Tracy Harbour, Napier Bay, Booker Lagoon

We left Turnball Cove on Friday morning in sunshine heading for Tracy Harbour to meet up with friends (Pat and Bob) who are looking after a logging camp. We arrived late morning and worked our way in past Tracy Harbour to Napier Bay where Pat and Bob were tied up. They live on their 40 foot converted fishing boat "Tonga". She was originally built in 1965 and converted in the mid ninties in Nanaimo. Tonga is a lovely boat and Pat and Bob have done loads to make her even better. They have been in Napier bay since last August. We first met them when we lived in Maple Bay. Pat was the caretaker of the Maple bay marina. Always busy running around cleaning or straightening something. We kind of lost track of them a couple of years ago after running into them unexpectedly in the "Boat Yard" in Tsehum Harbour during haulout. They "found us" when we started checking into the Great Northern Boaters Net after we got our Ham licenses. Pat acts regularly as one of the relays for the net and used to run the net. We had a wonderful visit with them, took a couple of nice long walks and shared two great dinners. They are on North Broughton Island and it is cris-crossed with logging roads. The first walk we went on was about 6 km, mostly flat, to where they get their fresh water. That turned out to be the "training" walk for the next day. Saturday, we all did a few chores in the morning and then went for our afternoon stroll. Between 6-7 km round trip, up and down hills to get to "telephone hill" where they can usually get a cell phone call out. We didn't manage that but had it was a wonderful excuse for a walk. The views were magnificent. Bob worked for many years in the logging industry so was able to explain how the logging was done that we saw. It was great to find out how things worked. Bob is also and dedicated wood carver. We spent an hour or so before dinner Saturday looking over his carvings. He has done some amazing birds as well as a lot of native style carving. I got couple of small blocks of yellow cedar from him so I will see what I can make with it. I also cut a couple of small alder trees to make a couple of walking sticks with. Very useful for beating off bears. Sunday morning we got up early and left Napier bay around 07:45. Pat came by before we left and showed me many of the features of the "airmail" program that we use for email via the SSB and Ham. We made our way down Wells Passage in Queen Charlotte Strait and then south towards Booker Lagoon on Broughton Island. We sailed most of the way on a broad reach in about 10 knots of wind. It was a welcome change form having to motor everywhere. Booker Lagoon is off Cullen Harbour. The entrance to Booker is best transited at high water slack and we did just that. It is quite narrow but we had no problem going through with plenty of water under us. The cruising guides either don't mention the lagoon at all or advise only going through with a small fast boat, we're neither! Apparently there used to be a lot of aqua-culture in the lagoon but there is none here now. We toured around all the possible anchorages and ended up in the north-west corner. Once again, we are the only boat around. This place is definitely on the MUST VISIT list if you are heading up this way.
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see:
http://www.sailmail.com