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.
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