We complete our north BC section of the trip, heading through Klemtu, Bella Bella, and then on to Pruth Bay.
8/31/2023
We aimed to get going at 6a again, but the last couple of days built up and it wasn’t until 7:15a when we got underway. Our goals for today were Klemtu (11 nm away) to refuel and then on to Bella Bella (an additional 36 nm) for the night. We thought this was a fairly realistic goal given how well we have done over the last 3 days. On the way north, it look us 8 days to complete what we just finished in 3 days - some of that was due to the rest days/detours we took on the way north, but much more of it is due to estimating currents when their is no prediction, favorable winds, and optimizing our comfort underway - so we can spend more hours of the day going. Something about going home just feels different as well - like some other unknown force is also pushing in our favor.
We said goodbye to Work bay - we really enjoyed this anchorage. It’s was very cozy and well protected - a great home for the evening.
As we pulled out into the main channel, we ran into some dense fog. Combining that with the spring tide, which has floated a huge number of massive logs into the water, meant that the morning was nerve racking and required constant attention from the person on watch and a slower speed than normal. Thankfully the seas were calm, so once you spotted the log is was trival to avoid it.
About 2 hours in, the fog lifted right as we were approaching Klemtu. The fuel office had moved to an old resteraunt a few weeks ago, so it took some finding. I didn’t realize that Klemtu used to have a resteraunt - the station attendant informed us that they closed it because they had such a hard time bringing the chef in from Hartley Bay and “nobody in this town wants to work”. I think he was a bit disgruntled because he had worked every day for the last 2 weeks - apparently the other gas station attendant was unreliable. Having a resteraunt, dock, and other ammenities in Klemtu would be really an awesome add - the town is perfectly located to split the difference between Prince Rupert and Hartley bay and would be a good rest stop.
The dock was full of life at the low-low spring tide. We saw a number of sea invertabrates that we rarely see - the rose starfish, sea cucumbers of different types, and several scale/pile worms. Really only exciting to the coastal invertebrates enthusiast - which it turns out all of the Woodard family has become…
We opted for the outside route into St John harbor this time around, instead of taking the longer Mathieson Channel route we took on the way north. We ended up partially regretting it - once we got outside of the protection of Swindle Island, the seas started to build and made for a slightly uncomfortable trip. We had the big elevator rollers that you often get on exposed areas but there was a also a smaller beam sea that hit us all the way across. On the positive side, the trip was short. A 15-20 knt wind on a perfect beam reach pushed us at 6-7 knt all the way across. The longer route might have taken us 3-4 hours, but we pulled around the Ivory Island lighthouse in less than 2 hours.
The seas calmed as we made our way into Seaforth channel and despite being on an ebb tide, the current was in our favor - as our friend from Taku said “if you ever figure out the currents, let me know”. I took this opportunity with calm seas to clean some crab and make crab cakes. This was my first attempt at crab cakes and they were very different from any that I have had in resteraunts, but they were quite good in my opinion. Sara did not like them and Angela claimed they were quite good, but only ate a bite - so you do the math. Maybe they weren’t actually that good…
We ended up pulling into Bella Bella around 5p - 2 hours earlier than even our stretch goal. We didn’t need fuel, but we topped off on water and took Oakely ashore. Bella Bella was much nicer than Shearwater - but they don’t have docks for any transient moorage so we couldn’t stay. Apparently, most people either anchor near or tie up at Shearwater and then take the water taxi over. That seemed like too much complication and since we still had daylight, we continued south towards Lama Pass where we found an anchorage called Lizzie cove.
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This cove was apparently where the Name caretakers relocated after they closed up shop in Namu in 2014. Namu was an old cannery that some entreprenuering caretakers turned into a fun stop for boaters - with floats that sold baked goods, gift shop, etc and people could tour the old cannery. The floats are now tied up in a corner of Lizzie Cove and look like they are in a slow state of decay.
Lizzie cove was a fine place to stay for the night, it appears that there is a public float but with calm seas we opted to anchor in a small bay on the west side of the cove. We had a fun walk ashore - mostly exploring the remenants of prior human habitation. I don’t know this cove’s history, but there was clearly something here that is long gone. Angela was on a sea urchin skeleton hunt after her find last night and she found 6 beautiful shells of all different colors and sizes - they were quite beautiful.
We again stayed out until the sun started setting and made our way back to the boat. It was aother long day but we had covered another 58 nm in record time and we were proud of our accomplishments. Only 30 nm to Pruth Bay tomorrow and a much needed rest day.
9/1/2023
We decided to get a slower start today since we had only 30 nm to go. Good thing too, we woke up to dense fog to the point where we couldn’t even see the shore 300 ft away. Just before 8a, we decided that we had to at least take Oakley ashore. It was errie motoring off into the white wall of fog with the boat slipping away behind us, but we both pinned the boat before we left to make sure we could make it back.
We were ashore for probably 5 minutes before the fog finally started to lift and we could see the boat clearly again. The tide was way out and Angela had a grand time tidepooling - so much so that I had a hard time pulling her away 45 min later. Here’s a few quick pics from the morning.
At 8:30a, we finally headed back to the boat - and Sara was awake, waving at us from the cockpit with her lifejacket on. So cute! We got underway around 9a and finally made it out of the fog at 10:30a. Thankfully the vis was around 1/4 nm, so we had pretty good warning for the excessive logs out here. Unfortunately, it was not quick going - we averaged about 5 knts during the day - but we saw a lot of whales and Ward Pass was really beautiful in the sun (it was rainy on our way North). High tide was at noon and it was really high - the lowest trees on the coast were getting salt spray.
We made it! We got into Pruth Bay at just after 3p, getting to Pruth Bay was a huge accomplishment for us. We had a really rough time in North BC on our way up, so getting through that was a huge weight off. We still have Cape Caution to do, but after getting to Pruth Bay we feel like we can do anything.
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Oddly enough, there were no other boats here when we arrived - going north there were at least a dozen. The only ship we saw was a massive Canadian battleship - efficiently named the battleship702. They seemed to be shuttling people back and forth to shore - maybe a rest day?
We dropped anchor in 60 feet and headed to shore to explore the beautiful West Beach again. It was just as beautiful as we remembered it. We ran into a number of the summer staff coming back from the beach - wearing their hawaiian shirts and board shorts. We spent almost 3 hours on this beach before we decided to follow the half mile trail up to North Beach.
The trail was strangly dark - the forest was dense in this part of the island and the sun was starting to get low in the sky. It was a short trail though and it went along a very muddy lake for part of the way - just a reminder that we were still in the PNW before we got to another stunning sandy beach.
North Beach was spectacular, but the family was getting tired and we didn’t stay long. We headed back to the boat for dinner - a 4.5 mi hike around Pruth Bay was exactly what the family needed.
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We had a delicious dinner - hot dogs, beans, and mango desert - and off to bed. So excited to be in the same place for another day!
9/2/2023
We checked the forcast this morning and it looks like tomorrow will not be a great day for rounding Cape Caution - 15 to 25 knt winds and 2-3 meter seas. Monday looks better - 5-15 knt winds. If the forecast holds, we are thinking we will make for Fury Cove tomorrow morning to shorten the Cape Caution crossing and then make the crossing in the morning on Monday.
But that’s tomorrow, today we decide to go hiking down to the southern beaches. There are 5 beaches going south and we want to explore them all. Our favorite was horseshoe cove - a smaller beach with a constriction on the entrance that made the beach horseshoe shaped. There was also a small creek that ran into the beach - which was great for Oakley who prefers the freshwater streams to the water we bring along for her.
By the time we got back to the boat it was after 4p - we hiked the whole day and barely went 5 miles. But we certainly did play! On the way back, we picked about 2 cups of Sallal berries - which I amazingly found to be sweet. My current hypothesis is that Sallal berries need to ripen on the vine for the whole season before they become good. Anyother hypothesis is that huckleberries are only good in the early season - all of the huckleberries I have eaten in the last two weeks are very bitter. Blueberries are good all season - but the small ones are better than the big ones. The small onces have more taste and the big ones get these tiny worms that are kinda creepy/gross (even though they don’t taste like anything and probably won’t hurt you).
We got back to the boat and made Sallal berry pancakes, bacon, and eggs for dinner. It was very tasty and we were very hungry from a full day of beaching. We spent the rest of the afternoon lounging and watching movies - with the goal of taking the kayak out after dark to see the bioluminesce. I’ll include that in the next post, along with Cape Caution - which fingers crossed we will take on the day after tomorrow!