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Spirit of Freedom's
Gunkhole Adventure 2006
Part Seven
We
then worked our way down to Greenway Sound and explored. We
anchored in Carter Passage off of Greenway Sound and had the most
incredible experience. 10 or 12 Pacific White-sided Dolphin spent nearly
4 hours fishing for herring right next to us...amazing! They would actually herd
the herring into position and then attack...the herring ball would explode with
a tremendous roar of splashing water as they leaped into the air to escape...
Unfortunately it was extremely difficult to get good photos of the dolphins,
they just moved way too fast!
Photos: Carter Passage, dolphins & herring splashing as the dolphins herded and
attacked
We anchored off of the small entrance into Broughton
Lagoon which was also quite an experience. The tidal rapids into the
lagoon are something else to behold...we were there for two days. I spent one
whole day out in the dinghy salmon fishing...but couldn't catch a thing! Even
though salmon are jumping all around, I couldn't get a single one! The weather
cleared one day while we were at the lagoon...it actually got a bit hot in the
afternoon and we were in t-shirts and shorts for a few hours...what a treat!
Photos: Small entrance to the lagoon, foamy aftermath of outgoing tide
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Simoom
Sound is a small, but very lovely sound. We went into O'Brian Cove to
anchor and were discussing if we wanted to work our way in close and do a shore
tie, or anchor in deeper water.
While
we were floating off the beach we noticed a very large bear turning over very
large rocks with very little effort on the beach we needed to access to shore-tie. We anchored in deep
water! The wind came up at dark, and blew all night long, but the holding was
good and we didn't budge!
During the previous week and for the next two weeks we had
four days of sun, no rain, but the days (and nights) were cold, in the lower
50's. We had intended to go to the "outer islands" especially the Indian Group,
as we wanted to especially visit Village Island; however the weather was not
cooperating...gales were howling off of Queen Charlotte Sound.
We wanted to visit Billy Proctor's museum in Echo Bay,
so we put into Windsong Village Marina, which is a funky, absolutely fun place.
It is where Alexandra Morton (the renowned Orca researcher and expert on
fish farm "issues") has her float home, along with six or seven others....a
haven for artists and researchers like Alexandra. We met Billy at a potluck the
first night we were in Echo Bay, he is the Broughton "guru" having been born in
the islands and lived there all his life. I have read his books and his
biography and enjoyed them completely!
The next
day we took the dink to visit his museum... fascinating what he has collected
over his lifetime up here! And is he ever knowledgeable, not just local history,
but about the fisheries, wildlife etc. We ended up spending a few hours with
him; which, we were told by another local, is a rarity for a "yachtie." He told
me that if I hadn't caught a salmon by this time next year that he would take me
out himself! He said there were so many out there that "any fool could
catch one", I thanked him for the compliment and he almost died laughing. When
he found out Cliff was an oral surgeon he cut loose with a string of
hysterically funny dentist jokes! It was a good day, learned more local history
from him in addition to the stuff I had learned in the books he has written as
well as the other 10 or so I have read about the history of the BC coast.
Photos: Windsong Resort, midden at head of Echo Bay (carbon dated back 2,300
yrs), Heron, pictographs on cliff behind dock
The
weather forecast was sounding pretty bleak, and we were getting cold, so we
decided to head
back
south to get warm. We headed out of the Broughton's in thick fog, catching
glimpses of a humpback whale when the fog opened up visibility to a few hundred
feet and then eventually a half-mile. We were escorted by Dahls porpoise in a
calm Tribune Channel, it was dead calm all the way, even crossing Kingcome
Inlet.
As we cleared Chatham Channel, the sun came out...we
looked behind us and saw that it was still socked in with fog. It was warm and
lovely as we dropped anchor behind Maltipi Island in Havanna Channel. The
hammock came out for the first time in over a month and DC sunbathed on top of
the dodger. Later in the afternoon we took a dinghy ride around....Cliff wanted
to go ashore at the midden to explore in the woods and see if we could find the
remains of the abandoned Indian village. I didn't want to go ashore; I TOLD him
it looked like bear country, and besides, it was too overgrown and we would have
to push thru too much brush. We continued on in the dink along the shoreline and
he pointed out a small trail coming onto the beach and said "there's a trail!" I
insisted that it had to be a bear-trail and convinced him to go back to the
boat. 15 minutes later while we were sitting on the boat having some wine, I
pointed over to the beach where the trail came out...and said... "I told you
so!" There was a big bear coming down to the beach!
We had an
uneventful run back down
Johnstone Strait and into Forward Harbor, then on thru Whirlpool Rapids....we
saw two bear on the shore there, and then on thru Greenpoint Rapids and then a
glorious sail until we forced ourselves to go into Shoal Bay to anchor for the
night. The wind changed direction, and we had a windy anchorage (25+knots) all
night. Then on thru Dent, Gillard and Yuculta Rapids followed by a lovely, warm,
lazy downwind sail to Squirrel Cove in Desolation Sound for the night.
BJ & Tricia were in the Copeland Islands (Ragged
Group) so we planned on meeting up with them in Pender Harbor. We caught up with
them shortly before Powell River; it was a motoring day as there was no
wind...that is until Malaspina Strait and then the wind kicked in to about
15knots on the nose with nasty, tall, choppy, mix-master waves...dreadful as it
often is there! We dropped anchor in Garden Bay and had a wonderful evening with
the kids, they had fresh oysters that we feasted on along with a fresh Coho
salmon I provided.
The next morning we left about 6 hours before the kids
and had an "unkind" trip across the Strait of Georgia....the kids had a
wonderful trip! Oh well. We dropped anchor in Nanaimo in the very crowded and
windy anchorage. We dinked to Newcastle Island and took our first walk in over
two weeks! Then on the the Dinghy Dock Pub for dinner.
Going thru Dodd Narrows the next day we had a
fantastic experience; when we were in the narrowest/shallowest part, we met up
with three Orca's who were transiting the narrows the opposite direction
of us. They passed within 20 feet of our boat...unfortunately I didn't have my
camera topsides!!! Wouldn't you know it!
We spent some lazy days in the Gulf Islands, soaking up
the September sun and getting in some really excellent sailing. After one
day of particularly good sailing we dropped anchor in Tod Inlet to find
Aaron & Julie there!
Lovely surprise to find them there! We finally
had to check back into the states and start the final leg home. Again, we had
some really excellent sailing, including a long downwind run from Stuart Island
to Indian Cove at the southern end of Shaw Island. We were finding it difficult
to head back, neither of us were ready.
Tony & Ginette (Shearwave), met up with us at Blind
Bay for a day-and-half, coming down from Sidney, BC. We had a lovely visit with
them though it was way too short! Tony took the following photos....he thought
it was hilarious with me in my apron supervising Cliff, who was doing a repair
while cushioning himself on the windless! Tony also got up very early to take a
picture of us rafted up in the fog.
We left
the San Juan Islands and headed to Hope Island in Skagit Bay,
taking Swinomish Channel since the straits were fogged in. We love Hope Island
and wanted to do some more exploring on it. From Hope Island we went to
Coupeville since we hadn't been there before, then finally we went to Port
Ludlow where we completed our cruise. We were hauling Spirit out for repairs the
next week, so we decided to leave her in Port Ludlow, which is much closer to
our haul out in Port Townsend than either Port Orchard or our homeport at Fair
Harbor, Port of Grapeview.
It is always difficult to come back after a summer of
cruising, and it seems to get more and more difficult as the years go on! We can
hardly wait for our next big adventure!
Hope Island Eagle:
More photos will be posted.....please check back.
Go to Part One of 2006 Gunkhole Adventure
Go to Part Two of
2006 Gunkhole Adventure
Go to Part Three of
2006 Gunkhole Adventure
Go to Part Four of 2006 Gunkhole Adventure
Go to Part Five of 2006 Gunkhole Adventure
Go to Part Six of
2006 Gunkhole Adventure
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