JULY 20, 2022 – PORT McNEILL to DICKSON ISLAND

Headed out early to do our short crossing of Queen Charlotte Sound which was glassy smooth but full of sticks, kelp and other debris so one had to pay close attention. Ran into some fog as we neared Wells Passage which is typical weather for this area. After getting settled into our bay, anchor down and all that, John extracted all the fishing and crabbing gear and we soon set off for a morning/afternoon of fishing, with a picnic lunch packed. First stop was to let down the crab pots at a place that was reportedly good for crab, (per the manager of Sullivan Bay Marina). I had serious doubts about that referral when we arrived to the bay and found nothing but kelp beds at the edges which isn’t typically indicative of good crabbing conditions, but I figured maybe he knew something I didn’t so we put them down with fingers crossed. As we were doing so John noticed a little black bear on shore just watching us, so of course I dropped what I was doing and took photos, but with all the fog they didn’t turn out too great. Anyway, after that we went to James Point and beyond for some salmon fishing. The water remained calm throughout our adventure even when we ran to the outside shoreline of the sound, so in that respect it was a super pleasant outing. Additionally, the sun was gallantly attempting to penetrate the fog, creating a nice greenhouse effect resulting in warm temperatures on the water. Alas the fish were not there today, except for these cute little rockfish that we just released. As the afternoon progressed by 3PM the fog burned off and we enjoyed a beautiful sunny afternoon on the hook, except for the cool wind that decided to show up late in the day. John puttered away the afternoon and fixed a few nagging things around the boat while I took a much-needed nap. After dinner, the wind had died down and the sun was still shining so we took a ride around the bay soaking up our new surroundings, and had a most delightful cruise. In Port McNeill I downloaded a new TV series to try called “Pieces of Her” with Toni Collette, whom I like. We watched two episodes this evening and it’s quite the thriller so far.