Oct 4, 2009 -- Grace Harbor to Bargain Bay, BC

We had a nice, quiet night last night and arose with a hearty breakfast and a reasonable hour to get underway (8:00 a.m. or so).  We pulled anchors, Victoria had anchored alone last night, and headed out of Grace Harbor.

On our way out Malaspina Inlet, we passed this successful looking establishment engaged in "aquaculture."  Brian knew, but we forgot, what they did at this one.  Similar sites nurture anything from geoducks to salmon fry.  There were many such endeavors in the area, and apparently doing well:

Much to our surprise, we suddenly had six "bars" of signal strength on our cell phones, so started returning calls and making calls.  Soon, we noticed this cell tower atop a nearby hill.  Aha!

From time to time, we came across jetsam in the water -- small pieces of trash like sticks, leaves, kelp, etc.  Here was a piece of tree that justifiably got everyone's attention, including a couple of gulls:

And finally, we had the camera when a seal poked his/her head above the surface of the water.  Unfortunately, the water was a little too choppy to get a good picture, so look closely for a black blob:

And, as we passed back by Lund and Powell River, the mill was still working:

Did you see this house on our departure from Bargain Bay back on Sept. 28th?  Well here we are back in Bargain Bay and here is the house:

One of the many reasons Brian and Carol like Bargain Bay (convenience, protected, good holding ground, etc.) is that they have very good friends who have a house on the bay and also own an old '70s Grand Banks.  The couple, Norbert and Krista Holmes (hope the spelling is correct) are originally from Germany, and have cruised all over British Columbia and Alaska.

Brian and Carol and the flotilla, enjoyed the company of this delightful couple aboard Deception for supper tonight.  After supper we pulled out the charts of the west coast of Vancouver Island, which offers delightful cruising grounds, and we all poured over them while Krista and Norbert described scores of fun anchorages and cruising places.  They marked the charts with their favorite places while Brian studied their suggestions.  Of course, Bill wasn't going to miss a thing:

Great fun was had by all, and after the "tour,"  Brian took Krista and Norbert back to their home and walked the dogs.  Yes, Brian is a workaholic.

It was a perfectly delightful evening!

Oct 3, 2009 -- Melanie Cove to Grace Harbor, BC

Yesterday, the weather cleared quite nicely and the temperatures were comfortable.  That extended into today as we got underway out of Melanie Cove.  We could see the fresh snow on the mountaintops better today.  It was "awesome:"

And today, Brian wanted to show us a narrow passage behind Otter Island.  It was daunting, but not too risky if you held to the center of the channel:

All went well, but at low tide, maybe we shouldn't go behind there.

We cruised slowly toward our destination and passed this rocky islet covered with a bunch (that's a technical term for a lot) of seals on it.  The sun wasn't good for a picture, but here it is:

We moved on up into Grace Harbor, another very popular anchorage in the summer, and another part of the Desolation Sound Marine Park.  Of course, we had it all to ourselves on this glorious October day.  Sadly, we didn't take any more pictures on this day.

Oct 2, 2009 -- Squirrel Cove to Melanie Cove, Prideaux Haven

This morning was cool, but the rain had stopped.  Brian talked several of us into going ashore with him, Mikey and Meisha for a walk/hike along an old logging trail he was familiar with.  Since we didn't have to hurry to our next destination, it turned out to be a leisurely stroll, and the dogs loved splashing through streams and ponds. We delighted in thick, green undergrowth and old-growth (second growth?) trees in the "forest primeval."  It was fascinating and a lot of fun:

On the way back to the boats, we noticed this stream.  Depending on the tide, it can be traversed with kayaks or canoes.  At this tide state, you might be able to walk along it...:

We got underway and headed back out Squirrel Cove.  On the way, we saw this "character sailboat" at anchor.  We waved and they waved back:

Brian wanted to take us through a very narrow inlet to Roscoe Bay, a special small anchorage he knew, just for fun.  It was tedious, but not unsafe at our tide level.  At a lower tide, maybe it would not be advisable:

Once on the other side, we spotted a replenished waterfall.  Here is Deception passing the waterfall:

And here is the fall up close:

Our anchorage tonight was to be in Melanie Cove, which is part of the Prideaux Haven complex in the rambling Desolation Sound Marine Park.  Desolation led the way in.  The sign says, "Desolation Sound, Provincial Marine Park.  Notice the moss on the rocks.  It is the sort of quiet natural scene (except for the sign) that makes the area so nice:

Here is a classic photo.  Deception anchored, Victoria tied alongside, waiting for us to come in.  The clouds are hugging the mountain tops, the wind and water are calm, there's a hint of fall color, and we have this little slice of nature all to ourselves.  It doesn't get any better than this:

Since it is early, Brian offers to get the kayaks down for a paddle around the cove.  Ruth is first to volunteer, so she dons a life vest:

The raft-up is quite busy.  Brian is readying to take the pups ashore -- Meisha already in the dinghy while Mikey waits patiently, Carol and Josie are helping, Harry is lowering Victoria's dinghy, Ruth is out in a kayak, and Bill is in Grand Adventure's dinghy taking the picture:

Ruth loves to kayak.  Can you tell?  What a place!

After a while, Ruth got tired of paddling around the rather large cove and we shifted to an "explore" in the dinghy.  We came across this small clump of kelp, and since the water was so clear, got a picture.  Kelp in this area grows to be very large (stems over 60 feet long with "leaves" almost as big).  It is the stuff of horror movies and boaters' nightmares.  This was small stuff:

The thing that fascinated Ruth was the zillions of jellyfish all through the water.  We learned later that this is a common thing in this bay.  The water was so clear and there were so many of them that you felt like you were looking at a 3-D view of a painting.  It was hard to capture them on digital but here is a sample:

OK, here is the nest scene as we dinghied back.  It truly is a lovely sight to us:

It had been a memorable day in sooo many ways!

Oct 1, 2009 -- Blind Bay to Squirrel Cove, Cortes Island

Well it did rain during the night, and the wind picked up fairly strong, but by morning, the rain had stopped.  The wind was still blowing, but we were in a protected cove and didn't feel much of it.  The boats were quite wet, as evidenced by our rail (Note how nicely the charter company keeps the finish.  This is an 18 year old boat.):

After breakfast, we un-laced ourselves from each other, the shore and the anchors and headed north toward Squirrel Cove, our anchorage for the night.

As we poked our noses out into the open waters of the Strait of Georgia, the wind was evident.  We did some rock and roll, and the waves were breaking over the bow.  It was a pretty wet ride:

As we moved northward, we passed the towns of Powell River and Lund.  This is the pulp mill at Powell River (if memory serves).  Yes, the locals work pretty hard. Note the low-hanging clouds so typical of the area.  It had begun to rain on and off also:

We arrived at Squirrel Cove, a popular embayment on Cortes Island.  Squirrel Cove is also a town with a general store.  Bill hauled the week's trash to the dumpster at the head of the pier:

Here are the boats moored at the dock -- well, here are Deception and Victoria  Grand Adventure is off to the right:

We walked to the store and saw some fun sights.  First this multi-purpose sign at THE road:

Then we passed this cute sculpted bunny with a boot scraper brush on his back.  It helped identify the house nearby:

Signs were plentiful, but apparently signposts were not.  This sign caught Bill's attention...notice the last feature of the Squirrel Cove Store..."Liquor Agency."

Just a few yards from the store was this truck that had seen better days.  Bill had to have a picture:

And this boat nearby was in similar straits:

We got underway with our provisions and moved up the cove a couple of miles and anchored in a raft again.  The weather had improved -- the rain stopped and we were protected from any wind.  The boats as seen from the dinghy were very pretty and peacefully at rest.  This was a common sight for us on the flotilla:

And the water was mirror-calm beside the pristine shoreline.  It was easy to see why this anchorage is so popular in the summer:

While the day's weather had not been very good, we all had fun along the way and were glad to greet happy hour, supper and bedtime.

Sept 30, 2009 -- Princess Louisa to Blind Bay

Today we leave Princess Louisa Inlet and explore more of the Inside Passage of British Columbia.  We got underway about 8:30 a.m. in order to time our arrival at Malibu Rapids at near slack water.  We made it just fine.  Ahead are Deception and Victoria entering the still-ebbing rapids:

There is an S-turn to negotiate about half way through the rapids.  The bottom is all exposed rock, so you don't want to go astray:

What we had gotten as drizzle for the last 36 hours was snow at the higher elevations.  Here is a fresh cap of snow on a distant peak.  Very pretty:

We cruised slowly down Queen's Reach and Princess Royal Reach, feeling like we were in a Norwegian fjord.  The sides of the embayment were high and steep and there were places over 600 meters deep (about 1900 feet).  "Beautiful" doesn't even come close to describing it.

The rains had brought many waterfalls to life.  Here's one we passed a little way down the Prince of Whales Reach near Princess Louisa.  It must have been 70 feet high:

We continued to cruise toward our destination for the night, Blind Bay in the Musket Island Marine Park near Hardy Island and Fox Island.  The forecast was for more rain and fairly strong winds, so we planned a very safe way to anchor for the night.

Deception led us in to the anchorage and dropped her anchor about 200 feet off the bank.  Then, Brian took a long line ashore in his dinghy, and passed it around a substantial tree and back to Deception.  Then, we came alongside in Grand Adventure and nested to Deception's port (left) side.  Brian took our anchor in the dinghy some 150 feet out ahead of us at an angle of about 10 o'clock and dropped it.  We hauled it tight.  Then, Brian took a long line from our stern around another tree at an angle about 7 o'clock behind us and back to our stern.  Next, Victoria came in and tied to Deception's starboard (right) side and again, deployed an anchor and a stern line.  Once done, we were "spider-tied" to the bay's bottom and the shore line.  In a diagram, it looks like this.  Can you decipher the drawing?

Anyway, here are Brian and Harry setting Harry's stern line:

And here is Grand Adventure's stern line after tightening and securing it:

Once we were settled in, we shared a happy hour and supper (aboard Victoria, as we recall).  It was fun, and as we all turned in, the weather was quiet.  However, we were ready for whatever came during the night.