Shoal Bay – Riveted

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.

Airship to Alaska | Day 5 | Squirrel Cove to Shoal Bay BC

Laura Domela — Thu, 12 May 2016 19:39:57 +0000

Airship Goes to Alaska 2016

We got up early (5:30am!) to make the 3 hour cruise up to Dent Rapids. Looks like it’s going to be another gorgeous day.

After we’d woken up a bit, I cooked some breakfast for us (bacon and eggs underway, woohoo!) and we made it to Yuculta Rapids about an hour and 15 minutes before slack. Transiting this direction, the three rapids in order are Yuculta, Gillard, and then Dent. Dent is the one that matters most, so you want to get to Dent at slack. We were aiming for about 45 minutes before slack at Yuculta, but it looked (and was) just fine when we got there. Approaching Gillard we binoc’d the shores and it all seemed fine as well. By the time we got to Dent it was…well, kind of calm! Anyway, no big deal.

A tiny bit of churn here at Gillard:

We decided to stay at Shoal Bay for the night. We arrived just after 10am due to our early start, so we get a whole day to work and hang out here. Except the Wi-Fi doesn’t seem to be on or working, so we’re pretty much just hanging out. Kevin’s doing some work (texting back and forth with our employees using the InReach app on the DeLorme, 160 characters at time…hey, whatever works!). I’m writing this blog post in TextEdit on my Mac and I’ll post it when we next get connected. This place is one of our favorites. It’s super chill, and extremely beautiful with the view up Phillips Arm. We stopped here last year on our way south and we’re pretty happy to be back.

We put out a couple of crab traps and then went up and walked around the grounds.

It’s SO picturesque that it’s hard to believe the landscape just looks like this, colors and all. At the hummingbird water cooler/crack delivery system up at the pub things were SUPER peppy!

You can't believe how MANY hummingbirds are flocking to this feeder. I think the owners filled the feeder three times today…and it's empty. Again. The hummingbirds are total bitches to each other too. They slam the others away…you can HEAR it. Blam! And they're constantly chirping. I wish you could hear the fluttering/buzzing sound that their wings make. All together it's like a swarm of wasps, Hitchcockian-style. Kevin took some video (that includes a hummingbird body slam and then the two lock (one hummingbird's feet around the other's head as they plummeted to the ground). NOT what you think of when you think of these cute little buggers, is it?

Here's a video. Not for the faint of heart:

Back at Airship, Kevin took the drone up and I used the other controller and my iPhone to manage the drone’s camera. I’ve got left, right, up, down, and shutter…so I took the photos while Kevin flew. (He refers to himself here as the aerial tripod, but it’s much more than that!) Here are some of the shots we got today:

Back on Airship, the hummingbirds were trying VERY hard to get some nectar out of the Canadian flag, poor things.

In the morning we’ll leave here around 8am to get through Greene Point Rapids and Whirlpool Rapids at agreeable times, and then head to Port Harvey by way of Johnstone Strait and Havana Channel.

Oh yeah!! First whale sighting of the trip! In Calm Channel today, we saw a few spouts and then the tail of a humpback as it dove…but we never did see it surface again.

We checked crab traps a bit ago and had two keeper male Dungeness and one LARGE red rock. So…guess what's for dinner?

Today's route (30.7 nautical miles, 4 hours 28 minutes):

Shoal Bay to Desolation Sound

Laura Domela — Wed, 16 Sep 2015 19:05:34 +0000

Shoal Bay, BC to Melanie Cove in Desolation Sound, BC

We left Shoal Bay at 6am this morning so we could be at Dent Rapids by slack tide (7:15am). It looked like this:

See those little lights up ahead? That's not a line of several boats waiting for slack at Dent Rapids. It's two tugboats pulling and pushing a GIGANTIC island of logs.

Getting lighter out, finally:

There were no other boats at Dent when we got there. We binoc'd it and it looked smooth so we headed through…first Dent Rapids, then Gillard Rapids, then Yuculta Rapids, all in a row. By the time we got to Yuculta we could see some swirly bits and feel the ebb against us, but no issues. That makes five sets of rapids in two days (yesterday was Whirlpool and Greene Point). And now, we're done with rapids!

We had a nice cruise down to Desolation Sound. We headed for Prideaux Haven thinking we'd check it out, as well as Melanie Cove.

It's rainy and a bit gray so our view isn't as spectacular as it could be, but it seems to be clearing up a bit (it's only 2pm) so maybe the view will change.

We took the dinghy out exploring…went the back route over to Laura Cove and just meandered around the islands. It's gorgeous here.

Here we are at anchor. There were maybe six boats over in the Prideaux Haven and no one in Melanie Cove when we got here. (Now there are two other boats.)

There's a squadron of otters swimming around catching fish, but other than that it's pretty quiet in here.

Today's route from Shoal Bay to Melanie Cove (38 nautical miles):

Here's a map of our dinghy exploration over to Laura Cove, around Prideaux Haven, and Melanie Cove (3.7 nautical miles):

This satellite image must have been during the summer. check out how many boats are here!!! :)

Tomorrow we'll head on to Lund and decide whether we stay there for the night or go all the way across the strait to the Vancouver Island side.

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):