Back Home from The Broughton's

Our final leg from Squirrel Cove to Nanaimo was done in about 10 hours flat. We decided to run straight down the Georgia Strait, and it was the perfect final run on a great cruise. Our biggest objective on this cruise was to take an extended trip, and jot down any shortcomings of equipment that might need to be upgraded before our trip to Alaska. Our North Pacific 42 handle itself flawlessly. We ended up with a page of notes on small equipment items, some of which are a little on the expensive side.

A water maker is not necessary to go to Alaska, however many of the marinas that we were able to visit either did not have water on the dock, or the water is tinted yellow with cedar tannins. The water was good to drink however washing your clothes was not a good idea. I like the idea of having our own water maker anyway so that we are not constantly looking for or saving water.

The same goes for a deep freeze. Springer does not have one installed other than the one provided by the refrigerator. For an extended cruise, we will definitely install a secondary freezer for meat products etc.

We are installing a secondary navigation system for our computer as well as sirius radio. We have hundreds of songs on our iPod but even that gets a little old after a while.

An extensive parts list is an ongoing process. By next spring, we should have enough parts to replace most critical items required.

This trip only ran for approximately 450 nautical miles. We were gone for 23 days and we met some wonderful people along the way. We can't wait to our trip to begin next summer for Alaska.

Sullivan Bay to Squirrel Cove July 15-24, 2010

The past several days have been difficult to establish internet connections. Our areas of travel have been remote, beautiful and astounding. Good friends, Russ and Terry Hebblethewaite joined us with their Campion fishing boat for 4 days. With Springer tied up at the dock, we were free to travel to several areas such as Jennis Bay in Drury Inlet.

Jennis Bay Marina is an excellent area to tie up at the dock or to anchor off in the bay. There is no power at the dock but there is water and internet.We met one of the owners, Allyson Allo on the docks and she was a lovely young lady who was quick to say good things about the rest of the marina owners in the Broughton's. I am beginning to think that all of the marina owners informally try to market the Broughton"s in a positive light. All of the marina owners to date have been very helpful, and are quick to give you helpful tips on what to see, and where to go to get the best out of your travels.

We set prawn and crab traps daily, and we fished for Hallibut and lingcod. The four of us cruised quickly through several coves with the highlight being Turnbull Cove. The cove is a huge area that is very well protected. There were several others anchored at the time. You can take your tender to shore and follow a path up to a fresh water lake. The lake is several miles long and full of trout. ( second hand info on the trout )

At night, we decided to watch a HBO video series of called "Deadwood" We have all three years of video on board. Its an excellent series, however do not ever let your kids watch it until they are 32 years old. Its violent, graphic and has extremely foul language. Needless to say the next day of fishing was full of fresh colorfull terminology.

After Russ and Terry left to go home, we pulled anchor and said goodbye to Sullivan Bay. We decided to go back to Pierre"s at Echo Bay. As we pulled into our slip, I looked over and another saw a monster Nordhavn taking up the other side of marina. The boat is called Luna Spirit, a 64 foot Nordhavn owned by another couple of great friends, Andrew and Shannon Boddy. We hadn"t seen them for a couple of years. We had the grand tour of their magnificient ship and were invited for supper that evening.

You can"t help but walk around their boat with your mouth open. It's embarrasing, but what can you do. This little ship is built to go anywhere in the world. and can be easily handled by two people. Its a masterpiece of engineering design with several complex systems made simple . I know that they will love Luna Spirit for many years to come. Along with them was their two daughters and good friends from home.

We left the next morning and travelled to an anchorage called Kwatsi Bay. There is a a small marina there, however it was full, so we anchored off in the far end of the bay. I would probably say that this is the most picturesque anchorage that I have ever been into. There are high mountains all around you that look like they came from the movie Jurrasic Park ( Hawaii ). To add to this, there were dense clouds hanging above the water that gave it that mystical look and feel. Its a deep water anchorage, but the bottom is good. We tied off with a stern line to shore, but we didn't need it.

From Kwatsi Bay, we cruised to Lagoon Cove Marina on the bottom of East Craycroft island. This is owned by Bill and Jean Barber. Bill is 75 years old and full of life. There is a happy hour at 5 oclock that everyone goes to at the workshed about the docks. You bring your own drink and appetizer and make it a potluck. Bill supplies all of the prawns for the festivities. Bill has several stories about the area which had everyone mesmorized. His orientation included a discussion on his excercise area. Wondering what that was, I investigated and found a sign that said excerise station ( beside a huge pile of fire wood and an axe ). Very smart on his part.

We then travelled to a new marina on the south end of Minstrel Island that opened last year called Port Harvey Marina. George and Gail Cambridge are the owners. We had only planned to stay one night, however their cinnamon buns and a 47 knt wind in the Johnstone Straight convinced us to stay for 2 days. This is also a place that I will return too in the future.

From Port Harvey, we travelled down the Johnstone Straight to Cordero Lodge. We stayed here 3 weeks ago, however thoughts of the Wiener Schnitzel at their restaurant made me navigate back to them.

The next morning ( July 24, 2010 ) we were up early to make it through the Dent Rapids on slack. As we we coming south next to Sonora Island, a pod of 4 Orca surfaced about 1/ 4 mile in front of us. We pulled Springer into neutral and coasted. The Orca swam right to us and passed along the port side no furthur than 30 feet. Other boats also trying for rapids, in close quarters to us, were pulling over, stopping their props so as not to inadvertently strike an Orca wilth the blades. To actually see a wild Orca that close is something that is hard to describe. Your heart pounds and leaves you with a great feeling for the whole day ( if not the rest of your life )

We continued on and have anchored back in a frequent spot of ours; Squirrel Cove in Desolation Sound. Squirrel Cove is a great place to go, however I would recommend coming in the off season. At this time of writing, there is approx 80 boats in this bay. A far cry from the tranquil bays of the Broughtons. It feels like bumper cars right now. I have many more pictures to post, however it is difficult to do from a remote area with minimal coverage. I will update in the next few days.

Sullivan Bay

July 14, 2010
We travelled from Pierre's & Echo Bay yesterday and decided to anchor in a well enclosed spot called Hoy Bay. Its naturally protected from winds in any direction. This would be a great place to hunker down in a bad storm. We set our crab traps and enjoyed the day.

Hoy Bay 50 55.328 N; 126 49.995 W

July 15, 2010
Sullivan Bay 50 53.29 N; 126 49.81 W
A short trip from Hoy Bay to Sullivan Bay Marina. About a mile away from the marina, a pod of porpoise came out and swam under our boat and directly in front of our boat. I stopped the boat and watched them jump all around us. What a great welcoming committee.

Good friends, Russ and Terry Hebblethewaite from Fanny Bay joined us this afternoon. The first order of business was to organize the prawn traps and fishing gear. Having done that we travelled in his boat and deployed the crab and prawn traps to let soak for the night. We then spent the rest of the day fishing and cruising around.

July 16, 2010 Fish Mania

Russ and I left early this morning and retrieved the prawn traps. They were of average size. We then spent the day fishing and had an excellent day on the water. We played catch and release with dozens of Rock Fish and kept a few for supper. Sea Food at its best.

Pierre's at Echo Bay July 13, 2010

We have spent the last few days getting to know our dock friends at Pierre's at Echo Bay. It is great to meet fellow cruiser's on the road. Grant and Janet Ballantyne hail from Victoria and cruise in a 36 ft Grand Banks called "Coastal Mariner". Daryl and Joan Kyba hail from Brentwood Bay and cruise in a 28 ft Glasply called "Que Pasa ". Daryl is undoubtably the world's prawn king. We had a feed the night before and I don"t think I have ever seen bigger prawns.

We had fish and chip night at Pierre's and then topped the night off at our boat with bubbly and conversation. Excellent night.

Broughton's, Pierre's at Echo Bay

Pierre's Tony & Sherry Wentworth At Pierre's at Echo Bay ( Gilford Island )
Go to their website at http://www.pierresbay.com/ or call 250-713-6415

Tove - ( Half of Pierre and Tove)

Pierre ( The other half of Pierre and Tove )

The Ultimate Pig Roaster. A pig roast is done each week at The Marina.

Local prawns caught today by our neighbours beside us in the marina. We had a prawn feed tonight that was spectacular. These are monster prawns.

July 9, 2010 We layed around in Blind Channel for 2 days soaking up the sun and reading books. The forecast for the Johnson Straight was calling for gale force winds for the whole week. We decided to push through to the Broughtons, as I am not worried about the boats ability to take on heavy water on the bow. It wasn"t bad at all. There may have been a few areas with 4-5 ft seas, but nothing serious. Lots of salt spray on the boat. A pod of porpoise started jumping in front of our boat around Hardwicke island. They stayed with us for about 10 minutes. We turned up Havannah channel & dropped anchor in Burial Cove.

Burial Cove 50 33.588 N; 126 12.976 W
A great place to anchor in a westerly wind.

July 10, 2010
We pulled anchor and made our way to Chatham Channel to the north of us. You need to go through on slack tide as it is very shallow and has a narrow passage. There are range markers that you have to follow to ensure you stay in the proper channel, or you could run aground. To make matters interesting, this morning is a low tide of 1.7 feet. It doesn't give much room for error. The transit through the channel went off well. There were several boats all going through at the same time. The view in this area is spectacular. There are high mountains with shear walls hundreds of feet high that come straight down to the water. We follow the channel to the east side of Minstral Island. To the east there is an anchorage called Cutter Cove.

Cutter Cove 50 37.165 N; 126 16.048 W
This is a great anchorage that can hold dozens of boats. You are open somewhat to the westerlies, however we dropped anchor in 35 feet of water and layed out 175 of chain. Springer held fast with 25 knt winds whipping into the bay. We layed out a crab trap, but got skunked.

July 11, 2010
This morning the winds were calm, but there is low lying fog. Visibility was still good with about a mile of visbility. We pulled anchor and made way to Pierre's at Echo Bay. Pierre is famous for his pig roast that he does weekly.

Pierre's at Echo Bay 50 45.133 N; 126 29.858 W
We tied up at the marina and will R&R here for a few days.

July 12, 2010

Today we walked over to Billy Proctor's museum. This is a short albeit interesting walk that takes you through a winding trail that was made for billy goats. Billy Proctor has lived in this area in entire life and has amassed an interested museum of artifacts. There are arrow heads dating back 8000 years. He has marine hardware, bottles, logging equipment. All of this, he calls junk. Today was a massive blow in the channel and it was good to stay on the docks and do some maintenance and read a few books. Tonight was fish and chip night. Pierre did the cooking and he didn"t disapoint. It was fantastic.

Blind Channel July 7, 2010

Blind Channel 50 24.797 N, 125 29.984 W

This morning we made a short trip from Cordero Lodge to Blind Channel Resort. The lodge has been run by the Richter family for many generations and they run a first class operation. We tied up to the slip in time for their dock barbecue to begin. The docks have ample power, water, garbage removal, laundary and showers. You require reservations for the dining room.

On shore there are walking trails that take you through an enchanted forest. One trail leads you to a lookout over the channel. The other trail leads you to a gigantic tree that is several hundred years old. Its a beautiful sunny day with light winds. Another day to read books and walk the trails.

Shoal Bay, Cordero Lodge July 5-6, 2010

We left Grace Harbour early in the AM and cruised north through the Lewis Channel. We were on our way through the Yuculta and Dent Rapids and we wanted plenty of time to make it for slack tide. There are three rapids converging into a circular bowl and currents can be up to 10 knts plus. We arrived at Stuart Island where the Yuculta Rapids start and as we were early, we kicked our boat into neutral, waiting for slack to begin.

As we were having lunch, approx 20 other boats arrived early as well. When we started to proceed through the rapids on slack, it became a big convey of boats, one following the next. Once we were on the other side , we cruised north to the top of Sonora Island. We were in luck to see 2 Orca's ( mother and calf ) swimming by. We stayed about a 1/4 mile away, so we did not get good pictures. We watched them for about 1/2 hour and then proceeded on up the Cordero Channel. Our destination was Shoal Bay where we have stayed several times.

Shoal Bay 50 27.751 N, 125 21.995 W
Shoal Bay is found on the top end of East Thurlow Island. When you anchor in the bay, you have a panoramic view through Phillips Arm and the mountains behind. It is one of the most beautiful landscapes anywhere on the planet.

There was no room on the government dock, so we anchored in the bay. The wind came up and was howling all night. It was moving our boat around, even with 160 feet of anchor chain out. Our anchor popped free a couple of times and so we had to reset it. Not much sleep that night.

Cordero Lodge 50 26.717 N, 125 26.906 W
The next morning we pulled anchor and moved over to Cordero Lodge. Its a quaint resort with nice docks. The couple that own the resort ( Reinhardt and Doris Kuppers ) have been here for 31 years. There is no dock power and limited water. The restaurant is only open for supper, but the food is German cuisine and incredible. The cell coverage is sketchy, however my wireless was working, so I could call out on Skype.

We tied up at the dock and looked to do minor maintenance for the day. Today is sunny and light winds. This is a must stop for anyone coming through this area. Oh yeah - The view is fantastic.

Grace Harbour, July 3-4, 2010

We begin our month long cruise with a nice dinner and night out with our friends Russ and Terry in Nanaimo. Of course we had to sample some nice wine to cap off the evening.

We left our slip at 8:00 AM. The morning started off with an overcast sky and light winds. The water was lumpy and remained so until we made it behind Texada Island. The rest of the day was great. The sun came out and the water was flat.

We wanted to start off our trip with a great anchorage in Desolation Sound. We ran past Powell River, Lund and turned the corner into Desolation Sound and made way to Grace Harbour. Its a beautiful bay, and well protected.


We set our anchor at 6:00 PM. A total of 10 hours from Nanaimo to Grace Harbour. We were tired and hungry.

Go to google earth and you can find our location at 50. 03. 104 N
124.44.745 W

We jumped into our dinghy and did the "Deadliest Catch" routine. We took off outside the bay and launched our string of 1 crab pot. We will let it soak until after supper and pull the pot.
Sherry didn't like it when I referred to her as a deck hand.