Winter Harbor to Sea otter Cove

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July 11, 2007:

When we awoke at 4am, the bay was flat. As we stumbled on deck to make ready for our departure to Sea Otter Cove, a line of fishing boats streamed by in the dim light of dawn. There were a couple dozen of those little boats all heading out to the good fishing spots, with brave and sleepy fishermen aboard.

We wound our way through the passage between Kains Island and Cape Parkins, and up the coast to Sea Otter Cove. The sun was shining and wind was north enough so a warm breeze was coming off the land. It was hands down the most pleasant passage we have had this season.

The entrance to Sea Otter was easy and the cove flat calm. There were three sailboats riding at the four available moorings, we took the fourth (50° 40.690’ N / 128° 21.070’ W).

Shortly after we were secured the other sailboats left, and we had the cove to ourselves. That afternoon we had a light northwest breeze, but the weatherman was forecasting yet another South Easter. Winter is still hanging on. We were planning to leave the cove for our slack tide rounding of Cape Scott at daybreak. At 03:30 the front went by and the South East winds came on strong. At 04:30 the weatherman was forecasting S.E. gales. We turned over and went back to sleep. Our rounding of Cape Scott, just ten miles up the coast from here will wait another day.

July 12, 2007:

The wind blew and Teal strained at the mooring as small white caps came through the cove, but we were very comfortable being here rather than making way up the coast in a gale.

About mid day a 39-foot trawler came through the tricky entrance and into the cove. He had come 34 miles, around Cape Scott, from Bull Harbor. He had to make several attempts in the strong winds to get a line around the mooring next to us. After he was secured, we chatted on the radio. He told us that Cape Scott was pretty lumpy, but the seas were worse as he got closer to Sea Otter. They still had to cleanup the stuff that spilled on the carpet in the heavy seas. We both complained about the vagueness of the weather reports, and he said in hindsight that he should not have stopped at Bull Harbor the night before.

July 13, 2007:

The South Easter blew all through the night. The winds were lighter at 0:4:30, but the weatherman was forecasting continued strong south easterlies. We decided to stay put one more day for more favorable conditions tomorrow. The day was windy and gray until late afternoon when the sun peaked through the clouds and we started seeing blue skies…. A promise of a great day tomorrow! This photo is looking seaward from Sea Otter Cove.



More to come,

George and JoAnne

Winter Harbor to Port Alice Yacht Club

July 8, 2007

Eclipse was sorting out some engine problems and decided to go to Port Alice with us to check things out.

We left mid morning and had a wonderful down wind sail to Rumble Beach the community serving the pulp mill at Port Alice.

We went into the Port Alice Yacht Club ( 50° 25.397’ N / 127° 29.131’ W ) and tied up next to Bob and Liz on “Curlew” a 33 foot sloop going around the Island from Comox, B.C. We had seen this boat every time we had visited Comox in the last couple of years.

Anna phoned Errol, the PAYC wharf finger (Canadian for Harbor Master) and within just a few minutes he drove up to the club and gave us a key to the locked gate. He also ran a 100 foot power cord from the power source to within reach of our power cords so we could charge Teal’s batteries. The next day after re-provisioning, we did laundry and took showers at Ozzieland a clean and tidy little trailer park a short walk from the yacht club; the most roomy and best equipped shower rooms we have seen north of San Francisco Bay.

Sail boats Jade I, and Autumn Win, seen at Winter Harbor, arrived later in the day and now all of us shared the single visitors’ gate key. That proved to be interesting at times…as the gate needed to be unlocked going and coming. Janet from Autumn Wine invited us to their “banana boat roast” bon fire party on the beach. Banana Boats are an adult version of s’mores. A shallow channel is scooped in the banana and filled with rum, choc chips, brown sugar, etc. The peel is brought back around the banana and sealed in foil, thrown on the fire to just warm up, and what tasty treats they were. Yum, yum.!

It was a fun time watching the ambers glow and identifying constellations of a starlit night. We headed back to our boats around midnight and realized that we haven’t seen the dark of night much since we started cruising, as we are usually in bed around 10pm when it’s still light.

July 10, 2007

Jade I, and Autumn Wine left early to keep their appointment with Quatsino Narrows and onto Coal Harbor to change crew. About mid morning Eclipse headed for Winter Harbor and Teal fished, without success, before going into Julian Cove for lunch and to check out the anchorage for the night. The cove was beautiful, but it was so hot we decided to head back to the coast.

We had another nice down wind sail back to Winter Harbor, this time in the opposite direction, a rare phenomena when sailing. We considered anchoring in North Harbor, but the winds were a bit fluky, so we decided to go on to the Outpost docks. Just about then we saw a whale spout, and the flotilla of sea otters were still playing in the harbor. On the way into Forward Inlet we saw a big male bear working the same beach where we saw the female with the two cubs. A lot of wild life for such a short distance.

When we arrived at the Outpost docks, Eclipse was already tied. The winds in there were really blowing and the moorage was pretty rough. We appreciated help getting tied to an inside dock. The wind blew like crazy until around midnight.

More to come,

George and JoAnne

Klaskino Inlet to Winter Harbor

July 7, 2007

We awoke to sunshine, collected our traps to find two small rock crabs and just 8 prawns, before heading to Winter Harbor.

After getting into Forward Inlet and out of the ocean swell into smooth water, we hung out the trolling gear and started to fish for a salmon. We didn’t go much more than a few boat lengths before getting hooked up with a small Coho. Lost that one, and within a few more boat lengths we had another. This one found his way to the boat;

and with dinner secured, we headed for Winter Harbor to clean the fish and moor for the night.

On the way in we spotted a good-sized female bear with two cubs.

After topping off the fuel tanks we secured moorage at the Outpost Resort Docks (50° 30.562’ N / 128°01.663’ W) with at least six other sail boats doing their circumnavigation of the Island, the most we have seen this season. It must be summer.

On the way to the fish cleaning table, we met Anna and Lew on Eclipse, a 33 foot Sweden sloop, trucked out from their home at Darien Connecticut. They had a hors-d'oeuvre get-together with Jeff and Sally from their beautiful cruising boat “Grace”. We all had a good time visiting. Jeff and Sally were doing a circumnavigation of the Island as a shake down cruise in preparation to cruise south to Mexico and on to the South Pacific later this year

Bunsby Island to Klaskino Anchorarge

July 5,2007

We left the anchorage and the other boats at sleep and made an early run around Brooks Peninsula, Solander Island, and Cape Cook. This passage can be nasty so we wanted to make our rounding before the forecast afternoon NW head winds built. We had calm, flat seas until approaching Solander Island when the wind started to build, and we were getting some spray in the cockpit, but Teal rode it out in good order. When we rounded Solander the wind and seas laid back down and we had a smooth, dry reach over the 6 to 8 foot swells into Klaskish Inlet.

We went through the very narrow passage into totally protected Klaskish Basin (50° 15.361’ N / 127° 44.007’ W), and took one of the three unoccupied floating moorings. There was a fishing party on an aluminum charter boat tied to the other.

We kicked back, watched seagulls vying for space on a single drying rock, and numerous eagles diving for herring, and enjoyed the warm afternoon sun and a peaceful evening/night on the mooring.

July 6, 2007

Awoke to a great sunny morning and listening to our satellite radio of a slow speed chase on I-5 in the “Grape Vine” vicinity of southern California, as we cruised along – closest we’ve been to highway traffic since we left Bellingham in May.

We had a smooth passage through the reef into Klaskino Inlet, and through Scouler Pass to a beautiful anchorage (50°18.400’ N / 127°48.620’ W).







We set the crab and prawn traps before anchoring and kicking back to enjoy the scenery in the warm sun. This summer stuff is all right, for a change.




More to come,

George and Joanne

Kyuquot to Bunsby Islands

July 4, 2007

About the time we were getting ready to shove off for Bunsby Islands, Roly and Marianne on Tropic Isle came into the cove and tied to the dock. We visited with them for a while. He brought Marianne here to catch the plane and head back to work. We missed having a chance to get to know her. She’ll be back with Roly before the summer is over, so maybe our paths will cross again.

Late morning we headed out in a light drizzle for the Bunsby’s. It was a fairly smooth run and the sun was breaking through.

After getting through the passage through the reefs, we saw some interesting sea caves and water falls along the way. This is just one of several equally spectacular grotto's.

There are two nice coves in the Bunsby Islands, we took the west nook (50° 05.943’ N / 127° 31.557’ W). There was a US Grand Banks 32 at anchor in the cove and shortly after we set the hook, a US sailboat came in and anchored. It must be summer as we are seeing more and more boats, most all heading south. It really felt good to bask in the warm sunshine for a change.

Mid afternoon Roly came in and pulled along side, held up about a 35 pound Smiley (Canadian for spring run Chinook Salmon) and said “You want some?” I replied, ”Certainly.” He moved a short distance to anchor and cut up the fish. The skippers from the other two boats, who had been communicating with him on HAM radio, went over to Tropic Isle and visited for a while. After they left Roly put his skiff in the water and came over with a large hunk of that fish.

The three of us dined on that beautiful salmon and had a wonderful evening talking about our adventures. Roly has been cruising British Columbia Waters for 40 years, and routinely cruises north along the west coast of Vancouver Island to the inside waters of the Broughton Islands, where we first met him at Joe Cove two years ago, and north coast of British Columbia.

Roly returning to his boat after dinner)

More to come,

George and JoAnne