Sincerely, Denise

 

KHUTZE INLET TO KLEWNUGGIT

Tuesday, May 26^th

At dinner last night we took a vote whether to stay another night in Khutze or move on, and it was decided that we’d move along to Klewnuggit where we can crab and prawn, and hang out there for 2 nights maybe 3. We have our moorage reserved in Prince Rupert for May 29-30, still 3 days out. Klewnuggit is about 80 nautical miles away so quite a long run for us, but we will be that much closer to Prince Rupert which gives us more options on our itinerary, and it’s a beautiful day out! We stopped briefly at Butedale Falls for some boat photo ops but the low light and mist made for some dark photos. Butedale was founded in 1911 as a logging and fishing camp and at one time had up to 400 people living in the community, eventually boasting a hydroelectric plant. There is a large dilapidated cannery onsite that shut down in the 1950s and is derelict. Currently there is a group of investors that has a grand plan to redevelop the area into a premier fishing and marine destination, creating a desirable stopover spot for mariners along the inside passage, but to date it hasn’t made any progress. When we stopped here in 2018 the owner was very enthusiastic about the prospect of development and had grand scale mockup drawings and brochures about what was to come. I am not sure what has happened along the way, but to date to my knowledge and as visually evidenced, there has been no change. This tidbit about Butedale I got off Google but it’s interesting

The "Lights On" Legend: When the camp was abandoned, the hydroelectric plant continued to run. Because no one turned the turbines off, the lights of the town were left burning, creating a famous and eerie ghost town that passing mariners and BC Ferries noted.

After departing Butedale, John and I decided to cruise close to the shoreline of Princess Royal Island and Gribbell Island to look for the elusive white Spirit Bear, which is also known as the Kermode Bear, a subspecies of the black bear with a genetic mutation causing the coat to be white instead of black. These two islands and a third contain 15% of the Kermode Bear population but they can also be found other places along the Central and North Coast of BC. I look every year we get up this far, but have yet to see one. I might have to sign up for the Spirit Bear tour out of Kitimat someday, just to click that box. So far today, and it’s only noon that I am writing this, we have seen two pods of dolphins, and the other two boats saw a pod of Orcas (we were busy on the other shoreline looking for Spirit Bears). Lots of lumber in the water today as we transition to the Grenville Channel, fondly known as “the Ditch” because it’s long and skinny and a rather boring section of the journey.

The wind picked up this afternoon as we approached Klewnuggit blowing 20+ and making spray. Once tucked way back into the westernmost arm of the inlet things were quite calm. Today the Bryans were solo on anchor, and Abells tied up with us. We are in a good crabbing location so I was chomping at the bit to get the pots out. The crabbing spot is at the other end of the bay however, so about a 10 minute whaler ride to get there, but Connie and I set off to drop the pots after getting settled at anchor. Wind was still howling down the main entrance channel which hit us broadside when we came around the corner, neither of us dressed completely right for the occasion! I had my rubber jacket and leggings, Connie had rubber pants and a sweater as we took the waves broadside and spray came cascading over the boat, soaking our non-rubber parts. Oh well, it’s a beautiful sunny day. Back where the crabbing area is, the waves weren’t as big so we quickly got the pots set and motored back to the boat, at times 2-3 footers! It was all stirred up. Dinner tonight on our own, but played Mexican Train and cards until 10 with the Abells, always fun. We love card games.

Photo Shoot at Butedale Falls, Huntress

UnforgetAbell at Butedale Falls

Far Niente at Butedale Falls

That would leave a mark,,,,big piles of debris on today's cruise

All that's left of the Butedale settlement, cannery on the left

Close up of cannery

Close up of uplands and dock, Butedale

The "Vision" of a future Butedale, would love it if it came to fruition!

Klewnuggit Inlet, we are anchored at the Circle at the top, and Crabbing grounds are bottom left at the X, so it's a long run, relatively speaking. The inlet where the crab are, is called Exposed Inlet, aptly named. We had some waves back there on the first day!

Connie and I in our cold weather gear out crabbing. Even though it's sunny, it is a chilly wind.