Past Cape Caution and on to Calvert Island

Jade 1 Wing-on-Wing (taken from Koukla)

We had a relatively early morning (for me, at least) - up at 0630, breakfast done and Ray and Kathy arrived shortly after 0700 for an 0800 departure.  There was the promise of a very good sail, with the weather forecasting 25-30 knots Southeast which from any other direction would be a problem, but being behind us, would be great sailing!  The wind in the marina was already 18 knots, and made it difficult to turn around and get off our berth.  But leave, we did...and by the time we'd sailed five miles northwest, we had 10 knots of wind, and had slowed considerably. We shook out the reef we'd conscienciously put in on leaving, but even with full sail it was slow. So back to motorsailing....with out 5 knot speed from the motor, the 10 knots of wind behind us effectively becomes a 5 knot wind (extremely light, and not much help), so we had a very quiet motorsail across Queen Charlotte Strait, arriving on the northeast side of Queen Charlotte Strait in Richards Pass, by 1230.  The wind finally picked up to 15 Southeast, and we were sailing again, and getting a lively sail, broad-reach, passing Harris Rock, and approaching our goal - Skull Cove.  We lowered the sails, and the engine refused to try to start - not sure if the start button had a dirty contact, or we have a solenoid problem.  The wind had died to almost nothing, so we lowered the dinghy into the water, tied her alongside, and used the outboard motor to propel ourselves toward the anchorage.  One more try on the starter, and....no problem...it started!  So by 1400 we were safely anchored in 35 feet of water, in Skull Cove - a pretty little anchorage, which we had all to ourselves.  I did a bit of contact cleaning, but couldn't find a problem with the starter - every try worked, and turned the engine.  So after a nice dinner and a few cocktails, we had an early evening.

Skull Cove

Tuesday, May 28 - Another early day, partly because I wasn't sure about getting the engine started right away, and partly because the weather was forecast for SE gales late morning.  I'm happy to sail in such weather, again, when it's behind me....but we needed to clear the reputedly nasty Cape Caution first.  The engine started up right away, and we were away by 0630, motoring northwestbound in calm seas.  By 0900 we were abeam Cape Caution, with the BC Ferry Northern Expedition a mile further off.  By 1000 we were off Egg Island Lightstation, with light northwesterly winds developing.  The newly issued forecast at 1030 advised we should be experiencing Southeast 15-20, becoming gale force by noon - when actually we were getting light northwest winds.  By 1300 we entered Fury Cove on Penrose Island, with light NW winds, and set our anchor in one of the prettiest anchorages in BC.  It has lovely white sand beaches surrounding the anchorage like an atoll in the south Pacific, and for wind, it's pretty bomb-proof.  We have no way of knowing if the gales ever came...in our quiet little spot we never saw more than occasional catspaws on the water, and a patter of raindrops on our coachroof as we settled down and read.

Fury Cove Anchorage

29 May - We'd had a few early days, so today was a bit later....up at 0800, leisurely breakfast, and up anchor at 0900.  We again had calm conditions, and motorsailed into Fitzhugh Sound, northbound for Pruth Bay.  Not a very long run, and by 1200 we were turning into Kwakshua Channel, anchoring at Pruth Bay by 1300.  There is a Government Research station here, with marine biologists doing various studies ( we met one studying Sea Otters).  They also have a conference centre and lodge, as well as wi-fi which is accessible from the boat - hence the blog entry today.  Ray and I took a hike on their well-maintained trails, to visit West Beach (the other side of the island on Hecate Strait), and North Beach (Hakai Pass)....both of them very pretty sand beaches.

Panoramic View of West Beach

Goin' for the Gwaii - Message in the sand similar to one we posted here 3 yrs ago on trip to Alaska

Waterlilies in a lake on the trail to North Beach at Hakai

Waves breaking on West Beach, Hakai

Port MacNeill

Linda and Kathy managed to drive up the Island from Courtenay in only 2-1/2 hours, arriving at 1130.  They brought new stock for the boat, and all was good with the world!  Our friends on Koukla sailed into the marina shortly after noon, so we made plans for a dinner party onboard.  We also met a couple from Seattle, on the sailing boat "Osprey", a very pretty dark green 44 foot boat.  They were enroute to Alaska, and had written a couple of books about their sailing adventures in Alaska, and on the West Coast of Vancouver Island.  They also offered to come over and go over our charts and info on Haida Gwaii, as they'd completed several trips to the Charlottes, including the West Coast, where we are headed.  So with a nice visit with Linda and Kathy, a bit of shopping, we were in a party mood by early afternoon. 

Ray, Kathy and Don during Happy Hour (Linda taking Photo)

We managed to entertain the six of us for dinner, and then Steve and Elsie from Osprey, so we were feeling no pain by late evening.  Ray had booked a separate room at a local motel for his conjugal visit, so Linda and I had the boat to ourselves for the night, followed by a brunch for the four of us.
We spent the day exploring Pt. MacNeill, and topping up the water tanks and tidying up.  Koukla will be following later on, as they have a small mechanical and a dental problem, and have decided to stay on a few days to sort out these things.

Kathy showing off the World's Largest Burl, and local Museum

We are now off for a roasted lamb dinner on Koukla, followed by an early evening and an early start tomorrow.  Forecast winds are for 20-30 knots southeast, which is strong, but behind us.....so all is well.  It may be a few days for internet access for the next post on the blog.

Walking into the Marina

Troubleshooting, and Crabs

After Koukla had departed our anchorage for Village Channel, we had a bit of lunch, waited for the tide so that we could get a push into Port MacNeill, and then sailed off the anchor at 1400. With fair winds and mostly favourable tides, we managed to sail into the harbour at Port MacNeill by 1630. So far this trip had resulted in trying most days to catch crabs, with no luck. As soon as we were tied up to the dock, we lowered our traps into the water right at the dock....it seemed as good a place as any to store them, rather than on deck. Then a bit of meatloaf for dinner, to use up some ground beef which had thawed and had to be used soon, and a couple of wee drams to celebrate our arrival here.We didn't bother to get up until after 0900, had a leisurely breakfast, and then, after registering with the harbour authority it was time for some work on the boat. Lifting the traps we had caught a very nice dungeness crab, which is now in a big red pail waiting for a surf and turf dinner with our wives tomorrow. We may even catch another one by then! Ray was talking to his wife on the phone, and learned she was in sunny, warm weather coming home from Vancouver....we were in pouring rain, and we could see our breath – quite a difference a few miles makes around here! Ray worked on various jobs around the boat (fuel transfer, tidying up, laundromat, etc.), while I ripped apart my electrical panels to find a bothersome poor or corroded connection. I found a couple of suspect places, but still had my problem...so reconnected all of my battery cables, switches, and bus. That fixed it. But we still had problems, this time with the head (toilet). Our toilet is normally very trouble-free, and operates using a vacuum system. To do this, it has rubber seals, which had to be replaced. Luckily, I had the spare seals, and was able to do the repair – so we are now back in business again. Time to order some more spares to replace the ones we used. It has been a full day of troubleshooting, but we are now back in good condition, and waiting for a visit from our wives tomorrow.

This guy will be dinner tomorrow night

On to MacNeill, with whales

Almost as soon as we'd posted our blog, entering Johnstone Strait, our cell signal died, and the wind came up Southeast. There had been no mention of this wind in the forecast, but we took advantage of it, and soon found ourselves sailing at 7 knots, wing-on-wing (that's with the fore and mainsails on opposite sides to catch the wind from behind). By 1030 the weather forecasters had changed the forecast to reflect reality, and we'd decided to take advantage of this by-now sunny day with a following wind. So instead of turning up Havannah Channel, we kept going up Johnstone Strait to make a few more miles of northwest. By 1400 we'd made it to the west end of Johnstone Strait, and were rounding up past Cracroft Point into Blackney Pass, which was running a 4 knot current against us....but by staying East, out of the main current we were able to minimize, and sometimes even get a backeddy push. It was here we saw our first whale of the trip....a humpback relaxing on the surface. By 1500 we had our anchor down in a pretty little bay on the north side of Hanson Island, with Koukla still keeping us company. In spite of our best efforts, we continued to be without crabs.

May 23 -

We spent a quiet night in the anchorage. I've noticed a few anomalies with my electrical system which I want to check out when we get dockside at Port MacNeill, which will be later today. Koukla is interested in finding those elusive crabs, so is leaving us for Village Channel to find their seafood and perhaps explore the abandoned native village of Mammallillaculla. We will then meet up again later, in Port MacNeill. Linda and Kathy, our wives, are planning to drive up to Port MacNeill for a short visit before we leave Vancouver Island for the North and Central Coast....so we'll be staying likely until Sunday or Monday before continuing. That should provide a bit of time to troubleshoot the electrical problems, restock a bit (we really don't need much other than perhaps a bit of fresh veggies), and, of course, visit Linda and Kathy!

Our first whale...a humpback

Koukla motoring past us in Johnstone Strait

Sailing Wing-on-Wing, Johnstone Strait

Working west while waiting for wind

It has been several days now, since being able to put anything in the blog....so time for a trip update.

We had stopped at Stuart Island, waiting for slack water to get through Gillard Pass and Dent Rapids. As our departure time at 1100 became imminent, we went to start up the engine – nothing happened. With a bit of quick troubleshooting, it became apparent that the starter button contact itself was the problem....so a bit of contact cleaning, and we were running again, and off the dock by 1115 – just in time to make the slack water. The weather forecast, however, was for strong northwesterly winds. So instead of fighting that, we turned down Nodales Channel to anchor up in Thurston Bay, which is a nice little anchorage, and also a Marine Park. With the dinghy in the water, we did a bit of exploring around the bay, and set out our crab traps. Barbecued pork chops for dinner, and an early night of it. The following day (19^th May) continued with strong westerly winds, so we stayed put. None of our crab traps had anything in them, and in fact, one of them went missing. We had seen a small (local?) powerboat in the vicinity of our traps, and suspect they may have taken the one trap. At any rate, we moved the remaining three closer to our anchored boat. Then we decided to have a go at fishing, so dinghied out of the bay (no fin fishing allowed in the park, but OK outside) and spent the better part of the afternoon trying to catch something. Weeds and bottom turned out to be our only catch, so we returned to the boat to finish off our leftover chicken (except for the big pot of soup which remained in the pressure cooker). From the forecast, it was looking like we might get lighter northwest winds by Wednesday, so decided to push on, heading through the “backwoods” instead of Johnstone Strait (Cordero Channel and Wellbore Passage), to stage ourselves in Forward Harbour for Wednesday. Again, tide demanded we time our passage to arrive at Greenpoint Rapids for slack water (made it right on), and then got a bit of a push through Whirlpool Rapids, and into Forward Harbour. As we nosed into the bay, our radio indicated a call from our friends Donna and Cosmos, on their 56 ft. Morgan sailboat, “Koukla”. They called to see where we were....and ......surprise.....it turned out we were both in Forward Harbour! So it was a bit of a reunion, with Ray and myself invited over to Koukla for appies and dinner. Next day (Tuesday) was another waiting for weather day....so we took Cosmos' very powerful and larger dinghy to the east end of the bay, hoping to catch some crabs. The anchorage started to fill up, and by supper time, there were 9 other boats anchored in the west end of Forward Harbour. We managed to burn our burnable garbage on shore, have a shower, and prepare dinner for ourselves and Koukla. Our traps again yielded nothing in the way of edible fare. We will just have to keep trying. It was a pleasant evening with our friends, as we reminisced and listened to the patter of the rain on the coachroof. Surprisingly, we had the heater going even though it is late May.

So today is Wednesday, 22 May. We are motoring in calm seas, about to turn out of Sunderland Channel into Johnstone Strait, with a very light tidal current against us, and no wind. Just abeam are Yorke and Fanny Islands, which are of interest – Yorke Island was the site of a WWII gun emplacement to guard against sneak attacks by Japanese or German boats coming up the inside passage, and Fanny Island is a reporting point for Comox Traffic. We can get telephone service from a cell tower near Kelcy Bay, and using Ray's Iphone, with his hotspot app, we can get this blog published. From here, we'll be heading up Havannah Channel today, and then working our way further west in the coming days.....not sure when we'll get another shot at wifi, but as soon as it happens, we'll post again.

Yorke Island, Fanny Island, and Calm Seas

Tides make the day and the way

We got underway just after 0800, waving goodbye to our lovely loving wives.  In spite of the weather forecast for moderate Southeasterly winds, we found a totally calm and smooth sea with no wind.  The mainsail was raised more for stability than drive, as we motored northbound.  In order to catch a push from the tide, it was necessary to get 5 miles offshore from Vancouver Island.  A ressonably uneventful motorsail then ensued, but we managed to finish off a couple of pots of coffee, a few strudels, and we chatted on the radio to a friend from Comox Coast Guard Radio (JM), and sailing buddy Gary, who hailed us from his home as we passed by.   By 1230, we were past Mittlenatch  Island, with the promised southeast wind coming up.  We continued motorsailing, but now getting an assist with the genoa out, and with 10 knots of wind were motorsailing at close to 7 knots.  Timing seemed to be right to make the tide to run through Surge Narrows, east of Quadra Island....but not enough time to make it through Yuculta/Dent Rapids beyond it.  We'd decided not to go through the other option - Seymour Narrows to Johnstone Strait, as Johnstone gets nasty with the forecast Northwest winds and a following tide (pretty much need the following tide, and southeast winds, or take the other way to the east).  So Surge Narrows it was....and we arrived right on time at 1600, slipping through the calm waters which roil and boil at any other time other than slack.  Five miles beyond, and we were securely anchored for the night in Waiatt Bay.  A few cocktails later, we were ready for our roast chicken dinner.  and an early bedtime.
Early because of the tide, again.  We had to make slack water for Hole-In-The-Wall, another roily bit which calms down at slack water.  So up at 0500 and underway by 0530.  We timed the slack nicely and motored through the rapids, proceedin a couple of miles to the end of the channel.  Interestingly, the tide runs opposite to the channels on either side (Okisollo and Calm Channels), so we could transit this one on the beginning of a flood tide to get to our next challenge - Yuculta and Dent Rapids.  It was still early in the tide change, and we were able to use the backeddies along the shore to transit Yuculta Rapids into Big Bay on Stuart Island.  Here we found the community docks, where we presently sit tied up, waiting for the next slack water to continue across the bay and transit Dent Rapids at slack water, becoming an ebb tide.  So we've spent the first two days working the tides, and hopefully by this afternoon will be north of these intersting challenges to continue northbound.  Next challenge will be the forecast Northwest winds, supposedly coming up fairly strong by this afternoon....so we may still end up "holing it" for a few days, waiting for weather.

Waiatt Bay Anchorage

Not so turbulent Hole-In-Wall

Goin' For the Gwaii

Time to start another sailing adventure.  This time, sailing from Comox for Haida Gwaii, returning via the west coast of Vancouver Island.  Linda is not keen on this one, so I'll be doing it with the help of Ray Fountain, who owns a similar boat to Jade -1, s/v "Summer Breeze".  It's been a bit hectic the past few weeks getting the boat ready for another long trip, finding problems with the autopilot, depthsounder, and various smaller parts....all now quite serviceable or replaced, and several months' worth of food has been stored onboard our 32 foot sailboat.  As usual, wifi will be only available occasionally, so the Blog will have intermittent update postings, as connections permit.  We will leave on the morning of May 17, with a promised forecast of southeast winds to push us on our way northward.  Haida Gwaii, formerly known as the Queen Charlotte Islands, is a name which means "The Land of the Haida People".  So we are goin' for the Gwaii.