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Spirit of
Freedom's Gunkhole Adventure 2009
June 12 - October 11, 2009 1,615.4 nautical miles
Part Six: The West
Coast of Vancouver Island August 8-28
The first leg: Bull Harbor, around Cape Scott to Quatsino Sound
Aug 15 Catching up with
my log again!! When we upped anchor in Blunden Harbor late afternoon on
Aug 11, we had a quick motor back across a dead-calm Queen Charlotte Strait and
up Goletas Channel to Bull Harbor. In the channel we saw our first whales in a
so-far remarkably whale-free summer! It was gorgeous in the channel, with the
sun setting, foggy wisps here and there and dead calm. We dropped anchor in Bull
Harbor with two other sailboats, one of which had been across the dock from us
in Pt. Hardy. Nobody was in sight, looked like everybody was turned in early for
the night. We had wondered if the local First Nations were going to come out and
solicit an anchoring fee, as they have been known to do here. No sign of
anybody. So we turned in for the night anticipating a pre-dawn departure.
We left Bull Harbor on Aug 12 at 5:30 AM and headed out to round the notorious Cape Scott, which just two days before had winds of 50+ knots! The winds were predicted to be southerly building to 15-20 knots. We had a flat crossing of Nahwitti Bar and entered a calm, quiet Pacific Ocean. Little sport boats in search of salmon chased us to the bar. We were headed for Winter Harbor, where we would meet Tricia, who was flying in to meet us there. The predicted winds didn't appear, it was a calm motorboat ride with somewhat confused swells, though mild. We could barely see Cape Scott through the fog! It was really an anti-climatic trip, which I suppose is good! I only wish we could have had some sailing, or at the very least be able to see! But the fog really didn't cooperate. The only excitement we had, was when a sport boat went roaring across our stern and caught our fishing line/lure in his outboard. But he had no clue what had happened. He just shut down his engine, tried to figure out what the noise was that he heard (it was loud!) and then went on his way. It never occurred to him that a sailboat would be trolling! We dropped anchor at 2:30 pm at the head of Browning Inlet in Quatsino Sound, 65 miles from Bull Harbor. Quatsino Sound is the northernmost of the five sounds that indent the west side of Van Isle.
After getting settled at
anchor we dropped the dink into the water to drop crab traps and then tour the
inlet. It was gorgeous! We went ashore onto a very nice sandy beach to let the
dogs run and explore a bit. But we promptly found LOTS of very big, very fresh
bear scat!!! And me, being terrified of bears wouldn't consent to any sort of
exploration. Funny, nobody else was eager to either! We took a picture of Angel
posing in front of one of the piles...I know, weird! We did however find an
"islet" that I felt safe on, and the guys dropped Angel and me off for some
exercise! It was actually pretty cool, the rock dropped straight down, the water
was about 40' deep there, so the rock was huge! We headed back to Spirit for
dinner after our dinghy tour. The harbor was teeming with herring, masses of
them. At times it sounded like rapids they were churning up the water so much!
So after dinner BJ and I decided to see if we could catch or rather snag any
with my fly rod. While we were sitting in the dink, still tied to Spirit a 50'
or so Humpback whale surfaced and blew not 10' off of us! Scared the heck out of
us!! He put on a bit of a show, including leaping out of the water and then spy
hopping to have a look at us! Of course, no camera was handy! Impressive show
though! No luck fishing, but the whale must have had a good feed! So were the
two eagles and otter that were hanging around. Herring were leaping every where,
more than any of us had ever seen before. No luck with the crab traps either.
BJ thought that he had felt
some "stickyness" with the steering when turning to starboard, so the next day
we inspected it and found nothing wrong. He finally concluded that possibly the
autopilot had not released completely after the long day's running with it. On
August 13 we upped anchor to go explore Quatsino Sound a bit before going to
Winter Harbour where we would be meeting Tricia. We had a lovely sail to
beautiful Julian Cove. It was a gorgeous day, lots of sun, nice and warm with a
good wind behind us. BJ fished all day, catching and losing a huge Sea-run
Cutthroat, just as it got to the net. He did catch a nice 8 pound Coho though,
which Cliff netted nicely. All this while a Minke whale was feeding alongside
us! Julian Cove was lovely, and we had it all to ourselves. We had read
there was an uncharted rock in the cove, and BJ took it slow and easy on his
tour around the cove before dropping anchor. At one point we got a big surprise
as the depth changed from 40+ feet to less than 10 under the keel! We think we
found the rock, but went right over it since the tide was high. BJ tried to find
it later in the dink, but was unable to locate it's exact location. We marked an
approximate on the chart though! BJ took the salmon carcass in to the beach to
leave it as bear-bait, hopefully we would see one! He and Dad went out and
dropped crab traps, but we had no luck with them. Amazingly we have cell phone
coverage. We didn't realize we would in there. There were tons of sport fishing
boats passing us all day, heading out or coming in from fishing. Not exactly
remote! Getting up early the next morning was not worth the effort! No
sign of bear--or anybody else--at the salmon carcass. I was very surprised it
was still even there!!
Aug 14 We left Julian Cove
and sailed three-quarters of the way and motored the rest, to Winter Harbor to
meet Tricia who would arrive the next day, tying up at The Outpost after getting
fuel. Winter Harbor is a funky sport fishing village which used to be a
commercial fishing village. It was full of sport boats, and even more full of
fish offal! It stunk!! The showers were interesting, the drains flowed directly
onto the beach. You would stand in the shower, look down the drain and see the
beach 15' below you! I did laundry, and while I was there I found a little
diary, mostly written in French, with lots of watercolor pictures and pencil
sketches. I also found on the bulletin board, a note from the person who lost
it, requesting it be returned to them in Lyon France. I tried to turn it in to
the "resort" manager, but he just said he would toss it in the trash rather than
bother to return it. So, I kept it and plan to return it to the person. I
spent quite a bit of time talking to the Creel Inspector while the laundry was
drying. He was very frustrated because there is just one Game Warden covering
all of Quatsino Sound, and there is lots of cheating and poaching going on. We
even observed it. Fishers would come in with their limit, clean and dress their
catch and take it back to their camp. Then head back out again for a second
limit! Really pisses me off when people do that! It was very windy in Winter
Harbor, and we were pretty pinned to the dock. BJ and I spent a bit of time on
the phone (had to use the pay phone because the cell wouldn't work there) trying
to locate a new outboard motor that we could pick up in Port Angeles the end of
the month. We managed to get a line on one, (amazing that none were available!)
and will have Shane pick it up and deliver it to us in Pt. Angeles the end of
the month. It will be so nice to have a reliable outboard again!! It really
limits exploration when you don't know if you are going to have to row back!!
Next: Go to Part Seven
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Four, 2009
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Three, 2009
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2009
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