First Taste of Gwaii Haanas

Friday 21 June – Happy Summer Solstice! It is now time to head south into a bit of Gwaii Haanas, the National Park and Ecological Reserve area co-managed by the Haida Band and Parks Canada, and comprising the southern 2/3 of Moresby Island and surrounding islands. I got up at 0700 and took Jade over to the fuel dock to top up the diesel. At 0900 Ray and Kathy arrived onboard, after checking out of their hotel. It was a misty morning in the “Misty Isles”, with light rain and fog, and very light winds. We motorsailed out across the shallows and turned south, arriving at 1400 off the village of Skedans. Dave and Irene were still there to greet us, and this time Dave took us for a slightly longer tour of the area (he'd known we were planning on the return trip with Kathy). 

Kathy visiting Skedans

At 1600 we started motoring out through the kelp patches when the engine overheat came on again. With kelp patches all around us, and several large rocky areas also nearby, we had to quickly raise the sails and manoevre out while working on clearing the weed clogging the cooling system on the engine. I'm getting fairly proficient at ripping the lines apart and clearing them, and within about 15 minutes we were motorsailing again, in light airs. We continued outside Louise Island and turned in, past the Coast Guard ship “Vector”, to moor up in Thurston Harbour. A book loaned to my by a friend back home in Courtenay lists the names and history of many places in the Queen Charlotte Islands. We learned that Thurston Harbour, even though it now seems so wild and remote, was, in the early 1900's, a thriving town with several sawmills, a dance hall, piers, hotel....etc. Quite a surprise – now it is inhabited by a raccoon, some deer, and bears. We had a nice dinner with scalloped potatoes and ham, and a quiet evening.

The following morning was Saturday 22 June – Ray's birthday! We had a bit of a sleep-in, getting up at 0900 with a big birthday breakfast. Kathy had brought a bunch of cards with her from friends and family to wish Ray birthday greetings, and even a few special treats....a special cigar, and some single malt. We got underway at 1030, with a bit of fishing on a couple of seamounts on the way out, but again the ling cod we caught were too small to keep. We did keep a rock cod, however. 

This Rock Cod was soon to become Cod Balls

 We continued to the west end of Selwyn Inlet, then turned south to pass down Dana Pass into Dana Inlet. We sailed eastbound to the end of this inlet, finally rounding the head at the end of the Tangil Peninsula.....here we were entering Gwaii Haanas. Moderate inflow winds in Logan Inlet gave us a nice broad reach, and by 1700, with the winds easing, we motorsailed the last mile into Anna Inlet....a very pretty little bay with a narrow entrance, and surrounded by snow-capped mountains, and a beautiful grassy estuary at the end. We anchored in 50 feet of water in very good holding bottom of mud, and had our appies of cod balls (the rock cod caught earlier) and cocktails. To celebrate Ray's birthday under warm and sunny skies, we barbecued steak with prawns, and served up birthday cake which Kathy had managed to smuggle aboard. We were able to watch hundreds of squid swimming around our boat....something very new to me. The anchorage is bombproof – very safe – and we again had a peaceful night aboard.

A couple of the many squid which surrounded our boat

Exploring the gnarly woods in Anna Inlet

Ray enjoying his birthday cigar while we burn garbage

 We liked the anchorage so much that we decided to remain here another day, and do a bit of exploring. We launched the dinghy and explored around the edges, walking a short trail at the head of the bay, and observing several otters peeking out at us, and deer lounging in the grass. By 1800 we'd had our daily cocktail hour, had dinner, then went ashore to burn our garbage below the high tide line. Back aboard, we spent the evening playing Hearts until 2300 (Ray and Kathy are quite good at this game!). 

Lots of Squid

Anna Inlet Buck

The following day, Monday 24 June, we arose a bit earlier (0700) because it was now time to start back north, to get Kathy back in time for her flight home. We were underway at 0830, and light winds were again the order of the day. So we were back to motorsailing out Logan Inlet, then back into Selwyn Inlet to turn north in time for a transit of Louise Narrows on a rising tide. We had about a foot higher water than we'd had on our previous transit. Clear of the narrows, we tried trolling for salmon on the way into our anchorage at the west end of Cumshewa Inlet, near Moresby Camp, at Gordon Cove. However, we managed to pick up more weed in our intake, and turned off the engine and were able to sail into the anchorage in light airs, setting the anchor under sail. I was then able to clear the intake again (at least I thought I had it all). I also had to work on our starter becoming intermittent again. The anchor set well, and we had a secure evening, even though there were a few gusty winds blowing into the cove.

Ray and Kathy - lookouts for Louise Narrows

Gordon Cove, in the "Misty Isles"

 Tuesday 25 June – We were up at 0700, prepared for a long day of sailing – the forecast was for Southeast winds of 15-20 knots, building to 25 by afternoon. As we tried to raise the anchor, we discovered we'd caught a cable or piece of equipment on the bottom, and had to use the main halyard winch to haul on the anchor rode, while motoring over the caught area. By 0815 we'd managed to get the anchor up and set out under a single-reefed mainsail to clear out of Cumshewa Inlet which already had 20 knots of wind flowing into it, against us. Again, the engine started overheating , so we were beating back and forth out the inlet with a small jib and reefed mainsail. By the time I'd found the weed clog, we were almost out of the inlet, and the wind had died to almost nothing, leaving a confused “washing machine” effect on the seas. 

We were impressed by this rainbow as we sailed out of Cumshewa Inlet

 At 1130 we were at Cumshewa Islets, turning northbound in Hecate Strait. This is where we'd been hoping for that Southeast 20 knots of wind to give us a sleigh-ride of a sail back to Sandspit. But all we had were calm winds and confused seas....so we motored back, arriving at Sandspit at 1730, and tied up at the marina. A nice dinner of stroganoff and veggies, and with rainy weather outside, we stayed aboard and chatted.

Wednesday 26 June - This is Kathy's departure day to fly back to Vancouver. We moved the boat back to the fuel dock to top up again, and then tied up back on the mooring docks, to clean up, get organized, have showers. Kathy and Ray took a taxi to the airport for her 1520 departure while I got the water tanks refilled, and updated the log, and prepared the blog for our arrival later back at Queen Charlotte, where we'll again have internet and shopping. I've decided to try to get a couple of straight fittings to replace the 90 degree elbows in my cooling system, as this seems to be a weed magnet. This area is known for its prolific biomass....and that includes lots of weed in the water, so I'll need to fix the way our intake works, or I'll be spending every day ripping it apart to clean out the weeds. We'll spend a day restocking the larder, cleaning the laundry, and then set out back into Gwaii Haanas for a more complete exploration of several weeks. The sail across from Sandspit to Qn Charlotte was a very nice broad reach, and by 1700 we were tucked into the docks at our normal space....it feels almost like home now, as when we arrived, several of the other boaters, who now know us, stopped over to say hello and to trade stories of where we'd been and what were our plans. Apparently we'd missed the end of the Stanley Cup Finals – so no hockey – but we went to Howlers Pub (the only pub in town) for dinner and a beer, and were greeted by Rose, the waitress, who immediately plunked down our normal beer order. We hadn't worked very hard during the day, but were still tired, and were in bed by 2200.

It is now Thursday 27 June. Our projects are pretty much complete – Ray has restocked the boat with groceries, restocked the bar, completed the laundry. I've rebuilt the intake hoses and eliminated the elbows, replaced an “iffy” alternator belt, changed the engine oil, and tidied up the boat. Ray has now successfully initialized the “Spot”, a GPS short-message system which allows for satellite communications (very short messages, like “We've arrived, and we're OK”, or....”We're stuck in....for awhile”, etc...). When we leave on the flood tide tomorrow, we'll be out of cell-phone and wifi contact for about 4 weeks. We plan on heading to the West Coast of the islands if the weather forecast continues to favour it. If the weather looks iffy, we'll go down the east coast, and then come back up the west side to return here via the cut between Moresby and Graham Islands, in about 4 weeks.