Port Hardy to The Charlottes

From Alert Bay we headed up to Port Hardy where we picked up Mary and did some provisioning for the trip north.  Norm and I walked into town to find the grocery store shortly after we tied up to the dock.  We were hoping to have the shopping done by the time Mary’s flight arrived so we headed off in what we were wearing.  We forgot to take into account that it is much warmer on land than on the water so by the time we got to town we were roasting in our fleece and rain gear and did some undressing on the streets of Port Hardy.  I hadn’t changed out of my gum boots and by the time we finished shopping I had bruised the bottom of my left foot and wasn’t looking forward to the walk back to the boat.  These boots were not made for walking.  Thankfully, the store offers a taxi ride with a grocery purchase which we gladly accepted. 

After passing the end of Vancouver Island we had to cross Queen Charlotte Sound to get back to the mainland.  This was our first bit of open ocean.  Cruising around in the protected waters of Vancouver Island, one doesn’t experience the swells of the ocean.  The crossing went well and nobody got seasick.

We made our way to the north end of Bank’s Island to make the trip across Hecate Straight to the Queen Charlottes.   The weather was mostly cloudy with some showers and rain but there were some notable highlights.

At Myers Passage I took this photo because the water was so smooth that the reflection was a mirror image of the scenery.  We turned this picture upside down and were convinced that the computer was putting it right side up.

In Laredo Passage several pods of Dalls Porpoises joined us and swam in front of the boat.  From a distance we could see their dorsal fins and once they detected our presence they swam rapidy in circles until they figured out our location.  Then they raced over at the surface with their dorsal fins up looking like a school of sharks and began frolicking in front of the boat.  They are about six feet long with thick bodies.  The markings make them look like a pod of baby orcas.

At an anchorage in Weinberg Inlet Norm and Mary caught a 20 lb. Spring salmon trolling from the dingy.  We got three dinners and several sandwich lunches out of it.

July's Journey up to the Queen Charlottes

Mid July 2011

We had a crew change after the music fest ended; Greg and Joanne left in their car which Norm had driven up from Sidney and Norm carried on with us.  We had to stop in Campbell River for a day to have the brand new navigation system reprogrammed.  The technician felt that a power surge may have caused the problem so we have devised an elaborate procedure that involves turning the nav system off when anchoring to avoid the large power draws from the electric winch.  Just to be safe we also don’t use the microwave or the blender when the nav system is operating which is whenever we are underway.  We plan to address the problem when we return to Sidney but for now it’s a pain in the hootchie.

 You’re going to need a map to follow our progress from here because for the life of me I can’t figure out how to include a map in the blog.  Google maps works well.  We proceeded along Discovery Passage with some trepidation as we approached Seymour Narrows.  Last fall we heard a boat send out a Mayday over the VHF radio after having seen a fishing boat flip over in the narrows.  We made the passage at slack tide and had no trouble at all.

Our first anchorage was in Kanish Bay on Quadra Island.  We tucked into a small bay that had remnants of an old pier and had a beer ashore at a lovely campsite for kayakers.  I think that was the last time we wore shorts for the next two weeks.  The next day we continued to the end of Discovery Channel and made a left turn down Johnstone Strait into cloudy and rainy weather.  The mountains, which would have been spectacular, were shrouded in clouds sometimes almost to the water.  By the time we reached Alert Bay, across from Port McNeill, we were shopping for a tarp to cover the driving station.  Norm  learned that his rain coat was sufficient to repel only a light mist and purchased a full-on rubber rain coat and bib overalls.  

There are memorial totem poles displayed in the ‘Namgis burial ground in Alert Bay. These differ quite a bit from the totem poles we would see in the villages of the Haida. We didn’t stay long in Alert Bay due to the rain.


Our adventure begins

I know it's lame to start off with excuses.  I've been telling friends that I would send a link to our blog so that you can follow our follies as they unfold but so far you will have noticed that nothing was forthcoming.  You may know that my father was ill and sadly he passed away on June 19th, just three days after his 78th birthday.  So we'll begin now.

Our friends Greg and Joanne joined us in Sidney on July 2nd and we are making our way up to Comox to attend the music festival this weekend.  We are currently anchored at Herring Bay on the tip of Ruxton Island.  We caught three rock crabs last night which were a delicious appetizer before dinner.  There was much slurping and jettisoning of claws across the table as the vise grips we were using to crack the shells were not the ideal tools.  A seemingly unending sunset followed and today we are again blessed with clear blue skies.

Greg and Joanne on bow watch approaching Dodd Narrows

Joanne goes for a spin

We stopped yesterday at Chemainus to pick up a kayak for me that has a plexiglass viewing window.  I took it for a little spin around Herring Bay and am completely hooked.

Me in "Mango"