Shearwater, BC

June 30, 2010

We left Port McNeill early to head north. As we rounded the Pulteney Point Lighthouse on Macolm Island to cross Queen Charlotte Sound, we had calm seas and the currents were with us. We cruised past Blunden Harbour, our original destination, and dropped anchor in Skull Cove just north of Allison Harbor. During our stay in Port McNeill, we spent some time with Kathy and Ron Guttormsen on “Nordic Sun”, friends of ours from the Port Orchard Yacht Club. Ron recommended Skull Cove to us and we were glad we took his advice. This is one of the closest anchorages to wait for good weather to round Cape Caution, and it was beautiful and well protected. (Thanks Ron!) The weather reports were predicting 10-20 knot winds, so we weren’t sure if we could make it around Cape Caution that next morning, but we decided to try. We got up at O’Dark 30 and headed out. We were surprised that the water was calm with just a little southwesterly swell (which you always get some of on these ocean crossings) until we got around the Cape. YEAH! The wind started to pick up and the seas got a little bigger, but since we had made it almost half way, we decided to forge on. We made it safely to Fury Cove.

LOOKING OUT FROM FURY COVE

Fury Cove is a beautiful anchorage and we managed to get the best spot just in front of the shoreline that provides protection from the open water at low tide, but allows wind and water over the land at high tide that can cause an uncomfortable ride if there is some weather out of the southeast. The weather was good and we spent a quiet afternoon and night. We met Lauri on “Scrimshaw” from Bainbridge Island while we were anchored. She takes TWO dogs on her kayak for their shore break! Max and Maddie have learned to use the pee mat, so we don’t have to take them to shore every time they have to go potty. We were surprised when two helicopters flew in and landed to explore on the beach! You never know what you will see in these out of the way inlets.

HELICOPTER TAKING OFF FROM FURY COVE

We decided our way to explore was a lot more fun because on our way out of Fury Cove the next morning on our way to Purth Bay, we saw a pod of whales slapping the water and breaching to round up a school of fish! Just as I was trying to take some pictures, the batteries on the camera went dead! Murphy’s Law never fails to hit at the worst possible minute. We actually saw one of the whales come almost completely out the water, however, that will have to be one of our “fish stories” because we did not catch it on film. We did manage to get a couple of pictures of them slapping the water and one of a whale right in front of one of the many cruise ships that go up this channel, as it came up to feed on the fish with it’s mouth open. It is quite loud when they slap the water to round up the fish. Amazing!

WHALE BREECHING JUST AS A CRUISE SHIP PASSES

Arriving at Purth Bay, we got a good spot close to the dinghy dock. There is a short hike past the lodge there that ends up on the ocean side of Calvert Island. It was a beautiful beach with lots of drift logs and small islands just off shore. The weather was changing and the wind was making lots of breaking waves on the beach. Max and Maddie had a great time running on the beach. We would later wish we hadn’t taken them because Maddie got sick during that night. It was pouring rain and it was the middle of the night at anchor, so that is one of the downsides to having the dogs with us. Maddie seemed better in the morning, so we left to go out Hakai Passage on our way to Bella Bella.

HAKAI BEACH

It was a little rolly in Hakai Passage because of the wind since the ocean swells come in there, but Maddie just slept through it. She is usually nervous when the boat rolls, so she must have been exhausted from the previous night. I am glad someone got some sleep! There was a huge rain squall that blew in just as we were heading for Bella Bella, so we decided to continue on to Shearwater (Ron’s nemesis dock from another trip north!) because we did not want to tie up to the outside of the dock there. It can get rather nasty on the outside of the dock when the wind and waves pick up. We got to see Lauri and Mike from “Scrimshaw” at the dock and she told me about her dogs having gotten sick a few years ago, just like Maddie did. She said when the tide is out and the dogs walk on the shore, they pick up all kinds of bad stuff on the feet. Then they lick their feet and it makes them sick. We will now have a foot wash when we go out for walks on the shore. Thanks for the tip, Lauri. We did the laundry and went out for dinner with Lauri and Mike and their friends, Fred and Jeannie, from the “Nammu.” They are on their way back to Alaska north of Anchorage with their new 43 foot Beneteau sailboat. It had a fully enclosed cockpit that was perfect for Alaska. We enjoyed meeting them and had a great pizza for dinner, which is hard to find in Canada. We plan to leave for Ocean Falls today.