Port McNeill to Echo Bay

We left Port McNeill Monday the 18th, but the winds were 25-30 knots so we turned around and came back and spent another night.

But on the way out we swung by Dream Seeker to get their card and some information about some software Linda uses for her cruising journal.









Dream Seeker S/V 36 Erikson, Linda and Don Burnett
from Calistoga California. We had cocktails on their boat Monday night as they came in to the harbor also. It really got rough out their and they didn't want to rock and roll all night. It was fun comparing our Alaska/Canada summers.



On the way out to their boat, we passed our Teal's sister ship.









The sky when we left Port McNeill Tuesday. That sun.... real sunshine surrounded by blue sky and white clouds.








Tied to the dock at Joe Cove. Looks like nobody in the Canada harbour authority is doing anything to keep this float afloat. It is a favorite spot for many cruisers.... so it's really a shame to have it getting so delapitated. There were four of us tied to her Wednesday night.




This was out crab catch this morning. 5 crabs: 4 female, 1 male. This is the first time the girls have out numbered the boys in our crab trap. We have seldom even caught females this year. The boy was a biggy and we cooked him when we got to Echo Bay.





It was a beautiful day today. Can you believe chem trails in this pristine country!








We fished most of the day, but had no great success. We caught this guy for bait. Not sure what he is tho.










We pulled into Pierre's at Echo Bay in the warm afternoon sunshine. Got showers, cooked crab, and baked joBee Brownies - new creation- derived from mis-reading the tiny print on the cake mix box.... put in a 1/3 cup water instead of 1 1/3 cups. These are for the potluck at Lagoon Cove tomorrow, (I'll let you know how they went over). We then headed to the big tent for a steak dinner. Which turned out to be really great. Met some fun folks, one of which was the cousin of Dale (and Darla) Stolty, former residents of Klamath River. Small world we all said..... and it is!

Lagoon Cove and prawns for dinner.

Happy journey, happy life.
luv/jo
(& the captain says hi)
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Codville Lagoon Aug 10 to Port McNeill at present

Codville Lagoon, August 10; another chance for prawns and crab with our 3-day Canadian fishing license. We still have a freezer full of Coho salmon.



Two legal-sized crabs... one very large crab and a slightly slimmer sibling.


Our prawn trap produced this mix of spotted prawns and a striped variety, which I call zebra... but don't really know what they are. Then there was this feathered eel in there with them. We will show these pics to our expert northwestern fishing authority Pete when we get home and see if he has an idea what we caught here.






That's a standard sized clothes basket we keep our trap line in. So that gives you an idea of how long he is.... about 3 feet plus,. I'd say.




We headed to Green Island for our next night out. We passed this "aircraft carrier" on our way.




















We set our crab trap near an abandoned lumber operation in McCluskey Bay....






and headed to the anchorage. Green Island is a pretty anchorage. This bush-laden rock looked as groomed as some of Victoria's Butchart Garden areas.









We shared this anchorage with 2 other boats.




S/V Windriver, and a motor-powered large yacht named Yatchette. We have been crossing tracks with her since we left Ketchikan. We were fueling up at the same dock August 2, and they shared that they are heading to Vancouver. They were in Foggy Bay when we arrived that first night out. (and they were in Port McNeill when arrived Aug 15).


We headed out in the rain and cold Aug 12 into Fitzhugh Sound, after collecting our booty.





One large sea star and two crabs.










The smaller crab turned out to be still in the "growing a new shell" stage. We had many crabs of this type while in Alaska. The shells are thin and they are light on meat... nearly none in some of the legs.



Shaking the trap to free the Sea Star. They have many, many legs to hold on with.... I guess that would technically be "tentacle".




The prawn trap we had been lucky enough to plant in a 405 ft hole, produced a bull head (fish) and 4 small prawns, which we threw back. The fish head bait had a sand flea attack during the night, so there was no meat left, which might explain the shortage of prawns in there. A large disappointment.


We saw a lot of whale blows, and George even saw a whale flipping and splashing off our starboard bow in Fitzhugh Sound. It was a cold gray passage to Frypan Bay.



S/V Escape was already anchored there when we arrived and a small power boat came in later and spent the night also.






August 13. In the early morning dawn this heron came gliding in to fish.


'More beautiful totems along the waterline.








We were getting low on eggs and decided to hit the little store at Dawsons Landing... light bulb!.. they have showers there also. So that's where we headed.



The sky started to clear as we pulled up to the dock at Dawsons Landing at 11am.

General store.

Underpinnings of the general store. The weather is so hard on the wood here. Looks like they will be doing some work on these docks this winter, ay? (that's Canadian for dah! - well in this case at least)





The captain returning from the shower.






We passed Duncnaby Marina/Resort on our way to Millbrook Sound. Looks like they've added some buildings. We have to look back at our old pics to verify that tho. It's been two years since we've been there. Didn't see this part of the country last year as we were on the outside of the Vancouver Island.


We went to Milbrook. We have anchored in this tranquil spot (also a former cannery) at least once a year. I remember it as a rainy spot. Yatzee there last year during a storm.

It was pretty calm and VERY warm and sunny when we arrived.


A bit windy, but a nice afternoon.







This was the next morning.









And things didn't get much better as we entered Queen Charlotte Strait. We had our little timer in the cockpit and we blew the horn - one long - every 2 minutes.


Soon we were hailed by a tug, telling us he could see us on the radar, and heard our horn, and he needed us to divert our course to yada yada, whatever the lat/long was.

George got on the radio and told him, he couldn't see how we could be anywhere near a tug pulling a tow, cause we were considerably out of the shipping lane and over near Miles Inlet. Another boat came on and said HE was the one the tug boat was calling. I can't believe people stick their boats out into the shipping channel in these "blind" condition.

(We actually heard a cruise ship Prince something or other, on the radio saying he was traveling near Pine Island in "zero visibility". Wonder how many passengers were aware of that.)






Eventually we pulled into the Southgate Group to wait out the fog. By 2pm, it was lifting and burning off at the same time. This causes the phenomenon of closing in again, even as the sun is shining hotly thru the fog, the surface of the water is still cold enough to hold it down.... well, that's how I think it works anyway.

We got thru Queen Charlotte Strait in clear skies, but when we entered Gordan Channel, the fog closed in again. We saw a cruise ship pass by the entrance, and encountered a tug, while the fog was still pretty thin. As the fog thickened, we resorted to that every-two-minute horn sounding again.

We arrived at Beaver Bay and our anchorage Patricia Cove under a clear sky. We had wind, and it took two attempts to stick the anchor. But we set hard in a muddy bottom.



The view of the shore when we arrived August 14.








Same view when we left August 15 at noon. The fog was considerably thinner than when we awoke in the morning.




Seagulls along the shore.


More birds hanging out at the buoy marker.









And before long....................... we were at Port McNeill.












Blogging our little hearts out. We are blogging while they are rubba, dub, dubbing.... doing laundry.


We will leave here Tuesday morning... after which time, we have OUR laundry done, and final provisioning for the rest of the trip to Bellingham, where we'll pick up our car and head for the Klamath River.

For the next week we will fish and re-visit some of our favorite haunts in the Broughtons. We definitely want to swing by Echo Bay and say hi to Pierre and cast a line near Joe Cove.

So until we're back on the River, happy journeys, happy life.

luv/jo
(& the captain is blogging...........) go check him out on
www.teallog.blogspot.com

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Grenville Channel to Bella Bella - We're blogging from Port McNeill, BC

We're in Port McNeill. Got in Friday August 15 after picking our way thru the fog from Beaver Bay.

This is an old Steam Donkey from the logging days. It's the center piece of Port McNeill Harbour.

George, blogging at the laundramat.... complimentary wireless. As many folks internet here as do laundry. At current count: 3 launderers, 5 interneters.... and there may be some computers fired up in the parking lot to boot.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Going back to where the last blog left off - August 5.

We anchored in East Inlet off Grenville Channel on Aug 5 and set our trap in neighboring Harriott Bay. We had no luck attracting crabs. George stowed the trap for the next try.

We had a beautiful sunny passage thru Grenville Channel.




First mate enjoying the sunshine.... still learning the art of self portraiture with camera. Daughter Jennie is a pro...





Waterfall in sunny Grenville Channel August 7.











We spent the night of August 6 at Hartley Bay. Quiet visit there. Not as much activity as we saw last year while visiting this First Nation village. Weather went from marine layer to fog to sun.


Leaving Hartley Bay morning Aug 7. Most mornings have been marine layer or just plain fog.

Our summer has been
June-uary
Jul-ember
Fog-gust

Most afternoons clear and give us sun.

August 7 afternoon we pulled up to Butedale, a former fish cannery. It operated from 1911 - 1966.

We got a great tour of the grounds from Gordon, a 12 year old spending the summer with his "uncle" Lou. He was a very precocious young man. Most adult in his narration and very well studied of the cannery and all the details. We really enjoyed the day with him, as well as the bonfire at night.

Teal tied "carefully" to some pilings under the planks on the dock. The surges coming in from the channel are quite healthy at times.

Note the budding forest on the roof..

Lou the caretaker has cabins for rent that are often used by kayakers. This one is not currently available, but we're sure it once was a lovely cottage by the sea.


Gordon was anxious to show us the lake. As it turns out taking "tourists" up is the only time he gets to fish there, cause there's too much for Lou to do around the place to go with him and he is not allowed to go alone. The fact he took the bear spray with us indicates why he doesn't go alone. No bears this trip, but we saw fresh wolf tracks and we stirred up a pair of wild grouse.

It was quite a trek. Took us 1/2 hour to get there thru the mud holes along the trail and the mosquitos.

A little side on the little varmits. These were the breed that doesn't take no for an answer. The dryer sheets, the water bag, the citrinella candles - nothing worked. (I found out the next morning from a former native who came to spend the day picking high bush currants, that these are NOT no-seeums, they are "long nose".) However I think I also got targeted by black flies and/or white socks.


back to the lake.....
The logs have caused quite a jam at the head of the lake.










It was fun to check out the lake as it is typical of so many high water lakes that produce the beautiful waterfalls we see as we sail through these northwestern waters.








Farewell Butedale.... and thanx for the souvenir skeeter bites!

We left Butedale and headed to Klemtu, the First Nation village where we

toured the big house (aka "long house" by some natives) last year with Doug Neeslas. He was out of town this time thru.

The same dog who laid in the road last year, I'm sure.

First mate enjoying another beautiful day... in Klemtu.

This boat was obviously parked in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Eagle perched high atop his outlook, search for the "dead and dying" below.

We arrived in Shearwater Saturday night August 9. Did laundry, got showers, bought a fishing license, did some blogging and we were otta there. Not the captain's favorite stop.

We left Shearwater Marina at 11:23 Sunday August 10 to get water and fuel at Bella Bella. The folks at the fuel dock go to lunch at 12 o’clock noon, no matter what. It’s a band-managed business…. (meaning First Nation people, ie, Native American in the US).

We arrived and rafted to a small work boat at the fuel dock at 11:55 am on the nose. They let us pump gas. We filled up, 79 liters totaling $127.74. We figured that’s $5.00 plus per gallon.

We loaded up with good water, the only non-tannin water in the area; headed up to the grocery band store (which is open at lunch time); and headed out to our next anchorage by 1 pm. We were movin’.

The sky as we were leaving Bella Bella.

We anchored in Codville Lagoon, setting our crab and prawn traps on the way in. George got a 3-day Canadian Fishing License before leaving Shearwater.