Canada June 4 - June 12, 2022

 

Canada Cruising June 4 – June 12, 2022

 June 4 –We woke up in Port McNeil and spent the morning at the Farmers market and also a logging show that were right at the head of the marina.  The logging event is a competition that is put on once a year and it was fun to see so many young people participating. It went all day but we only had a few hours in the morning before we needed to leave for Blunden Harbor.  It was cold and rainy by the time we left the docks and from what we have read it will be this way for the next week.  When we got to Blunden we put our Crab Pots out and spent the afternoon installing Fire Stick to SeaLife and getting their DVD player working again.  It is amazing how much StarLink has changed boating for everyone.  We have Iridium so we have had internet and Sat phone available but Magic and SeaLife both have added Starlink which is working amazing for them!

Waiting for the farmers market to open in Port McNeil!

June 5 and June 6 – We left for Nakwakto rapids area but the water was pretty good so the decision was made to continue on around Cape Caution.  The water was very choppy with wind chop but not a bad crossing and we arrived at Takush Harbor where we will spend two nights due to the winds.  We tried crabbing and shrimping here but no luck for anyone. It has rained hard over the last few days and the guys are doing boat projects indoors along with a two hour cruise around the area in Glen’s Jet boat and we finally saw our first bear!

                                                              Cape Caution

 June 7 –8   We woke up to a beautiful day of Sunshine for our cruise up towards Calvert Island and our next stop. We went to Adams Harbor and spent the afternoon exploring the beautiful white sand beaches around the Harbor.  Before dinner the guys decided we needed to move to a different anchorage before the predicted winds hit so we moved to Bremner Bay in Kildidt Sound. We ended the evening with our first Taco Tuesday of the trip on Nelsea! We ended up staying in Bremner Bay due to high winds and waves.

Magic Moment

 

June 9 -10  We had a break in the weather and we moved the boats to the Hurricane Islands- we  knew bad weather was coming and that we would be in Hurricane Islands for a few days  as the weather deteriorated from Gale Force to Storm Force warnings.  Gale force are winds from 34K to 47k while Storm force winds are from 48 knots to 63 knots.   We were well protected but even in our bay we had winds in the 20’s. We celebrated Glen and Liz's 44th Anniversary with dinner and cake on the Nelsea! Happy Anniversary!!

 

June 11- The weather has changed enough for us to move further inland and we stayed at a bay in the Rait Narrows for the night. It was nice to move further inland out of the winds that we had on the coast.

Our lineup is Bidarka, Nelsea, SeaLife, Magic Moment and Miner's Debt

June 12 – We moved towards Shearwater across the Seaforth Channel to Raven Bay. We saw our first cruise ship of the trip - The Disney Wonder.  The guys have put out Shrimp pots and Crab pots again since we are no longer on the ocean so we are hoping for more seafood!

 2022 Canadian Adventure around Vancouver Island

Canada Cruising May 21 – May 31, 2022

 

     We finally left Tacoma under clear skies on Sunday May 22.  We stopped at Des Moines to get fuel which is always a shock these days – $5.23 a gallon for Diesel and $5.06 for Gas.  Our first stop for the night was Port Ludlow where we stayed at the dock and enjoyed our first night sleeping on the boat in quite a while.  From Port Ludlow we went to Roche Harbor – by far our worst crossing – very windy and the water was all churned up – we got water all the way over the Fly Bridge wo we decided to get fuel($6.09!) and stay at Roche Harbor since the entire boat needed washing. We had dinner on Monday night with Allen and Sue at their new place on Henry Island which is beautiful! It was great to catch up as they have moved to Oregon now so we don’t see them often.

     May 24 – Tuesday we headed from Roche Harbor to Nanaimo where we cleared customs – we could not use Nexus so tied to the Customs dock to clear which was a fairly easy process. It was quite windy in  so we decided to stay at the Dock since the rest of our boats were all anchored out individually. We finally caught up to everyone and enjoyed a Mexican dinner at Gina’s in Nanaimo – we are travelling with Glen and Liz Dodge on Magic Moment, Tom and Chris Miner on Miners Debt, Dave and Jane Mehlum on Bidarka and Linda Collier and Mike Donegan on Kotare and it was fun to catch up with everyone.

    May 25 – May 26 – We left Nanaimo for Henry Bay by Comox and we anchored 2 boats – Nelsea and Miners Debt together and the other 3 – Magic, Bidarka and Kotare together since it was still quite windy. We left Henry Bay headed for Hjorth Bay where we spent the night all anchored together and we shared a meal of Clams, Oysters, Prawns, Bread and Salad – all fresh catches – an amazing meal.

     May 27 -May 29  –Friday we left Hjorth Bay headed for Octopus Islands to spent the night at anchored followed by a day hiking to the Lake – It ended up being a beautiful hike of about 5 miles round trip but a great way to spend the day.  We also checked out the Octopus Island Museum with all the mementos left by previous boaters – it is quite amazing!  Our plan was to leave on May 29^th and meet  up with Diane and Willard Thomas on Sea Life.  Linda Collier left early about 7:30 since Kotare travels slower than the rest of us – unfortunately she put Kotare on the infamous Octopus Island rock.  The guys tied the boat to shore as the tide was going out and would eventually lose 6 more feet of water and then we waited. Around 4:30 in the afternoon enough tide finally came in to float Kotare off the rocks – the prop and propellor appear to be fine but the Keel got pretty scraped up on the rocks. After tying Linda back up to the group, they determined that Kotare is taking on about 2-3 Gallons every 5 – 7 hours so Linda will head south tomorrow to get pulled out of the water.  We are sorry that their summer of boating with us has come to an end.

 

May 30 – We all left Octopus Islands and we met up with Willard and Diane Thomas at Helmcken Island to spend our first night with them.  Not a good place to Anchor – it was very rocky all thru the night but fun to meet up with them again.

May 31 -June 1 We headed out for Potts Lagoon – a great spot for Crab!  We also got quite a few shrimp so we had two amazing seafood feasts on Nelsea!

June 2 – June 3 – Its off to Port McNeil for two nights at the dock – we also fueled up ($6.35) and went to dinner at a new brewhouse named Devils Bath.  This was our opportunity to stock up – groceries, pharmacy, sporting goods store, Liquor store and even a farmer’s market and Logger show! Six of us took a cab to 7 Hills Golf and played 9 holes in a downpour of rain – wet but still fun to get off the boats and get some exercise. Another dinner on the Nelsea and plans to leave tomorrow for Blunden Harbor. As we were getting ready to leave so were the Seattle to Juneau Dangerous Waters group on JetSkis - makes me appreciate our travel accommodations on Nelsea when I see these.

 

Alaska 2021 - August 19 - August 23

 

Alaska 2021 – August 19- August 23, 2021

 

We left Klemtu on the 19^th and headed for Shearwater where we were able to spend a night at the dock and go out to dinner!  The Fisherman’s  Bar and Grill was open and we had a great dinner that night of Fish and Chips and  we were able to pick up a few groceries at the store for our journey south.  The 19^th ended up being our last night with Dave and Jane on Bidarka.  They are ready to go home so they decided to leave on the morning of the 20^th and head for home. We decided that we would rather take our time than race ahead so we said goodbye.  It has been a great summer cruising with them in Alaska.

On the 20^th we headed to Kisameet Bay.  It was a beautiful sunny day and we explored the bay. It is an Indian Reserve and someone is building some kind of operation there.  There is a floating dock, a ramp and stair system up to an area where they have installed some building structures. There is also a covered pit of some kind.  The area has been surveyed and there is a lot of material for fencing, water retention, a satellite dish,  etc . Perhaps a mining operation of some kind?

 

 

 On the other side of the bay was a river that leads to a lake.  Our hope was to find a trail but the one we found was very difficult along some survey tape so Liz and I decided to stay on the beach and let Steve and Glen explore. They made it to the lake and got pictures of a waterfall coming out of the lake where Salmon were making their way up to their spawning area. As muddy and scratched up as the boys came back I am glad we stayed and enjoyed the sun on the beach!  If you look closely at the waterfall picture at the top downed tree that is laying down over the water - halfway down the 2nd branch (right side of branch), you can see a Salmon jumping to get up the waterfalls! We followed up our beach tour with dinner outside on Magic Moment deck.  It is hard to believe that it is the first time we have been able to eat outside this summer and it was fantastic!

We went to Millbrook Cove in Smith Sound on the 21^st and then crossed Cape Caution on Sunday the 22^nd.  We anchored in Skull Cove on the south side of Bramham Island, south of Nakwakto Rapids. It is a beautiful area that we have always passed by on our way North so our plan is to spend the day exploring this new area- we went to the rapids the morning of the 23 and it is hard to describe so I have included three pictures. The first  two pictures are Nakwakto Rapids which are among the fastest in the world – they can run  up to 16 knots of the ebb and 14 on the flood and we went on the ebb (water going out)  when they were running about 11 knots and what an amazing site it was. There are six inlets in Seymour Inlet past the rapids and that is why the rapids run so fast – all that water has to come in and out each day with the tide changes so it is a huge amount of moving water going thru Nakwakto.   We also went out Slingsby channel where the water meets the Queen Charlotte Strait and the third picture shows the standing wave to the entrance caused by the water movement.  I have videos that are amazing but to large to share here. 

We left Skull Cove headed for Blunden Harbor where we hope to meet up with Willard and Diane Thomas on Sea Life for a crossover day before Steve and I head south. The others are going to spend some time playing in this area before also heading south. We saw Whales on the way to Skull Cove.