Port McNeill Again

August 05, 2010

We made it around Cape Caution and are now in Port McNeill waiting for my cousin Bob and his wife Karen who are flying in from Pensacola, Florida having arrived in Seattle last night. They fly to Port McNeill on a Kenmore Air float plane. They will accompany us to Nanaimo, BC for the next 12 days.

We left Shearwater on July 30th and went all the way to Millbrook Cove in Smith Sound, a distance of 63 nautical miles. This is the first time we have tried this anchorage and we entered it in a rather heavy fog. In the past we have stopped in Fury Cove to await the next day to cross around Cape Caution, the open ocean passage to the north end of Vancouver Island. Millbrook Cove is another 12 miles further along and cuts the open ocean passage in half so during that 12 miles, a good part of it was in the swells and lumpy seas we always seem to experience in this area. When we finally arrived at Millbrook Cove, there where 6 other boats at anchor but the bay is fairly good size so we easily found a spot for our anchor.

The next morning at 5:00 AM we raised the anchor and started out to round Cape Caution. Again, the seas where lumpy and we had a 2 to 3 foot swell right on the beam. Lots of rocking and rolling and as I’ve said before, these open ocean passages are just something to be endured. Luckily, the wind was light so we didn’t have to contend with wind waves on top of the swell. The fog was very heavy, but with the radar and chart plotter we knew were we were and who was around us at all times. After 41 miles, we arrived in Blunden Harbour where we dropped the anchor.

Blunden Harbour was once the site of a thriving Indian village and there is an extensive midden by a deteriorating long house that has long since fallen down. The vegetation has pretty much taken over the whole site now, but walking the beach you can still find pieces of pottery, glass and metal left over from the old days. We spent 2 days here before taking off for Port McNeill where we are now.

Our plan from here is to spend time showing Bob and Karen the Broughtons and then moving south to Desolation Sound before going to Nanaimo where they are going to catch a plane back home. We have to be in Nanaimo on the 17th for them to make the flight on Kenmore Air.