We went through Draney Narrows at the last of the flood current, about three knots, and trolled our way to Robert Arm. We caught a good-sized black cod that provided two nice fillets for our table and the remains a good amount of crab bait. We then picked up and headed for the anchorage. We anchored at the head of the inlet after setting the prawn trap in about 220 feet and the crab trap in about 80 feet on our way in.
Shortly after getting anchored, the sun broke through the cloudy sky. We watched several seals, each feeding on their own school of herring, making them boil on the surface of the water with enough frenzy to make the whole show audibly clear across the anchorage.
On our way to the head of Draney Inlet, the next morning, we collected 2 large Dungeness crabs in our trap. 
When we got to the prawn trap, we discovered 37 good-sized prawns on that haul and five little Spider crabs that we popped back into the drink.
The abandon logging site was the last A-frame yarding operation in B.C. The folks who are now caretakers of the old fish cannery town of Namu were involved with this operation also (more on them in a later post.).
We couldn’t find a suitable spot to anchor at the head of the inlet and opted to go into Allard Bay, a little inlet on the north side. We found it to be a secure, tranquil anchorage, and for dinner we enjoyed a prime rib eye steak, and freshly caught prawns.
We found the anchorage at Johnston Bay full of crab pots and a few prawn traps to boot. We still had plenty in the frig, so did not bother setting our traps. Several boats came in to check their pots, but we didn’t see much success. We had a peaceful night anchored in about 60 feet.
We later heard that while we were there a female grizzly with cubs was using the Johnston Creek tidelands. That beach was around the corner from our anchorage and all the bear scanning we did with the binocs didn’t bring that beach into view. Bummers!
We did enjoy watching six eagles balancing on tree limbs “eagle eyeing” the waters looking for that easy catch. They had no luck while we watched, but did a lot of maneuvering from limb to rock to tree. We heard wolves howling off in the distance, and a low growling noise accompanying it. That could have been mama bear.
The next morning we headed up to the head of Rivers Inlet where we passed many upscale fly-in fishing resorts, many of which were carved out of the old cannery ruins, and scores of salmon fishermen pounding the waters. According to the chatter on the radio, we heard that a few fish were being caught, and at the resorts, the bragging boards list the big fish brought in, but we have yet to see anyone actually fighting or landing a fish. Where are those fish today? Salmon runs at one time supported 17 fish canneries in Rivers Inlet.
August 4. By mid-afternoon we pulled up to the dock at Dawsons Landing, took on fuel, and tied down for the night. The M/V Chai Yen (John and Mary from Blaine WA) came in and tied behind Teal. We had a good time visiting with them. They too are heading north and we look forward to seeing them again this summer.
Dawsons Landing is a general provisioning area. They have cottages where folks stay while they fish and explore the area. They’re open all year, and they say the winters are fierce – very cold, windy, and it rains everyday. In winter they cater mostly to the local First Nation people (Native Americans in the US), and lumbermen who live in the area. Very rustic docks and again brown water. Everything they need or sell must be barged in. We saw the barge very precisely brought into the fuel dock while we were there.
August 5. After a leisurely breakfast and one more visit to the store we headed for Oyster Cove in Fish Egg Inlet, stopping on our way in the anchorage to set the prawn and crab traps. A little cove named Fish Trap Cove where the local Indian Band constructed fish traps from rocks can be seen at low tide. 
After cleaning our catch, we headed for Purth Bay at the end of Kuakshua Channel on Calvert Island.
Purth Bay is the site of an exclusive hotel resort in a provincial conservancy allowing cruisers to land their tenders at the dock & use the trail to the beautiful white sand beach on the ocean side if the island.
While at the beach we met two families cruising together from Port McNeill. They were cruising on a large converted seine boat “Western Cloud” and a modern motor yacht “Island Life”. So the large family of kids had a lot of room to run around. This was to be the first of many times our paths would cross in the next few days to come. After returning from the beach, we watched the freight barge come in to the dock and unload provisions for the hotel.
We then moved Teal from the somewhat open anchorage in front of the hotel to a little cove that bites into the south shore of the bay. We anchored next to the Port McNeill bunch that were rafted together in the cove. We had a peaceful night.
The next morning we woke to a light, yet wet rain, and decided to divert from our course to Shearwater and stopped at Kiltik Cove on Hunter Island about half way. It was a good choice, on our way up Fitz Hugh Sound a southeast wind started to build white caps.
That night, while secure in our anchorage along with two gillnet fishing boats, the winds were reported to have been 50 knots.
Next Blog: Kiltik Cove to Codville Lagoon
Stay tuned, George & JoAnne
© 2006 George Benson. Reproduction of any of the material on this log without written permission from George Benson is prohibited.
