MAY 10, 2022 – SHEARWATER TO BOTTLENECK

John had some interesting conversations on the dock last night first with the crew of a very large commercial vessel that looked like a fishing boat but in fact had about 8 giant spools of fiber optic cable on the back deck. They said they were under contract to lay cable all over the area, up to Ocean Falls, Butedale, Hartley Bay and all up and down the coast. They go until they run out of fiber then return to a hub like Shearwater to get resupplied, then head back out again. There isn’t enough sleeping space for the entire crew required to do the work, so they hire shadow vessels to follow them to provide necessary accommodations. Then John struck up a conversation with the local First Nations fishermen and asked how they were doing fishing, and what areas were open. They shrugged and said “I don’t know but the fish are here!” So, this morning, John headed out fishing while I baked my sourdough bread. He was only gone a couple of hours so that’s always a good sign and sure enough, I looked over the side of the big boat and a really nice Chinook lay in the bottom of the Boston Whaler. Score! We spent an hour processing the fish for the freezer and cleaning everything up then cast off for our next destination, Bottleneck Inlet. This was probably our worst water on the trip so far. Our transit required us to go out to the open water in order to turn up a certain channel to follow the inside passage. The water was nasty out there. This time we had the large ocean swells but also some chop, so we were rocking and rolling. After about an hour of that we were able to duck back into calmer water for most of the trip, but back out to the rough water one more time to get around the last piece of land and into another calm channel. Now we are set with inside passages all the way to Prince Rupert. Bottleneck Inlet is always gorgeous, even though it was lightly raining and overcast today. Snowcapped mountains and a giant waterfall are across the channel to the west, and shear walls surround us on both sides shallowing up to a beach at the very end. It’s called Bottleneck Inlet because you have to transit a very narrow and shallow entrance before it opens up into a larger bay suitable for anchoring. Soon we gathered - first on Lucky Dog for a round of cards and a celebratory drink, proud of ourselves for enduring the unpleasant water and not giving up, followed by dinner on Esperanca. Thanks to our collective hunting and gathering we dined on fresh grilled salmon, with a side of shrimp and crab louis salad with homemade dressing, and fresh sourdough bread. A very good evening. Tomorrow is a long running day starting at 6:30AM so we are early to bed. PS – not to make anyone jealous, but John and I have had fresh crab melts for lunch for the past 3 days!!