Broughtons – 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.

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):

Fresh Produce at Lagoon Cove

Laura Domela — Tue, 15 Sep 2015 00:15:10 +0000

This morning in Lagoon Cove, Heidi (of Heidi and Lyle, who manage Lagoon Cove) invited a couple of us up to her garden to pick some fresh produce. Her house and its grounds are just lovely there on the hill overlooking the marina:

Are you kidding me? SUCH a bonus. We picked some fresh lettuce, kale (two kinds!), a zucchini, and some fresh herbs (thyme and chives). How fantastic.

Looking forward to a fresh salad, some sauteed kale, and zucchini on the grill. Thanks so much, Heidi!

Lagoon Cove, BC

Laura Domela — Mon, 14 Sep 2015 13:36:05 +0000

We motored over to Lagoon Cove yesterday after we left Kwatsi Bay. We fished a bit along the way in Tribune Channel, and got quite a few bites. We had one large, gorgeous-looking fish on at one point, but lost it at the last minute. Awwwwww.

The sky was clear and it was warm, but the wind eventually picked up significantly in the channel and we had a pretty wet and bumpy ride for about the last half of our cruise. As we were coming through what's known as The Blow Hole (a narrow channel on the south side of Minstrel Island), we heard another boat (Michael and Holly on M/V Ginger) radioing into Lagoon Cove…Ginger had been with us at Kwatsi Bay the night before. Sweet! It would be fun to spend a little more time with Michael and Holly!

The "tool shed" at Lagoon Cove:

The book exchange:

This is the shop side of the "tool shed" where all the stuff happens:

Michael (from M/V Ginger) and David (from another neighbor boat the M/V Leisure-Lee) were going on a hike and asked if we'd like to join, so we headed out with them for a little exercise. They'd planned to hike up to the top of the hill to the viewpoint, but Lyle, the manager here, said there's no view anymore because the trees have grown up and over it, so if we just wanted a view of some trees then fine, but he recommended the Blow Hole trail instead, so we took his advice. He also said there'd been a black bear around and that we should be aware of that. Check!

Cute signage all over the cove:

It was a beautiful hike (with some good hilly parts) to this little cove near the entrance to the Blow Hole:

On the way back we stopped and tried out the tree swing:

We got back to the marina around 5:30pm and decided to have a little happy hour with Holly and Michael under the covered patio shack thing at the end of our dock. There's a nice long table and benches, and they've even got a crab cooking station with big pots and everything. How nice!

The Wi-Fi here works really well and it's a charming little spot. Definitely recommended.

We're not sure what our plans are next…we need to keep making progress south but the winds in Johnstone Strait don't look too great for the next couple days. We may head over to Port Harvey today. It's a little closer to our jump-off point for Johnstone, and we had a great time when we were there in May. (Plus it's the site of the Ratfish!)

Here's yesterday's route (21.2 nautical miles):

Day 7 – Quadcopter Video of Pierre’s Echo Bay

Laura Domela — Sun, 24 May 2015 03:40:00 +0000

Kevin made another quadcopter video! Hope you like it, Pierre!

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):