Sailing to Remote Places

When we parted ways with Bob and Sue on My Windsong, we spent a few nights in Prideaux Haven, then moved on to Grace Harbour.   Prideaux Haven was not too busy, but it did get hot.  We had an early heat wave.  We found a path at the top of Melanie Cove that connected with another trail to Laura Cove.  We walked for awhile but the heat was a bit much so we headed back.  Got a few good photos on the way though.

   

Melanie Cove  

Low Tide @ Prideaux Haven

Grace Harbour was our next stop and when we anchored we were buzz bombed by quite a few hummingbirds.  They were attracted to the red kayak, and the red stop cord on the outboard.  They hung around for awhile and I ended up putting up a screen on the hatch to make sure we didn't get one inside.  We stayed in Grace for a 4 nights, had a good walk on shore, motored around and waited out a pretty significant NW wind.  

Jellyfish in Grace Harbour

When the time came to go we started out with the intention of going to Lund, then on to Comox but we had good wind so we gybed our way to the south end of Savory Island and headed across the strait to Comox.  We had an absolutely wonderful sail and dropped the sails when we were almost into the harbour.  We went earlier than originally planned to Comox but we had a few jobs to do on the boat, including servicing the 2 heads and getting provisions on board before Jan and Tony arrived on June 18th.  We did a lot of running around, took buses over to Courtney a few times, walked heaps and got everything done on our list.  The brief mention of servicing the heads doesn't do the job justice.  It got spread out over 2 days.  The aft head was easy, rip and replace the entire Jabsco pump assembly, 15 minutes.  The forward head needed the pump serviced, and all the black water lines cleaned out.  Pump was done one day and it took me the better part of a day to remove, clean, and reinstall the black-water lines and service the diverter valve to the holding tank, NOT my favourite job.

Eagler in Comox (Not our Mast)

Comox Glacier

   

June 18th rolled around and Jan and Tony arrived around 19:30, travel weary but in one piece.  When we planned the trip with them, they agreed that they they only needed one day to recover before we headed out so they got one day!  Lots of shopping done, boat stowed away and Tuesday morning we left.  First stop, the fuel dock, only to find thy had no diesel so a slight change in plans.  We headed to Squirrel Cove but made a quick stop at Refuge Cove for fuel and a look around.  Jan and Tony were last there in July 2003 on Tarun, their first trip to Canada to sail, it hasn't changed much!

A night at Squirrel Cove then off to Big Bay.  We got the tides right and tied up before noon.  Moorage is $2.00/ft. and showers were $5.00 each.  Not a cheap night at dock.  I had work to do so Jan, Tony, and Cathy went off for a hike.  Had an early night then off the dock the next day to catch the tides Dent and Greene Point.  We motored all the way and shot through all the current passes just as planned.  We originally planned to stop in Port Harvey but we had current with us and we were able to motor sail in the NW wind on Johnston Strait so we decided to go on to Farewell Harbour.  We turned into Blackney Passage and hit the full tide running against us to we dropped down to 2 knots.  We pushed through and eventually made the anchorage.  The local fishing lodge has put mooring buoys everywhere so we ended up anchoring out front of the lodge.  Not a friendly place but a we had a quiet night after a long day.

Tony Dressed for Summer on Johnston Strait

    

 Leaving Big Bay

Farewell Harbour

The next day it was on to Port McNeil, where we'd made reservations @ North Island Marina to deal with laundry and more provisions.  Nice marina, they fuel your boat where you tie up.  No showers or toilet facilities but you can buy a shower code from the information centre and use the shower block near the municipal marina.  I did manage to find a spare alternator belt (it's and odd size so was a bit surprised to find one in Port McNeil).  Met up with one of the net controllers for the Great Northern Boaters net, Gord (VE7GC) off MV Luna.  It's always great to put a face to voice on the radio.  We're checking into the net everyday if we can.  The ham community continues to be a great support to boaters but there are fewer of us checking in to the nets every year.  We visited the local logging museum and checked out the worlds largest burl.  Unfortunately, some kids had set fire to the burl the week before.  It was in a cage but they poured gas on it and set it on fire.  Apparently, it took quite a while to put the fire out.  I just can't understand the need to destroy something for no reason.

Worlds Largest Burl (a bit charred)

After a couple of nights we had a good weather window to head north so we left early and made for Cape Caution and beyond.  It was foggy on and off and calm so we motored all day.  We had current with us and with a long period swell less than one meter, it was a easy trip.  We made our with into Millbrook Cove and anchored for a couple of nights.  We did find that the navigation that make the entrance easier to find was nowhere near where it was supposed to be.  Tony and I fished the next day.  Caught a few rockfish but threw them back.

Cape Caution Light

Queen Charlotte Strait

While Millbrook Cove was nice, there is no walking or places to explore on shore so when we left, we headed up Smith Inlet to Dsulish Bay to have a walk on the beach.  It was a beautiful place, lots of driftwood, some unknown animal tracks, and very peaceful.

Dsulich Bay Natural Sculpture

Dsulish Bay

Old Growth Log - Dsulish Bay

Sailors have a often used expression when planning a voyage "Our plans are written in the sand at low tide"  While I've used the expression and the idea behind for years, this was the first time I've put it into action.  Our next destination, written in sand, at low tide!

Our next Destination

We left Dsulish Bay and headed back down Smith Inlet to make our way north to Rivers Inlet and Goose Bay.  The cruising guide mentioned that there was a old cannery there that we could tour.  There was, but it's been bought up by a developer and is being turned into yet another fishing lodge.  That makes 4 lodges in the immediate area.  The most exclusive of them is Duncanby Lodge, where we've been told you have to be invited, you can't just make a reservation!  We anchored at the bottom of Goose Bay and thankfully it was a calm weather pattern as we were completely open to the north.  I put the crab trap down, and left it overnight.  When I checked it in the morning, I had maybe 15 crabs, all undersized, so back they went!  There were a  couple launches with 5-6 traps down between them.  I'm not happy when I see that.  Put down a trap, and catch what you need, but don't pack your freezers full of crab.

Duncanby Lodge

Looking North out of Goose Bay

After one night in Goose Bay, it was time to move on again.  The plan for the day was to try for some salmon outside of Goose Bay and then head up Rivers Inlet to Dawson's Landing.  No luck with the salmon fishing, as per usual.  Some day I'll catch one!  

Dawsons Landing was an interesting place.  When we got there just after 12:00 and they were closed for lunch.  Their hours are a bit restrictive, they're open 10:00 - 14:00 but closed for lunch 12:00 - 13:00.  The place is all built on log floats and has been around for many years.  It's getting pretty run down but it's still there and they still have provisions, fuel, laundry and showers, but they are expensive.  Showers are $2.00 for a minute and half, we didn't bother with laundry.  We did top up on fuel and picked up a few provisions.  The lady that in the shop had been there for over 35 years and her husband had grown up at Dawsons landing 35 years before that.  

Dawsons Landing

Derelict Tug - Dawsons Landing

We left Dawsons landing and headed down Darby Channel to get to Fury Cove, our next stop for a couple of nights.  There is still a sign posted at the entrance to the cove restricting people from going on shore.  This has been in place since COVID restrictions started in 2020.  There were a few boats anchored, it's a very sheltered place and a common first stop coming north into the Central Coast.  We went fishing again the next day, but didn't catch anything big enough to keep!

Fury Cove

After 2 nights at Fury Cove, we upped anchor and headed further north to Codville Lagoon.  Still no wind so motored with the main to give us a bit of lift.  The entrance to Codville was narrow but the tide was pretty slack so Cathy had no issues getting us in safely.  It took us a couple of tries to get anchored where we were comfortable as the lagoon is quite deep.  We ended up anchored on a rock shelf in the middle of the bay.  When I was pulling up the anchor after the first try, the chain stripper on the windlass ( the part that makes sure the chain doesn't wrap around the gypsy) bent and the chain jammed.  Had to un-bolt it to free up the chain.  Got the anchor up but when I tried to straighten it and bolt it back on, it turned out the holes in the windlass for the bolts were stripped.  I thought I could get away without the stripper but learned pretty quickly that it's an essential part when we went to pull up the anchor to leave 2 days later. 

The cruising guide we're using described a trail from Codville Lagoon to the Sager Lake as a tough track that you basically had to bushwack your way through.  Cathy and I decided to give it a try and was the guide ever wrong.  The track has been upgraded and is well maintained.  There are lots of boardwalks over the marshy bits to keep them from getting ruined and all in all the walk was great.  Sager Lake has a beautiful gold sand beach and was well worth the walk.

Sager Lake - Codville Lagoon

Codville Lagoon

Sager Lake

The ongoing saga of our leaking rudder shaft continued to give us trouble but I permanently mounted another bilge pump in the engine bilge and and wired it so we could plug it into the 12V.  I ended up teeing it into the line from the aft bilge pump and it seems to work fine as long as we remember to check that the pumps are switched on, and plugged in.

We left Codville after 2 nights and headed to Shearwater to re-provision and hopefully fix the windlass.  I had to pull the anchor mostly up by hand which is a pain.  Again, as per usual, no wind but it was a short trip, 17 nautical miles.  I had tried in May to reserve at Shearwater but never got a response.  I tried one last time from Codville the night before we left, and by morning, I got a response that we were good to go.

Shearwater is a long dock with tee at the end.  1500 feet of dock space and they use every bit of it!  We were on the inside so the prevailing wind was blowing us off the dock so no squeaking fenders!  The harbour master and his wife were waiting to grab out lines and make sure we got tied up close to the boat behind us.  Very nice couple who sail their cutter to Mexico every fall and then back in March so they can run the marina over the summer.  I spent a good few hours that afternoon fixing the chain stripper, getting it bent just right, finding new longer bolts and re-tapping the holes in the windlass.  After a lot of trial and error I was satisfied that it would work and with the longer bolts it would stay put and not work loose.  

Shearwater Marina

Shearwater

The Store at Shearwater

The next day, Monday, we took the water taxi to New Bella Bella where the big grocery store was.  We were told the fresh food shipment comes in Monday morning and would be on the shelves by Monday afternoon.  We also hoped to get a tour of the Big House (longhouse) but it was closed.  Jan and Tony managed to talk their way into the gift shop so picked up a few things to take back to NZ.  When we got to the grocery store, they had a sign up that they were closing at 14:00 to unload the food shipment and would re-open on Tuesday.  We managed to find enough fresh veggies and other staples to re-stock as we were leaving early Tuesday morning to head to the hot springs in Eucott Bay.

Mural in New Bella Bella

Big House in New Bella Bella

Our last night in Shearwater Tony and Jan got given a large salmon fillet from some friendly fishermen on the dock so we had a bit of a feast of salmon.  There was a dock party with the crew off Columbia III and others on the dock,  Columbia III a classic wooden ship launched in 1958 that has seen service on the BC coast in various ways since then.  She is now the Mothership, of Mothership Adventures, an eco-tourism company operating on the west coast.  The host of the dock party was a woman named Mosha, on Harmony, a Stan Huntingford designed Passport 40.  She was returning from single handed trip up to Alaska.  

The day came to leave Shearwater and we were away early to catch the tide up Gunboat Passage on our way to Eucott Bay and the hot springs.  This has been on the must see list for Tony (and all of us) since we started planning this trip in March in NZ.  As we worked our way up Dean Channel under motor (of course), we started seeing a few horse flies.  Nothing too bad, but is was a pre-curser to what we would see at Eucott.  When we turned into Eucott, the horse flies swarmed us.  I've never seen it like this before, even growing up in eastern Canada and hiking in the spring.  We doused ourselves in deet and jumped in the dinghy and headed to shore to get at least some hot spring time in.  There was a group of kayakers there who were out of the hot spring, and covered head to foot.  We jumped in, stayed for a bit, got a few photos and headed back to Cygnet.  We pulled up the anchor and got the hell out of there.  Another issue in Eucott for Cygnet was depth.  There's not much in the anchorage and we anchored with 4 meters under the keel at high tide with a predicted 4 meter drop in the tide, not a good look for us!.  We don't ever want to park Cygnet in the mud with her wing keel.

Eucott Hot Springs - We're Lords of the Flies!

We collectively decided to head to Ocean Falls, about 25 odd miles south down Dean Channel.  We had tide with us so we ended up making pretty good time and tied up to the municipal dock at Ocean Falls at 19:30.  Cheap moorage, $26 a night plus $10 a night for power.

Ocean falls is an abandoned mill town that was built in 1905.  They built a dam to provide power to the mill and the town and in its heyday, there was upwards of 3700 people living and working there.  The mill became unprofitable in the early 70's and the BC Government bought it and operated it until the early 80's when it shut for good.  The townsite at Ocean Falls was levelled, houses burned down and land left to return to its natural state.  There are still a few of the larger buildings there but they are derelict and have been stripped of most anything useable. The dam is still in operation and provides power into the BC Hydro power grid and provides power to this part of the central coast.  There is an eerie feel to the place.  Met a couple of locals, a woman who runs a gift shop that mainly sells to the boating community in the summer, an Argentinian couple who are running a small BnB, ice cream shop and bakery.  Most of the remaining population in the area lives in Martin Inlet, a couple kilometers away. There are between 25-50 residents, depending who you talk to!.  It's an isolated existence, not much work other than the fish hatchery serving the salmon farms.  With the current moratorium on salmon farms and the likelihood they will get shut down, there won't be much left!

Abandoned Apartment Building
Ocean Falls

Abandoned Office Block and
Apartments - Ocean Falls

Operating Dam and Power Station

Ocean Falls Municipal DOck

Mermaid overseeing the
Municipal Docks

Not much traffic to watch out!

Don't cross the Bridge, there be Bears
(We crossed the Bridge)

Cemetery at Martin Inlet

After 2 nights we felt it was once again time to move on so we decided to start slowly heading south.  First stop, Sea Otter Cove.  We had the anchorage to ourselves for the first night, a first for this trip.  We toured around the bay, checking out a few bits of shoreline the day we arrived.  I set the crab trap and checked it after the tide change, nothing.  Re-set the trap in a different place, checked it in the morning, nothing.  Set it again further out, checked it later in the day, nothing (seeing a pattern here yet?)  One last set with a fish carcass and again nothing.  I give up!  Tony and I did go fishing and caught a variety of Rock Fish, enough for dinner.  Small fillets but lots for the four of us.  Our first completely caught fish meal.

Tony on a Log

Outer Beach at Sea Otter Cove

Tony's first halibut
(a bit small so back it went!)

It seems like time keeps marching on so we left the next day to head to Pruth Bay, a stop we had been planning for since the beginning.  We actually got about 45 minutes of sailing in on our way south.  When we rounded Bayley Pt into Hecate Channel, we caught sight of a small pod of Orcas, 2 calves, and 2 adults.  We got to watch them for about 15 minutes, absolute magic!

Orcas in Hecate Channel

We slowed down to fish for salmon before we went into Pruth, but again nothing.  Tried a few different combinations but no luck.  Did loose a bit of gear but that happens!  When we got into Pruth, there were about 10 boats at anchor in the main bay and more came in by early evening.  The next day, we all headed to shore to check out the walks.  Went over to the South Beach and up to the lookout.  We got to the beach at low tide so lots to walk around and see.  The lookout was amazing both looking out to sea and looking inland.  

Pruth Bay is home to the Hakai Institute  (https://hakai.org).  They bought the fishing lodge that was there a few years ago and conduct long term scientific research as part of the Tula Foundation.  Check out their website for more details on what they do.

Casual Walking!

Cathy and a Tree

Cathedral Rocks on the Beach

Looking Over Hecate Strait

Had a plan to fish outside of Pruth for lingcod but it just didn't happen.  Oh well.  I did fish a bit off Cygnet in Pruth, but all I caught were small halibut using a Buzzbomb lure.  We did meet up briefly with Jim and Allison on Lily D, a couple we've heard on the ham net a few times.  They arrived the same day we did and came over in their dinghy after they took their dog (and themselves) for a walk.  We also met a few people on the beach when we went for a walk.  One couple had a lab/poodle mix named Boots, super friendly and easy going.  They are on a Commander launch (Deb and Norm on Quiet Storm).  We've kept running into them but more on that below.

After 3 nights at Pruth, it was once again time to move on.  Our plan was to anchor in Big Frypan Bay on Penrose Island.  It's on the other side from Fury Cove.  We did check it out but it was too deep for us to anchor and where it was shallow enough we would have been on a lee shore.  So off once again to Fury Cove,   It is a great anchorage.  Shortly after we got anchored, My Windsong came in along with Tatouch, the friends Bob ands Sue are buddy boating with.  We all met up on shore after caught up on where we've all been and what we've been doing.  On the way back we stopped by Quiet Storm who had left around the same time we did from Pruth Bay.  Jan and Tony were quite taken with Boots and wanted to get their dog fix in (and say hi to Debbie and Norm again).  Tony went over again a bit later and got a picture of them with the dog!  

As we were getting ready to leave, Bob came over and handed us a nice salmon fillet.  He managed to get a few using only a Buzzbomb.  Right place, right time I guess.  Salmon for dinner tomorow after we round Cape Caution.  

We left around 09:00 to make our way another 28 miles south bound for Fly Basin in Smith Inlet.  Here we sit just now as I finish off this part of the blog.  We have a few horse flies to deal with but Tony is a killing machine for horse flies.  We didn't even bother launching the dinghy today, just having a lazy day and getting ready to round Cape Caution tomorrow morning, officially ending our time on the Central Coast!

Looking up Smith Inlet

To put this part of the trip in perspective (Port McNeil to the Central Coast) we've covered 353 nautical miles from Port McNeil and back to Fly Basin.

Port McNeil and Almost Back (Last Stop Fly Basin)

With Jan and Tony onboard, we covered 497.96 miles so far from Comox to Fly Basin

We're off the Broughtons next after a couple overnight stops to get to Port McNeil to re-provision.

MORE TO COME!