Greenway and Drury Inlet

We set sail against a 8-10 knot NW just outside of Shawl Bay heading (you guessed it) NW to Greenway Sound. The wind shifts were favourable and the currents cooperative and we sailed to the head of the sound in 2 tacks. The wind was coming straight out of the sound so we decided that with only a few miles to go and the not wanting to start madly tacking up the sound we would just grit our teeth and motor into it. Well, the NW built and we were getting gusts over 20 knots. Not too bad but there are not many places to anchor sheltered from the NW winds. We ended up at the bottom of the sound anchored on an isthmus between two small islands. We had most of the wind but good solid holding. The really bizarre part was that Tarun would not swing her bow into the wind. NW wind blowing out of the sound with an ebb tide and still, she laid stern to the wind for a couple of hours until for whatever reason, she came about at put her bow into the wind. Oh well, an interesting experience and I did get to rig the mizzen for the single reef Rick McBride built into the new sails.
Monday dawned flat calm (of course) and we motored out towards Drury Inlet. We stopped in Sullivan Bay for a 45 litres of fuel and there is a really nice couple who are working there for the summer and possibly beyond. They moved to the coast from Alberta for a change in lifestyle, and they sure have it here in the Broughtons! I have been reading Alexandra Morton's book "Listening to Whales" (Ballentine Books) that describes her life (so far) and how she came to be in the Broughton's as one of the foremost Orca researchers. Her descriptions of how it was in the late 70's and 80's compared to what it is like today tells a sobering story. I highly recommend this as a MUST READ if you are coming to the Broughton's.
Today (Tuesday) we decided to have a good look around the northern part of Drury Inlet so we gassed up the dinghy and toured up into Actaeon Sound through Actress Passage, into Creasy Bay and finally all the way up into Tsibass Lagoon. We were both quite surprised to see first a float home in Actress Passage and then a logging camp just before the entrance to Tsibass Lagoon. There has been a tremendous amount of logging up here. We stopped off to walk around a deserted camp in Creasy Bay and the place quite frankly was a dump. Every old bit of machinery or left over parts are either just dropped where they were or tossed into the woods. The logging companies are supposed to clean up the areas after they log it and we saw so much evidence of sheer neglect that it makes you wonder just how they get away with it. I guess it's the same everywhere, money greases the way and as long as no one can really see it, it's OK. After all, this is the north coast of BC and who really gets up here anyways (I REALLY hope the sarcasm is coming through here). There is a logging operation at the entrance to Tsibass Lagoon, with float homes and booming yards. We didn't see any logs or trucks but there were people around. Just now, Cathy is once again re-stitching the enclosure and customizing it for our wind steering. Tomorrow, Napier bay for a night and then on to Port Hardy before we head out the west coast.

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