The Bunsby's and Kyuquot Sound

We left Columbia Cove Friday morning in sunshine and blue skies. The forecast was for 10-15 knot NW winds so we thought we would get a nice sail down to the Bunsby Islands. Alas, no wind so we motored again (ok a whole 5 miles or so). The Coast Guard was just leaving when we got to the Islands so we figured it must be a good anchorage. We decided to tuck into a small cove on Bunsby Island, recommended by the cruising guide. Well we ended up dropping and picking up the hook twice before we found decent holding. A very rocky bottom. We had run into a couple in their dinghy in the way in so we decided to pay them a visit. Art and Mary were on a 36 ft Sabreline power boat. Quite a nice seaworthy boat. They are from Vachon Island in Puget Sound. Art is a retired fisherman so we got some good information about winds in August off the Washington and Oregon Coast. A couple of other US sailboats came into the anchorage in the early evening, guys out sailing. The forecast was for a NW gale Saturday afternoon so we decided to head out early Saturday for Walter Cove (Kyuquot Harbour) and then on to Hankin Cove further in Kyuquot Sound. Walter Cove is a bit tricky to get into but it is well marked. We had expectations of finding a store and possibly having breakfast at the local restaurant but times have changed there. There are now a few fishing lodges that cater to their guest's needs and the woman who runs the restaurant got tired of visiting boaters complaining about how expensive everything was. Strange how people want everything to be cheap but neglect to think how much it costs to get goods to remote places. It isn't as if there was daily delivery by road. Anyhow, we also found out that the store only opened between 3-6 pm and as it was 9 am we did not want to hang around, besides we really didn't need anything. We did end up talking to this old guy who came there with his family in 1929. He was a bit deaf so the conversation was pretty load from our side. Interesting guy to talk to about the changes to the economy. He fished for a living but now leases out his boat and license to his nephew. He can't understand why the government makes them fish is the bad weather of the winter (and when fish is scarce) instead of what they used to be allowed to do which was fish in summer when the weather was good and fish plentiful. We also ran into the local nurse (there is a small medical "outpost" in the cove). She and her husband spend two months at a time living there and then have two months out. She absolutely loves it there and they have bought a small piece of property and are building a small home. We left Walter's and made our way up into the sound and anchored in Hankin Cove at the bottom of Kashutl Inlet. A very protected anchorage with anchoring depths in 10-15 meters on a mud bottom. We set out the crab trap in the middle of the cove and had a wonderful bbq steak dinner. Decadent but….. This morning, I went out to pull up the trap and based on the past week or so, I had no expectations of crab but we had managed to get a couple of nice big Dungeness for dinner (and beyond). We pulled up anchor around 10:00 am and headed for Fair Harbour. Just outside of Hankin we actually pulled up some sails and had a gentle downwind sail to Fair Harbour. The mariners "Blue Pages" listed a small marina there that had internet access. We thought we may be able to download a emails etc but no email to be had. We motored out and headed for Dixie Cove about 2 miles away. The cove is very well protected and is basically split in two parts. The outer cove could probably handle 4-6 boats and the inner cove accessed by a narrow but deep passage could probably accommodate 3-4 boats as well. We are by ourselves!! I took off in the dinghy after lunch and thought I would try and catch couple of rock fish for tomorrow. Within about 30 minutes I had caught 4 fish (something of a change of luck for me!!) I landed a red snapper and kept one large rockfish. I was startled half to death when I threw one small rockfish back. It laid on top of the water stunned about 6 feet form the dinghy and the next thing I saw was a large eagle swooping down to pluck it from the water. Rather unique. Tonight is crab Jamabalya and tomorrow we head back out on the west coast to make for Esperanza Inlet, the next sound south.

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