Port Harvey – Riveted

Flotilla to Alaska | Update from Port Harvey BC

Laura Domela — Fri, 26 May 2017 16:22:05 +0000

Here are a few highlights from the past few days as we made our way from Silva Bay to Pender Harbour, then up to Squirrel Cove, Shoal Bay, and finally Port Harvey, where we are today.

Squirrel Bay anchorage, taken with the Mavic Pro drone.

The weather has been wonderful for the most part, and when the wind picked up we were safely tucked in at Squirrel Cove. On Wednesday, we slept in and caught the afternoon slack at Dent Rapids (after going early through Yuculta Rapids and Gillard Pass), and arrived at Shoal Bay in time for happy hour on the dock.

Yesterday we were a little concerned about the transit in Johnstone Strait because the forecast was for strong NW winds of 15-25 knots, increasing to 25-30 knots in the afternoon. But when we arrived, it was blowing about 10 knots with maybe 1-2 foot chop (with an occasional 3). The wind was right on the nose, so it was a bit of a wet ride, but no big deal.

We arrived at Port Harvey with enough time to do a little droning and a little kayaking before meeting for happy hour on the dock, followed by a delicious pizza night in George and Gail’s (almost finished) new restaurant.

This morning we’re headed over to Pierre’s at Echo Bay! Everyone is having such a great time!

Remember, we’re blogging daily and in more detail over on Slowboat, so if you want more, follow us over there while we’re leading the flotilla up to Sitka.

Port Harvey to Shoal Bay via Whirlpool and Greene Point Rapids | BC

Laura Domela — Mon, 19 Sep 2016 02:00:59 +0000

Last night after catching up with George and Gail about how their season was and the progress they’ve made on rebuilding the restaurant and store, we headed back to Airship to cook up some dinner. Tonight turned out to be tostada night! We grabbed some of the pulled pork (the stuff we made and brought from home) from the freezer, cooked up some black beans with jalapeno, garlic, and shallots, and then got all the toppings together: lettuce, shredded cheese, homemade salsa, sour cream, and some fresh lime to squeeze over the top. I’d picked up a bag of chipotle tostadas in Port McNeill last week thinking it had been ages since I’d had or made tostadas. We heated the crunchy tostadas in the oven and then built on with the toppings. They turned out great!

Port Harvey this morning:

Sabby on the dock:

George came down just after 8am with fresh cinnamon rolls. We took two to go, chatted a bit more and then headed out for Shoal Bay.

The rain started (again) just as we were leaving. We pulled the crab traps we’d set out on our way into the bay, but we only had one male keeper…the rest were females so back in they went.

We saw several sets of Pacific White-Sided Dolphins on our way through Johnstone Strait and into Sunderland Channel:

Our route today took us through Whirlpool Rapids and Greene Point Rapids. Both Whirlpool Rapids and Greene Point Rapids run to 7 knots at max ebb and flood, but can be safely traversed at any time as long as your boat has enough speed, stability, and rudder authority.

We had about 4.5 knots of current with us at Whirlpool Rapids…nothing too dramatic.

Even with what look like pretty good boils, our autopilot kept us on track with not much work.

We arrived at the Greene Point Rapids right AT max flood, and had about 6 knots of current going with u, but not much drama:

A little squirrely back toward the Cordero Islands and lodge:

We arrived in Shoal Bay and docked at the government dock (no other boats when we arrived besides the owners’ boat, but there are two more now). We walked up to the “pub” (the pub that’s never in pub mode when we’re here because it’s either too early or too late in the season) but we met Will inside…he’s from England and has been working here for most of the summer…and he said “Well guess what? It’s a pub right now!” so we had a beer and chatted with him for a half an hour or so. It’s rainy here too right now, but still so beautiful.

Tomorrow we’ll head on to the Octopus Islands. We’ve heard great things about them but never been. We’ll also go through more rapids tomorrow (the Okisollo Rapids). Unlike Whirlpool and Greene Point Rapids, you do not mess with the Okisollo Rapids at any time besides slack (which is exactly what time we’ll be there). During non-slack, there are large whirlpools, and an overfall/standing wave than can be between 5 and 8 feet tall! Eeeek.

Sounds like there’s some great kayaking and/or dinghy exploring around the Octopus Islands, but it’s not supposed to clear up until Tuesday, so maybe we’ll need to spend two days there.

Echo Bay to Port Harvey | BC

Laura Domela — Sun, 18 Sep 2016 02:43:11 +0000

We arrived at Echo Bay early in the day yesterday (since we got out of Booker Lagoon by 7:30am). It was rainy all day.

Dawnbreaker arrived later on (still pouring rain). Luckily, they had these fancy umbrellas onboard:

Thomas and Urban, above…doing the umbrella spinning thing for drama. Not pictured, Lars at the helm, being serious (but probably not really).

It rained all night. But hey, that means nice freshwater wash down for Airship, so it’s okay.

We slept in this morning (after a not-that-late-but-still-kinda-late evening hanging with the Dawnbreaker crew). After dinner last night, Thomas, Lars, and Urban brought over a homemade apple pie (and a bottle of wine) and we got out the pint of vanilla bean ice cream we brought from home (and still hadn’t eaten yet! How did THAT happen?) … fun conversation, stories, dessert, wine, espresso…

It was great catching up with Pierre, as always. He’s making some expansions and improvements to the store and the restaurant, and he’s got a new, darling cabin for rent (plus suites in the lodge) so if you don’t have a boat but want to come to Echo Bay, there are options!

We wandered around a bit this morning chatting with the other boaters (there were 7 boats at Pierre’s last night…that’s a lot for this time of year!)…and then made breakfast before heading out. (Our default breakfast is…breakfast tacos. Today’s were the last of the chorizo scrambled with some eggs, sliced avocado, homemade salsa, a dash of habanero hot sauce in flour tortillas…yum!) We left around 10am and headed over to see George and Gail at Port Harvey. The rain came and went, but it was a beautiful cruise:

We went around the west side of Gilford Island through Cramer Passage and Retreat Passage to Knight Inlet (bottom of Gilford Island) and then through Chatham Channel to get to Port Harvey. We were timed to hit Chatham Channel at max flood, so the current would be going with us, but at potentially 7 knots. We read up on Chatham Channel, and nothing sounded too dangerous (no whirlpools or eddies or overfalls), and it’s a smooth-bottomed channel, so the flow is laminar which is just fast, but not turbulent. We went through with no issues at all. We had 4.5 knots of current with us at the narrowest/fastest part, but that’s it. Nothing weird or nail-biting or anything.

We dropped our crab pots just west of Range Island on our way into the dock at Port Harvey and then caught up with George and Gail here for a bit. The rebuild of the store and restaurant are coming along nicely, and should be fabulous and better-than-ever for next season!

George said they’d seen a big grizzly on shore near their house next to the apple tree for the past two days, so to keep an eye out. We did, and then there he was!

George waited while I took a few photos before he fired his rifle to scare the bear away.

Now, we’re just hanging out on Airship (one other boat here tonight, the Jacari Maru, a Puget Trawler) and about to make dinner. We aren’t sure of our plans for tomorrow yet. Maybe Shoal Bay, and then the Octopus Islands…and then maybe Heriot Bay or Rebecca Spit on Quadra Island (in the spirit of trying to also go some places we haven’t been before). I could explore like this indefinitely.

Airship to Alaska | Day 7 | Port Harvey to Echo Bay BC

Laura Domela — Sat, 14 May 2016 19:28:59 +0000

Airship Goes to Alaska 2016

We slept in at Port Harvey this morning…had some coffee, pulled the crab traps (two too small Red Rock crabs) and chatted with George a bit more before leaving the dock and heading toward Echo Bay to see Pierre. It's still early in the season, so it's fairly quiet here at Echo Bay…four boats or so. We chatted with Pierre for a bit before he had to go rearrange the neighborhood. He'd previously moved a new house into the floating community across from the resort, so he had to untie the whole thing from the rock. When we came in, the neighborhood was encroaching on the resort…so he headed over there with his boat (and a powerful outboard) to push it back (with his boat!) where it belonged, and then re-attach it to the chain/line to the shore.

Pierre is so badass. I think Kevin's dad (had he lived in a remote spot like the Broughtons or in SE Alaska) would have been like Pierre. How cool would it be to just rearrange your neighborhood on a moment's notice huh? Guy next door painted his house an ugly color? Move him down to the end of the dock. Simple!

Kevin took the drone up and I shot some photos (tripod in the sky!!). Here we are!

And here's the neighborhood (rearranged):

And an overall shot of the whole place:

Love this place! We'll stop back by on our way south in September.

Here's today's route (33.7 nautical miles, 4 hours 44 minutes):

Tomorrow we'll head across early to Port McNeil to reprovision and wait for a good time to cross Cape Caution. Today would have been perfect! Waves .6 meters at 14 seconds. That's about a foot and a half waves with 14 seconds between them. SO. CHILL. Hope it lasts!

Port Harvey to Shoal Bay, BC

Laura Domela — Tue, 15 Sep 2015 21:57:48 +0000

It was super calm this morning at Port Harvey and after getting a couple of George's famous cinnamon buns (and a bonus loaf of homemade bread!) we said goodbye and headed for Johnstone Strait.

Johnstone Strait was not bad at all, even though we were supposed to have current against us, we still made plenty good time without much drama:

We went through Whirlpool Rapids right at slack (which means: no whirlpools, yay!) and hit Greene Point rapids about an hour and a half after slack, but it wasn't bad at all. A few swirly bits, but we were with a flood tide and maybe had about 3-4 kts of current with us.

Here we are docked at Shoal Bay on the government dock:

We walked up to the lodge and explored the grounds and gardens.

Looking back at the dock:

The pub is behind these trees, overlooking the bay:

The garden:

Heading back toward Airship:

We chatted with the other boaters on the dock for a bit and now we're cooking dinner. Grilled pork tenderloin, roasted baby potatoes with rosemary and garlic, and a salad (using produce we picked from Heidi's garden in Lagoon Cove). Tomorrow we'll leave at 6am to arrive at Dent Rapids before slack, then our plan is to go to Prideaux Haven in Desolation Sound tomorrow night.

Here's today's track (42.5 nautical miles…click to enlarge):

Port Harvey Marine Resort, BC

Laura Domela — Tue, 15 Sep 2015 11:00:00 +0000

We were looking forward to coming back to Port Harvey on our way back through The Broughtons. We had such a fun time here in May when we were on our way north with the Waggoner flotilla that we even joined the Port Harvey Yacht Club. Here we are flying our yacht club burgee for the first time:

We were greeted by Gail (who we didn't get to meet when we were up in May…George was the only one here then). Gail gave us the restaurant menu for the night and took our dinner order after we tied up. No pizza this time, but we were pretty psyched to have ordered some ribs and some fish and chips to share.

We walked around a bit and checked out the surprisingly well-stocked store! I'm not sure why we didn't go in there before, but it's great. Lots of things you probably need, Port Harvey apparel, gift cards, etc.

There were two other boats at Port Harvey last night (boats that were also over at Lagoon Cove the previous night) and we all met up in the Red Shoe for dinner. It was fun to get to chat about boat stuff and Broughtons stuff. George hung out and chatted with us until it was almost dark and then we said good night.

Cinnamon buns are happening this morning and then we head out for Johnstone Strait to see how far we can get while the wind is calm. Will let you know!

This the short route we took from Lagoon Cove (upper left) to Port Harvey (12.5 nautical miles, but about 3 miles as the crow flies, as you can see):

Day 7 – Port Harvey to Pierre’s Echo Bay

Laura Domela — Sun, 24 May 2015 03:21:00 +0000

Airship Goes to Alaska – Day 7

This morning at Port Harvey, George was down on the dock delivering fresh homemade cinnamon rolls before we headed out:

How great is this? We've got to stop back by here on our way south.

Next stop: Pierre's at Echo Bay. We headed out of Port Harvey, toward Transit Point, up Havannah Channel and on to Chatham Channel, to Knight Inlet, east of Midsummer Island, below Bonwick Island, past the tribal community at Health Bay, through the Fox Group to Cramer Passage and on to Echo Bay. All was calm and clear for our whole scenic cruise today. It was gray this morning, but by the time we got to Pierre's the clouds disappeared and the sun came out.

Pulling into Pierre's Echo Bay:

Mad Dog Mike, Mark Bunzel, Pierre Landry, and Margaret, assisting the arriving boats:

Cabernet, the Krogen 48, has a dog aboard (named Bailey) and it's always fun to watch the "host dogs" get super excited about having another dog around. This is Pierre's Golden Doodle (Echo) greeting Bailey:

Our new spot (next to Thelonius):

No sooner did we arrive than Mark and Pierre got Kevin involved in helping solve another electrical problem. Here they are figuring out how to patch an electrical main feed that had been crushed by the dock.

John's Weather Forecasting Stone:

Pierre's at Echo Bay has a new hot tub this year (co-sponsored by the Waggoner Guide), and later this season there will be a sauna up there as well. Through this door: hot tub, overlooking the marina:

At 3pm a group of us met up to hike over the hill to Billy Proctor's place and then on to Yvonne Maximchuk's painting/pottery studio. (I'll do a second post about Billy Proctor's museum and Yvonne's studio.)

Last night, Pierre fixed us all up with a giant bowl of fresh caught Dungeness crab and a giant bowl of fresh caught spot prawns and we all brought sides.

Here's Pierre:

It was a great evening, at a great spot!

Our track from today (33.42 nautical miles, 4 hours 43 minutes):

Day 6 – Blind Channel to Port Harvey

Laura Domela — Fri, 22 May 2015 19:00:08 +0000

Airship Goes to Alaska – Day 6

Wow, 5am is really early!

We were scheduled to leave Blind Channel at 5:45am sharp, meaning off the docks at 5:30am and waiting in the channel at 5:45am, so the alarm went off at 5am and we made quick cappuccinos and were casting off lines at 5:25am. (We're good little rule-followers, aren't we?)

The weather today shifted a bit and we had a low cloud layer for most of the morning. Greene Point Rapids and Whirlpool Rapids were both totally chill this morning (in fact, I didn't even realize we'd gone through Greene Point Rapids until we were about a half an hour past it).

We took the slightly longer way to get to Johnstone Strait, and it was a bit choppy when we first entered the strait, but it calmed down considerably as the morning went on.

Coming up Havannah Channel and around Broken Islands:

Approaching Port Harvey:

We are all docked on the long finger dock, and learned from George (the owner) that yesterday he saw a grizzly sow and four cubs along the beach moving past his property. I wish we'd have been here a day earlier! (He said grizzlies never have more than two cubs, so she must have adopted them somewhere along the way.)

Looking back out from the Port Harvey dock:

George will be firing up the pizza oven and cooking up a bunch of pizzas for everyone tonight. (He'll also be taking orders for homemade cinnamon rolls that will be ready for us as we depart tomorrow morning!) Also…did you notice that float plane there at the dock as we approached? The guy in that plane was just finishing the installation of Wi-Fi as we arrived. He's gone now, and the Wi-Fi is working! We're apparently the first to get to use it. Score!

There are a zillion jelly fish here (and tons of eagles).

Seriously…everywhere you look, for as far down as you can see, the water is just THICK with varying sizes of jellies. We have a couple of crab pots down off the dock (apparently there's good crabbin' here), and we're bringing them up to check with gloves on because along with crab come jellies. (So far one female Dungeness and one too-small male Dungeness. Fingers crossed for some keepers!)

I'll post our routes with the previous posts as soon as I can get them downloaded. Also, if you haven't noticed already, over there in the sidebar (at the top) there's a "Where is Airship?" button. That'll show you our position on a map (or the last position it was able to get). It's cool! Follow along!

Today's track (38.3 nautical miles, 5 hours 7 minutes):