Monday was our rest day in Port McNeill - we considered leaving early (marina life is far less enjoyable than being on anchor somewhere beautiful), but we still needed groceries and the weather looked much better for rounding Cape Caution on Tuesday/Wednesday than it did Monday/Tuesday. Either way, we got some delicious coffee from Mugz, did some laundry, and then purchased ferry tickets over to Alert Bay - which was advertised as the place to learn about the native peoples (called “first nation” people in Canada). The ferry ride was uneventful (and thankfully the crew allowed us to keep Oakley with us - sounds like you are supposed to put them in a kennel while you are on the ferry, which seemed terrible to us). The museum in Alert bay was very interesting - we learned about the Potlach dance and all the history/meaning into the different dances. The dances are performed with Masks and some of them are quite elaborate - signifying different deities and animals. We also learned about the history of the residential schools and some of the atrocities that happened in the middle of the century. Unfortunately most of the rest of the town was closed up - we were guessing that things kinda close down when there aren’t any cruise ships in port. There are some cool looking trails through the uninhabited part of the island, but we were running out of time to catch our ferry so we will save those until next time.
We headed back to town and got a light dinner at the brewery we ate at the day before. Did some grocery shopping, filled up on diesel, and got some ice cream - all critical tasks before we left the next day.
We left early the following morning - underway by 7:15a. We had about 30 miles to go today across the Queen Charlotte Strait and we wanted to hit it in the morning when it was calm before afternoon winds/waves rolled in. It was a very peaceful journey - very glassy seas and fog that seemed to be constantly changing around us.
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Mid-morning it became eerie with the completely calm sea and dense fog. Something you would expect to see before the dinosaur burst up out of the water… :)
We easily saw 100-150 sea otters, it seemed like there was a group of 20-30 of them near every kelp bed - which we passed at regular intervals all morning. If we got close enough, a few of them would leave the group and chase after us playfully. I have not been able to get a good picture of them, but I keep trying… :)
At about 10a, I was watching some porpoises and a huge black fin popped up about half a mile away. I quickly called for the crew to come up and watch the orca with me, but he was in a hurry and was out of sight before we knew it. The family was on high alert after that, and good thing because we saw a handful of humpback whales swimming just outside the cluster of islands that marks the end of the straight. We watched them for 20-30 min before continuing our journey. Unfortunately, the fog had gotten thicker so our view of them wasn’t great. We would see a spout and then we would just stare into the fog for a while… Still, nothing beats seeing a whale!
Around noon, Angela made us lunch underway - we had entered a calm channel and it made food prep possible. She made an amazing Bento lunch box for the three of us, complete with fresh burritos, apples, and carrots - Amazing!
We finished the day at Skull Cove - an anchorage that was reccomended to us by Roger (Schatzie). It is a small anchorage and there were already 3 boats in it, but thankfully one of them was just leaving and we took his place. The anchorage was supposed to be beautiful - and it was for the most part. The coolest part about the anchorage however is exploring the bay and nearby set of small islands (Murray’s Labyrinth). Sara and I took Oakley ashore to potty and then came back for a rest before the whole family went out to explore. We saw several sea otters in the labyrinth and we went ashore to explore a couple of the beaches. We were unable to go inland as the tree/plant cover is thick/unpassable, but we did find some cool animal prints (looks like some kind of a small deer) and lots of fun shellfish/etc.
We also did some dinghy lessons while we are out. Progress is slow…
We came back for dinner and played a rousing game of Ticket to Ride before getting ready for bed. I checked the crab net one last time before bed - I have had no luck with crab on this trip - and lucky us! We caught 2! One was two small to eat so we threw him back but the other one was a keeper, so we threw him in the freezer to eat tomorrow. Whales, otters, labrynths, and crab - what a great day!
The following morning was pristine. The water was so flat you couldn’t tell where the island ended and the reflection began. I took Oakley to shore early - around 6a, disturbing the pristine water with the dinghy - and we departed the cove around 6:50a.
The weather rounding Cape Caution was as good as we could have hoped for - uncomfortable, but safe. There was a dense fog - such that our visiblity was only about 1/8th of a mile. The morning involved watching the chart plotter closely to avoid shoals and AIS to avoid any approaching vessels.
As we were rounding the cape, we had some huge rollers - probably 5-6 feet high but with of a period of 10+ seconds. You would watch the wave come in and it would feel like you were on an elevator - just going slowly up and back down again. I tried to capture it on video - don’t think it did the experience justice - but you can probably understand why Angela and Sara were sea sick all morning…
And then about 2 nm from our anchorage for the evening, the fog broke and the sun came out. Spirits lifted, stomachs returned to normal, and everyone came up to look for whales (and other assorted marine life). The last 4 hours were quickly forgotten as we pulled into a beautiful anchorage - with ACTUAL pristine white beaches!
Angela had a new lunch idea - Make your own salad day. It was a great one for Sara who doesn’t like salad, but loves contolling her own destiny. So we ended up with a caeser salad, a blue cheese salad, and a ketchup salad… :)
After salad, we went ashore to check out the beaches in the moment of sun - little did we know it was fleeting and rain was coming in. We found a small trapped tidal pool and the sun had warmed the water into a small hot tub - but a super salty one that we only wanted to put our feet into. Sara and I waded around a while - checking on the crabs and fish in the tide pool and Sara doing a bit of fishing - with a pole but no line or bait. After we had enough of the tide pool, we headed ashore on the trails to see the paddlers cabin marked on the map. This was a rustic cabin indeed, but it did have a small wood burning stove and the roof looked mostly water tight - would probably be a good place to rest on a cold rainy day for a kayaker.
Angela was journaling when we got back, so Sara and I worked on some projects - I had this idea to reroute one of the heater ducts into the bathroom. Before, one of the heat ducts goes into Sara’s room and it gets so hot in there (the only thermostat is in the main room) and the thinking was that if we could pipe it into the bathroom it could get super hot in there and we could use it as a drying room (when it’s cloudy/rainy and we can’t dry things outside). The strategy worked, although Angela is not a huge fan of having stuff drying in the bathroom (especially if it’s stinky) - so we need to just need to figure out a time of day for drying to make it work.
We have an anchor watch on our AIS that shows us how much we have drifted while on anchor. It also alarms when we go outside a pre-set radius. It’s also cool in that it shows you how far your boat has swung as the wind shifts throughout the evening. In past anchorages, our boat stays relatively still (swings within 10% or so) but we were swinging almost 90% on this one as the winds swirled coming around the point. A very comforting feature on a windy anchorage.
It rained basically all night at Fury cove - started around 4p and was still going when we woke in the morning. We quickly took Oakley ashore and weighted anchor - headed for Pruth Bay. This was supposed to hold the “best beaches in the PNW”, but first we had to get there. It was about 16nm on the map and I figured it would take 3.5 hours to get there putting us in at 11:30a. Sara awoke around 9a (she is going to bed much later these days with the sun staying up longer) and she/Angela had a rousing game of cards.
After a while, she came up to keep me company and play the Paw Patrol game - which is essentially talking about how much we love Paw Patrol in various ways (who would be the best pup to do …).
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We made it to Pruth Bay around 11:30a and dropped anchor. There is wifi available in the bay and we found out who is the social one between us (Angela got 65 text messages… and I got 1). :)
Despite the high bar set in the guidebook, Pruth Bay did not dissapoint. Angela declared it an 11/10 and I agreed that it was easily the best place we had stopped on the trip… We had dense rainforests and beautiful white beaches. Even in the dense fog it was stunning - and it was even better when the sun came out later. Our first trip ashore, we took the 1 mi hike over to west beach and did some beach combing. The bay has very well maintained trails - mostly on boardwalks - and the trails criss-crossed the island taking you from beaches to lookouts and back.
We had forgotten about lunch with all of the beauty and by the time we realized, we were starving. We raced back to the boat and Angela made some amazing grilled cheese sandwiches and soup for us. Lunch has become the biggest meal of the day for us and we all look forward to it even more than dinner.
After lunch, we headed back ashore. I didn’t notice this sign on my way to shore and it was a good reminder of just how remote we were - it was easy to forget with wifi and flushing toilets that we were really out here…
Our second hike of the day took us back to the beach and then up to a place called Lookout Hill - which had amazing 360 views of the beaches and the inland side of the island. The hike was relatively strenuous as we climbed the hill and Sara was flagging by the time we made it to the top. It was worth it though for the amazing views. We watched a bald eagle soaring below us - scouting for prey. We were at the top for probably a half hour before we started to get attacked by mosquitoes - golden hour has its downside…
Our day was amazing at Pruth bay and we vowed to return, but we have lots more to see on this trip. We left early the next day and started towards Shearwater - a small First Nations settlement with some basic amenities. It was going to be a long day, our origional plan had us stopping in Codville Lagoon first, but we discovered some secluded hot springs that we wanted to checkout - which will take an extra day to reach.
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The trip was very beautiful and remote. We chose to take some of the smaller channels rather than the main strait - which kept us away from a lot of the boat traffic. As we got close to Shearwater, the small boat traffic increased and I was trying to find each one visually (after spotting them on AIS - the system used to transmit the location of your boat and receive it from others) when I looked behind me and a massive cruise ship popped around this narrow channel into view. It looked so out of place here - like it got lost, aiming for civilization and ending up in this place of nature.
Shearwater was nice - but nothing special. These small remote marinas are an oasis in a lot of ways - water, fuel, food - but they are remote and it’s hard to maintain them properly, etc. Basically, necessary but not a place you want to stay for long. We got the necessities and made our plan for the next day - straight to Eucott hot springs! Intel from fellow boaters says this is a good one - so we have high hopes, but are trying to temper our expecations…