QC Strait to QC Sound

5/14/11

Clam Cove

No bears yet.  I’m sitting in Shearwater Marina, about 3 miles from Bella Bella, and have seen no bears.  There’s even signs here in the marina saying “Be Aware of Bears”.  I’ve talked to a few people here and they say the trick is to go to the end of an inlet with a low valley, a river, and berries.  I should see them.  So my next endeavor is to do just that, without wasting too much time in getting up to Alaska.  Or I may do that in Alaska.

Bye Bye Vancouver Island!

Oh yeah, and I’ve seen no whales either.  Apparently they are a little harder to find, and entails actually going offshore a bit.  I’ve mapped it out on my planning chart and will try to get outside some of these islands to take a look, when I’m closer to Prince Rupert, and the weather cooperates.

Route to Fitz Hugh Sound

Blue Bossa has made quite a few miles going north, with some interesting stops. 

Another pic of BB in Fury Cove - looks tropical, doesn't it?

I left Port Hardy, after enjoying 2 days there.  A part of one day was spent with the crew and skipper of Sea Wolf, the people I described in my last blog. They, having more money than me, rented a car and we toured through the town, which is a goodly walk away, stopping to buy groceries, I went to the drugstore to get some vitamins (alas, I didn’t go to the bank to get cash, so now I’m down to $10 in Canadian currency.  There’s no bank here in Bella Bella/Shearwater, so I’ll have to rely on either my US currency, or credit cards.  Oh well!).

Going crazy w/pics at Fury Cove

Anyway, the main event was that we went to the local bowling alley to play a few games.  This is a really old fashion place that has smaller lanes, and there are only 5 pins, spread out in a perfect V.  The bowling balls are the size of bocci balls, like a heavy softball, no finger holes.  It was really hard to make strikes, but I managed to get about 2 or 3.  The lady that is also the owner was nice enough to score for us (no built-in computer scoresheet).  And, as they say in yacht club functions, a good time was had by all. Having some beer helped.

BB and the kayak in Fury

I had to do some planning to get to Queen Charlotte Sound; the stop-over before going offshore are a few places among the islands north of Point Hardy, or going directly across the Queen Charlotte Straits to some coves on the mainland.  I opted for a cute little hideaway on Negei Island called Clam Cove.  It faces north, but is very long and encloses quite nicely; it made it a very restful stop. 

Still dense in Fury Cove - no bears!

I left the next morning at 8 am to a light southeasterly, and, to put on extra horsepower, thereby decreasing the rpms of the engine and the gallons-per-hour, I rolled out the jib (and only the jib).  The southeasterly continued to build so by the time I passed Cape Caution, the wind was blowing 20-25 knots and, by then, I had the engine off, sailing by jib only.  Sailing very close downwind works great if the mainsail is not up blocking the wind.  It was a great sail, but it was also raining hard, so most of the time I was in the pilothouse, occasionally adjusting the course through the autopilot.

Kayak paradise - Fury Cove

Fury Cove

One of the things that I especially enjoyed on that trip was the moderate west swell that was coming through…it made it very interesting with the combination of the building south chop from the southeasterly, creating some nice holes to surf down on.  I hadn’t been out in a swell since I crossed the Juan De Fuca Straits.  I missed it and was glad it was back again.  That and now there was only land on the right-hand side, and no land on the left, whereas for the last 8 months, I’ve been continuously surrounded by land.  That was pretty cool too.

Looking at Fury Cove from outside

Finally, about 3pm, we arrived at Fury Cove, a very quiet spot protected by about 3 islands, the west swell crashing on the outside islands.  It is definitely one of my favorite stopovers.  Though there are no places to hike around, it’s a great spot to go kayaking, as there are a lot of places to explore.  That’s what I did the next morning, enjoying a spectacular clear and sunny day. Going outside by way of the many shallow kayak entrances, it was pleasant to watch the westerly swell crash on the rocks.

Geezer: "I think I could catch that wave..."

Watching the shape of the waves reminded me of surfing.  I do miss surfing, but if I was to try again, I’m sure I’d be floundering, and it wouldn’t be fun.

Going up Fitz Hugh Sound

I eventually migrated to what looked like a white sandy beach, almost tropical with the clear sky and sun shining down; the water was very clear and turquoise over the sand.  On closer inspection, it turned out to be a mixture of sand and crushed seashell.  I had a great time tromping around, looking into the (DENSE) forest (no bears), looking for whole seashells, which there were not, and taking lots of pictures.

Green Island Anchorage - super quiet

In the afternoon, we upped anchor and went up Fitz Hugh Sound to Green Island Anchorage, about 20 miles to the north, and anchored there.  It wasn’t as nice as Fury, but it was really quiet, protecting us from another southeasterly with lots of rain.  I shared the cove with a modified old wooden tugboat, and a fishing boat - a very quiet anchorage.

Green Island Anchorage

Next day, we continued up Fitz Hugh Sound, with a nice current and wind behind us, past Calvert Island, past Hecate Island, and past Hunter Island, where we took a left up Lama Passage and dived to a cute little place on the left called Fancy Cove.  It was a great stop over with a view out to Lama Passage of the commercial ships passing by, which there were quite a few, as we were now on the main inland passage way for smaller ships, barges, and yachts going north and south.  The cove was convoluted enough that I didn’t feel any rocking from the wakes created by those boats.

Fancy Cove looking at the Lama Passage

I got up at a decent hour and upped anchor and headed BB up Lama Passage to Bella Bella, a small fishing village on the left.  It looked a bit run down, and I read that Shearwater Marina, about 3 miles eastward was much nicer and had showers, which I’m always on the lookout for.

Fancy Cove looking inward

Shearwater is a very nice and scenic place, and like all other key waypoints in the NW, it’s going to get crowded with yachts and fishermen/adventurers in a couple of weeks.  It has a nice hotel where the hunters/fishermen/adventurers usually stay.  There have been already a bunch of boats that have stopped by, all big trawler-type powerboats, most going up north in a hurry, one actually going south.  I am staying here 2 nights (leave tomorrow morning). 

Fancy Cove

Today, I put another coat of varnish on my stern cap rail, and finally pulled my chain out and spray painted some zinc chromate on my chain to mark 50’, 100’ and 150’.  I’ve tried all kinds of ways to mark my chain to figure out how much of it I have down – I’ve used wire ties (they come off and are too hard to see), and I’ve tried these spongy marker things that I found on the boat (with the same results).  Now, the bright yellow paint should be easy to note while I’m letting my chain out.  We’ll see how long it lasts.

Tug and barge - didn't see it coming until this shot...yikes!

By now, the daylight hours are very long – it gets light by 5 am, and dark by at least 10 pm, and feels like twilight by 11pm.  It gets harder to go to bed at a good time, although it’s made easier by a slide shade that I installed underneath my forward hatch – making it much darker inside my forward cabin over my bunk (in proofing this blog at the outside of the pub, it's 8pm and feels like it's 5!).

Bella Bella - looks like a little Mexican town

The next couple of weeks will be aimed to getting to Ketchikan by June, where I’ll probably stay for at least a week in completing projects that I need to get done on the boat.  After doing some research, I have found a shipping place close to the marina in Ketchikan where I will get some stuff shipped to me.  I have to replace my broken water heater and pump-out pump for my holding tank.  As well, I’m going to install a couple of large solar panels on top of my davits to help supplement my electrical storage when I’m at a place longer than a day.  Add to that, I need to make some plumbing adjustments to the hydraulic lines of my pilot house steerage, which I’ll need a professional to do that.  Other than that, everything seems to be working great, especially my engine (KNOCK ON WOOD).

Shearwater Marina

So this is my last blog until I get to Ketchikan.  So far the weather here in Queen Charlotte Sound has been controllable.  Crossing my fingers.  Stay tuned!