Fred really enjoys his quiet time with his cigars…out on the deck!  Gail came by and asked us up for coffee and brownies at their house after dinner.  Their home is back up the lawn behind the trees with a perfect view of the marina.  We had a wonderful visit.  George’s background is in geo-physics and he spent many years in North Africa and the Middle East in the oil industry.  They loved Malta but not Pakistan or Cairo.  It was fascinating listening to their stories.

Wednesday, June 19 Blind Channel to Port Harvey Marina 41.5 miles 4 hours

Johnstone Strait can be very rough with the right (or wrong) wind and tide.  In Johnstone Strait the wind went up to 31 mph and we had 1-2’ chop.  Once we passed Port Neville the wind died down and so did the waves.  We entered Havannah Chanel and then Port Harvey.  There is quite a bit of industry along the channel.  Port Harvey Marina is all the way in.      http://www.portharvey.blogspot.ca/ Again we are alone on the dock.  This place is run by George and Gail Cambridge.  They are a very interesting couple and have lots of information about the goings on in the Broughton’s.  We were very sad to hear the Bill Barber, owner of Lagoon Cove Marina, died of cancer in April.  He will be sorely missed.  His bear stories are legend.  His wife Jeanne is still there and we will check it out in a week or so. We were sorry to hear that the restaurant is not open due to some government involvement licensing issues.   However, George made us an awesome veggie pizza and delivered it to the boat.

Monday, June 17 Octopus Islands to Blind Channel Resort 21.5 miles 2 ¼ hours

We exited these islands via Okisollo Upper and Lower Rapids.  Again, we were on time and there were just a few little whirlpools.  We are traveling in large channels today. Both Discovery Channel and Johnstone Strait.  We were out in the big channels for a relatively small time and then entered Mayne Channel.  Blind Channel Resort   http://www.blindchannel.com/ is located half way up the channel and is really lovely, especially on a crystal and clear sunny day like today.  We were the only boat on the dock for several hours.  Boaters have to get here via several different set of rapids. So the arrival is based upon slack tide.  First thing I did was take Merlin to the beach.  At high tide there is little beach but at low tide it is beautiful.  It is a rocky beach and I have found numerous pieces of beach glass here.  Of course Merlin is moving small rocks from here to there.  This resort is run by a German family, the Ricther’s.  They run a great German restaurant.  Of course we always have dinner here for one night.  Fred comes here just for the goulash.
The docks and buildings are decorated with dozens of mosaics done by Annemarie Richter, who died in 2003.  Unfortunately we never met her.  The mosaics are made up of shells, glass, pottery, buttons and all kinds of odds-and-ends found on the beach through the years.  We were entertained by a fierce electrical storm in the wee hours of the morning.  Merlin & I were not thrilled but Fred loved it.  The lighting lit the whole sky and the inside of the boat.  Merlin & I went back to bed but Fred made a hot cocoa and sat on the deck to watch.

Sunday, June 16 Octopus Islands

On our kayak ride around the islands we saw some raccoons, we think.  They were scavenging on the beach.  At home we only see them at night.  Very cute.

This morning a trawler that was also anchored here left.   A short while later a fellow rows up in his red dinghy and asks for help.  He is on a nice looking trawler named Tangent.  Apparently he is hard aground.  Since there was no one else to help we jumped in.  Fred does not like towing the dinghy so we had to put it up and them pull anchor.  We don’t have a samson post.   We had to rig a tow bridle from our stern cleats.  It took many tries to pull them off the rock.  When they came off the rock the stern came right down into the water and they took on water in the cockpit.  Because their line was wet when I attached it to our line Fred could not get the knot undone.  He released the line so that Tangent could take it in.  Hopefully we will see them down the road to reclaim our 25’ dock line.  They didn’t even say thank you.  I guess they were still embarrassed and in shock.  They just went on their merry way.

Saturday, June 15 Squirrel Cove to Octopus Islands 23 miles 2 ½ hours

Mild wind and rippled seas presented themselves to us today.  We were aiming for slack tide at “Hole in the Wall” narrows.  We entered the narrows almost on time and the water was like glass.  It is only a couple miles further to Octopus Islands Marine Park.  A huge anchorage, Waiatt Bay, is near us but it is boring.  We like being in the middle of the islands and watch the beached that emerge at low tide.
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/explore/parkpgs/octopus/

Friday, June 14 Squirrel Cove

Sure enough we turned around and there was Carlinda anchored near us.  They have made a lot of changes and invited us over to see how she looks now.  Carl made a built in sofa with storage underneath.  It looks very nice and is quite comfortable.  He also made teak cabinets at the helm and in the v-birth.  He removed the teak cap rail on the upper helm and replaced it with stainless steel.  Of course there was a lot of TLC she needed too.  That was one of the reasons we purchased a newer boat this time.  Carlinda was built in 1983.  However, seeing her again tugged at our hearts.

Thursday, June 13 Prudeaux Haven to Squirrel Cove 11.2 miles 1 ½ hours

On our very short trip today we heard the boat Carlinda on the radio.  She is our previous boat, Aquila.  Carl & Linda purchased it right after we bought Emerald Star.  Fred spoke to Carl on the radio and they may meet us in Squirrel Cove tomorrow.  Very smooth ride and anchored back by the “reversing rapids”.  Put the dinghy down and went over to the marina and store.  Unfortunately the gift shop is only open on week-ends now.  Fred is thrilled.  Merlin loves the beach.  He has this peculiar habit of going into the water to his knees, picking up a rock or shell and bringing it up to the beach.

Monday, June 10 Grace Harbour to Prudeaux Haven

We think Desolation Sound Is the most beautiful place in Southern British Columbia.  The weather is clear and sunny and we can see all of the snow capped mountains around us.  It really can take ones breath away.  This is also a great place for kayaking.  While we were kayaking we saw another Navigator (53’) entering the anchorage. That boat looks exactly like ours.  We feel like we are looking in a mirror.   They came over in the dinghy a little later and said hi.  They have been to Navigator Cruise-ins down in Puget Sound and highly encouraged us to go next year.  Sounds like a fun thing to do.

Saturday, June 8 Lund to Grace Harbour 12 miles 1 ½ hours

We have entered Desolation Sound.  We anchored in Grace Harbour.  This is a huge anchorage and well protected.  We are surrounded by moon jellyfish.  They are about 2" to 8" in size.  Merlin is fascinated with them.

Friday, June 7 Lund

It is another beautiful day and we wandered around the harbour area. The Lund Hotel dates from 1895 and has retained its Victorian charm.  They have a very well stocked grocery store and an art gallery and a book store that sells woolen goods.  The art gallery has lovely things but too overpriced for us.  The book store was charming and I fell in love with a rose colored poncho made from bamboo.  Nice looking and machine wash & dryable to boot.

Thursday, June 6 Hardy Island to Lund Harbour 3 hours 31.3 miles

Fred called yesterday and spoke to the harbormaster at Lund, Darlene.  We know that the docks are not very big there and wanted to know if there might be room for us today.  She said yes!  Our trip today is entirely in Malaspina Straight.  There is minimal wind and we had a very nice cruise.  Darlene was there on the dock to help catch lines at the end of B Dock.  Fred and Darlene were chatting and she mentioned that she recently returned from a vacation to Cuba.  Of course Fred wanted to know if she bought any Cuban cigars.   Well, she had and gave Fred a Cohiba. She doesn’t even smoke them.  She refused to take any money for it.  It is sunny today and the harbour area looks charming.  We started off at Nancy’s Bakery.  This place is legend among cruisers.  We had a latte and a sweet roll bigger than your fist.  Pure heaven!  We went to the Boardwalk Restaurant for dinner.  We took a vote and the halibut fish & chip here are the best anywhere.

Wednesday, June 5 Hardy Island Marine Park

This anchorage is open somewhat to wind and chop off of Malaspina Straight.  We put the dinghy down instead of the kayaks.  There are a few small docks that lead of to property that is private, however, we took  Merlin for walks on solid ground because we could.

Tuesday, June 4 Princess Louisa Inlet to Hardy Is. Marine Park 5 hours 46 miles

There was somewhat of an exodus out of Princess Louisa this morning.  We followed 4 sailboats and 1 old wooden boat.  We were the last and exited Malibu Rapids 20 minutes after low water slack.  No problem with the current.  It is a beautiful sunny day and we were looking forward to an uneventful trip back down to Malaspina Straight.  At the junction of Queen’s Reach and Princess Royal Reach Fred said he spotted some dolphins.  We were thrilled that upon close inspection we were with a pod of orca whales.  Their huge dorsal fin is unmistakable.  There appeared to be 4 or 5 whales with one by far the largest.  This is our first sighting of whales this summer.  We encountered up to 23 kts. of wind going down Jervis Inlet.  Just a bit bumpy.

We headed out of Jervis Inlet and anchored just off of Blind Bay in Hardy Island Marine Park.  We were across from an abandoned quarry.  It is actually picturesque among all the rainforest.

Monday, June 3 Princess Louisa Inlet

We have had 2 days of rain (just more waterfalls to see) and now 2 days of glorious sun.  The temp is about 67 but it feel like 90 in the sun and 50 in the shade.  Go figure.  We haven't seen any bears yet but we know they are here.  This an awesome place for kayaking, and as some of you already know, there is no bad place for kayaking in the Inside Passage.

Last night Fred woke me up at 1am to see "something great". When we are at anchor Fred does not sleep through the night.  He gets up 2-3 times a night to patrol the perimeter and make sure the anchor is holding.  What a show we saw!  We were able to see a million stars here.  The moon was behind the mountain and there is no ambient light .  It was as if we were in the mountains.  But the best part was the phosphorescent fish.  They were all around the boat and actually sparkled like fireflies.  It was so surreal.    We stayed outside until the cold got to us and we had to get into our warm bed again.

Fred is working on projects.  He keeps himself very busy and we never lack for something to be done.  However, we make plenty of time for reading. 

We are well and Emerald Star continues to work beautifully.

Sunday, June 2 Princess Louisa Inlet

We woke up to the bluest sky we have ever seen.  Or does it just seem so in this magical location?  We kayaked around the head of the inlet.  Near the base of another beautiful waterfall (unnamed) in the north-east corner of the inlet there are several stern-tie rings at both the low water and high water levels.  We are not equipped with stern tie line so those locations are out for us.  Maybe next year?

Saturday, June 1 Princess Louisa Inlet

Pretty rainy today but we did take a nice dinghy ride.  We went up to Macdonald Island and cove.  There are several mooring buoys but none were occupied.  This is a good alternative if the dock and good anchoring spots are taken by Chatterbox Falls.  There is a small dock and walking trails.  There appears to be some cabins there too.