PENDRELL SOUND ON ANCHOR, GORGE HARBOUR, SQUIRREL COVE (Again), AND BACK TO PENDRELL SOUND

LAST POST OF THIS BLOG (Unless something really exciting happens)

Tuesday, August 4^th through Wednesday, August 12^th

I’ve been told that it is disappointing when my blog just abruptly stops, so I am writing this last post to close out the season. We've concluded our "adventure boating" trip to Alaska and have wound down to family time and a lazy return to home. We’ve had a WONDERFUL week starting August 1st with the Kids, Grandkids, and the Alvords and their clan. The kids were in the water every morning until dinner time, paddleboarding, swimming, playing “King of the Hill” on the Alvord's giant floating mat, eating up a storm, falling into bed every night exhausted (parents exhausted too!) only to get up and do it again. We went clam digging and oyster collecting one morning, and took them with us to our next stop at Gorge Harbour for 2 nights. We spent 4 glorious nights in Pendrell all rafted together, sharing meals, swapping stories, and floating behind the boats in our pool toys too – the warm water wasn’t just for the kids! We pulled up anchor on Friday, August 7^th, and took the whole flotilla over to Gorge Harbour where they have a nice pool and hot tub, grocery store, laundry, and garbage drop. We had two nice gatherings on shore at the Gorge’s picnic tables so as not to have the mess on any of our boats! Friday night we cooked up the clams two ways, one a traditional wine, butter, garlic broth, and the other a thai red curry/coconut milk preparation. Rounding out the meal was clam linguine, Caesar salad, and olive bread from Trader Joes. It was a feast! Then we enjoyed live music on shore hosted by the marina into the evening, it was a lovely day. Saturday night we had Happy Hour on shore at the picnic tables and cooked up all the oysters, again the kids delightfully playing in the water at the beach below. Endless entertainment for the littles when there is water to play in!

This week we have Ashley and her boyfriend Alex on the boat and plan to do some fishing, prawning, oystering and clamming, and of course more sunning at Pendrell Sound and surrounds, and then they fly out Saturday, August 15^th. From there we will start to make our way back to the states, attending our club’s rendezvous at Roche Harbor on the weekend of August 21-23, and eventually making our way back to Bellevue by September 1^st. UPDATE: Fish caught! Ashley has her limit!

It’s been a great summer of adventure boating, so many memories, but I am ready to be home. We have been way too sedentary and my jeans show it! Too much good living and not enough exercise. When we were with the Alvord family, their daughter Angie who is a crossfit instructor, led Lori and I through the senior citizen workout one day, and I was sore after that! I should have been doing that workout all summer and maybe wouldn’t be fluffy! Oh well! Anyway, thanks for following along this summer for those of you who stayed connected. Until the next adventure…..Happy Travels to all.

Floating on a hot summer day with our adult beverages! Nothing better.

Never seen so many seaplanes in Pendrell Sound as we have this summer!

                                                  OUR TRIP ROUTE 8/2 THROUGH 8/12

SQUIRREL COVE TO PENDRELL SOUND

Monday, August 3^rd

John went out fishing in Lewis Channel this morning to see if there are any salmon out there, and I rolled over and went back to sleep! He came back around 9AM with stories of small salmon caught and released along with a string of dog fish of all things! Dog fish are related to the shark and look like a small shark, ugly fish and not good eating. They are the scavengers of the bottom. I needed to grab a few things from Refuge Cove store before we went up into Pendrell Sound which is far away from everything, so took off in the whaler to head over there with the intent of meeting John back in the channel nearby. The whaler needed fuel which is a slow process because it burps when you fill it up so you have to go super slowly on the fill. Finished up fueling and shopping and out I went to hook up to the mother ship for our slow putt up to Pendrell. We need to make water underway so that we can keep up with demand and also syphon some off for the Jordan and Katie’s boat as well! There was a stream of boats also heading up to Pendrell at the same time so we were wondering if we were going to find a spot that would hold 3 to 4 boats because our besties Lori and Jeff are headed this way with their family to hook up with us – can’t wait!! Doesn’t happen often that they are able to join us boating, we always seem to be on different schedules. We secured into a nice spot among other boats as it’s very crowded up here, but it’s a good one. Lori and Jeff rolled in around 6PM, travel weary as they had a super long day, we all had dinners on our respective boats and visited into the evening.

Our nice spot in Pendrell Sound

Nina, Jordan and Katie's Au Pair from Germany

Coming back from tubing

BIG BAY/STUART ISLAND TO SQUIRREL COVE

Sunday, August 2^nd

Today we had a choice of leaving in time for the 7:45AM slack, or the 1:15PM slack and chose to leave early. Jordan and Katie and the kids are on their way up from Pender Harbour this morning to meet up with us, and we all chose to rendezvous at Squirrel Cove. It is BC Days weekend which means Monday is a holiday, so we thought it was a good place to hang out until hopefully the crowds clear out tomorrow. We found a spot to drop anchor right inside the bay and soon the kids arrived and rafted off with us. The grandkids were SO HAPPY to see us and giddy to be together. Today there is a “Dinghy Concert” in Refuge Cove with a guy playing Yacht Rock off the back of his boat. A dinghy concert means you float in your dinghy while listening. We took both Jordan’s tender and ours over to Refuge around 2:30, threw out an anchor and enjoyed the sun while it was out, in between wind gusts which were a bit chillier! The littles lasted until about 3:45, then we decided to take everyone back to our boats. It was burger night and movies on the boat, then hit the hay, was exhausted for some reason…..oh yeah, grandkids wear you out! Love them to pieces however. Nonstop energizer bunnies!!

Anchored in Squirrel Cove

Miss Emma 

Papa John holding onto Emma who really wanted to swim but settled for her feet dipped in the water

Refuge Cove Dinghy concert

Asher huddled under the boat cover because he insisted on swimming then was cold

The Dinghy concert, this guys was really good - fun afternoon

BIG BAY, STUART ISLAND ON THE DOCK

Saturday, August 1^st

Woke up to a slight reprieve in the rain which was so welcome. However, today there are thunderstorms predicted which are typically accompanied by rain. John went fishing this morning for bottom fish but….skunked again….there’s a theme here. It’s been super disappointing for him, he is used to catching! Since it’s my 65^th birthday year, and we (I) celebrate all year (heh heh), I decided to treat myself to a massage at the resort across the channel, and a polish change on the toes which were long overdue (I think the last paint job was in Juneau). Of course it was max current out in the channel so I didn’t want to do that by myself in the whaler, so John took me over there and it was really running hard indeed. We slowed to approach the dock and soon found ourselves being swept over near the rocks so had to power up to get to the dock safely. I had a glorious morning getting a fresh coat on my toes followed by a deep tissue massage, a new woman! Refreshed. They are so gracious and welcoming at Sonora, well sort of….they treat us really well indeed but we are escorted everywhere, they don’t allow us to walk the grounds on our own. All good, I understand, there are people paying a lot of money to be there! John picked me up around 2PM and took me back to Big Bay. He’d been helping with setup all morning and returned to finish helping while I took a shower and got ready for the auction event. The rain would come and go, but when it came it was with a vengeance – a downpour! Just before the event started the rain let up and stayed clear for a whole hour before letting loose again! The entire crowd was huddled under the porch or tent awnings. Since nothing interested us in the live auction we bought 10 books of raffle tickets instead, and ended up winning a Rod and Reel, a portable 22” Blackstone Grill, Dinner for 2 at Blind Channel, and 3 nights moorage and dinner at Fisherman’s Landing. A haul! This event is typically during the nicest weather, and many times really too warm. Tonight I was dressed in jeans, a thick sweater, my Grunden raincoat and rubber boots – quite a difference! I was still chilled so we left the auction before it was over and went back to the boat to warm up and hit the sack. 

The Charcuterie Board at the auction

                                    The Seagulls taking over the dock, what a mess

                                                        The Auction underway

BLIND CHANNEL TO BIG BAY, STUART ISLAND

Friday, July 31^st

Today we were fortunate to have a leisurely morning with no real rush to get off the dock. Our destination today is Big Bay on Stuart Island (2.5 hour trip) which has some of the most dangerous rapids in the world, and one must time transit carefully so you arrive at slack current, or more accurately, when the current turns. The tide was going out so we had the tide coming at us the entire trip, slowing us down to 7 and 6 knots at time, when normally we’d be traveling at 10 knots. We got settled on the dock at Big Bay just as it started to sprinkle. Sprinkles turned into downpour, which turned into a drenching dump. And it didn’t stop! All afternoon and evening. So we had an “indoor” day on the boat, naps, reading, and eventually I made dinner. It was a new recipe “Chicken Florentine” from the NYT Cooking App and it was delicious, I would make it again for sure! Served it over rice which soaked up the rich creamy cheesy sauce, just so good. We watched a movie then hit the sack, truly an unremarkable day. Those are OK once in awhile.

For those interested, here is a link to the Devil's Hole, the whirlpool that can happen right out in front of Big Bay where we are staying, this can sink boats if you're not careful.

https://youtube.com/shorts/M94gOWj2zCs?si=js4g1XrsZXjDhrKg

Getting ready for the Auction tomorrow, it's going to be a soggy one!

Our trip today from Blind Channel to Big Bay

LAGOON COVE TO BLIND CHANNEL

Thursday, July 30^th

Today was a 6AM off the dock day as we made our way to the Johnstone straits, about an hour and a half, part of the way more slowly as transited a few narrow shallow channels. The Johnstones were not predicted to be whipped up but as I’ve said and experienced before, you just don’t know until you are out there. It was another bluebird day on the water thankfully, barely a wave along the route, so it was quite pleasant – and we got to see more whales! As we approached Blind Channel, a large vessel was approaching on our starboard stern and it turns out it was Popeye! Friends of ours from MBYC, Roger and Karen Orth, travel with the folks that own Popeye, Joel and Julie, every summer and we always look forward to catching up with them! Docking at Blind Channel is rarely without current and today we had quite a strong push OFF the dock in our assigned slip. There was already another boat in the slip on the other side and not a lot of room between our boats, so with meticulous precision and some necessary horsepower, John masterfully got us to the dock without incident, with lines thrown to the waiting arms of 4 of us on the dock! I had taken the whaler into the marina separately so met Huntress at the dock. Abells had the same experience – power and precision to battle the current. Once all tied up we watched Popeye come into the dock. Because they are so large, they have to set two anchors in the channel, then back into their linear dock end tie and secure the lines. The dock isn’t strong enough to hold them without the placement of anchors and I had never seen that process before so it was fascinating to watch. We were wandering about the grounds when someone said "ORCAS coming through!" So off we went back to the boat to watch for the arrival of the Orcas. Unfortunately, there were two whale watching boats tailing them, way too close I might add, which seemed to rush the whales past us rather quickly. It was really sad to watch them being pursued like that, wrong in so many ways, poor creatures. Later we invited Roger/Karen, Joel/Julie over for Happy Hour with the Abells on our boat and had just a delightful visit! Roger and Karen knew both Greg’s and John’s parents, so that was fun reminiscing about their shared times with them. We all went up to the restaurant for dinner which is always killer good, after which Joel and Julie invited us to come visit them on their gorgeous vessel. We so enjoyed their company, and it was a great night overall! 

Our friend, Roger, shot this nice photo of Huntress on our way into Blind Channel

Orca in the distance, blurry but it was so far away

Our journey today from Lagoon Cove to Blind Channel

LAURA COVE TO LAGOON COVE

Wednesday, July 29^th

We had a leisurely morning and pulled anchor around 9AM. The Abells pulled out and then we began the process of undoing our anchor and stern tie. The process starts with disengaging the stern tie from shore, which in this case we had looped around an existing rope loop that was secured to a substantial cedar tree trunk. However, our stern tie line ended up getting stuck in the rope loop so John had to tie it off to the boat and use horsepower to extract, thankfully we didn’t break the loop around the tree. It was a 30nm cruise down to Lagoon Cove winding through many narrow passageways. We saw so many whales again today! Abells had one go right under their boat which was at idle because they saw it coming! I saw two tails in perfect sync dive down but I couldn’t raise my camera fast enough. We arrived at beautiful Lagoon Cove, a tiny well run remote marina on West Cracroft Island, another favorite stop. I took a nap and the boys went for a hike, I think Connie caught up on her blog!  The buildings on the dock are quaint, a tiny store with candy bars and ice cream and a few miscellaneous items, a “swag” hut where they sell logo wear, and a fish cleaning/crab boiling building, with BBQs. The owners host Happy Hour for all the boaters each evening at 5PM and provide a bucket of fresh peel and eat local prawns, while the boaters supplement by each bringing a dish to share. They have a lovely deck and it’s a great social hour to meet fellow boaters. After a huge Happy Hour feast, none of us needed dinner, thus went straight to cards! It was an early night since tomorrow we leave early for Blind Channel through the Johnstone Straits with wind and tide against us. It’s almost always better to leave as early as possible because typically the wind picks up in the afternoons. 

We think this is a Golden Eagle but not sure? He just didn't have the markings of a juvenile Bald Eagle, so making a guess

SULLIVAN BAY TO LAURA BAY

Monday, July 27th and Tuesday, July 28^th

Laura Bay (near Echo Bay), about 15nm from Sullivan Bay, is one of our favorite stops along the way through the Broughtons. It is tiny and only fits a few boats so fingers were crossed that we would get a spot and sure enough, nobody was there - Fantastic! It requires an anchor and a stern tie – for our non-boating friends, a stern tie is a line that runs from the back of the boat to something on shore, like a boulder or tree trunk, and holds the boat in place so it doesn’t swing on the anchor. We deployed our anchor and John secured the stern tie, then Abells came alongside and rafted to our boat. Just as we arrived another boat was right on our tail to get in there so they ended up near us also with a stern tie. The weather was iffy with showers and squalls sprinkled in between sunbreaks, but we decided to throw down some crab and prawn pots anyway to see what was there. The boys then went out fishing to see if there were any salmon around. Around 4 Connie and I set out to pick the prawn pots but when we got out there it was truly deadliest catch weather and unsafe, so we left the prawn traps and went to pull crab traps, which only yielded a couple of crab - including one enormous male that was soft shell so we had to throw him back. He had to be over 8”!! Mostly caught a bunch of females. The commercial guys were in the cove too so we figure they cleared them out.   Hunkered down this evening as the wind picked up and overnight turned into a downright storm. The next morning we awoke at 6AM to a monsoon, it was raining sideways and blowing hard with sheets of rain whipping across the bay – I was sure we were doomed for the day when all of a sudden at 7AM it just stopped cold in its tracks, nothing! No rain, no wind. It was the weirdest thing! Connie and I went out to check pots and managed a few prawns and a couple of crab including the same soft shell giant male which we once again threw back! What a pig eating all our bait. The boys went fishing again and Connie and I had a glorious 2 hour kayak adventure – her fit bit reported it was 3-1/2 miles of paddling. Needless to say between that and the pot pulling, our arms were wiped out! The afternoon crab pot check revealed that same male crab back in the pots, off he went to the bottom again with his “get out of jail free card”. I wish we’d have taken a picture of him, it became a bit comical after awhile to continue to catch the same crab! When we were out kayaking we heard a cat meowing and discovered a black cat on the tiny islet in our bay – what?? We weren’t sure if it was owned by the boat next to us or a stranded cat, so I paddled over to the other boat and asked and they said “oh yeah, we just take him to the island and dump him off so he can explore”. OK…never heard that one before for a cat, dogs yes, but cats? Anyway, actually seemed like a pretty good idea unless an Eagle was in the vicinity. Mid afternoon we decided to go visit Echo Bay Marina and see how it was faring since it was sold to a First Nations corporation. Pierre and Tove used to own the marina and created a huge following with their big pig roast dinners that boaters flocked to from all around. They had a way of making your stay there so festive and fun! We'd heard it has since become run down and not maintained well, and it was accurate. We stopped at the dock because they advertise a small grocery and gift store and all these amenities. We were greeted by a rather grouchy person that had a huge chip on his shoulder making our interactions with him very uncomfortable. We will not be back. From there we motored around the back bay and next bay over, it was a beautiful afternoon for exploring. Back at home base we each made our own dinners and played cards afterwards, which we always do! 

Sullivan Bay Fish Cleaning Station

Sullivan Bay Gas Dock, Shed and Grocery Store

Iconic pole at Sullivan Bay

Our prawn haul for the day!

Thousands of Mussels hanging from branches

Connie kayaking

Beautiful morning with a sun tunnel

Rats nest of abandoned logs in the back bay

Crushed shell beaches

Abandoned boat in Echo Bay

We were trying to figure out why this old houseboat was on its side and surmised that perhaps someone salvaged the floats and then disposed of the house? Seems logical

Fire debris, clearly some structure burned down

This 1926 Beauty was docked at Windsong Village, across from Echo Bay

First Nations banner at Echo Bay

SULLIVAN BAY

Sunday, July 26^th

Clearly I have been neglecting my blog but as our trip winds down there isn’t as much to write about. We stayed July 26^th at Sullivan Bay for a second day and today I went out salmon fishing with John and l had a blast! I had to relearn salmon fishing as I lost the first two, landed the third, and lost the fourth bite. We fish with barbless hooks so if the fish gets the slightest bit of slack it shakes loose from the hook. It all happened in this tiny bay across from Sullivan Bay and each time we passed over this one spot I’d hook one up. Anyway, the keeper was a nice 15lb Chinook! We tried our hand again at bottom fishing (unsuccessfully) before heading in to the dock. Tonight is our last night together for the summer as a flotilla – Bryans are peeling off for a longer stay in the Broughtons, so we hosted a celebratory cocktail party on our boat and thankfully the weather cooperated streaming some warm sunshine onto our back deck. The gathering was just supposed to be light appetizers and cocktails at 5:30, but ended up lasting until 10:30 and nobody made it to their respective dinners. Abells brought a bottle of champagne for a toast, and also all the makings for duck farts (Kahlua, Crown, Baileys) so suffice it to say we did not have a healthy dinner but had a fun evening!  

RIVER’S INLET TO SULLIVAN BAY (UPDATED)

Saturday, July 25^th

5AM Alarm, 5:15 Start Your Engines, and 5:30 Underway. The forecasts all point to a smooth crossing but as we know, sometimes forecasts are wrong. Not today! The forecasters were spot on and how thankful we were. We had probably the best crossing of this trip, and perhaps the best crossing John and I have had in recent memory. At times we had huge 6’ rollers but they were big and lazy, no chop whatsoever. We took the inside route along the mainland coast, the only hazard of which is passing the Slingsby Channel. On an ebb tide, the water gushes out of Slingsby Channel at very high speeds dumping it into the Queen Charlotte Straits colliding with ocean swells coming from the opposite direction, along with any other wind and tide action going on. It can be super volatile and dangerous with stacked waves appearing out of nowhere. Luckily, Slingsby was on flood tide when we drove by which was no issue, we had researched the night before to make sure it would be a safe crossing. The last 4 hours of the trip were just glassy smooth waters, couldn’t have been better. I did not sleep last night finally getting up around 3AM so that John could rest without me flip flopping and keeping him awake. Thus, I felt 1000 years old today, so exhausted. I was able to take a cat nap while underway so that was a bit refreshing and helped but tonight will be an early night for me. We are all secured at the dock at Sullivan Bay, where it is currently pouring, and it appears that the weather will be rainy in the coming days as well. Sullivan Bay makes the MOST delicious cinnamon buns on the planet, and we have two on order for tomorrow morning. I don’t know how they make them, but I wish I could be there to watch. No frosting or any topping, just gooey with sugar and cinnamon that is caramelized throughout. So incredible. John and I are heading out to see if we can catch some ling cod soon, even in the rain. There’s a place nearby where we always catch them so hoping for a repeat. The forecast for the next 5 days is pretty much rain. The Broughton's are our most lucrative hunting grounds for fish and shellfish so we are going to “buck up buttercup” and dress for the weather and hunt and gather anyway! Off we go! Will report back later. I love ling cod fishing....so fun (and it doesn't last for 5 hours at a time like salmon fishing, but don't tell John I said that). 

AFTERNOON UPDATE: Lingcod fishing is bottom fishing, meaning you let your lure hit the bottom and quickly reel it up several feet so it doesn't get caught on the rocks. From there you jig your pole up and down to make your lure "swim" and look like a distressed herring. Well, I have clearly lost my touch as I lost 2 lures right off the bat. The first one got stuck as we drifted from 85' of water over a 25' shoal and I wasn't paying attention. John handed me his pole which was down, so he could try to dislodge the one I got stuck. As he was doing that, his pole also got stuck on the rocks and we lost that one too! Sheesh. From there on out I said "I will just watch from now on!!" John caught a couple undersized ling that we had to throw back, and then 3 beautiful spiny rockfish in a row, also released.  Finally the third lure we had brought also got stuck so we packed up and left without our lings! First time ever we've been skunked there, but oh well, our fault, or should I say mostly my fault!! It was pouring the entire time as well, but was a warm rain at least so we didn't get cold, and we were all bundled up in our rain gear anyway. Whipped out some TJ Potstickers for dinner from the freezer, played a few rounds of Rummy then hit the sack. 

One of the many charming buildings at Sullivan Bay

The manager rides the docks on an electric bike and here we see him dragging a wheelbarrow full of tools and maintenance materials behind the bike

Our trip video for today