Or as near as I can get. I finally announced officially my retirement from Verizon this July. The whole process was like an out of body experience. I spent a week getting the boat ready (well technically I spent nine years getting the boat ready).. So now I’ll be taking a bunch of vacation time and trying to get as far north as I can. I started out in Tacoma on April 21.
I spent a couple nights in Poulsbo, which is a lovely little town. And then I made my way up to Oak Harbor, through deception Pass through the San Juan islands and to Friday harbor on San Juan Island.
In Friday Harbor I bought provisions for the boat. And got very organized for the Crossing and for going through customs in Canada.
So after Friday Harbor and the San Juan‘s I crossed the border into Canada to South Pender Island. There is a lovely little resort there called Poets Cove. Great food. There are some Indian ruins there they’re pretty somber.
After Poets Cove I motored north in pretty calm weather up to Silva Bay in preparation for the big crossing of the Strait of Georgia which can be a challenge.
Silva Bay was like a ghost town. There is another part of the bay that has a restaurant. I tried to walk to it but it was closed. It was a long way around in the dark and I was a little bit worried around about bears. And by a long way around I mean it was a 4 mile walk in the dark. An old dog came out and barked at me kind of lame but I was nice to her and she did not bother me too much on the way back.
Island, there is this “school “where they teach people how to build timber frame structures
After Silva Bay I woke up at oh dark 30 and crossed the Strait of Georgia. The wind picked up to about 30 kn and I got bounced around pretty well.
of Georgia. This was before it got rough.
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After Pender Harbor I sailed up the inside of Texada island to Gorge Harbour. Now in Gorge Harbour it was still late April and apparently they rent out the Harbour cheaply to hippies and people who have really derelict boats. So all those people were still in the harbor when I got there and they were all trying to get their boats up and running so that they could anchor them out in the bay and live a floating life for the summer.
My neighbors were on a very derelict catamaran. Their names were Sariya and Tina. And they had two dogs Yin and Yang. Saria is from Northern Quebec, a 12 hour drive north of Quebec City! He had nothing good to say about the northern Québécois!
I had to take the ferry to Campbell River to get charts. You start out hitch hiking 2 miles on Cortes Island to the ferry dock. Then you take about an hour ferry ride to Heriot Bay. Then you have to hitchhike 5 miles across Quadra Island. Then you take a 15 minute ferry ride to Campbell River. Going home it’s just the opposite. I can’t believe people picked me up hitchhiking. I would not pick me up hitchhiking.
After three nights in Gorge Harbour I finally shoved off to do the big crossing through the Yuculta rapids. This was a bit of a nail biter but I made it through fine and it was a lovely sunny day — last sun I’d see for six days!
After hours of motoring in very light winds I made it to Blind Channel resort
I was the only guest at Blind channel for a couple days while I waited out the weather. It began to rain. I went on all the hiking trails.
At Blind Channel it rained and rained for several days and the wind was pretty strong out in Johnstone Strait. So I hung around and eventually in came a gorgeous Leopard 48 catamaran, Laura Marie, with a lovely couple, Brian and Laura Denault. They invited me to dinner! Cod that they caught! So good.
They are from Bainbridge Island near Seattle so hopefully we can stay in touch. Such genuinely nice people!
But I had to keep moving so even though it threatened to blow 30 knots in Johnstone Strait, I set off in the early morning, figuring worst case I could duck into Port Neville if things got really rough.
Well it did not get rough but it was limited visibility with all the rain and missed so I did duck into Port Neville. I helped Walter and Laura Lett get in and tied up too. They’re on Braesail, a Moody 46.
So finally I had to leave Port Neville and I really did get 30 knots in Johnstone Strait. There’s no pictures because I was busy! It was 30 knots and raining and misty and the visibility was terrible. But I made it to Lagoon Cove Marina after transiting the Chatham Channel and the Blow Hole. Both these passages are narrow and the Blow Hole is shallow.
Lagoon Cove is really neat. Like Blind Channel, they maintain some hiking trails, and I hiked most of them. Kelly and her husband, who run the place, are super friendly and helpful.
Kelly made sure Brandon, her helper, gave me a Dungeness crab for dinner.
Braesail with Walter and Laura let came in here too and I think Kelly also gave them a couple crabs. I talked a little with Walter. He is a liturgical theologian doing research on how native peoples say I’m sorry versus medieval people say it and how this contrasts with how Canada is saying sorry about residential schools. I know, pretty deep.
Anyhow he said for the best example of native potlatch artifacts I needed to go to Alert Bay. So I set out for there next.
At Alert Bay I spoke with Steven, the Harbour Master. He was also doing customs for two National Geographic cruise ships, Venture and Sea Lion. He said these were the first cruise ships Alert Bay had gotten in for three years.
I had a hard time getting through Pearse Passage, as there were tons of logs. And the current was against me and slowed me way down. And it was misty and raining as usual. But I did see sea otters for the first time in 30 years. Pretty cool that they are making a comeback.
Alert Bay is turning out to be really cool. Today I’ll go walk some of the many hiking trails. The Harbour Master, Stephen Bruce, is a totem carver. He and his wife and their pup Sasha were very nice to me. They told me to go check out his latest work.
The Namgish people believe that they rode in on a supernatural halibut. The horn on any animal denotes supernatural ability. There is a stylized horn on the halibut.
Friday was sunny. I took the ferry into Port McNeill and got boat supplies. When I got back I had time walk around town and take some decent photos.
Along the waterfront are these huts called Awakwas with Namgish clan animals on each one.
After Alert Bay it was a long 13 hour day to Frypan Bay. I rounded Cape Caution in 2 meter seas from the West with a nasty cross chop from Southeast and got rolled around pretty good. After Frypan Bay I made it up Fitzhugh Sound to Bella Bella and Shearwater Resort. Again, incredibly nice people running the resort, and pretty amazing food for such a remote place.
Corazon on the dock at Shearwater Resort. Stayed here a few days and then got her hauled out for a bottom job.
The “Northern Lights” is one of the little water taxis that will take you to Bella Bella for $5. I spent a few hours in Bella Bella, met some nice people, returned to Shearwater.
The boat is now “on the hard” getting a bottom job – I scraped and sanded for one whole day and then Shearwater is doing the painting, as well as repair to minor damage.
I fly back up to Bella Bella on Monday, May 30.
Seawolf Corazon 